This is me dumping pictures from my camera.

I am normally pretty on top of my pictures.  None of this "upload them every six months."  Oh no.  I dump pictures after every event and put them in nice neat little folders by month and year, where they belong.  So imagine my surprise (but not really in light of the last couple of months) when I uploaded pictures today and saw Halloween on there.  Halloween?! That was like, a month ago!! Shame on me.
So without further adieu, the dump.

 It's never too late to share Halloween pictures, right?  Tell me it's never too late.

 I particularly loved the cat whose face looked like she had been digging through someone's garbage.  She might have, one never knows.

 We trick or treated with friends.  It was chilly.  The cat lost almost all of her paraphernalia, only to be found on our way to the bus stop a couple of days later.

 Abby had some kind of reaction to face paint.  She was fine and even got a day out of school out of it.

Hazel continues to be afraid of being alone in our house...thus the "watching Netflix on Mom's phone in the same room with her while she showers".

 The kids raked leaves then jumped in them with friends.

Mom checked for ticks.

 Fast forward, way forward to this weekend where we had a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving with the bro and his wife, and cousins and their brand new baby (and a token Grandma! We love those!)  It was lovely and perfect.

 I took a picture of my food because I am an Oscarson and I do that.  If I wasn't too lazy to retrieve the picture from my phone I would show you my dessert plate with six slices of pie on it.  Mmmm, pie.

We took the girls to see a movie and they proceeded to do what they always do at the end (I think it's their favorite part.) They dance unabashedly up front by the screen.  PS The Muppets rock.  They will always rock.

 Clark has never been to Mount Vernon so the girls and I showed him around this weekend.  We have had crazy warm weather for November, still in the mid 60's! I am waiting for winter to slam us hard and never leave...but not really.  I could get used to this kind of weather at the end of November.

 Seriously, this weather is incredible.

 And then we had to take pictures...lots because there is always at least one person that feels the need to do something goofy...Mia...

 Abby...

 Hazel...

 And then it was all over because Mia saw a squirrel.  There's just no coming back from that.

 And even though I am a total and complete stickler about allowing Thanksgiving to dominate November, I will admit that this year we did start listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving.  But the tradition still stands that the tree gets got the day after, always (or rather two days after this year, as the case may be.)

And now the house is as decorated as it gets, the family room furniture is rearranged to accomodate the tree...pushing the armchair and ottoman into the corner thus making THE perfect spot to sit for the entire month of December where I can take in all the comfy cozy sights of the tree, a spot to set my mug of Wassail and a lovely view of Liz Lemon on the TV.

Bring on December, I'm ready.

I got nothin.

 This picture makes me happy.  All of the sudden, Hazel is drawing them everywhere and they are alive and happy creatures.  I like it which is good because just about everything else is driving me batty these days.

This pregnancy has brought with it an interesting blend of old and new as far as pregnancies are concerned.  Seeing that it is number 5, it's hard not to compare and contrast a little bit.

So far, it has been the same in some ways (wanting to barf at the slightest mention of something gross, loud or too colorful) and different in other ways, out of breath all the time, erratic and frequent mood swings.  So typical, right?  It's like PMS, three times a month.  A pretty sweet deal for my family.

I am trying my hardest to reemphasize my gratitude right now to bring it all back to a happy place because I have spent the better part of the last week trying to decide the best time of day to abandon my family, and where to go.  In fact, the other night I may or may not have said that I was running away and Hazel started to cry.  Just to show you how mean I am right now, I let her for a minute.  In truth, I wish the other ones had cried too but they didn't even notice.  They are little monsters who just want to make my life difficult.  See that?  Ingratitude.  My sister posted a nice reminder of why I am usually so happy.  It was a good reminder.  It's just difficult to get back to that place after your kids have torn your patience and emotions out of your chest, dragged them up and down the driveway, barfed red velvet cupcakes on them and then shoved them under their beds with their dirty underwear.  I realize that I might be ever-so-sensitive right now, but they promised that if we had another baby they would be awesome.

Note to self: don't believe promises made by anyone under the age of 10.  I seem to recall them making that same deal about a puppy.  However, it may be a little late to reconsider our options.

A baby it is.

On the upside, Clark has been amazing.  He cleans, he does the dishes, he puts kids to bed and he shakes his head in disapproval if I have done more than one chore in a day.  He doesn't even complain when we are having bagels for dinner.

He keeps his promises.

