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Sneek Peek - Christmas Card Photo, and then I talk about Thanksgiving

Well sorta. My parents-in-law are almost as technologically challenged as my own parents. I don't think it would hurt any of their feelings to hear me say so. It's almost like this.

Every so often my mother-in-law calls to ask how to find a certain channel or get the tv off of DVD mode. So it was actually pretty impressive that my father-in-law, back from the deer lease, was able to get the Thanksgiving pictures off the camera onto the computer and then attach one to an email. My mom and dad couldn't have done it without major guidance. Somehow, though, he shut down after sending this outtake one instead of the actual one we want to use. We'll get it evenutally, I'm not (too) worried.

The real one is the same pose in the same place but Will's hand isn't blurry from slapping his daddy in the face and we're all smiling bigger. I must have been laughing I'm smiling so big and Brian seems to have forgotten getting beat up by his son and the fire ants that bit his hand because he's offering up a big genuine grin. Even that ginger son of mine is giving a big gap-toothy one. I emailed this to my mom and her response was, can you edit out the sooty chimney in the background? I don't think so mom, I don't come from real techy stock, remember?

Thanksgiving was the most peaceful one I can recall. My parents came over to visit from Sunday til Wednesday and spoiled the heck out of me and their grandboy! My mom and I together got a lot of cleaning and organizing done, my dad did a ton of trimming, we gussied up Will's secret hideaway in the back yard, Brian and my dad worked on a wooden toy dump truck he's building for Christmas and we just had a lot of quality time spent together. They headed down to the Valley to be with my mom's side of the family after that and the three of us went to Austin to be with Brian's parents and family.

I don't want you to get the wrong idea about the Thanksgivings I'm used to because they've always been big happy occasions, but when you get a bunch of family together (anyone's I think!) there can be some fussing and carrying-on sometimes. Brian and I remarked on the way home that this was the most conflict-free Thanksgiving either of us ever remember. No one whined or complained, no one raised their voice to another, everyone got along, and no one even "passed" when it was their turn to say what they're thankful for. It was wonderful! We had a huge meal, of course, and there was enough for at least 6 Thanksgiving feasts left over when we were all done! I've mentioned all the leftovers we brought home, and that was only a fraction of it! My MIL might not be all that savvy with the remote, but she can make some good pies (and stuffing, and corn, and turkey)! In fact, to feed the 11 of us (including the baby), she made 9 pies! We took a whole one home. After din din, and our little family photo shoot which my stylish sister-in-law helped coordinate, we played Uno and visited until Will let us know time was up.

I'll go ahead and share the recipe for C.C.'s (now Flossy's) Fruit Salad I mentioned. First because it's delicious and if you need something to bring to a get together, this would be great. Second, even though it's easy to remember, I usually don't, and it'll be good to have it someplace I can come back to.
The trick to remembering the recipe is that everything comes in 2s.
2 cups peeled and chopped oranges
2 cups sliced bananas
2 cups of red grapes
2 cups of marshmallows - leave them out if you want this to be a real food recipe. I'm going to next time.
1 large can of crushed pineapple, drained really well - that's the equivalent of 2 cups
toss all that together in a bowl.
then, in a saucepan over medium low heat, combine
2 tbsp sugar - I'm going to try honey, again to make it real food worthy
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 eggs
Cook that, stirring often, until it starts to get a little thick. Don't let it become scrambled eggs though.
Pour that over the fruit and stir it up.
Optional, but really really good, fold in two cups of (real) whipped cream.
Chill and serve.

What I Wore Sunday and then some

Joining in again with the lovely ladies of Fine Linen and Purple for another edition of What I Wore Sunday. 

First of all, I just want to say how cute my husband and son were in their church clothes today! Handsome sweater vests and all! I chose Will's outfit but not Brian's, he did it all himself. ;) Too bad they wouldn't let me take their pictures. 

