the devil went down to georgia for thanksgiving

So, BIG NEWS in the family Simpson. Thomas got free tickets to the Georgia-Georgia Southern game. And I am trying to type using correct capitalization instead of my usual, non-capitalization style of typing. It's painful, to say the least. 

I haven't always been a big college football fan, but i can honestly say that i truly love it. i'm converted. 

Though my heart and my money belong to BYU, and i belong to the cult of Alabama, Georgia is a pretty good team to like too. 

Plus, Thomas likes Georgia almost as much as he likes me.

and for all those wondering, what are thomas's thoughts on the mark richt firing, he's for it. $4 million dollars a year means you need to win national championships. i agree.

The dawgs pulled off a victory in overtime and my eyebrows are on point!

for thanksgiving, we made the 5 hour trip to thomas's mother's new house in brunswick, georgia. i really wanted to run a thanksgiving 5k but i couldn't find one within reasonable driving distance so i made up my own. the topography is flat as a pancake there and i was looking forward to a breeze of a run and it was surprisingly humid and windy. i still pulled off a victory for the home team. i forgot to time myself so i'm sure it was a sub 20 minute run.  

an appearance by my snaggletooth

we feasted and i made two of my best desserts, red velvet brownie cake with fudge frosting and banana pudding. 

thankfully, thomas got a few big assignments THAT DAY  and he worked up until the meal and most of the next day. (don't be a lawyer.)

typical kid shot:

after, we put on comfy clothes and drove to the coast. i wish this picture was a little brighter and the girl's poses were more visible. they are pretty special.

contemplating the eternities.

Reagan's big request for the trip was to go to Petsmart and look at cats. Reagan really wants a cat and Athena Blythe and Scarlett both want a dog and i want neither. i want a cleaning lady. let's put the money there.

and herschel is absolutely adorable. no deep thoughts this month, we just love our kids.

grandma visits for a halloween spell

quick october thoughts:

 thomas made my whole year by going along with my couples halloween costume this year. he was still a little begrudging, but he did help me adjust my sunglasses placement so that they were a little more axl. 

dress like a book character day. scarlett resurrected the ol' hermione costume and reagan insisted on checking out a non-fiction snake book from the library to accompany his snake costume to school. snake costumes might be the hardest costume in the universe to make. 

 grandma sandy came for halloween! we ate cupcakes at special kneads bakery and wore our royals shirts all around town!

we never had a chance to hit up a real pumpkin patch so i took pictures at the local kroger. this picture is worth a 1,000 words.

i think i really outdid myself this year trying to accommodate personal carving requests. scarlett wanted a vampire, athena blythe wanted a puppy dog, and reagan wanted "mary from wall-e". i didn't know who mary was at the time, so i just winged it and gave the pumpkin long eyelashes.

though i pleased everyone on pumpkins, we had a couple of last minute costume changes. i'm trying to be the kind of mom that i would like to have so i'm trying to say yes to the occasional unreasonable requests. 

her school costume:

her actual halloween costume, some sort of marked down vampire witch, which she was quite pleased about:

she was the most darling trick or treater. she even held my hand which she normally refuses to do.

scarlett also had a last minute costume change. i had spent a million hours creating a homemade black widow costume and she wore it to the church trunk or treat and her drama class halloween party and by actual halloween night, it had given up the ghost. i don't even have a picture of it. so we pulled this together from the steven tyler section of my closet. my steven tyler section is rather large.

reagan added the additional snake to more of a fright factor. wooo. 

other autumnal news, i've been wanting to change up my hairstyle for a while. part of me wants to cut off a majority of the length for more of a lion's mane looks, but i hate being hasty so i'm easing into a new look with chopping off 4 inches and a lot of new color for funsies. this was my inspiration:

it had been so long(9 years) since my last hair lightening that i had to go to two different appointments. this picture was the midpoint between appointments, with a some of the color lifted but brassy and not quite toned down and none of the length cut yet. definitely a lion's mane.  

before, looking like a wannabe angelina jolie, and after, looking amazing. i wish i was good at doing sleek hair myself because it will never look this polished again. 

assorted herschel is darling and 9 months old pictures!

and finally, reagan's latest crush, mary from wall-e. the most obscure disney character to be crushing on. and she had now take over as the napkin picture choice du jour. 

my first attempt:

and the evolution of mary with a slice of pizza.