Hello November

Remember a week ago when Maddox sat on the couch sobbing about being kissed by a girl-- well it may have been an act.  Only one week later, guess who got caught being the kisser in their game of tag at recess.
Yep.  Maddox.
And when I asked him about it, he was all smug like, "you said you weren't mad."
Well, I wasn't mad.
But I was really just trying to reassure that devastated child of mine, since it truly was such a tiny thing in the scheme of life-- and I had no idea I was giving him the okay to be the playground creep.
Sometimes I don't even know this kid!

We did talk about tag needs to omit the kissing part from now on, no matter how much for fun-- or screaming that it causes-- it isn't elementary appropriate.

This week was also Red Ribbon Week.
Most of our kindergarteners had never even heard the word drug before, and thankfully, mine didn't ask too many questions. 
He did tell a random man who asked what his Red Ribbon bracelet meant, "Proud to be Drug free... don't eat drugs or candy that has been opened."
So there you go.

Monday was "red day" and they were suppose to wear red.
Instead, Maddox looked like a Target employee.

Tuesday was pajama day.  The boys loved sleeping in their pajamas and rolling right into school from bed.  Beckham lost a shoe somewhere along the way.
I hung onto the idea myself and stayed the entire day in bed reading a book from start to finish.

Wednesday was hat day.  My boys are at home with that one.
It was also Mrs T's birthday and a few of the moms decided to surprise the class with a little party for her.
I spent my entire day making her a necklace while Beckham tormented my mom's cat, but I ran out of time and didn't get it to her by the party.
I actually ran out of so much time, actually, that I didn't bring my part of the party-- the drinks.
I was *that* mom.
Luckily the other moms were sweet about it.
(once again, I love our class!)

Thursday was tie day.  Maddox kept it business casual.

Friday was jersey day and Maddox chose to wear his old soccer jersey.
It was also his fun run day at school.
If they run 6 laps (1.5 miles), they earn a charm for their necklace.  If they run 10 laps (2.5 miles), they earn a special runner charm as well. 
He burned the rubber off of his shoes and earned both! 
He also earned a panther paw that day for being nice in the hall, so we were very proud of him.

That evening we met my parents and brother's family for dinner at Cotton Patch.
Who new such a joint could be so exciting?
B took a crash from the chair onto his noggin during dinner, which led to tears-- and the rest of his meal in my lap.
Four-beers-Weeder thought the man sitting at the table behind us was a professional hunter.
He wasn't.
Weeder was sure he was lying.
And I caused a scene at the end of the meal, wrapping up the full experience.

Here goes.
After dinner, the kids got ahead of us as we were leaving the restaurant.
The three big kids know better than to hop into the parking lot, but my little unexpected was with them-- ahead of me.
He wasn't running away, or into the parking lot yet-- but we never really know Beckham's next move so I wanted to get to him.
I tried wiggling my way down the steps but a family of the 3 slowest humans ever invented were in front of me and blocking my way.
Like any acrobatic, slightly crazy, mom-- I decided to jump the hand rails onto a boulder and off of the rock, down to Beckham.
In turn, I (rather rudely, I admit) cut off the family of 3.
First impression told me that mom in the pumpkin shirt and long skirt would have been understanding, as she looked like your average church lady... but her "EXCUSE YOU" in my face, let me know otherwise.
I started to apologize, but she shooed me off and headed out into the parking lot with her husband still hot and spewing.
My mom asked what happened and before I could tell her he story, she was shouting from the parking lot, with over-emphasis on the awkward cuss words with her own take on the events.
We are all heading the same direction and in the spirit of never letting anything go, I said, "I'm really sorry I upset you so much, I was just trying to keep my 3 year old out of danger."  She screams back, "AND WHAT ABOUT MY SON?" and I mockingly respond, "Your 10 year old?!", which hit a nerve apparently because momma in the pumpkin embellishments was coming at me yelling that he wasn't 10!!  (He might not have been 10, but he was every bit of 9 1/2, I guarantee it.  And even still, he was still safely planted next to ma and pop at the bottom of the stairs when I made my leap; with still a sidewalk and a sliver of grass between he and the parked cars.) 
Anyway, I had his moment when she was coming at me calling me "lady", where I honestly thought, "what if she tries to hit me?  ...Do I run?"  (I could have gotten a solid lead at least), "Do I kick at her?"  (I was still holding Beckham so my hands were useless), but before I could even come in with a 3rd option, Weeder was there, less the 10 years experience as a police officer and more the 4-beers-in Matthew McConaughey like, "alright, alright, alright." 

The craziest/ funniest/ strangest thing ever.
We laughed a solid hour over it.

Onto Trick-or-treating at Nana's.

Her street does it up big time, and dropping "Dee Perkins" here and there gets you fed like kings!
Ellie asked us why Beckham asked every house, "Do you like my soup?" (suit) Which made us laugh.
Relentless Gunner and Maddox rang the doorbells of houses out of candy, in case they were just taking a potty break.
Beckham told a house, "umm. My daddy wikes the nickas (snickers) and the kit kats." as he was choosing out of the bowl which made Lance feel like a real dirt-bag.  And at another house when a lady asked if he liked M&Ms or Skittles, he politely said, "both, thank you", which they kindly obliged.
My favorite part ever, however, was at a house where Maddox excitedly yelled, "I got a cupcake!!" holding up a packaged Little Debbie and then Ellie confusingly said, "I got a poptart?!" holding up her silver package of unknown filling.
I still get tickled typing that!

We finished back at Nana's where the kids handed out the last of her candy to other trick-or-treaters, and once we were out, we moved to the back porch to talk, laugh, and watch the kids' sugar high.

Saturday was mostly spent taking call, the backlash to a quiet Friday night call on Halloween is a loud Saturday afternoon sugar-hangover call.
It was busy.

I had to make a run to our bank in FTW, so a slide over to Joe T Garcia's only made sense.

My kids didn't get the memo about the "extra hour of sleep" so we have been moving and grooving since 6:30 today, asking for candy on a 15 minute auto-system.
There's blankets all over the floors, a sleeping husband watching the Cowboy's game, and me-- still in pajamas.

I can not believe we are already in November!

Tomorrow's Monday.