Her X-men name could be "Mistress Mastercard"

It is Black Friday and I'm just sitting down to look at my purchases. We took in a good haul this year even though we are not the getting-up-at-4am type (of course, this means we are also not the trample-an-employee-for-cheap-walmart-crap type either, so I'm ok with it). If you need to get some shopping done--you need to go with Nina. To say that shopping is a sport for her does not give really give the experience justice--unless maybe the sport is speed skating backwards while jousting.

After going to IKEA to "look" at beds for Mike:

Note that NONE of these boxes contained a bed. Or anything for Mike.

and this really needs no explanation:

This was today:

I should mention that I never really regret the purchases. It's all good stuff, it just happens so fast, its kind of hard to remember how it started.

We love to think about what different family member's mutant power might be if we were superheros. At least I do. Yes, because I'm a big geek--I know this--no need to belabor the point. Anyhow, Nina's power would certainly be convincing people to purchase as much as they can, in as short of a time as possible. I think mine would be my really loud clapping.

Despite what you see here, my Dad's would totally have to be his ability to tell the same story over and over andoverandover again and NOT remember that he already told you about the time that his buddy Eddy ate his goldfish or that his dog finally had enough of fluffy the cat...Anyway, go to his NEW website and look around!

See, he's not always crying..

This week at teamworks didn't start out any better...

but it ended MUCH better!

Yay Mike! I'm so proud of you!

A pictoral response to the question "How did Mike like his first gym class?"

Well, at least he is near the soccer ball.

He did come around at the end of class. He even wiped some snoogies on coach Mike.

Puke-E

What a great halloween.


Gianna was Ariel. Which meant that she got to wear a wig and a mermaid outfit with a bra. I guess its the 6-year old version of "sexy witch" or "sexy devil". There are inherent problems with a mermaid costume-and we ended up tying her fins up abut halfway around the block so she could walk. Not sure what PETA would have to say about that, but it was better than a mermaid with skinned knees and hands (that's not spooky-that's just sad).




No trips to the ER--Bill did the pumpkin and he did a GREAT JOB.

Mike was Wall-E. My Dad made the BEST costume and right up until Halloween, Mike wore it for a couple hours every day. Of course, on the big night the goggles were a big NEGATIVE. It made for a lot of confused neighbors--but honestly, most of them didn't know who Wall-E was anyway.


Yay! There's the loot!


Two things to notice--1. the costume-specific treat bags that I made the kids; seahorse for Gia, EVE for Mike (props please?) and 2. You can see the bag of Mike and Ike's that Mike is eating here. He later puked that up at our neighbor's house. I should mention that this summer--the dog puked in this same neighbor's yard. This would be ok if we didn't like them, but we REALLY like these neighbors. They are actually really awesome, and for some strange reason, they keep inviting us back--so, please, guys? stop with the puke--or at least spread it around the neighborhood.




Apparently Nina forsaw what the evening would bring. Here's her prophetic pumpkin....