It's NOT Too Soon...

So this is what our 4:45-5:00pm window looked like today. 

I'm just gonna leave this here..... 

ideas! 

It is never too early to start brainstorming group Halloween costume ideas.
Feel free to leave your favorites. :)

xo | cms

She Loves - Series Day 9: Just Me :)

Happy kinda-almost-Halloween, blogbots! If you're anything like us, your trick-or-treat night was tonight, because Halloween itself is on a Monday [aka work & school]night, and half of us lack either the time or energy - or both - for that. And yes, we trick-or-treat on Halloween not because we are demonic, but because we enjoy fun costumes, hanging out with friends and bringing in hauls of candy. [I was recently warned by someone that Halloween is not something a Christian family should celebrate; this is perhaps a conversation for another day, but I'll say this - I appreciate the weigh in, and understand the argument, but I don't agree. Connect with me directly if you want to dialogue on it!]

soccer tourney!

ANYWAY, we obliged an invitation an hour north by our friends Shayne & Cassie, and after a morning of soccer here in Cincinnati, we rested up for the long night ahead of us. There is something to be said about the excitement kids find in trick-or-treating. It's a community effort, and in some cases a rather extravagant one. We as adults reminisce on all the times our parents trailed us through neighborhoods as we willingly walked miles of residential sidewalk and driveway for chocolate and other varieties that very well could've sucked our teeth out.  I did that tonight with my own daughter, whose ballerina costume earned her several compliments, and an equal collection of Reese Cups [everybody wins!].

awww, flashbacks to jamaica!
the kittles. the stokes. the gills.

1 Corinthians 15:10 - 

By the grace of God,
I am what I am. 

This I think is ultra-fitting today, because as we get into costume as someone [or something] else, it's not permanent and it doesn't change who we are.

trick or treating 2016

I was reminded today of the novelty in being that other thing - even just briefly. As our kids meandered around the neighborhood- this pocket-sized battalion of story & comic book characters, I was struck with appreciation for: 

- all the times our parents braved trick-or-treating with us as kids, which IF I REMEMBER, was WAY more of a bloodsport for kids than it is now. I'm serious. I can't be the only one that remembers savage battles with sibling or friend over who got to ring the doorbell first. Kids these days are so... polite. Weird.

- all those times our parents had to take us trick-or-treating, in weather that sucked. Also something we're all politely choosing to ignore: I don't remember one single childhood Halloween when we didn't have to modify our costumes to fit over everything but the snowsuit itself. Today it was a very nice 65ish degreese outside, without a cloud in the sky. I said a silent thank-you for it.

- the fact that trick-or-treating is still a very real past-time, and that I get to share this with my daughter.

Rob and I didn't dress up this year. Really, we could've planned for something, but whether by lack of time or inadequate incentive, it just didn't happen. We're fine with that, but honestly, I agonized over the idea of not dressing up for longer than was really necessary. I get the festive spirit from my mother, who loves taking participation to a new level every time, not because she's competitive, but because she legitimately loves to be wholly entrenched in the spirit of whatever it is she's there to celebrate [Renaissance Festivals, if you need an example].

I didn't have a huge epiphany tonight, if that's what you thought I was going to say.. no. I didn't. I do however, think there's no better time than today to have this verse as an underlying reminder that we can dress up as anything under the sun that we can imagine, but it doesn't change who we are. This mama is learning every day to take and keep ownership of the mess she is, day in and day out, and embracing the idea that I am what I am, and every bit of it - both good and bad, by the grace of God.

excuse my face.. i was chewing.. haha

I hope all of you out there collecting candy, peering through little eye-holes in your mask, or bargaining all night with an itchy wig - I hope ya'll are having a blast, staying safe and spending some quality time with your crew. 

Happy Kinda Halloween! ;) 

xo | cms

Illinois Thanksgiving... GO.

I forgot to mention that this Thanksgiving weekend is pretty much going to be a blur by the time it's over, so if nothing else, these blog entries are for my own sanity of sorting it out when the dust settles.