Secondly, since this is at least in part about modesty, tell me honestly, should I not be wearing this tunic to Mass? It's my second time to do so, both with leggings, and my husband thinks it's fine, but I'm not sure. It's awfully short in the front. 

The Details:

Scarf: Target (I gave it to my husband for our first dating Christmas, but I'm the only one who's ever worn it.)

Tunic: Uptown Chic boutique in town

Jacket: Ann Taylor Loft

Belt: J.Crew

Leggings: new from Bed Bath and Beyond of all places

Boots: Nine West

killer rustic backdrop chosen especially for this shoot: our own rotting back fence.

I wanted another picture without the scarf so I asked Brian to take one of me looking down. Why, he asks. Because Grace makes it look so, well, graceful. Not me apparently. And what are you doing with your legs, is Grace to blame for that too? Nope, that one I came up with all on my own. 

Since this is by far my most popular post each week, and the only one for last week, I have a few excuses to offer up.

There will be no E week post because we all but skipped E week. It was all about eggs and with family in town and getting ready for Thanksgiving, I just wasn't in the mood for it. We did hard boil some, and I gave up any sense of control over my kitchen when I taught Will how to crack eggs. We also read the heck out of some Little Engine That Could, a new favorite. F week starts tomorrow. I promise to do at least a little better. Think St. Francis, and fish.

There was no meal plan, again because of Thanksgiving mostly, and there likely won't be one at least until the second half of this week because we're still inundated with leftovers. I used part of them to make some leftover mashed potato soup then decided part way through I could throw some creamed corn in there too, and I made some stuffing patties as suggested here. Check out that last link, there are a lot of other good ideas. I think this ham and potato strata  might show up on our table at some point this week too. Even after all that though we have a fridge full and a turkey carcass simmering on the stove. Mmm bone broth for weeks!

Finally, I planned on participating in What I Wore for Thanksgiving  and I still might since she's given us such a cushy window, but we frugally share a camera with my father in law who needed it at the deer lease this weekend. So immediately after Thanksgiving dinner it went hunting with him and we won't see it again until next weekend probably. If I can get my mother in law to email me the picture though, I'll go ahead and use it for a post. Spoiler alert: it'll be the same picture used for our Christmas cards. So hopefully that can happen today, I want to capitalize on the 10 free Shutterfly cards and free shipping.

What I Wore Sunday vol. 3

 We went to the early Mass again this week, 8:00, because that seems to be the best bet for good behavior out of Willie. There must be some other reason to blame then for the fail in Mass etiquette out of him. Major step down from last week. Oh well.

New sweater: Kohl's. I brought in a facebook offer for 20% off plus 2 $10 off coupons bringing this already on sale sweater down to the low low price of next to nothing. I also picked up a pair of mustard tights and some gold (toned) bow earrings.
Skirt: J. Crew from back when I worked there.
Tights: probably also J.Crew
Shoes: Nine West

Our morning went a little like this. Wake up at 5:00 when Will is ready, thank Brian profusely for him taking Will downstairs and letting me sleep in another hour or so. Come down and they're watching the DVRed Stanford vs Oregon game from last night. Get really into the last 8 minutes of the game and forget about breakfast and getting ready. (Maybe that's why Will was irritable, he was hangry!) Realize it's 7:15 and we have 30 minutes to leave the house. I get in the shower and ask Brian to dress Will in a certain sweater and some gray pants. Will comes and opens the shower door wearing a different pair of gray pants that really don't go at all and make comment I come to regret, "that's interesting." Brian is sick of my critiquing what he dresses Will in and wants to make a fight out of it. Diffuse while I'm doing my hair. Will wears the silly combo to church. No one remarks what irresponsible parents we are to dress him like that so it must be ok. Erin, relax, he's a boy, it doesn't matter what he wears. I feel bad about making Brian feel bad so I decide to give him input in my outfit, enter the options. Navy sweater or new maroon one? Maroon. Gray skirt or tweed skirt? Tweed. Black boots or these shoes? Boots. ehhh. Why'd you even ask then? Well, I was considering boots, but these are a perfect match. Tights or no tights? No tights. Put tights on one leg, are you sure no tights? ok, tights. Brian dressed in a plaid flannel shirt and khaki pants with no input from anyone. Hurry to Mass, fit in a decade of the Rosary on the way and make it into the pew on time.

