Trick or Treat

Tonight was our town's Trick or Treat night.
That Man and I bought candy in secrecy so it would still be here for tonight. Ha!
Baby B was here and was hysterical. He had a "trick".
When you said "Trick, B" He would stick out his finger and say "pull my finger" and then making farting noises when you did. It was hysterical.
He was an adorable dinosaur, but by the time they left he was so hyped up on candy that he was in meltdown mode. I remember those days with our kids. Glad we're out of that stage. So much.
K3 had a class tonight, so he left just as trick or treat night got started. K4 did her cool makeup, but stayed home, except for a brief trip to our very good friend's house to harass and get some candy. S and J came over - S was dressed as the Joker and looked adorable. J was dressed as a "travelling menstrual cycle" and was hysterical. Yes, red pants. white shirt with blood stains, and a string.
I got home just as the porch light went on. I miss the days of being here all day before. I miss the days of having things prepared and ready to go, but then, I don't have little kids anymore, so....
I do miss my folks being here though. Mom and Dad used to come over to hand out the candy. They were hysterical in their interactions with the trick or treaters. Last year, we had Mom and she had a blast.
It's sucky right now because our very good friend just lost her dad. It brings back all of the crap and sadness and makes me realize that we're now facing the holidays without Mom. It was bad enough last year - when Mom's grief class said the second year would be worse than the first - and now we're facing the second year and the first year, which sucks. And I don't put a lot of stock into the things said in that class, but it still sucks.
Anyway...
I'm still writing. Staying in the 50/50 challenge and have already met my monthly goal. I like where my story is going.
And everything else is as normal as it gets - crazy chaos and crazy busy.
That is all...
Behave!

Birthdays and Stuff...

K3 turned 19 today.
How does that happen? I don't feel any older than the day I had him (notice that I didn't say I don't look any older... ha ha)
He's a great guy and I'm so proud he is my son! He's got so many things in the pipeline and I'm so excited to see what he does next! Currently, he's working like crazy, looking for a second job, and taking classes. Like I said, great guy and I love hanging out with him!
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It's almost the end of October!
Thursday night is Trick or Treat. I can't wait to see Mr. B and experience Trick or Treat night with him. I'm also really glad I don't have to take kids out! Ha! K4 is the youngest and is too old to go out. Bonus! Our old neighbor is coming over because she misses this street on Halloween night!
It should be a good night (if I remember to stop and get more candy!)
Halloween Night That Man and I have some plans which should be awesome! I'm excited.
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Thanksgiving is coming!
We are hosting this year. We also have K2, J, and Baby C this year, which will be awesome! I'm really looking forward to it. It will also be our first Thanksgiving without Mom. We've had a lot of firsts without her the last five months, but this one will be big. (The Halloween parade, trick or treat night, and birthdays are also big... Okay, so every first without her is big. I don't know what to say about that. It's just the way it is, but Thanksgiving is going to suck without her.)
We will be getting a new dishwasher before Thanksgiving. There is no way I'm standing there to wash all of the dishes for hours! I already told That Man that it must be done and he agreed!
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Christmas...
I know it's way early, but we are also hosting both days this year. K4 is turning 16 and her only request was that we do both nights - Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. She has never had a 'traditional" friend party. It's always been whoever can come on her birthday and whoever remembers on Christmas Eve - all has been fine for her. We won't have folks staying over, which is really okay and for the best, but I hope that it's a birthday to remember for her, especially considering it's our first Christmas without her Gram. And she feels that. And she'll be 16!
And then in the few days after Christmas, she will be going for her learner's permit, because if she doesn't she will have to drive for a year, instead of the six months if she gets it before the end of 2015. Yeah. my last kid will be driving soon. Weird. She already has a car - actually two, but that's another story.
I am forcing myself to get excited for the holidays. I will force myself for Baby B and Baby C and K4, K3, K2 and K1, That Man, and my siblings. I miss my momma, but I will honor her by going completely overboard this year! Yeah, it's like that!
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I am writing! A lot! Not as much as I would like, but enough that I feel good about what I'm getting done!
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That's enough for now!
Behave!!

