A quick history: last year the O’Donnells dressed up for Halloween as a family—Jones was a dragon, Jamie was a princess, and Bryan was a castle—and, thinking that that was the best thing ever, we decided that we would give family costumes a try next year (i.e., this year). And, for the record, Jones’s costume is unbearably cute again this year. Seriously, genius.

I found a infant Chewbacca costume on the Web and knew that it would be perfect for us (i.e., just geeky enough to entice Jason to be involved—wait, that came out wrong). So we decided to go as Han Solo and Princess Leia (and, no, I never considered the other Leia costume). We then kind of forgot about it until a month or so ago, when I started asking, “Are we really going to do costumes this year?” almost daily. We went back and forth and back and forth. We had picked up a military jacket at a thrift store that we thought might work for Han, and I found a bath robe that I thought would be good enough to suggest Leia (after all, I figured all eyes would be on the little Wookie anyway), but then we neglected to order the most essential items (a blaster for Jason and a wig for me). At one point we decided it was just too much effort and expense and had decided to ditch the costume idea altogether (except for Simon’s, which we had already purchased).

Then, for reasons he never explained, Jason decided last Saturday that we should go for it after all. We spent most of that day running around town trying to find pieces parts that would work. We ended up renting a gown for me, so I was set, but the night before Halloween when Jason tried on his costume for the first time, we thought we might have to abandon it after all. The problem was that each part of his costume—jacket, shirt, pants, boots, holster—was just a little bit off, which was no big deal except that when you put them all together the sum was WAY off, and not at all Han Solo-like. We ended up tweaking each part just enough that the overall effect was quite good in the end, I thought. The costumes certainly weren’t perfect, but we had a lot of fun.

Simon put on his scary face.

Waiting for Simon to wake up so that his daddy can introduce him to the wonders of the Italian Runza.
Finishing a project for work.
Pulling my hair out because I cannot for the life of me seem to get all my laundry folded and put away and it’s really bugging me.
Becoming utterly dejected about the election.
Revisiting sleep strategies for the wee one (though after midnight, last night was a bit better).
Thinking it’s been a while since I’ve busted out the camera.
Ditching our Halloween costumes (Simon’s will still be awesome, but we’re giving up on the family theme).
Taking stock of my kitchen supplies and wishing I could have another wedding shower. It doesn’t help that I have now ruined my only two good pots by burning rice—really, really burning the rice.
Changing into my swimsuit because Brookos is coming home, and one thing that Brook loves is hugging in swimsuits.

A few of the things that have caught my attention in the last week or so:

I woke up with this catchy little number in my head this morning. But by now it’s been replaced by this one, which, by the way, is my favorite thing I’ve seen on the Internet in a long time. (Both via my hip husband.)

I’d love to have several hours to play around on this site. Via.

I scored a 22 on this Color IQ test.. Not bad, but I could probably do better. Via.

I keep meaning to see if Barnes and Noble (Nobel?) carries this beautiful magazine.  A subscription is definitely going on my wish list. Via.

And, finally, a few things I’m filing away for my parenting future: on playing it safe, on letting go, on taking on challenges, and on keeping it real..

A big-ass mushroom.

2 teeth.
2 a.m. waking/wailing (and also 12 a.m., 1:20 a.m., 3:40 a.m.—you get the idea).
2 sleepy parents.