Are we the only household that operates this way? Who decides what everyone in your family is wearing to church?

Seven Quick Takes

1. My husband has a remote control helicopter that his sister gave him for his birthday a couple years ago. He used to fly it around the bedroom when Will was first learning tracking. He'd follow it around the room with his little head and then when it went behind him, it was all over. Then he abandoned it for several months. Remembering how cool it was, Brian took out the helicopter and again flew it around the room for Will. You would have thought that was the coolest thing there ever was in the entire world! But then the battery died and would need several hours of charging to be revived. You would have thought all of Will's hopes and dreams died right along with that battery. He was so devastated when it wouldn't fly anymore. The way he carried on boo hooing and howling well past bedtime, I hope that helicopter never makes its way out again.

2. Speaking of my husband, he has a blog now! He has written one post here about trail running. He's a very good writer I think, but I might be biased. He told me he was going to log how many miles he runs each week. I said really? Does anyone want to read that? His come back was that I post each week about what I wear to church. Point taken.

3. My parents are coming to town Sunday. They'll be here until Wednesday when they head down to the Rio Grande Valley where my mom's family lives. We'll be having Thanksgiving with Brian's family in Austin. I'm bringing butternut squash and Flossy's Fruit Salad.

4. We used to call the fruit salad C.C.'s fruit salad after my grandmother. My mom got the recipe from her mother in law in New York and made it and brought it to all of her family's gatherings for years and years. I'd be hard pressed to think of a holiday without that fruit salad. Last year we had Thanksgiving at my mom and dad's house where of course my mom made it. The thing is, my dad's Aunt Joyce was with us, C.C.'s sister. When my mom told her she had made her sister's famous fruit salad she became a little bit indignant and insisted that it was not C.C.'s recipe at all, and that their mother (of 10) had made it all her life and that if this was anyone's fruit salad it was Florence Slade (called Flossy)'s fruit salad. So that's what it'll be this week when I make it for my in-laws.

5. We're at the end of E week number one and I haven't done one single E week activity short of reading the Elves and the Shoemaker to Will. Most of the books and activities I'd found for the letter E revolved around either electricity or eggs. Really the only thing I want Will to know about electricity at this point is to not touch it. Eggs are a lot safer of course, but during the week before and during Thanksgiving, who wants to be boiling, dying and hunting for eggs?

6. St. Elizabeth of Hungary's feast day is tomorrow and at least that's something we can celebrate. I'm making my Hungarian Godmother's layered cabbage recipe and a St. Elizabeth's Crown cake, maybe this one.

 7. My turn finally came up at the library to check out Ken Follet's Winter of the World. I've read and loved both of his Cathedral epics, and the first book of the Century Trilogy, Fall of Giants. Fall of Giants I listened to on audio when I was commuting to and from Austin last year, but the other two I shut everything down and read straight for about 3 days. I'd really love to do that with this one, but instead I know it'll take me about a month of nap times to finish it. That's what you get when you read Little Blue Truck 7 times a day.

This isn't one of my takes, but just in case any Heisman voters happen upon my blog, vote for Johnny Football! He should get it. I mean, did you see the upset against Alabama last week? That speaks for itself. I'm expecting 77-0 against Sam tomorrow. That's all.

Go see Jen at Conversion Diary where about a thousand other people posted timelier and more important takes than these.

I love my job, but...

Sometimes the poop, and the spills, and the no napping, and the constant nursing (still!), and the poop and the whining, and still no napping threaten to drive a momma insane. You know? That's where we're at right now. Not to sound ungrateful or anything, because really I love my job!