Wednesday night we made our way north to Mt. Vernon, yesterday was our family Thanksgiving feast, and today we were back in Cincinnati for a few short hours so that Rob could work a half day. Sydni and I maximized the hours by cleaning the house, doing laundry and packing up again for the last leg of our Thanksgiving weekend, and soon enough found ourselves on the road again, west-bound to Illinois.

Fast forward through the 5-hour roadtrip to our first landing point at Rob's mom's. We stopped by primarily to visit with them, but also because she wanted to give Sydni her late birthday/early Christmas present: A Midieval Princess Dress!

She loves it. Thank you, Carolyn!!!

We're now at Dillon's; the boys took off to go do their own thing, and Sydni and I are busying ourselves with some good old fashioned mama-mini snuggle time to some cartoons.

Hello, Illinois! ♥

xo | cmd

H-A-Double L-O....

I FOUND IT!!!


I am an alumni of my hometown's elementary school system, and at our school, we learned [or reviewed] this song literally every. single. year. I know I'm not the only one who remembers this number. This was part of my childhood playlist for the Halloween season, and it clearly made enough of an impression that I remembered the bulk of the chorus as I near the end of my twenties.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN to all you blogbots out there!!
[backdated stuff staaaaaaaaaarts...... now ;)]

Tonight was definitely a production; it started when I got home and took the plunge into Halloween makeup mode. In 30 minutes, I'd transformed myself from recognizable me to a masked super-villain.

Rob arrived home, changed into his getup, and out the door we were to Jessica's, where I had the task ahead of painting the rest of my entourage into their villainous characters. Jessica's friend Sarah was having a birthday party, and had chosen the villain.

We arrived at Molly Malone's in Covington to find the Sanderson Sisters [probably my favorite costumed trio of the night]:

perfect!!!!

[Oh, how I LOVE watching Hocus Pocus over... & over again during the Halloween season!!]

My entourage didn't look too shabby, either!

the boys: penguin & jigsaw

the girls: harley quinn & poison ivy

all 4 (:

couples ... villainous couples! 

It has been a long time since I went full-out on a Halloween costume for any sort of party, let alone with a group of people [unless the Run Like Hell 5k counts... which for this example, I'm gonna just say it doesn't... it doesn't ;) .. ]. Needless to say, despite the small fortune invested into each of our getups, Rob and I had a blast and the wish I made back in August of dolling up for a Halloween party somewhere came true. I'm not the girl that gets flushed when I see a few other renditions of the character I chose to be; I think it's kind of fun to see what other people thought to do for it, too. [That doesn't mean I don't think ours still totally rocked! ;)]

batman's detention squad

^ At one point or another, I counted nearly all of the villainous Batman cast in the same room at the same time; I was bummed that we weren't able to hunt down the Joker & Harvey Dent we'd seen roving the place for that shot, but 5 outta 7 isn't too bad! We even found another familiar villain:

chad! [the burglar from home alone.. yenno,
marco belinelli... post-iron-in-the-face?]

Not a bad way to have a little fun with friends.

I hope you've all been SAFE and ENJOYABLE Halloween! Here's to the start of winding down 2014. Live, love, laugh and get dressed up with your friends. (:

See you again once I've got my real face back!

xo | cmd

Last Minute, OF COURSE....

Anyone who thinks that I'm well-prepared for most things is probably someone who doesn't know me well. Sure, I keep it together for actual life events, but things like.... OUTFITS, are certainly not an area in which I have ever invested much time to "plan ahead." It makes my family crazy, and oftentimes I cycle back through a pile of vetoed clothing just to settle on and re-dress in the first daggone thing I tried. First world girl problems, I know.

That all being said, I wasn't really surprised when I remembered today that we have a Halloween party to attend on Friday, and that our costumes as of last night... didn't really exist. At all. Today, I embarked on a blinders-on mission to complete mine, and am happy to report back that I'm good to go.

teaser! 

^^ That's all ya get for right now, although I'm sure it won't be too hard to guess for most of you out there. That's the central theme around my costume; poor Rob had the headache of the ages when he got home from work, and as it's nearly 9pm and I've not heard a peep from him, I'm going to assume he'll get all his costume prep done tomorrow.

