Serious?

We've been having a lot of discussion in our house about honesty lately. Especially for this little man who seems to think you can say anything as long as at some point its followed by a "I'm only joking". But because he sees the truth as a pretty fluid thing he is starting to wonder how much of what everyone else says is true or "just jokes".
So a statement I hear over and over again most days is "Are you serious Mummy?". This could be in response to anything, "time for lunch", "we need to leave for swimming now," "ouch I just stubbed my toe." I've never had anyone question my seriousness so much before in my life!
Yesterday as Hyrum asked if he could have a sleepover at his grandparents house after they'd been away for a few weeks, we asked the mandatory "will you be good?" His response in very sombre tones "yes Daddy. I'm VERRRY serious."

This was followed by an equally sombre "Now goodbye Daddy."

Guess that's our cue to leave this not so little anymore little man to his fun
and a bit of seriousness practicing.

Today. In my Garden.

I found. a neglected basket of long forgotten strawberries, repurposed by the birds to build their nests.
. a fence, worn and straining under pressure.


. a contented kitty, dozing in the sun.

. discarded shells from an afternoon of splashing fun.

.and brothers.

.being brothers.

I have eyelash envy...

... of this little man. Every time I put on mascara I think of these lashes and wonder where they came from because it certainly wasn't from me!

So this is how Halloween went down...

All dressed up and ready to go. For those of you unversed in the world of young (and not so young) male super heroes, this is Ben Tennyson, affectionately known as Ben 10.

Notice the look. We call that the "Stare Bear" look, Hyrum gets that from me. Sign of brilliance really, when the mind is just too busy for the face to register.


Bit of a photo shoot. Me encouraging "now stand like Ben 10". Apparently this is it. Me - "Ok, stop standing like Ben 10 already, I think 20 pictures of you standing like this is enough!"

Ashton doing his best impression of looking like a puppy dog. Actually, this is his look a lot of the time, it serves him well those puppy dog eyes, you should see the free stuff he gets from the Deli ladies at the shops just by flashing that look.

Ben out with his peeps, Stephanie from Lazy Town and Spiderman.

And our little puppy dog, working so hard to keep up.

Surveying the loot at the end of the night.

And now that Halloween is done and dusted, can you say Christmas Prep?!

Who Says Aussies Don't Celebrate Halloween?

At least there are some little pockets of Halloween fanfare around here. We had so much fun on Friday out trick or treating. Will be back soon with some pictures of the fun, in the meantime enjoy these spooky images of some neighbours who definately know how to make an effort.