Good Weekend!

This weekend we had our Mom's Spaghetti Dinner.
Mom wanted to have a Spaghetti Dinner after her kitchen was done to thank everyone for their help and to have a gathering to just celebrate.
She hadn't set a date, just that she wanted to do it as soon as her kitchen was back together. Her kitchen wasn't back together yet when she died. We decided to still have her dinner and have been working towards it all summer. This past Saturday was the day.
We just got back from the beach on Sunday. We had a crazy week readjusting to life at home, our town's Halloween parade, homework, writing, work - crazy. That Man and I met my sister and her husband at Mom's on Friday to start getting ready for Saturday. We had some tasty adult beverages and did some cleaning. Saturday was the big push. There was a lot to do, but we managed to get it all done with the help of my sister-in-law and the crew.
At one point, I turned to my sister-in-law and asked about the spaghetti. We had a miscommunication. I thought she'd gotten it and she thought I was getting it. Hysterical.
We didn't have as many people as we thought we would, but we still had a great time. It was really good and so much fun. The sauce my brother made was amazing. We had lots of tasty desserts and an epic bon fire.
It was a bittersweet night. Mom would have loved it.
Behave!

This Beach!

A few pictures (even though my formatting seems to suck)

This was only a few steps out of our back door all of last week! Perfect and beautiful!

This one is K4's little friend. She named all of the birds, which was hysterical. Baby B chased all of the birds, which was equally hysterical. 

O'Dark-thirty on the boat! We watched the sun come up and had an epic time!

When I can figure out this formatting thing, I'll be back with more pics! Behave!

I'm Baaack!!

Maybe you didn't notice I was gone? Sorry about that! I guess if I posted on here more regularly, you'd miss me more! Ha!
Anyway...
I'm back from our first OBX vacation in 10 years!! What a needed and tremendous trip to our favorite place in the whole world!!
Yeah, we had some crap - our Jeep being dumb on the way there, while there, and back, That Man's car (which K1 drove) doing some crappy losing the bolts things, high water, being trapped in the house all day Tuesday due to the storm surge (but, really... we had wine, beer, pina coladas, a pool, two hot tubs, and beautiful sunny beach so we didn't care) stress in some form or another... But on the whole it really was an amazing trip. We did things we've never done before - like go out on a charter boat to fish (very cool for those that weren't chumming all day. At one point, we'd lost 1/3rd of our group, despite motion-sickness medicine, but it was super, super awesome and K4 caught a shark!), shared our beach with people who have never been before (some loved it and some not so much), had some amazing family time (family soup & a ceremony), had a few injuries, got to watch Mr. B loving the beach, aquarium, life in general (he was so stinking cute!!), hang out with cousins, and our uncle and aunt, had an awesome ashes ceremony for our folks, saw a lot of sunrises, sunsets, stars, laundry, sand, shops, food, a fire on the beach, driving my Jeep on the beach (even though that was super stressful, when it should have been fun, thanks to losing my radiator hose in the parking lot - it was fixed super quick, but still)...
I could have stayed another week, if not, forever....
We got back pretty late last night thanks to stupid traffic. Our Elsa was waiting for us. Our awesome friends had her all week and then dropped her off at home for us so they could get their brand new puppy. Our other awesome friend watched our kitties and facilitated the puppy drop off. Everyone was safe, happy, and healthy when we got home.
It's good to be home. But not at the same time. I'd like to start the vacation over again, please?
We were all off today, but tomorrow is back to the grind. And it's our town's annual Halloween Parade, so we'll have a houseful of company.
Oh and did I mention I was one of the injuries? Yeah, scraped the back of my foot on a rusty metal block as we were waiting for everyone on the docks after the charter boat. It was just a dead skin thing, really. We doctored it up Thursday night, and it felt really good until today. Now I'm soaking it in peroxide and dreading having to wear actual shoes tomorrow.
So now we're back to the grind...
We're in the 50/50 challenge in my writing group and I've already exceeded the daily goal. Awesome. I'm trying to get back into my groove. This challenge will totally help.
That is all for now! I hope to have pictures soon!
Behave!