Monday, November 30, 2015

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.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

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. 

Monday, October 12, 2015

the post in which i may be entirely too honest

or the post that is mostly a bunch of my instagram pictures so that i have a personal record of the past month. 

let's chat. this month has been incredibly tiring. 
things i want to complain about:
thomas' ridiculously long work hours. he's got one of the biggest projects of his life going on right now and he gets home each night between 12-4am and then gets up early each morning to do it again the next day. it's been hard on all of us but especially hard on him, naturally. we miss him! we like him! i try and wait up for him but i usually just fall asleep watching jeopardy reruns or blue bloods. but before the end of this month he should be done with this major project and getting back to his normal really long days, getting home between 9-11 each day. 


things that are great:
 thomas' dedication to supporting his family.
he makes incredible effort to play games with the kids on sundays and early saturday before he heads back to work. he doesn't ever complain. i complain in my head. 
we leave each other notes on the bathroom mirrors on the days that we don't see each other and it really does make all the difference. 

things to complain about:
dragging all 4 kids to every activity under the sun by myself. the cub scout visit to the fire station was truly disastrous and i wanted to never go in public ever again. plus, it was really humid and i couldn't keep my pants from sliding down every 5 seconds. that's just plain embarrassing.

things that are great:
scout leaders who truly try and include reagan in all the activities and also give him the space he needs when things become too much. ir, when he doesn't wear his scout shirt which is always. 


 things i want to complain about:
reagan sticking a small lego up his nose and us having to spend the morning between two doctors trying to extract it. $400 later, it was out!

things that are great:
after much struggling and fear and weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth and me having to hold reagan down in a figure 4 leglock and the doctor using a tiny vacuum to try and suck it out, we had one last chance to get the lego out of this nose before they were going to schedule anesthesia for the next day. the doctor and nurse left us alone for a few minutes for us to talk it out. i was talking bribes and reagan suggested that we pray to get it out. i was completely humbled by him. reagan said and short little prayer asking for the lego to be removed to his nose. the doctor came back in and reagan said he didn't need me to hold him anymore and he sat in the chair by himself while the doctor popped that lego right out. prayer is real. the Lord hears and loves this boy.


 things to complain about: blythe started preschool. i mostly just miss her and that's the only thing to complain about.

things that are great: blythe started preschool. she absolutely loves it. she finally has something to keep up with her busyness. and i go grocery shopping without her. nothing better than that.


things to complain about:
paperwork and projects. scarlett wanted to do the reflections photography contest. so i got to do the reflections photography paperwork for her and i stayed up waaaay late to fill it out and i realized that i printed off LAST YEARS application, like a dummy. i had her turn it in anyway because the deadline had come and i've been really nice to dumb people lately so karma is going to help me out on this one.

things that are great:
i have an 8x10 of this cow picture representing "soaring dreams" or "reaching for the dreams of the stars" or "inspiring dreams of tomorrow" or whatever pseudo inspirational phrase we were supposed to be inspired by. can't wait to frame it.

things that are great:
scarlett's soccer team. they are the cheetas. which is really fun to shout during a game because it sounds like, "GOOOO CHEATERS!" look at that boy checking her out, he has excellent taste.

things that are great:
i've started a new weightlifting routine and i feel like i'm finally able to walk and run with minimal pain. plus, every time i run in alabama gear on friday or saturday, alabama wins. the one time i didn't, sneaky, scum of the earth ole miss beat alabama. so, i need to look into a couple of BYU shirts for running so i can help them out too.

 things that are great:
father son matchy matchy sunday outfits. also, please note the lady in the background of this picture is my friend sarah and blythe sits with her family each sunday and is perfectly behaved and then she comes back to us and wreaks havoc.


great:
lunch with my college friend amondah! she lives 20 minutes up the road and i keep running into her at target but we had yet to officially hang out after 1 year of living here! GO COUGARS!


THE GREATEST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED:
my beastie, bratalie, came to atlanta for a nanosecond for her daughter's baptism and i was able to enjoy her briefly. and then it rained to 2 weeks nonstop in response to our worlds colliding. the universe cannot handle us.

things to complain about: 
this beautiful house belongs to someone else and our realtor was no good.

things that are great:
this house belongs to someone else and thomas is smart enough to handle a real estate closing when your agent isn't really on your side. the best gift thomas has given me is seeing him working through several very difficult situations and going above and beyond the call of duty. his capability is better than flowers or presents or exotic trips.

the updated kitchen:
(safety first)


one of the 4,415 new lighting fixtures we installed. 

four stinky kids sitting on brand new carpet next to the newly spackled and freshly painted wall that had a big hole in it from our renters. they will be on my list of people to punch in the face for a while.

FYI. this is my current uniform. stretchy h&m skirt and blousy h&m top. i have it in 3 versions. if i must be dressed, i will wearing this.
and that was september!