D Week Report

Virtue of the Week: Delight Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 34:14
Saint of the Week: St. Dominic de Guzman
Shape of the Week: Diamond. Mostly we wore argyle and I threw my ADPi diamonds and tried to teach him to do it too.
Snacks: easy homemade donuts d week and All Souls celebration in one

Dogs! and diversity

It isn't difficult to get a really great education about dogs around here! Of course we have two dogs, Sandy and Eddie, who we spent extra time walking and playing with this week, even more than normal. But we had already chosen Will's Halloween costume which lined up quite serendipitously. 

I made this paper bag hand puppet and Will practiced identifying all the body parts on the dog and on himself. He says knee and nose and just points to all the others. Tongue is probably his favorite. He sticks his out and wags it. We used the dog puppet to act out a lot of our dog books, the favorite being Doggies by Sandra Boynton. Check out all the videos of parents and kids reading it aloud on Youtube. My barking has improved significantly. 

 In addition to the kids' dogs books, we looked at a Pedigree book that we have that shows all the different breeds sorted into their classes, working group, toy group, hunting etc. Will looked at pictures while I talked over his head about dogs' strengths and weaknesses and put a diversity message out there about how brown dogs can be really good at keeping people company and so can white dogs. Black dogs can be good protectors and so can spotted dogs. Inspired by Nurture Shock, I talked about how people are good at different things too, and that how someone looks doesn't let you know what kind of person they are. We'll try it again as he gets older.

Digging in Dirt
 Honestly, I thought my boy would be more into the sanctioned dirtiness this week. We had a good opportunity to explore digging and dirt last weekend when Brian and I changed out the summer zinnias and celoycia in the front beds for pansies and cabbages. As long as Daddy was doing it, Willie appreciated digging, but he was pretty uninterested in playing in the healthy dirt pile I left for him or exploring the shovels and tools the rest of the week.

 He thought this video was pretty cool though.

Feeding Ducks
We visited Landa Park which is very close to our house to feed the ducks. Clearly I didn't take the season into account because where there are normally hundreds of hungry geese and ducks clamoring for bread, the day we went we were hard pressed to find any takers. At first I thought we'd have to settle for feeding the Egyptian geese and minnows.

No offense yall, but your name doesn't start with the right letter

A wood duck swam over from the other side of the lake though and all was well. We ended up with pretty good lake wildlife diversity (using that d word again) and fed the Wood Duck, Muscovy, Nutria, and the geese.






I sang 5 Little Ducks and had Dad demonstrate his duck calls. All the rubber duckies made bathtime appearances this week as well. Most duck books we tried reading were pretty awful.








Favorite Books
Dig! by Andrea Zimmerman I like the writing style of this book - repetition and sometimes rhyming. Will interacted with it a lot, counting, waving, pointing out the dog, saying No.
Doggies by Sandra Boynton This is a favorite year-round. I've got to say, I'm a pretty good barker, and Will copies it sometimes. Every member of the family reads it a little differently.
Drummer Hoff by Barbara and Ed Emberly Brian was good at reading this one. I didn't care for it as much, but it's a Caldecott winner so what do I know?
Oh No, George by Chris Haughton Will's newest favorite. We used it to talk a little about temptation, regret and forgiveness. Will makes the cutest sad face as he shrugs and says oh no when George, a dog, makes bad choices including digging.
The Ugly Duckling The only duck book I could tolerate from this week. it's a classic of course. We'll hold onto it because it transitions us into eggs of E week nicely.

