So, here are the long awaited Abshire family Halloween pics. Zack is in camo, so if you can't pick him out, that's why. Sydney was excited to be a witch, Tansy was a super-cute puppy, and Ben was just stylin'. I wore a really long blond wig with a cowboy hat and lots of makeup. I had one little girl ask if it was my real hair. I had to tell her no. She seemed disappointed.

Ben and I went to an ROTC Meet and Greet this week, so we had to get a babysitter. I have a weird quirk that Ben really mocked me for this time. When I have someone coming over who has yet to witness the disaster that is the usual state of my house, I clean up. Shocking, I know. Actually, the funny part is that I will intentionally leave a few toys out to try to make it look like I didn't clean up and that my house looks like this all the time. Please tell me I am not alone in my strategy to fake people out. Everyone who reads this post has seen what a horrible housekeeper I am so I don't mind confessing here.

I've also been trying to recruit people for an Informal Book Club. I think people are afraid of the pyramid scheme feel. It's like a recipe exchange, except with paperbacks. You just pass one of yours on to the person listed on the back of the paper, make six new copies, put the address of the person who sent it to you on the back and give it to six friends. If it keeps going, you get up to 36 books. You all know how I feel about books. If anyone wants to do this, I would really appreciate it.

I've got Little-Miss-Molar, I mean Tansy, begging me to pick her up. We have been trying to get her to say "please" lately, but it is really not working. Whenever I say, "Say please," she launches into a HUGE fit, screaming at the top of her lungs, throwing herself on the ground. The very request to say "please" makes her act like she is suddenly possessed by demons. I have never seen anything like it before.

Sydney has gotten an attitude. If we tell her she can't do something, she starts crying and tells us that we are hurting her feelings and being mean. When we continue to tell her she can't do something. She runs to her room, slams the door, and starts screaming all the bad words she knows at us (i.e. "you stupid, stinky mom"). Harsh, I know. Actually, I usually end up laughing because these are really the worst words she knows.

Zack has developed these two fat rolls near his armpits that are so much fun. If you pinch them, he laughs. He has does this funny grunting sound when he laughs. It's strange, but cute. That seems to sum up our whole family, so I guess it's appropriate.