Last minute like.
'Cuz that's how we do.
:)

xo | cmd 

There & Back Again.

We're getting good at keeping to a general outline of a routine whenever we make these trips to Illinois now. It usually starts with visiting Rob's mom and stepdad in some fashion, and ends with us visiting his dad and stepmom. In between is the time we spend with friends, usually maximizing the weekend for all it's worth and then some by the time we've gone.

Today found perfect cadence with that routine, when we packed up our time at Dillon's and headed over to Rob's dad for a few hours before we jumped on the road back home.

travis! :) 

It was some time very well spent; I got to help Kate out on a project that otherwise may have taken a few days to complete, and Rob got a special hand-me-down heirloom from his dad:

vintage blues gear! 

The Halloween spirit is striking early this year, I've noticed; even Kate's little kitten was in a test run of one of her little outfits. She's the cutest pumpkin I've seen so far:

darlins! 

Soon enough, we picked up once again and talked ourselves into the drive home. Both the pups were content this time around being in the backseat, after a weekend of confusion in unfamiliar territory. Stella eventually took advantage of the road trip and resigned herself to a 4-hour nap, while Sasha kept on as the ever-watchful [and pesky] backseat sentinel.

and a very intimidating one, clearly... ♥

We made it home in four separate but whole pieces, and that's about all that's left to report.

Monday'll be here before I'm ready to greet it, so for now... good night!

xo | cmd

Halloween Pre-Game

It is September 18th. 

This girl reminded me that she does a 6-week pregame for Halloween, which I will totally entertain, every single day until it gets here.

♥♥♥

And I love every second of it.

In tonight's version of Princess Sydni, Snow White doesn't live in a cottage, but rather a castle. Made of blankets and pillows. It is clearly a fortress to be envied. ;)

Back to the royal castle I go!

xo | cmd

Halloween + TBT

Happy Halloween, everyone!

So, I regrettably admit that I did pretty much next to nothing this year as far as Halloween was concerned. I did the trick-or-treat thing with Sydni and my parents at GWL this past weekend, but other than that, there were no wiiiiild Halloween shenanigans, like many of my friends had posted all over FB & Instagram. [I'm a little jealous, yeah, but there's always next year.. and I plan on not being so busy with the same things around this time in 2014!

Elisa texted me late last night as we were en route back to Cincinnati from the game suggesting we dress up as twins for work today.. I obliged that and we got a couple of good laughs out of folks who weren't prepared for body doubles when they came to visit us.

twins!

Speaking of costumes, I couldn't help but point out that really, no matter what anyone around me dressed up as this year, we will pale in comparison to some of the costumes I saw from the early 1900's. Sure, they're not off Pinterest, but I'm guessing most of them were hand-crafted somehow and quite frankly, they're terrifying.


i mean c'mon.. that's pretty creepy...

Right??!
And then that reminded me that I wanted to check this out yesterday but hadn't had the chance. As we were watching the game last night, Becky and I sat reminiscing on all of the players we watched as little-girl-soccer-players back in the 90s and early 2000s when the legends were still playing.

And so, this TBT [Throwback Thursday] is dedicated to some of my childhood favorites, and the new players who've taken heir to their jersey numbers.

First, my most respectful salute to the Fab Five [& no, sorry, I don't mean last year's USA gymnastics quintet]. I'm a 90's soccer girl, so of course I mean THE Fab Five: Mia, Julie, Kristine, Joy & Brandi.

1999 world cup & march of dimes

This is the fab five, along with Briana Scurry [GK] and Michelle Akers [FW/MF], who, let's face it, were both integral players in the '99 season, not to mention pioneers for women's soccer everywhere. Man, I feel ooooold.

