Autumn: ENGAGE!!!

You know, for the longest time I never understood the difference between Autumn and Fall.  They're the same, exact thing, right?  I assumed the various names for the season had to stem from some kinda dialect/tradition/root language difference sort of thing.  Well, as you know, I fancy myself an amateur researchologist, and I promptly smurf the crap out of the subject.

As it turns out, Autumn is what most of the civilized world refers to the season as, while we Yanks tend to shun the term just as passionately as we do the Metric System.

(I mean, seriously - early 6 1/2 billion people don't use inches?!  Man, what a bunch of weirdos. . .)

For $20, I will eat this.

Anyway, Fall's totally awesome.  I love the crap out of this time of year.  The weather cools down, the leaves change color, candles start pumping out all kinds of fall-ish scents, Dunkin Donuts comes with Pumpkin Spices everything, and sweatshirt season officially kicks off. . .

. . . at least it would if we lived somewhere outside the ninth circle of Hell.

Down in Florida, we don't have Fall.  We have Still Summer.  I'm serious.  It's still in the lower 90s, still raining like a bastard every, single day, and my yard still looks like a tropical rainforest if I don't fight it for a few hours every weekend.

I'm sick of it.

We Houghs, however, are a resilient lot, and not the sort of family that rolls over and takes it from sub-tropical climates (you heard us, Florida!).  So, with Fall seemingly eons away, but calendar-ly speaking at our doorstep - we decided to kick off the season and jump-start Summer's Grand Demise.

Autumn:  ENGAGE

Halloween's still a ways off yet, but we Houghs like to throw down with the whole 'dress up and panhandle' thing.  Plus, we're big into interior decorating, and Halloween gives us an excuse to bust out tacky holiday decorations and get ridiculous.

Behold. . .

Toe Rings from Grandma Jordan. . .

What two-year old doesn't love themselves a good brooch. . .?

First outing to Knightly Spirits to scrounge up some fall beers for the Mini-Fridge. . .

We asked Abby what she wanted to be for Halloween this year.  Her response?  Strawberry Shortcake.

This, apparently, is a Bunny Costume.  I don't get it.  Fortunately, Alayna changed her mind and decided she wanted to be Rainbow Bright instead (though we haven't seen that costume yet. . .)

(Ultimately, she went with Judy Garland.)

- Brian

P.S.  If Abby goes with Strawberry Shortcake and Alayna reverts back to her Rainbow Bright costume, then all we need to do is have Kris bust out her She-Ra costume from her college years and we can have ourselves a good ol' fashioned '80s hootenanny.

The Grind Resumeth

This doesn't exist.

Hey people,

Free Time - that floozy - decided that it had spent far too long sitting around waiting for any of us Houghs to change our scoundrel-ish ways.  It up and left us for the total bums that we are.

(. . . though in all fairness, we are a bunch of free time-neglecting bums).

As the Houghs (I refer to us in the Third Person because it makes us sound more formidable) continue to chug along through the opening stretch of the 2012 - 2013 school year, the normal, day-to-day School Grind is beginning to set in.  This more or less means that 'newsworthy' stuff is pretty much non-existent, and for the next few weeks I will regale you with boring updates from our mundane, everyday lives.

(You're welcome.)

Check this out right here:

The Girls' Room - revamped with some wall crap and a freshly-painted dresser. . . which, OF COURSE, lost a handle during the whole painting process.  That's just how we roll, folks.

Gladiatorial combat training = perfect bedtime wind-down activity.

The other day, Kris decided to take the girls to - wait for it - SEA WORLD (surprise!) to meet up with some friends.  Here we have the Cannonball watching the Orca Spectacular, or whatever the hell it is they're calling it these days. . .

Watching the show with the Taylers (and Alayna's beau, Derrick).

I don't know what anyone's watching - I guess they didn't release Shamu and his homeboys for the show.  Maybe he's still locked up in solitary for killing that trainer or something.  Who knows.

Posing in front of a big tank of saltwater.

Perhaps they were playing 'Show Mommy Your Salty Ol' Fisherman Face'. . .?

Because it wouldn't be a true The Houghs Post without a series of ridiculous videos of our kids doing weird crap:

So, this bush - Monster Bush, as I like to call it - we have hanging out in front of our house is, by all accounts, the most f***ed up looking bush I've ever seen.  You may not be able to tell from the picture, but it stands a sound 15 feet in the air, and it's diameter is probably somewhere in the 'Rhode Island' neck of the woods.  Anyway, I have to trim the damn thing every week, practically, and the other day I came out and noticed that Monster Bush was leaning far a kilter.  Who knows why.

. . . after being hedged for about a half an hour.

Seriously, if anyone knows how to straighten a gigantor thorn bush, I'm all ears, folks.

Pasta art. . .?

Loading the kids up on the way home from Sunchild. . .

(Fortunately she doesn't know how to start the car. . .)

Abby begins eating her art project. . .

. . . and that's all for this time.

- Brian

Family Picture Attempts, etc.

As you may or may not recall, during this fall's great Back to School exodus, Abby was forced back into a classroom full time.  As such, she's been required to participate in more of the everyday hooplah that goes on there throughout the day.  Earlier in the week, when picking her up, one of her teachers told me that they needed a family picture for something they were going to be doing in class.

I passed on this request to Kris, who, upon going through her iPhoto library, discovered that we hadn't had a family picture taken since June (remember this?).  So, in order to save face in front of a bunch of people we hardly know, we set aside some time in the afternoon to take a Hough Family Portrait.  Check it out below.

Oh yeah, and there's some other crap that happened this week, too.

Enjoy. . .

More Ukulele lessons.  The Cannonball's got the 'C' chord down. 'Smile for the Camera' face?  Not so much.

Alayna wanted a picture taken with her and her newly-constructed pyramid. . .

What's bizarre about this is that she told us she was going to build an Egyptian pyramid, then proceeded to do so.  I was impressed . . . but didn't have the heart to tell her it looked more Mayan than Egyptian.

The Houghs.  Celebrating Mediocrity Since 2008.

Abby's new favorite thing to do is scream at passing cars and pedestrians from my Study window.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - the kid's personal favorite.

Abby prepares to call down the wrath of Ragnarok.

Throwback couple picture likened to those from that short period of time before we were controlled by miniature people.

Pedicure time.

Kris' turn.

Weird faces.

Kris gets an earful. . .

- Brian