Halloween 2020

 Here's what was so weird about Halloween this year. 

We only dressed up ONCE. 

No Ward Halloween Party. 

No school parades or classroom celbrations. 

No Trunk or Treat.

It was AMAZING!!!

Talk about a Covid silver lining......

We just....went trick or treating. Just....went! It was a revelation.

Everly was a dead bride:

Anna was a bubble gum machine:

Laney was a dragon (with movable wings!):

Megan was Unus. I don't know who that is. Because I'm old.

Mathew firmly refused to wear the leiderhosen I scored at Savers last week. I couldn't believe it. Who doesn't want to walk around the neighborhood in suspendered shorts when their 17 years old?

Ah well...at least there is someone to hand out the candy. 

Ethan got off of work and went straight over to the Peterson's.  We love him, so we try not to get our feelings hurt. 

I went for a Rosie the Riveter look. It didn't last. I am not used to being stabbed by 35 bobby pins straight to the head....or blinding red lips and eyelashes that I can see flapping in the breeze. 

Maybe it was the universe's way of throwing us a little bit of love today....but the weather was the picture of perfection. People were out in record numbers, firepits roaring and groups of neighbors sitting out together, laughing and letting the kids take handfuls of treats from their collaborative tables. The leaves were falling and the smoke in the air made me feel perfectly happy. 

We went twice as far as we've ever gone before! The girls were having a hard time holding their buckets!

But alas....we didn't escape without a good dose of the weirdness that only 2020 can deliver:

But it's all worth the loot!

Happy Halloween!

Carving in isolation

 Megan woke up with a sore throat on Monday morning. Then she said it was kinda hard to breathe. AND THEN! She mentioned that food was tasting kinda weird. 

Obviously...she had the Covid. 

It seemed a mere formality to get her tested. 

And Anna too...she was feeling stuffy and they share a room....

We called the schools, picked up a "skip the line" covid test card from the school nurse and ventured over for the dreaded swabbing of the brain we've heard so many people complain about. 

They were super excited.

Then we settled in for the wait. 

In the meantime...we have some pumpkins to carve and we'll not be sharing any germs with our friends until we know PRECISELY what kind of germs they are. 

We missed them all for many reasons...not the least of which was we really rocked it out this year! And we have no one to show our creations.

We had tons of elbow room!

Dad provided fresh baked cookies to keep up our carving energy. He's so supportive!

Anna's very worried pumpkin...

Everly's most adorable mini pumpkin cottage...

This is mine. I've wanted to do this creepy twine thing for awhile...and it was really hard! I mean...it took a LOT of jabbing a stick through tough pumpkin skin. This was a one and only...

Laney's was a two-sided masterpiece....

Megan tapped into her superpowers....Precision and Discipline to produce this awesome Papyrus.  I offered my help, but we have moved into the stage where she doesn't trust me not to mess up her vision.  She got that from me...lol.

All our Jack o' lanterns in a row! 

We missed our friends and we hope next year we can all be back together again, but for now...we have our cute pumpkins to keep us company!

Covid Donuts

 Some things are more important than socially distancing. 

Like hot homemade donuts and friends we haven't seen in a while. 

Inktober Continued

 

Vote 2020

 

The Doors

 The garage doors finally got installed today! And we seriously love them. They make the whole house look so fresh and crisp. 

And the light inside the garage is wonderful. I love seeing the trees through the windows!!

And that concludes the parade of pandemic-inspired home improvement projects for the year!

Inktober - Week 1

 Megan has decided to participate in Inktober. All month, she will draw something and post it for other Inktober artists to see. She has tried before but has succumbed to the crippling and time-consuming effects of perfectionism. But she's older and wiser and she's given herself permission to have fun and just draw what she likes. 

Here's her first week!

October 1st:

October 2nd:

October 3rd:

October 4th: 

Once again, I sit back a marvel at the talents that my children possess. I love that they have gifts that belong only to them....little sparks of brilliance and divinity that the brought with them.

The Wallace Experience

A few little tidbits from our extended camping weekend:

Fire is always our main entertainment. We want to build it immediately and keep it burning all day long. This year my fire pit was commandeered by the little girls. I frequently found them building miniature personal fires on the edges of the fire ring. I'm 19 years into this parenting gig...so I told them they were doing awesome and wandered off in search of adult conversation. 

We went on a hike in search of our old favorite teeter totter bridge. we found an old remnant. Those were the good old days!

Megan was NOT into having her photo taken this year.

Everly was good with it!

We had a couple medical emergencies...but Kate was right on hand to administer fist aid. It takes a village, people! Lol....Village People.

Anna discovered that the pantry shelf on our picnic table makes a pretty fantastic top bunk.

The girls spent lots of time at the Williams' camp painting rocks. I could barely get them to come back to eat for a few minutes and they would run straight back!

We added a new favorite meal to our camping menu....drip beef sandwiches. 

Nothing like a communal pot of au jus to really feel like you're roughin it!

This will go down as "The Year of the Bees". Every day, when the sun came up, the bees emerged and made themselves a nuisance while we ate our lunches. I'm pretty sure no one got stung...but you can't deny that little twinge of fear that you feel when one of them buzzes your ear or lands on your clothes. 

And maybe my favorite part of the weekend....watching the guys play a good old fashioned game of touch football. 

This place and these people just make me happy!

I am amazed that another year of Wallace has come and gone. I find myself cherishing the memories that we make because I can see that they are changing fast. We missed having Kylie and Miranda this year...and next year we will probably be missing our big boys. 

Maybe we'll just stay her forever!