Happy Halloweenie Pics from the Crew!

"Once in a young lifetime one should be allowed to have as much sweetness as one can possibly want and hold..."

Here are the kiddos in all their glory! What a night...

Happy Halloween... Visit my blog to see a very scary picture.... BOO!

Happy Halloween to all our friends and family... Have a wonderful day and special wishes for lots of chocolate candy (and none of the bad stuff)!

“If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus 1 day, so I never have to live without you.” ~Winnie the Pooh

Happy Anniversary to Toddsy Babes and I. Hard to believe that we have known and loved each other for about 23 years now... It is my firm belief that just about everything in life can be solved by creating a proportion (thanks to my 9th grade Algebra teacher...) According to this, Todd and I have been in love for more than 60% of our life. Pretty darn sweet and I'm not just talking about the Mud Pie in the picture above... High school sweethearts, who would have ever thought?

I can remember him telling me when we were 15... "I am going to marry you one day". I can also remember being highly annoyed by that statement because who in gods name actually marries their first boyfriend? Who would have thought, against all odds and a lot of adversity that true love actually does prevail!

How lucky and blessed we are to have each other and our crazy big family. We had no idea what was in store for us... Five kids (that were five surprises) and a whole lot of challenges, commotion, confusion, and chaos... There is one thing that I tell Todd now quite frequently, "There isn't anyone else I'd want to experience this journey with other than you..." And that's the absolute truth.

How happy we are and what an adventure it's been so far. I love you my sweetheart... I love my life, I love my husband!

“And Now,” cried Max, “Let The Wild Rumpus Start!”

We certainly know what we will be doing this weekend. Where the Wild Thing Are has always been one of the kids all time favorite books. It's released in movie theaters today. Little Maya reads this book several nights a week.... one of her absolute favorites. Mitchell has had a picture depicting this book framed on his wall since he was a toddler. He used to say that he was "Max".

Maurice Sendak, also the beloved creator of Little Bear, is an interesting guy. Many years ago I read about him and his iconic childhood creations. Some of his characters have a dark side...and others like Little Bear, are the most tender and loving stories you could ever imagine.

As I recall, Maruice Sendak is quite a conflicted man. I believe now he's in his 80's and has lived a very quiet isolated life. As a child he was sickly and his younger years were filled with a lot of sadness and fear. His father, a Holocaust survivor, told stories that ultimately terribly traumatized him. His relationship with his father was a difficult one. I remember reading he was permanently scarred as a child over the Lindbergh kidnapping, and always worried if he would be stolen in the night.

All this turmoil ultimately lead him to create some of the most interesting and wonderful children's stories and characters of all time. He is famous for touching not only on the dark but the tender side of childhood often producing controversial children's stories. Not only a writer, Maurice Sendak is also the illustrator of all this magic too, which I feel really places him as one of the most talented artists and authors we have in America.

I can't wait to experience this movie... let's hope it's a good one... It has a lot to live up to. The soundtrack has at least two great songs one by Arcade Fire, "Wake Up" and the other by Karen O, "All is Love"... now on my blog.

Here's the official movie trailer:
http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/where-the-wild-things-are/trailer

Happy Birthday Gunslinger..."From His Cold Dead Hands..."

I really hate to quote a slogan popularized by the NRA... but somehow it's fitting for Brett Favre, the guy who just won't ever give up, retire or go away. (For better or worse.)

Favre is the King and has been for some time. He's surpassed every meaningful quarterback record and he's not done yet. Many are ready for him to step down, take a leap, move on, retire for good.... That time is surely coming quickly. Maybe we will actually have to take the football out of his cold dead hands in order for him to finally retire, who knows. As long as he can still play at a high level and it's obvious he can, he should...

Just a quick Happy 40th Birthday to my pal Brett. He happens to be 4-0 with the Vikings and will be playing today for his first ever 5-0 season start! Some things do get better with age..... cheese, wine, Brett Favre?

One thing is for sure.... Football is a whole lot more interesting with him playing the game.

Steel Nerves Please... Ditch the Serial Killer Mentality!

"He's an emotional guy and I'm sure there will be a wave of emotion before the game and then kind of hopefully a cold, kind of a serial-killer mentality when the game starts," Vikes coach Brad Childress told reporters.

Ok... Chili may have gone a bit overboard on the quote... I'm just hoping for steel nerves tonight when the Vikings take on the Packers at the Dome. This has got to be the biggest, best, most important game ever of all time, in the history of mankind....no?

Sending all my hope, thoughts, prayers, good vibes towards the Vikings and Favre, Peterson, Percy Harvin.... The Norseman must dominate!

My mom is in the land of 10,000 Lakes as we speak... I'm so sorry she can't see the game in person but she says the energy and excitement in Minnesota is off the charts.

They're calling him Benedict Brett along with the Miracle Man... Sounds like he's more Savior than Judas. I guess it depends on which side of the fence you sit.... either way let us not forget... it's just football. Some of the vitriol being spewed at him is just a bit over the top...

A gathering scheduled at our house this evening has gotten the kabosh due to two sick kiddies of mine.... I hope this isn't a premonition of what's to come...