Autumnal Times

Fall rolls around and although I have loads of work on my desk and lots of stressful things I'm supposed to be dealing with at my job, I decide to shirk it for something I just haven't done enough of this year...blogging!


We'll start with our annual trip to the pumpkin patch.


It's the first time Miss Ruby Zuzu has the strength to pick up (and run off with) her own gourd. Growing up fast and faster every darn second.


My little fashionista. She throws a fit whenever I try to put pants on her.

"No! Mommy!" she screams as I try with all my might to get her legs into some jeans, "I'm a princess!" That reminds me...gotta write a tale where the princess wears pants.


This pumpkin patch was quite the harrowing experience. They had a petting zoo. $5 admission per person. Jakob didn't have enough cash on hand for the whole family to enter, so he let the kids and I proceed as he hopped across to the Gulf station to use the ATM.

 

I wish the toothless redneck farmer that was running this petty zoo had been a little more forthright with certain information before I handed over my $15. If you look below, you'll see a fat piggy hanging out at the rear of the cage. Ruby went to feed the pig and toothless farmer yells through the chain link, "Careful, now. That pig bites!"


Seriously? My cherub's sweet little face is mere inches away from a moody biter pig? Just great. Then the alpaca in the cage started bucking it's hind legs like crazy. "Stand back!" Mr. No Teeth says, "That alpackie kicks hard. Could knock the kids down."


That's when I decided to leave the petting zoo asap so that "The Trip to the Pumpkin Patch" did not become "The Trip to the ER after being Mauled by a Pig and Kicked by an Alpaca." But it was hard to get Ruby to leave. She liked the goat.


After the patch, we headed to the local diner for grub.  Ruby loves Daddy.


And root beer floats!



Then came my favorite day of the year...HALLOWEEN!


Cooper's Frankenstein was very impressive. He did the stomping and the groaning. True commitment to character.

 

Ruby LOVED her Cinderella outfit. The dress even lit up and sparkled! So did the wand! These kids and there fancy high tech costumes. Long gone are the days of "I'm wearing a sheet as a ghost."


After a quick pose with Frank and Cindy in the front yard, we all headed to Cooper's Halloween parade at Dunsmore Elementary school.


What fun! The Halloween Spirit was in the air. Many superheros, ninja turtles and princesses.




Cooper carved this pumpkin featuring, well, Frankenstein, of course! He wanted the carving tools sticking out of the head for added creepiness.


My pumpkin had a great stem, so I used it as a nose and went with a witch motif. I also did this stacked Tiki.


Night came and it was finally trick or treat time. Here's the front yard all a glow. We had near 40 trick or treaters! I think that's because I was passing out the big bars at the start of the evening and one little zombie yelled, "THEY HAVE KING SIZED!" After that, we had many visitors. Word got around.


Here are the paper mache zombie heads Cooper and I made for our art show. They greeted folks by the door.



School has specifically asked that kids refrain from any gore or bloody make-up...but for trick or treating, we bloodied it up.
 

Jakob took them door to door. He said they were perfect. Ruby took big bro's lead, knocking and waiting patiently. They both chimed, "trick or treat" and once the candy dropped in their bags, "THANK YOU!" Now...if I can just get Ruby to wearing anything else besides the princess gown...


















Ushering in the New Year with Mr. Brainwash

Happy 2012 everyone! Enjoy each day as if it were your last, because the Mayans were right about chocolate, so they just might be right about the apocalypse, too.

Cooper and Ruby are magnificent. They are my favorite humans. Jakob's in that category, too, but I met him when he was already 21 and I've know these two little cherubs their whole lives!

I took Cooper to his first art show--Mr. Brainwash's ARTSHOW 2011 exhibit on La Brea Ave in Hollywood. He had a blast running around several floors of the humongous warehouse.



There was a floor covered in old stuffed animals. Despite the fact that I said that we were not allowed to touch the art, the guard told Coop he could jump on in. Well, nobody has to tell Cooper twice to launch himself into objects, so he jumped in! Other mothers were freaked out about germs. They wouldn't let their children frolic. I feel bad for those kids. Their lives are healthier and more boring.

Cooper saw several images he recognized, such as this Snoopy dog made out of tires. Coop was really into the fact that Snoopy was banging the wall apart.

There were lots of animals covered in paint.


I really like this picture. Coop told me at the show that he was going to be an artist and make even more art than all the stuff we were looking at. Something inside me is sure that he will. And I knew the artist inside him was really impressed by one piece in particular:


He ran up and screamed, "It's Mr. Potato Head! He's GIANT!" There were a few giant items...

Cooper said he wished he could paint with this brush.


There was also a giant Polaroid camera and a giant boom box that took up a whole wall.


Coop rocked out.


Cooper really liked this chair and wanted to take a picture of me sitting in it.



Since the guards were being so lax, I had Cooper jump into the driver's seat of one of the art cars. He was so excited to a.) be touching the art that I originally said we couldn't touch and b.) sit in the front seat of a car! and touch the wheel!


It was a spectacular, spectacular day and the end was the best part. We saw Mr. Brainwash as we were leaving the show. There were some guys ushering him past the people in line and I should have snagged a pic, but it all happened so quick. I told Cooper that Mr. Brainwash was the artist and he went up to him and said, "Thanks for the art!" and MBW shook his hand and said, "Thanks for coming!" and then went inside.

So...when Cooper Kingsley White prints start selling at $2K a pop, let's hope he remembers this day and thanks his mom with lots of original pieces :)