{clockwise from top}
#14 joy fawcett | #11 julie foudy | #13 kristine lilly | #9 mia hamm
#6 brandi chastain | #1,GK briana scurry | #10 michelle akers

And here's my tribute to their jerseys, all of which we saw last night..

|| #6 ||
then: brandi chastain | now: crystal dunn

|| #9 ||
then: mia hamm | now: heather o'reilly

|| #10 ||
then: michelle akers | now: carli lloyd

|| #11 ||
then: julie foudy | now: ali krieger

|| #13 ||
then: kristine lilly | now: alex morgan

|| #14 ||
then: joy fawcett | now: whitney engen

|| #1 - goalkeeper ||
then: briana scurry | now: hope solo

And.... of course I wanted to throw in an ode to the girl lucky enough to don Abby Wambach's old jersey... but uhh... since Abby's still out there, as the veteran of the team, I'd say she deserves to stand alone in this one (: She has her own throwbacks, to the 28, 14 and now 20 [among the many others].

abby wambach.
current record-holder with 159 goals

Loooove (:

It's raining. That's completely not fair to trick-or-treaters everywhere.. I'm parked here on the couch in my sweats and don't plan on moving anywhere outside of the path between this and my bed for the rest of the evening, especially since T-O-T here in my neighborhood isn't happening tonight. Poor kiddos.

Good news: Tomorrow's Friday and I think the weather is supposed to hold out for everyone who had this rescheduled. Score!

Nighty night!

xo | cmd

Great Wolf Lodge, Pt. I

As with each Saturday morning, today started off with soccer practice. It was one of those "OFF" mornings, though, where Sydni was stubborn and really just not feelin' soccer practice. Even so, she made grumpy look good and I was able to steal a few action shots.

manuevering.

I may have to come to terms with the fact that she's not into soccer.. at least not just yet. I realize that yes, she is only four, and yes, she will probably change her mind at least a billion times between now and when it matters, but we'll see. I mean she did after all tell me today that she wants to play basketball. That's probably the furthest thing from what either myself OR her dad would've ever played or guessed. So yeah. Wiggle room. ;)

AND THEN.........

Post-soccer, it was a quick change and then off to a Great Wolf Lodge! Luckily for me, it's only about 15 minutes from soccer, and really I think it's highly underrated as an attraction right here in Cincinnati. Especially if you have kids. Espeeeecially if you and your kids like splashparks, arcades, spa's, pizza shops, magic treasure hunts, mini golf glo-courses, bowling alleys and mascot woodland creatures who roam the halls creeping out parents while the kiddos think they're cute and/or funny.

No brainer.

So, Syd and I met up with my parents and wasted zero time getting into the magic that just is... GWL.

First stop? FOOD. Like it'd be anything else.. c'mon.. ;)

trying to color but distracted by all the cool stuff everywhere!

After lunch, it was off to the giftshop to pick up a wand.
These things..... aside from being moneymakers for GWL, are actually pretty cool. The entire place is riddled with sensor-activated things that react to the wands. There's a whole Quest series in place, and once you choose a certain quest, then you're off in search of the various elements needed to complete it. That would explain why there were groups of tweens flying around the lodge the entire weekend. It's not just a little kid thing. Haha.

magic wand... presto!

We did that for a little while, chasing Sydni back and forth across the hallways as she darted from treasure chest to magic crystal to talking painting. I have to admit, it's an absolutely genius idea. Even so, we came here specifically because it's an indoor water park. It's complete with four full length waterslides, a lazy river, wave pool, all sorts of places to climb, kiddie pools, a jacuzzi and one of those giant buckets that spills out 1,000 of water every hour or so onto the excited crowd standing under it.

quick peek. there's much more to it than this

We had fun. (: (: (:

pappy & nana with sydni!

My little sassy pants mcswimsuit here.... 

mini model. strike it!

I somehow coerced Sydni into taking a quick nap between waterparking and the rest of the night. She wasn't happy about it, but was even grumpier when we woke her up and told her she had to get dressed again. Yeah, she's mine: grumpy when she wakes up & hates clothes all together.. :p. Sooo, we donned the fairy costume and set off for the Halloween costume parade, story time and animatronics show. 

happy halloween, grumpy girl.. heheh..
[i look like a vampire. that was an accident.]

... Oh, and that arcade here.
We did that after all the Halloween jazz.
Sydni gave my dad a run for his money. And... he loved every bit of it.

pappy & sydni racing cars.

syd challenging pappy again.. on bikes.

To top it off, video proof ;)
Love.

