true boy tales: Happy Halloween!

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween!

And since we live in Iowa, we did our trick-or-treating last night. (The Midwest is weird like that...) Of course it was cold but lots of fun! Its cool being in the same spot a year later and thinking about how our kids have changed. Dawson and Sylvie were basically toddlers last year who couldn't even speak in full sentences and were little slowpokes all night! This year they were running with the pack. And Channing was much warmer last year in his cozy little womb.

From left to right: sweet butterfly (Quinn), stubborn butterfly (Piper), ornery Max (from Where the Wild Things Are), Turtle Man (Colin. No, none of us knew who that was either :), sweet little skeleton, a beast named Bennett, and Merida from Brave (Sylvie).
These nights always get rushed at the last minute when you're trying to get three little ones fed and dressed and face-painted (and re-face-painted when they accidentally rub it off) and photographed before six so we quickly threw them together for a picture and just took what we could get. Here's Max and a Wild Thing:

Judie made that Max costume for Bennett's 3rd birthday. I told myself when Bennett was a baby that I would never buy costumes. It seems like a crazy waste of money when kids only wear them once and I have so many friends I can borrow one from but I found that blue monster on clearance last year at PB Kids and I couldn't pass it up. Plus all three boys will wear it so I'll get my money's worth.

I stole this shot from my sister's tumblr so you could see their butterfly costumes better. They looked so adorable and I just love when siblings coordinate:

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for the book lovers {my recent favorites}:

Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan: An incredibly haunting medical memoir. There's a lot of medical info to read through but I didn't find those parts boring and difficult to wade through. I thought she shared just enough. But if you like a book that's easy to read, this isn't it. I couldn't get this one out of my mind for a very long time. An unforgettable true story.
Me Before You by JoJo Moyes and What Alice Forgot by Lianne Moriarty: I'm just going to lump these two together because they're in the same category. I'm calling them deep chick lit. A perfect summer book to get lost in. Read them. Both. I promise you from the bottom of my heart that you will LOVE them. (I liked them both way better than Where'd You Go, Bernadette.)
These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner: Most of my favorite books have a main character with a whole lotta grit. I wasn't quite sure about this one when I first started it but, oh, did it sweep me in and not let me go til the last page. I also love a book that makes me "emote out loud" as I like to think of it. This one had me smiling all the way through and crying my eyes out at the end. It follows a young girl through her life in the Arizona Territories in the late 1800's. A must read for anyone who likes Historical Fiction.
Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill. I LOVED this book. Its a very well researched historical fiction novel about a young girl kidnapped from her village in Africa and sold into slavery. It follows her through her whole life and the unbelievable heartache and trauma she lives through. I've been telling people I liked it as much as Unbroken but the main character is so much more endearing and has so much spunk.
Another Place at the Table by Kathy Harrison. I have a thing for modern day memoirs of utterly heartbreaking stories (Like Breaking Night and Blackbird). This is a Foster mother's first-hand account of the children she took in over the years and the unbelievable trauma they went through before they came to her.
Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls. I loved this lighthearted yet emotional story of a strong woman making the best of a hard life in the Southwest, beginning in the 1930's. I love her writing style--just cuts to the point of every story without too much "fluff" and yet tells it in a way that you can picture everything in vivid detail. Her memoir, The Glass Castle, is one of my all-time favorites, and this true-life novel about her grandmother didn't disappoint.
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. Modern day fiction about a girl raised in Foster homes and her struggles throughout life. She learns about the Victorian Era language of flowers and that becomes a huge part of her life. I finished it in two days. An easy read but very emotional and moving.
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers. The true story of a man's experience after Hurricane Katrina when he decided not to evacuate in order to look after several properties he owned. Quite an unbelievable story and so hard to believe this happened in the US only a few years ago.