Three Things Thursday ...

Halloween - I'm kind of a big fan of Halloween. And although I don't really get into the whole "decorate your house and scare the crap out of people" thing, I truly believe there is no age limit for wearing a costume.

If you are trick-or-treating with your kids, you should be wearing a costume.
If you are handing out candy, you should be wearing a costume.
If you are going to the grocery store, you should be wearing a costume. If for no other reason than to freak people out.

Every year, I try to coordinate my families outfits. Back in 2009, we were BBQ themed.

Hamburger, Hot Dog, Pickle and Ketchup Packets ...

Last year, the food theme reappeared ...

Hot Dog, Cupcake, Ice Cream Cone and Chef ...

This year, I couldn't convince anyone to go with my "Fairies" theme. So, instead we were a mishmash of recycled costumes ...

Princess Dancer ...

Spider ...

Sushi Roll ...

Rainbow (Note: I didn't purchase anything for this costume. All of those things are part of my actual wardrobe.)

Witch ...

We may not have been coordinated, but we had a blast.

BOO!

Candy Overload - On a separate, but not completely unrelated note, I may be a parenting genius. Heading into trick-or-treating, I came up with a deal for my kids to deal with the massive amounts of candy about to enter our home.

The girls were allowed to trick-or-treat like normal. We were out for 2 hours and they could get as much candy as they wanted. When we got back, I sorted and counted the contents of each of their bags.

Today, they will be allowed to choose up to 40 pieces of candy (one piece for each of the next 40 days). Then, I will purchase each remaining piece of candy for $0.05 each. They do not have to keep 40 pieces and I will pay them the five cents for each additional piece they give me. J also started them each off with a dollar for agreeing to this arrangement.

For example, Doodle got 125 pieces. If she keeps 40 and she "sells" me the remaining 85 for $0.05, she will have $4.25. Then, she'll also get $1.00 from J. Giving her a total of $5.25.

This morning, I gave the girls a final option. They could sell me their ENTIRE bag of candy and I will triple their payout. So, in Doodle's case, she would get the $1.00 from J, plus $6.25 for the 125 pieces of candy in her bag. Then I would multiply that by three for a grand total of $21.75.

I think this is a pretty sweet deal. At this point, I am not sure what they will pick, but they have until they get home from school to decide.

Quote of the Week - Recently, I have been trying to help J better manage his time. The other day, I asked him to finish washing the dishes after dinner. When I woke up the next morning, the sink was still full. When I reminded him of his chores, he said, "Well, at least I ran. I am taking baby steps," to which Doodle replied,

"Dad, you're not a baby. Walk like a normal person."

There you go, J. Put in your place by a five year old ...

Wordless Wednesday: Halloween

Happy Halloween from my brood to yours ...

Three Things Thursday ...

Accountability - I mentioned on Monday that I had been lacking some accountability in my training. And although I have done my best to ignore the "I will do it later" thoughts, I still can't force myself out of bed at 4:30 a.m. to get my sweat on. My bed is just too cozy and two more hours of sleep sounds pretty much like heaven.

With that said, I have been getting my workouts done. And yesterday's swim served as the perfect example how I work harder when I step out of my solo training ways. You see, when I got to the pool yesterday, my friend (and future IM training partner) Sally, was already swimming. I jumped in the lane beside her and just tried to keep up. (Note: I couldn't keep up with propellers) I swam hard, but comfortable. And somehow, I finished the 3000m workout in 58 minutes. I looked back and the fastest I have ever swam that distance before was 1:03. So basically, I am awesomesauce. And all it took was a little peer pressure.

Crossfit - On Saturday morning, I am running 8 miles. Four hours later, I am taking my first Crossfit class. I'm thinking this may be a recipe for disaster.

I know that I have endurance and I know that I am strong, but I am not confident that either of those things are going to fully prepare me for the hurt-fest that awaits me. Plus, I have a severe lack of coordination and box jumps scare me. If it wasn't for my undying need to impress people, I'm not sure I would make it through alive.

Thank God Sunday is a rest day ...

Costumes - For some reason, we have about 20 Halloween costumes of various sizes and themes in our home. On Monday, I laid them out for the girls and let them choose one. I had plans in my head of how we could all coordinate costumes if I could just "steer" the girls in the right direction. But, no such luck.

Dizzle decided to take parts of two costumes and create a fairy costume (Note: There were perfectly good, pre-assembled fairy costumes to choose from). Doodle went with a witch costume that she wore two years ago. And while the costume still fits (with leggings added), the hat is crazy small on her head. So small that it's never going to stay on. I'm thinking I will hide the hat and give her wings and she can be a sorcerer fairy. And Dilly chose to be a spider, also her costume from two years ago. It has gone from being dress length to shirt length and the hat doesn't snap around her noggin. But, she's too freaking cute to say no to.

spooky ..

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love sweets. I love trick-or-treating. And I LOVE dressing up (Shocking, right? I'm sure that you'd never guess that by looking at my running apparel ...) In fact, I already have the girls' costumes for NEXT YEAR already picked out. You might say that I am mildly obsessed. But, my obsessions are not important. What is important is that my kids had a blast yesterday.

We started the day with some pumpkin carving (which was messier than I would have liked). Then after a quick nap for Dilly (who's sleeping like a rock in her new bed), we headed out to Dizzle's soccer game, where she scored her FIRST GOAL EVER! It was an awesome moment. The look of surprise on her face was CLASSIC. And just moments after the shock wore off, she scored ANOTHER GOAL. It was total rock star material.

After the game, we headed over to Dizzle's BFF's house for our traditional Halloween celebration and trick-or-treating. For the girls, it was pretty much heaven. Both Dizzle and Doodle got to chill with their best friends. They stocked up on WAY TO MUCH candy. And they laughed the entire time. It was fantastic. Here, take a look at some of my favorite shots from the day ...

Me and my sister in our "Tortoise and the Hare" costumes
All the kidsDoodle and BOur whole groupMe and G (Note: J as a track and field athlete standing behind us)Doodle and B on the huntDizzle running to the next houseDilly giving me the "evil eye" when I tried to take her candy

Cute, right? I so can't wait until next year ...