Adult Swim

Last night marked the end of swim lessons for the season, which truth be told, I'm sorta happy about it. She had lessons twice a week, at 6:00 pm at the YMCA. I would work out then take her to her lesson. When 7:00 pm rolled around I was so hungry that I was more bitchy than a drag queen in a low-inventory wig shop.

Salem is a GREAT swimmer. She can already perform a pretty good 'crawl' stroke, I'm wicked impressed. She wants to continue to swim next season and I'm all for it. I just wish the YMCA had a buffet and a cocktail waitress. Perhaps I should stop by the suggestion box?

I have a new client who told me that "Swimming is a big commitment! I swam until I was in college and I didn't have a life, my parents didn't have a life, and I ended up being sorta awkward as an adult." I didn't have the heart to tell him that my kid is already kinda strange, he need not worry. Besides, she needs a positive physical outlet that she's good at. She's a great diver too, I just haven't been able to find anyone willing to work with a 5 year old in this department.

I had a nightmare about the Chinese taking over the U.S. They fired out their Olympic Child Recruiting Czar in efforts to snatch Salem up for the diving program. It was oddly realistic.

Stinky Hair

For the fall I changed up my hair color for a darker look. I added some red highlights which has a reputation for fading pretty quickly with shampooing. For a preventative measure, I splurged on an Aveda shampoo that is supposed to help prevent loss of color. It seems to be working well but it does have a slight medicinal odor.

I was in Las Vegas all week last week and had a fantastic time. I missed my little kid though. When I returned, I went to pick her up from her dad's house, gave her a giant hug and kiss. She smelled my hair and laughed:

"Mommy! Your hair smells like the kids at school who had head lice!"

Dear Aveda,
Thanks for making your product smell like lice shampoo. I'll be avoiding your body scrub as someone may think I have crabs. Awesome!

Winter Boots!

Salem needed some new boots for the season. We went shopping and she found the cutest pair of "Boots with the Fur" ever. I'm just happy she found something she likes that's not pink for a change. She shoved them on her feet as soon as we got home in preparation for her "photo shoot" she begged me to participate in.

"I'd like you to take my picture while I pose in my new super-cute boots, mommy!!"
Ham:

Thankful

When we sit down to dinner, we go around the table taking turns telling each other what we are thankful for that day. It usually goes something like this:
"I'm thankful for spending time with my family" or "I'm thankful for getting to ride my bike"...

Last night, Salem had this to say:

"I'm thankful that mommy's eyes didn't pop out of her head today and am glad they are still in her eye-holes."

When it was my turn, I made sure to second that notion.

Nightmare

Salem woke up several times in the night with bad dreams. She called out to me around 4 am, I went in and she sat right up crying and wanted to tell me about her nightmare:

"Mom, I want to tell you about my horrible dream!"
me: "Well, it's bedtime now and we need to focus on going back to sleep instead. You can tell me tomorrow at breakfast."
her: "No! I'll forget!" She went on.."There was this girl, and we found a squirrel with a chewed up tail and the girl reached down to pick it up and it bit her!"

(I guess that's a bad dream. I mean, it wasn't like the squirrel bit Salem...I guess I'm confused as to why this was so horrible. The last bad dream was about monsters and how they were chasing her. This one seemed like a bad-dream-dud.)

She woke up again after 5 am and wanted to get in my bed. I figured we'd be up in a couple of hours anyway so I entertained the idea. At 6:00 am she woke up, turned to me and abruptly pushed me in the face. "Mom! I need fresh air! Your leg is touching me! I'm not tired anymore; I want to watch iCarly now!"
me: "And that's why I don't let you sleep in my bed!" (The other reason is the only time she seems to wet the bed is when she's sleeping with me.)

Wendy!

Salem was in the car last night and we were headed to dinner with friends. On the way there she let us know over and over how hungry she was.

"I'm so hungry I could eat a whole piece of plastic! I could eat a log!"
me: "Yeah, I know you're hungry, but we'll be there soon."

We passed a Wendy's restaurant and she yelled "Wendy! I want to EAT her!...WHEEEENDY!"

But of course when we sat down to dinner just a few moments later she hardly ate a thing but claimed she was full. Later at bedtime she said, "I'm so full I could probably not even eat two blueberries."

Halloween!

Salem took becoming a zombie mermaid really seriously and never once broke character when we were taking photos. The kid is a natural.

Just after make up application. Clint said smartly "Hey Salem, be careful, you may scare yourself if you look in the mirror!"

Salem and baby June. June seems to feel at home in all that mess.

Amy and June!

Venessa and Olie

All the kids: L-R: Salem, Brody, Zane, June & Aiden

Salem the undead and me, the biker-pirate-mom. I guess that's all I could come up with from what was in my closet.

There's my girl.

Hope you guys had a spoooky Halloween!