Faith in Frivolity, What I Know For Sure & #iPPP

Every year we go to a pumpkin patch, go on a tractor ride, pick our favorite pumpkins, buy caramel apples and then go home.  This year, we waited too long and ran out of time to go to the patch.  So we went to the pretend/fake patch in the parking lot of the Kmart near our house.  Peyton was disgusted and boycotted the whole scene by staying in the minivan while we all enjoyed the pretend/fake pumpkin patch.

You'd almost never know it's a parking lot--I mean if you ignore the cement, traffic, Kmart sign and the actual surrounding parking lot.

It's odd to watch my oldest be so in the middle.  It's also sad, frustrating, awkward, painful, stupid, and bittersweet. Watching him struggle with the middle.  The whole literal middle school, but also the middle of being a little kid and a teenager.  Watching him wonder if he still wants to dress up for Halloween and then thinking duh, of course he wants to dress up and play and get candy and hang out with his friends.  Watching him want to move on but stay.  

I get surprised by him too.  Like the pretend/fake pumpkin patch boycott, I kind of love that he did that.  I love that he wants to do all of our traditions even though he's all stuck in the middle.  

That's another thing I totally appreciate about Halloween, it's a chance for everyone to have a little fun, be a kid.  I know, I know,  people get all sappy about Christmas and how it brings out the kid in all of us, but for me it's Halloween.  

Lucy loves Halloween as much as I do (for now).

Not to get all Great Pumpkin on you again, but Halloween means something.  Halloween renews my faith in frivolity and fun and dressing up and being silly and spooky and letting go.  Not to mention the feeling of community that comes from walking through your neighborhood and actually talking to your neighbors and laughing together.  

Some people get annoyed with the bigger kids that come to the door trick-or-treating, not me.  I love that I saw so many kids in the middle dressed up being silly and having fun, not worrying about what's cool.  I love that I saw so many parents in costumes with their kids.  

Tim and I getting in the spirit.  We dressed up in our Kroger wigs.  Tim took the kids out in the neighborhood and I stayed home and gave out candy.

I believe in Halloween, I believe in traditions, I believe in honoring the middle but giving those stuck there moments to not worry about it so much, I believe in pretend/fake pumpkin patch boycotts, I believe in being silly.  I know that for sure this week and always.

Here's what else I know for sure (right now):

• Fall + sunshine= perfect-ness.  It wasn't a very nice weather week which is foreshadowing what the next seven months will be like here in Michigan.  But we had one day with sunshine and it was wonderful.

Let's hear it for the front porch!
It was so wonderful to get outside and hang out on my beloved front porch.

Peyton praising the beauty that is Autumn.

• I've got some advice to give.  In my latest vlog, I'm handing it out to newlyweds and it involves honeymoons and sexting.  Check it out.

• Wade found some interesting reading material at the hair salon this week. And was shocked/fascinated by what is going in in Hollywood (according to People magazine).

• I've been thinking a lot about this video I watched last week, it's an interview with Kurt Cobain.  I'm fascinated by it.  I'm fascinated by his sensitivity, his creativity and how his parents' divorce made him feel.  It's not too long and worth a watch.

• One of the scariest things I saw this past week is JT's new haircut he gave himself.  I mean he's adorable and cute and I love him, but what in the world did he do? He just chopped off the front of his hair!

What do you know for sure (this week)? C'mon, we're friends, share what you know. 

Leave a comment here or on my Facebook page.

Please come play with me on Instagram @jumpingwithmyfingerscrossed. 

All the pictures in this post were taken with my phone.

I'm linking up today with my friends Greta from  Gfunkified.com and Sarah from SundaySpill.com for the #iPPP link up.  They host a link up where they encourage people to share "your funny, your yummy, your heartfelt, your favorite photos of the week" from our phones. 

Check them out.