Formal Halloween

So I may have mentioned how in England they make you work for your candy- (e.g we write notes to the neighbors asking if we can trick or treat and they write back if they would like us to stop by). At least CJ and Casey had fun delivering the notes- I have to laugh what a process

Scotland

What to say about Scotland- we loved it! From the moment we got there- it felt different than England- ( weather still sucked- seriously I would have cuter photos if we didn't live or travel to rainy spots)- Edinburgh is a big city with a small town appeal. The scottish seem to like kids- ( it was so cute we were in the Palace and casey picks an inopportune time to say she is " desperate for the toilet"- this guard caught the xchange and ushers us to a private bathroom. (from them on it was I heart Scotland per moi)- Food still is awful- I did not even attempt to try hagus- (which basically is a sheep stomach stuffed with other crud and gravy on top)- but the sights and people were great. We had Nanny (chris's mom) with us and we had her hiking and posing with Braveheart with the rest of us. (btw- I have heard all the movie lines from Braveheart for a straight 72 hours.) The hiking was great and the kids surprised us and behaved as much as 2 little ones can. (thank god one of the castles that threw in a dress up like a knight or lady bit and had some fake jousting to occupy the kids. On another note- for anyone that has to go to (or chooses to) go to a museum with small kids - I have some hints to survive the mission:

1)-secret mission ( kid needs to be 5 or greater)- basically you tell kids that you are secret agents and you need to search the museum for clues to solve such such riddle. ( CJ was cool with it until I took the game to another level and pointed at other tourists as competing agents- for which he snarled and snuck around them- yes we know this bit will later come out in therapy)

2- gum or jolly rancher- last ditch effort to see something- in casey's case it usually gives us a solid 14 min to gather an exit strategy.

3- Palaces/Castles- go the princess route- although poor casey is still wondering why we haven't seen Cinderella since Disneyland.

Our new friend

So Casey has made a new friend at nursery- the little girl is adorable and into nothing that Casey is currently into (e.g. she uses princess dolls as cricket bats and thinks the vanity set is something to jump off of)- but they have a blast jumping and dancing around like only 3 year olds can.
We first met our friend when Casey said she wanted the girl with "weird" eyes to come over to play. Turns out after meeting her mother- this little darling is blind in one eye and has had 46 operations due to a form of cancer that constantly produces tumors on the eye. The family is so positive - of course they have every reason to complain- but they don't. They go twice a month for checkups at the hospital and pray another operation is not needed. Seriously- I got a healthy dose of positivity in the face of huge ordeals and a new friend for Casey and I.

Jack O Lantern

1 toffee apple+ 1 wobbly tooth= our first visit from the tooth fairy tonight

Random

A few happenings in the household- 2 wobbly (or loose in american) teeth . Not sure I am fan of the process of losing teeth- (to be honest it makes me kind of sick)- but someday soon our first visit from the tooth fairy will be coming!!!
It has been raining nonstop for 24 hours- I lost my umbrella ( don't ask one of those tequila nights last spring) so basically my hair looks like I just ran a marathon without the satisfaction of burning 6700 calories (totally made up the number). Other news- baby girl has started a sort of fakey british accent- I am trying to not answer to mummy in order to maintain my mommy status.( a feeble attempt I'm sure) Fringe came back on the air- so my tv viewing has moved on from watching old Laguna Beach reruns (although can you ever get enough of Kristin/Stephen/LC triangle). I am thinking a pumpkin spiced latte is needed to put me in the Fall frame of mind and of course a new umbrella:)

Lists

1- Fall has hit- sweater on (check), flannel sheets on bed (check), dark at 5 (check),increased complaining by moi (check)

2- Nerves and nails are gone- MSU and ND overtime wins- can we please win a game without a nailbiter

3- The european attitude about chicago losing out- people were actually gleeful that the US didn't get the games. I spent some quality time in chicago so yes I am bitter- it really pisses me off that both the european and asian countries block voted. Seriously folks - ioc is missing out on summer in chicago, jazz, pizza, lakeshore, ( a lot more stuff but right now my mind can only thing of food and bars)- I knew they should have sent Oprah to the vote:)

4-bday party circuit- 2 kids=2 many bday parties on weekends with scary clowns that look like the one from Poltergeist-

5- Homework- I'm sick of it already- we may be playing hooky in a few weeks

Why 30 something parents shouldn't party

Had a weekend of 2 -2am nights. 1 was more civilized with husbands and cocktails and dancing- the other was a girls night that combined champagne, sambuca, red bull and vodka, and a dance club. Please note we arrived at the dance club late so that the 20 year old crowd couldn't see how really old we were. ( just guessing that when we all went crazy for a madonna song it was a clue that we were ancient not to mention we weren't dressed in skinny jeans and backless tanks)

1- Thought I was doing okay sunday morning until I came downstairs to get a drink of water and was greeted by the smell of half drunk glasses of white wine, meatballs shrimp left out over night. (seriously that smell and cleaning up took me back a few steps)

2- Darling children who bless their hearts DID not want to watch tv (strange phenomena) and wanted to play outside all day. (Note- I sat my booty in a lawn chair and pretended to be a goalie while CJ and Casey fired shots at me that occupied a good 30 minutes). Chris did save the day but letting me have some downtime where I laid in bed and sipped england's version of gatorade.

3- Recovery time- its monday afternoon and I am still hurting. Walked at the slowest pace ever on the treadmill (the grandma next to me looked like she was hauling she was going 4.5 mph) and felt tired from doing that- seriously I think by wed I might be somewhat functional

4- Gossip- somehow our little girls night circulated around our itty bitty school. So I had alot of I heard you went out until 2am to such such place. (sad surburban reality that this is headline news)