A Very Wes Anderson Halloween

Happy Halloween or Harvest Festival or however you celebrate/don't celebrate today!
At our house we like to dress up. And for years Kent and I have wanted to dress up as a tribute to one of our favorite movies.
The Royal Tenenbaums.

So we got ourselves up as Margot, Richie, Buckley the hound dog, and a Dalmatian mouse.
We fully realize that I think most of the population are like "What kind of mouse?" and "Margot and Richie who?"
But we are having a blast thinking ourselves very clever indeed.
Now to drum up some fun, take pictures, and sort out the good candy from the ok to give to trick or treaters candy...

Past family costumes here, here, and here.

When grandma comes over you can count on at least two things.
1. She will smell good when you hug her. (Why do moms always smell so yummy?  I don't think I smell that good, try as I might.)
2. She will go outside with Greta in rain or shine to play in the front flower beds. They will dig, water, plant, rake, tsk-tsk over the soil, re-pot, and prune the afternoon away.  And then come back in head to toe dirt and smiles.
This visit they planted some fall bulbs. 
 Back story- I proudly purchased (actually purchased) several bags of bulbs from Costco a few months ago. Sometimes I get these fits of I CAN DO IT ALL attitude. Never mind that at the time with Oliver just a newborn, I was scheduling my bathroom breaks with the children two weeks in advance. But there's something about Costco that spreads this "can do" mindset around isn't there?
Maybe it's because I'm already beating my personal best, lifting flats of meat into a trolley sized cart. Meat I know I'm going to do something equally impressive with like portion out into smaller ziplock bags, freeze, and meal plan with.* In a cart already full of children I am single handedly keeping from mutiny with songs off the cuff and a bottle on the go. So I was probably pumping my fists in the air thinking I can do Costco, I can do anything!  Enter bulb display and glorious visions of a home peacefully wreathed in flowers. Cut to girl- who throws 3 bags of bulbs into the cart, narrowly missing infant, and pushes on with a triumphant smile.
It was a very exciting purchase that stood by our front door for the next 2 months.
Because the reality is that of course I can't do it all, and besides I was pretty sure that I was not qualified for the incredibly in depth 2 step process of 
1. putting the thing 
2. in the ground.
So Gardeners Grandma and Greta tackled it this week and had a marvelous time too. Like two peas in a pod. They tramped in the sun (and even some rain) in their boots and gloves. Digging, patting and watering the earth.
Now, come next Spring we will have a cheerful walkway full of tulips and alliums!
Thanks to my garden elves.   

*Am I the only one that is impressed with domestic feats like these?

A new day

So fall is officially here, and I can stop complaining (see last post).
I've worn rain boots for three days straight, the air is crisp, and finally someone is watering my flowers.
I have been crazy-lady busy these days.
With kids to teach life to (I could just stop there), lots of new design projects, visits with friends and family, I have been keeping my head down and doing my best to plow through the weeks*.
So, I took a little break this afternoon. (Very little actually, 10 minutes.)
Thought I would just poke my head up and see what's happening right now. A green wheelbarrow filled with rainwater, sun on the leaves. I stood by the back fence and looked at the house from an angle I've never seen it before.
Just a quick ten minutes outside, but my whole world seems a little wider now. More than just car, kitchen, desk.
And it made the day seem new, which it always is, I just needed a little reminder.
 
*This is not supposed to sound like complaining. Nope, I'm often at my best when I'm running on all cylinders. I don't wear boredom well.

Hello grey day!

Finally! A grey day greets us.
The sun has been awful uppity around here this year. Barging into ones Fall where it's not wanted. Am I right? (Girl looks around for a high five and realizes she is the only one.)
Well anyways, I'm ready for my favorite season to start.
I've had pork chops and apples waiting for my word to jump out of the freezer and into the roasting pan, rain boots nipping at my ankles to be taken out for a walk, and my coats are causing a ruckus in my closet with all their impatient rustling.
And why shouldn't they? We've missed a solid month of what's supposed to be coat weather, and the summer dresses are starting to think they rule the roost.
But things are starting to right themselves at last. Rain is in the forecast Friday through Sunday after a ridiculous 73,000 day dry spell, and today is only supposed to get up to 68.
So I like to think it is safe to shake hands with the sun now and part ways at last.
Good bye ol' Sun, job well done. I think you're wanted in Florida or California or some overrated place.
Oh yes, and then there is the children. Oliver is sitting up by himself, loving his new jumping seat, and fiddling with rice cereal.  He's interested in toys now and is finally sleeping on his back*.
Greta has started to narrate her actions in third person, and used scissors yesterday for the first time.
I will probably elaborate on all of these at a later date, but it has just become strangely quiet downstairs. And any mom can tell you, although it is the thing we pray for so much of the day, when it happens it is unsettling and often caused by mischief.


 *He has been using a funny little bed on a wedge, jimmy rigged with towels up until now for his reflux. Something of a life saver and death trap rolled into one.
Glad to be done with that!

Painting by Wendy Doak