Meal Plan Monday

Monday
Breakfast - scrambled eggs and orange slices
Lunch - Annie's White Cheddar Macaroni with peas, grapes
Snack - cottage cheese with peppers
Dinner - Alfredo rutabaga, sauteed spinach and mushrooms
to do- grocery shopping, prep clafouti, thaw pumpkin

Tuesday
Breakfast - banana clafouti
Lunch - Pumpkin Risotto
Snack - honey nut butter popcorn
Dinner - Chili Marinated Flank Steak, roasted butternut squash with chili, lime and cumin
to do - marinate flank steak, thaw pancakes

Wednesday
Breakfast - Frozen sourdough pancakes, kefir
Lunch - chicken salad on triscuits, fruit
Snack - Peanut Butter and Jelly milk shake
Dinner - Spiced Lamb Stew with dried apricots, salad with maple dressing
to do - thaw sausage, soak biscuits

Thursday
Breakfast - sausage biscuits
Lunch - roast eggplant and leftovers
Snack - cranberry walnut kefir smoothies
Dinner - Apple Sage Chicken, leftover salad
to do- soak oatmeal

Friday
Breakfast - soaked oatmeal with raisins and apples
Lunch - rice and beans, steamed okra
Snack - Sugarplums
Dinner - Scalloped Oysters, field peas

My parents are coming in this weekend, but I'm not sure when, so I'm playing it by ear this weekend and next week for meals.

What I Wore Sunday

I'm joining Fine Linen and Purple again because my ego enjoyed the boost last week! It was my most commented post in a very long time, and yall were so sweet! 

This weekend Will and I were visiting my parents while Brian was at his Coast Guard drill weekend, so we went to Mass at the church I grew up at, St. Laurence. It has gotten to be huge, and so beautiful! The pastor, Fr. Drew, is who married us. He was the priest there when I was in high school and was very influential in my faith formation. I love him. He didn't say Mass today though, because he's not an early bird, and Will and my parents are so we went at 7:30 am. I get the very best behavior out of Will if we can go to the earliest Mass possible. He was outstanding today! I couldn't ask for more out of a 1 1/2 year old! He was quiet, stayed in the pew, looked at his little Bible and books, only threw his St. William stuffie once or twice, and only proclaimed POO until I took him to the bathroom where he actually used it! Oh Will, you make a Momma so proud!

So you came by for the clothes. Here's what I wore, nothing fancy but I was comfortable enough to stay in it all day and drive us home. There's something to be said for that. I couldn't decide if I liked tucked or untucked better. I went with untucked, and only one button unbuttoned on top, mom was pushing for two. 

 
Top: Mudd from Kohl's. It has lace across the shoulders in the back. I should have gotten a detail pic of that.
Skirt: Stein Mart, over 5 years old
Wedges: Katie and Kelly from DSW

It's still 80+ here but I think we'll be cooling off Tuesday. Maybe I'll actually get to wear a sweater or something next week.   v

Menu Plan Tuesday afternoon

Tuesday
Snack - bagel flats with peanut butter
Dinner - Chicken Enchilada Salad
Dessert - election cake but it's entirely possible I'm going to get lazy and make election day boxed brownies.
to do: make enchilada sauce, boil eggs left from last week, pick up milk and eggs, prep clafouti

Wednesday
Breakfast - apple clafouti
Lunch - celery with peanut butter and raisins, hard boiled eggs, raw cheese slices
Snack - cottage cheese and blackberries
Dinner - Sausage Potato Casserole (Brian's specialty from college. He's cooking) and roasted okra
to do: thaw stew meat, pick up CSA veggies

Thursday
Breakfast - scrambled eggs and sourdough toast
Lunch - leftover dirty rice
Snack - grape kefir smoothies
Dinner - crockpot beef stew, fresh green beans and mushrooms
to do: soak oatmeal

Friday
Breakfast - soaked banana oatmeal

We're all heading out this weekend. Brian to drill in Port A, and Will and I to visit my parents. So it's a short, easy week.

Last Night

Oh. Last Night! Last night counted among the top 5 worst nights in my life, certainly in Will's life. Brian blames the time change. I blame a crazy shift in the magnetic pull of the earth that made my body ache in terrible and inexplicable ways, and my son to flip his *shift* into crazy baby mode. No one slept more than a wink at a time. Will thought the world was coming to an end the moment my boob left his mouth and signed more like the universe depended on it all. night. long. Highlights include

Oh! That cup! No that's not where it goes.