 In other news, fall has erupted.  It has actually taken me so long to write about how much I love fall that it has finished erupting and died, on our lawn.  All, over, the lawn.  Clark did tackle the front yard this weekend which was a lovely service because I think every single square inch of the roof, driveway and front yard was completely covered with leaves.  It looked really nice for a day and then another batch of leaves fell.  This picture out the back door was taken about a week ago, and now there is not one leaf left on those trees.

It was gorgeous while it lasted though.  Everywhere I drove I was in awe of the landscape.

I [heart] fall.

 On another positive note I got my Thanksgiving meal shopping done today.  Last year I remember shopping the week of Thanksgiving and standing in lines just to go down isles.  It was insane!! But that is how awesome my grocery store is, I love it, the $599.00/lb truffles and all.  (The rest of the store is very reasonably priced.)

So today I went at 8 in the morning and it was just a normal shopping trip, except that I bought exorbitant amounts of heavy whipping cream.

I [heart] Thanksgiving.

And I [heart] my grocery store.

I think it is possibly my favorite holiday.

Don't forget the truffles! or maybe you should, you know, in this economy and all (plus, they look like shriveled pieces of poop in sawdust.  So maybe you just shouldn't.)

Also in other news, I look like I am having twins even though the doctor swore there was just one.  This was taken 3 weeks ago.  I am in the awkward "is she or isn't she" phase where one day I look 5 months pregnant and the next day I look not at all.  In any case, my pants are starting to be more than slightly uncomfortable and I'm wondering how I can get away with wearing maternity yoga pants every day for the next six months. (Try to ignore Clark in the background.  He was trying to tell me something and I obviously wasn't paying attention. Also, he may be int he middle of changing his clothes.)

In the same news as always, Hazel is cute.  That is how I gauge if I am justified in being in a bad mood or not.  If I am irritated with her, it is irrational hormones talking because this girl is funny and silly and sweet.  We must be in for a doozy of a hellion because she has been too easy.  I mean it, not only did she potty train herself at 2 but now she is teaching herself how to read.  Why am I even here except maybe to make her chocolate milk when she is being so cute I can't stand it.

And that's it.  I'm afraid the blog will continue to suffer because my care factor has plummeted.  Not just about the blog, but about housekeeping in general and looking acceptable when I leave the house.  I also have been letting my kids do their own hair.  I know, I'll be one of those people that has 5 kids that are all dirty and snotty and whose house is a perpetual disaster.  I mean, I hope not, I really hope not but right now, I don't care that much.  That worries me a great deal, somewhere down in my deepest subconscious.  But not enough to do anything about it.  I am chalking it all up to first trimester slump and the need to lay down as many times a day as I can.  That will go away eventually, right?  Right?  Tell me we will be cute and fun again someday.  Tell me, even if it's not true.

The end.

We fully acknowledge the possibility of our possible insanity, possibly...

Insane in a good way...

I had to go ahead and spill the beans over the internet because Clark posted something on Facebook...bad move Clarkus.  Facebook does not, and should not ever precede the blog.  We will have words later.
But it's true.  We will be giving birth to a gummy bear in June (please do not mention anything about how freakin far away June is...I realize that we have to go through the rest of fall, all of winter AND all of spring before arriving there.)  But hopefully it also explains my neglect of certain things like blog commenting and cleaning my house and feeding my family.
Let me go ahead and answer the question that is on all your minds (and the minds of every stranger/acquaintance that has heard our news in light of our already existing offspring.)
We were not trying for a boy.  We would be thrilled with either gender, really and truly but thank you for asking and I don't blame your curiosity one bit.

And thank you all for participating and submitting votes...I will eventually get around to changing my header, maybe after my nap.
(and please don't be offended that I didn't take your advice, I was bound to disappoint some of you.)

Time for change...

The time has come! A very sad time.  Time to retire the blog banner.  It makes me very sad indeed, as it is very possibly my favorite family picture ever taken.  It will be blown up huge and hung somewhere in my house.  But alas, it is two years old.

It could never be recreated because it was a total accident, you see.  Everyone had given up and walked away, then suddenly reappeared with funny hats and it just happened.  Perfection in my mind (all except for the fact that you can't see Hazel's actual face, just the raw emotion she felt about the hat on her head.)
I knew that it would have to be replaced with something that I loved just as much...I think little bro Spencer (of Oscarson Photography) was up to the task.  And now, I can't decide.
Cast your vote and tell me what you think should be the next Concrete Sequential Blog Banner in

The Great Concrete Sequential Blog Banner Race of 2011.

Option #1

or

Option #2

Thank you for your time.