We're back in the room now, after what seemed like one of the longest but jam-packed fun days we've had in a long time. We're doing it all over again tomorrow, so here's to a great first day at GWL!

xo | cmd

H-A-Double L-O, W-Double E-N... Spells Halloween!

^ Anyone remember that song, from like... elementary school?

I do.

Anyway, Happy Halloween blogbots. The standard practice of week-long trick-or-treating has finally culminated in the day of festive costuming and candy-consumption.

The bosses granted us a day of wardrobe reprieve so that we could dawne our costumes for the day at the office. Our original intention was to go with the Village People, until one of us, no-names-ahem-*me had a wardrobe malfunction to start the day and had to resort to a secondary option.

They pulled it off pretty well, I'd say.

+ A soccer player.

+ A.... business owner? I dunno, Marc's costume was a bit harder to decipher. And by costume, I mean he didn't really go the distance like Ali did for the day. Haha. Still funny.

I will be glad when this is over though; I've had fleeting yet recurring dreams all week that trick-or-treaters are breaking into my house and scaling the walls. Like mini zombie-apocolypse... but with cute kids disguised as pumpkins and dinosaurs. Weird.

Anyway, Happy Halloween!

xo | cmd

Halloween Shout Out | Becky's HERE!

In the spirit of this quickly-approaching "holiday" dedicated to dressing up [or down], pretending to be someone [or something] else, and of course, inviting 1 to 200 of your closest friends ....... I decided to dedicate this one to two of my friends [who I misssssss] from Columbus.

Remy & Gilberto [Jeremy & Gilbert], this one's for you.

Here's to over seven years worth of halloween costumes together [sorry, I don't have the time to go digging for the other 5 years of photo-docs]. Miss you guys, and I miss your legit costumes!



remy. rin. gilberto | halloweening since 2004 :p

Hope everyone's ready for the real deal tomorrow (:
I'm pretty sure we're dressing up for work.

y.....um. | wasabi | edwardsville, il

^ Oh, that? Yeah.. that.. Totally almost forgot about that. Becky's in town for a few days, too! We decided to swing by Wasabi out in Edwardsville for some grub [which was delish], and then up to Global to unwind with some friends for a bit. I'm headed home in a few days and I'll see her then, but it just seemed fair to hang out on both turfs before I'm Ohio bound again. Haha.

Happy Hallow's Eve!

xo | cmd

Trick-Or-Treat | O'Fallon

It's that time of the year again. If you're wondering, no, Joe and I did not dress up for trick-or-treating today. I'm all about costumes, so maybe we'll get around to it on Halloween, maybe not. Last year I went out and about dressed as the Hamburgler, which went over well in a group of my friends disguised as everything from the Green Lantern, Goku, Frisch's Big Boy, and a few Jabbawockeez. Throw in a few characters from Street Fighter and Tekken, and it should answer any questions about most of those friends being Asian ;).

I kid, I kid.
[errrrrrr]

our little raggity ann ♥

So today we geared up for the daylight candy hunt over in O'Fallon with the Babots. I brought out the Raggity Ann get-up that I'd bought for Sydni over a month ago from a re-sale shop and suited her up for the fun. We'd bought her a monkey candy bag way back during one of my weekend visits to Florida when Joe was still in tech school, and so that came right along with us in the car as we toted off across the highway.

landon & lara | sydni & cori
mama's & their babies ;)

We met up with Lara, Alex, and Chicken Little, aka Landon, who, despite Alex's protest was proud to announce that he was a chicken, and gladly demonstrated what a chicken says. We thought it was absolutely adorable. Between Landon and Sydni, there was plenty reason to stop into all the small businesses lining the streets of downtown O'Fallon, and we even stopped at Papa Vito's for a lunch break on an outside patio. Altogether it was a great day: perfect weather, lots of exercise, and of course, candy. Sydni's first real expedition as a trick-or-treated was a success. There are still a few more days in the Halloween season, so we may very well be playing dress up again sometime in the next few days.

For now, we're wrapping up the evening with some family time, so that means I'm outta here. Good night, blogbots! :)

xo | cmd