• my day (night?) dreaming scary scenes where chicken eggs cracked into a pan were human babies with names. That was around 11 pm
• Will and I going downstairs to give daddy a chance to sleep and watching Micky on the couch. I thought he'd drift off to sleep watching. That's what I did. He watched the whole episode then screamed and woke me up as soon as it ended. That was around 12:30 am
• Brian drove him to the lake house and back during which he fell asleep but immediately upon arriving home popped back up to squeal for more na na (nurse). That was at 2:20 am
• Brian and I held an incoherent argument about Will's cup that went something like "where's his cup?" "which cup?" "WHICH cup, are you serious?" "yes which cup are you looking for?" "any cup" and on like that for several minutes followed by a slammed door after which Brian ostensibly went looking for the cup in the cars. about 3:00 am
• My warning Will that his momma is the biggest proponent of nursing and bed sharing that he's ever met, but his behavior was making me think bottles and cribs sound like superb ideas. 

The hellish and ridiculous night ended with us all getting out of bed around 5:30 while Will hollered No repeatedly. 

This to say that I didn't really feel up to making a weekly meal plan today. I'm pushing it off till tomorrow and we're having leftovers tonight. I'd better get to it tomorrow or else the whole week will run kind of like last night did. Plus depressing meals of sandwiches and canned things. 

The bright side? That's easy. I'm recounting one of the worst nights in my life and it boils down to a little sleeplessness and silliness. All the members of my family are healthy and not facing danger. My husband is at his nice job, drowsy, but employed. The biggest decision I faced today was whether to go to boot camp and Kindermusik. We decided no to boot camp, yes to Kindermusik and I'm pleased with that choice. I am one blessed woman, wouldn't you say? I just hope this is a really really good nap!

What I Wore Sunday

Last week I saw a couple of the bloggers I read link up with Fine Linen and Purple for a What I Wore Sunday linkup. The idea is to share examples of pretty, modest outfits for Mass on Sunday. I participated in a couple What I Wore Wednesdays way back when but felt silly self-photographing every day. Once a week is completely and totally different! 

Dress: Ann Taylor
Shoes: Steve Madden
Bracelets: gift with purchase from one of the jewelry stores in the mall. Given to me by my mother in law
Earrings: Robbins Brothers pearls. Given to me by my parents
Necklace unseen: a booth at the farmers market

Will's outfit is Baby Gap and Cherokee by way of the St. Vincent De Paul thrift store at church.

I've been wearing this dress on days I want to feel confident for the past 6 years. Presentations in college, parent-teacher night, etc. Today, knowing that I was going to blog it, I felt compelled to jazz it up a little. I wished for one of those cute crocheted flowers to pin on, or a scarf. I considered switching out the sash for a  more stylish belt (as if I had one.) I decided since the point was to wear something pretty and modest to Mass that I should just keep it as is, so I slid on the bracelets and called it good. The bracelets served as toddler distractions anyway, double plus!
Although I spent a pretty fair amount of time in the grotto, thanks to Will announcing POO repeatedly and several logical and illogical NOs, I was able to stay in for the whole homily which I appreciated so much! Deacon John spoke about American Exceptionalism in the "city on a hill" model. He compared Americans' current disregard for the warnings of the founding fathers, our constitution and Declaration of Independence to the Israelites ignoring Moses's admonitions and the law of God. Catholics don't clap, as a general rule, but there were strong applause when he finished. Hopefully people didn't take my walking out with Will in tow as a rebellion, hah. In this election cycle, maybe more than any other, Catholics and Christians have to stand up for life and freedom of religion! If we had all along I don't think there's any chance one party could have gone so far in disrespecting it. The other party isn't perfect either, but it's a very very clear and easy choice for me. So the rest of Sunday I'm wearing my red Mitt Romney t-shirt. It's pretty likely I'll have it on tomorrow and the next day too. I'd ask my husband to take a picture of me in it, but he's being extremely generous and shampooing my car seats right now, after repairing the carpet steam cleaner, so that might be a little much to ask. I think I'll go help out.

