Happy Halloween!

"In chess one cannot control everything. 

Sometimes a game takes an unexpected turn, 

in which beauty begins to emerge." 
Vladimir Kramnik

Today has been a lesson in unexpectedness. 


Its Saturday and while the kids and hubby nap, I'm enjoying some quiet time in my cozy jammies since we have a full-on snow storm happening in our town. 

(The kids eagerly watched the snow fall just before their nap.)

Earlier today we had a birthday party that I rushed us out the door for only to find out after our arrival that the party was next weekend. Hunter had talked about the party all morning and it was heartbreaking to try and explain to his two year old little mind that Mommies mess up and I had made a mistake so there would be no birthday after all. 


A few hours later we had a sitter planned so Dave and I could do an afternoon date which we were long overdue for. After letting us know that she would be about fifteen minutes late, she finally called to let us know that she wouldn't be able to make it after all due to the weather and driving conditions. Yet, another disappointing wrench in the plans. 


Although the snow storm was unexpected this early in the season, it does give me the warm fuzzies inside thinking about the upcoming holidays. 


I heart the holidays--birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day and Christmas---especially Christmas. As someone I admire likes to say, "the holidays are when I let my freak flag fly". And fly high it does. 


Here are some ways our household has prepared for a ghoulish gander of a Halloween:


1) Boasting our new holiday T's from P-Pa and Kiki.

(Hunter always has his must-haves in tow: puppy, giraffe and his "pica".)

 2) Turning one month older. I can't believe my baby girl is 18 months old! 

 (She has acquired a true love for jewelry--especially Mommy's.)

 3) Pumpkin hunting.

 (Sissy believed her dream had come true: being surrounded by nothing but balls.

She was determined to play with this big orange one.)

 (See her expression and how hard she is working to pull that ball off the table?)

 (When she finally got it down she then kept trying to pick it up.)

 4) Using our cool new pumpkin cookie cutters from Grammy to make pumpkin and cream cheese sandwiches for school.

5) Letting passersby know just how much we love Halloween with a fancy wreath, lots of pumpkins and bright orange and purple lights that shine brightly at night. 

6) Going to our first Halloween party of the season. 

 (Some of us decided that dressing up wasn't for us after all.)

 (Others of us relished in it.)

 (Although her shoes were at least three sizes too big she insisted on wearing them.

She had to pick up her knees with every step to carry the extra weight of the big shoes.)

 (The fact that her glasses kept falling off but she was determined to keep them on 

gave me the giggles.)

 (We discovered an unexpected spider web right by our front door that kept us quietly 

entertained for a long time.)

Whether snow storms, last minute decisions on costumes, or plans that go array; life is full of unexpected-isms. Some are harder to swallow than others but, in the end, my gut tells me that after time has passed, the -isms are forgotten and the events stick as those wonderful unexpected memories in life that bring a smile to our face. 

Here's to hoping your Halloween is full of happy-unexpected-isms!

(Sissy in her Elvis hat that she now wears non-stop. Thank you BaBa and Pop Pop!)

"Life is a stream of unexpected events , because the unexpected happens when you don't have the time or place to expect things the way you want the unexpected to be expected , and the expected stays unexpected till it happens as you expected." - Unknown