Hop over, and get some ideas for next week, if you're running out.

7 Quick Takes

 1. Last weekend we went to the restaurant of a friend of mine, Avocado Cafe, in San Antonio for a Halloween party. We were hemming and hawing over whether to go, but decided we should because, 1) though late, Will always turns on the charm for a party and we'd probably have a good time, and 2) we could bring our own pumpkins and get her place messy carving them up and not mess ours up! Here's my hubby carving his spooky spiders into his Jack O Lantern and Will the assistant.

2. Brian loaded Will in the car and I brought myself and the puppy ears and we headed out. It's about a 45 minute drive. When we got to the parking lot we had a few rounds of "but I thought you had it" before we realized that the rest of the puppy costume was left home. That's how William got entered into the costume contest with dog ears and an airplane shirt (new from Grammy!) turned around backwards. He got second place to "the abominable snow girl." Uh huh, I wanted that gift card!

 

3. Tuesday we headed over to the library for the costume parade and story time. Will is sort of stuck between ages at the library. When we go to the rhyme time for babies, all the kids are sitting passively in their mother's lap listening to Miss Jenny read. My kid is running from the door to the easel banging on the windows as he goes. So I take him to the story time for preschoolers and they inspire him to behave himself mostly, but most of the activities go right over his head. Here he is trying to use the computers after I had completely offended some kind and modest mother who doesn't celebrate Halloween. 

4. The next day we had big plans for Trick or Treating, but they came crashing down around us when Will started throwing up every 1-2 hours starting at 3:00. I'm pretty sure statistics would back me up that kids are more likely to get sick on a holiday and miss out on all the fun than any other day of the year. I know the sickest times I remember were Christmas Eve, one Easter morning and a birthday. This is his first stomach bug, and calling it the 24-hour bug doesn't mean you're home free the next day. After a 14 hour stretch he threw up this afternoon too, poor thing, and is now running a low fever. The car seat and couch cushion covers, every beach towel we own and too many of my shirts have kept the washer running for the past 48. No photo evidence of his second Halloween.

5. Bound and determined to squeeze a little more life out of this costume, I fashioned a paper towel roll and tissue paper torch and let Will represent St. Dominic for All Saints Day. 

From here

You see the resemblance, right? 

6. Today starts the first day of Wurstfest, a 10 day salute to sausage, my German town's crowning celebration. Its the time of year I tout of my 1/16 German heritage and drink all the beer and eat all the sausage and funnel cakes I can along with the rest of the Krauts around here! We were supposed to be there tonight, but what, with Will's belly messing everything up, my big outing of the last two days was a family trip to the grocery store, with one pullover to make sure the baby wasn't about to throw up in the car seat again. That happened, oh yes it did. I can't believe how much it revived me though! From gloomy cabin fever before the trip, to singing through bath time after. I clearly needed out! Sick kid or not, I'll be at Wurstfest tomorrow, volunteering at the fried pickle booth with the New Braunfels Republican Women. I hope my Mitt Romney shirt makes it here on time! 

7. I know you're wishing for just one more darling picture of my boy in his puppy costume. Ok, I'll oblige. 

 I asked a couple of times if I made it myself. Cough cough. Well no. In fact, you might recognize it from the Pottery Barn Kids catalog. I'll have you know I bought it for $10 at a children's resale shop and am quite pleased with myself for the find. Willie worked on his vruff, and learned how to pant to really sell it. I mentioned to Brian that I ought to sell it back to the same shop and he said no way, we're going to be like all our facebook friends whose older child calls the Halloween shots and little sibling gets stuck being the prop costume. Think football player and ball, Angry Bird and golden egg. Oh those were your kids? Oops. Anyway, we're waiting now for when Will wants to be the fireman and his little brother or sister gets stuck being the Dalmatian. It'll be adorable!

Go see Jen for more Quick Takes.