This and That

This is what happens when you try to update your blog all at once with the activities of a whole month and then some. You end up with a mish-mash of things you forgot to put in. So, here's some random thoughts and pictures from the season. First, I adore fall. Almost everyone who knows me knows that. I mean, c'mon. Look at what I can see on my way home from work - the pond scene above is just one example of the flat out gorgeousness of the season.
On top of that, even the rainy dreary fall days can be cheered up with a pumpkin spice cappucino from what Nicky calls the "yummy store" on my way to work. Granted, it bears little relationship to pumpkin, and has nothing much in common with cappucino either. But as sugary, spicy warm drinks go... mmmmm....

But seriously, folks. One of the things we did this month that was actually worthwhile was to participate in the Crop Walk. It's amazing that walking through a beautiful, scenic park actually helped others in need, thanks to the generosity of our sponsors from church. (And if you need sponsors from church, sending the children around with the envelope is apparently the way to go - they found us nearly $200 in sponsors in about half an hour!) I'm glad the kids are learning to volunteer and support good causes like ending hunger. I'm also glad the Allentown walk didn't take us through the kind of neighborhoods the Albany walk used to when I was a kid!

We also enjoyed our usual trip to the Halloween parade - with a bonus this year! Although Kai sat beside us and watched the bands, fire trucks, and floats go by...


...Nick was actually IN the parade with his TKD buddies!

Last, but certainly not least, the church held its annual retreat at the end of October. Scott went, but I stayed home to provide childcare for two other kids whose moms wanted to go to the retreat. Kairi, Nicky, Drew, and Amber (who happen to correspond with my kids' ages and genders exactly) went with me to Boo at the Zoo at the Philadelphia Zoo. Just one problem - it rained ALL DAY! And not just rain - torrential downpours, with flooded sidewalks and paths and drippy animals. The plus side was, the kids got PILES of candy from the trick-or-treat around the zoo because so few people showed up. The minus? We all got sick, and finished out the months with coughs and head colds. Ah well.

And then there's the story I know kids of the church will bring up for years. You see, we ordered pizza for the first night of the retreat (the kids were sleepover guests). And, not having room in my refrigerator for three pizza boxes, I popped them all in the oven to keep them away from evil dog.

Oh, I know what you're thinking. She doesn't LOOK evil. But she is. She really is. The next night, I went to cook some chicken strips rolled in potato chip coating and home made macaroni and cheese. I preheated the oven, and started making the cheese sauce. That's when I noticed the smoke, curling out of the oven vent.

You guessed it. The pizza boxes were ON FIRE. I pulled open the oven, and flaming bits of paper flew everywhere. The smoke alarms went off. All four kids shrieked and ran into the kitchen, then ran for the front door. Hilarity ensued.

The next morning, I was teaching Sunday school, and making muffins with the kids as an illustration of the story of Elijah and the widow. One of the moms of my sleepover guests said (in just that teasing tone - you know the one) "Baking?"

Yup. Gonna take awhile to live that one down.

There's a Sucker Born Every Minute

Yeah. So. I know. We already have two cats. But you see...

Nick took care of his betta. For a whole year. And it was still alive. But you can't pet a fish. He started making noises about how EVERYONE else had a pet. Daddy has Honey, our incredibly stupid Lab. Kairi has Midnight, the aloof and regal empress of a cat who deigns to let the rest of us pet her occassionally, but dotes on Kai. I have Princess, my snuggly lap cat who drapes herself all over me constantly. Nicky. Had a FISH. How unfair is that, Mommy?

So we starting thinking about maybe letting him have a kitten. And then one day in class, I offered an extra credit assignment that many students wanted, but only one could have (because one person was left partnerless for a debate, and someone would need to write 2). They started calling out bribes to get me to pick them (not that I take bribes). One student said, "My cat has kittens..." and I said, "Really?" He said no, he was just kidding at the same time my teacher's aide said "Are you looking for a kitten?" Well, one thing led to another, and to sum up a really long story: This is Angelina, Nicky's cat. (Yes, I know, Mom. I'm nuts.)

You gotta admit, she's got the wildest markings, huh?

The Saga of Robin Hood (and the Ghost)

We all love the new BBC America series Robin Hood. But I should have expected that Nicky, so much like me in so many ways, would start obsessing on Robin Hood as soon as he saw it. Robin's always been one of my favorite characters, and hey, how can you not like defeating the evil sheriff, defending justice, and winning the fair maiden? Especially when you can shoot three arrows at once, slide down ropes on your bow, and wear a really cool costume?

So naturally, Nick insisted on being Robin Hood for Halloween. But he couldn't be a BORING Robin Hood in the bright green, feather hatted costume (that I always thought looked more like Peter Pan anyway). He had to look JUST LIKE the Jonas Armstrong Robin.

They don't make BBC Robin Hood costumes. Or at least, not in America. And they won't ship them from the BBC shop in England either. (I shouldn't be surprised. They won't let us see the new season until 6 months after the folks in Britain.) So it was up to me to save the day. Two nights of sewing and three patterns later, the costume you see is the result. The trickiest part was the little "x"s along the side of the pants. Fortunately, Nicky didn't notice that his costume turned out a lot cleaner and less authentically shabby than Robin's. But all things considered, I think he make a cute crusader for justice.

Kai's costume has less backstory, basically because she couldn't make up her mind! We ended up buying her costume at the very last minute on the night before our party. Is it weird to say your daughter makes a pretty ghost??

Party Fun and Games

After all that decorating, when the time came for the actual party, the real fun began. I found the neatest game ideas on-line. We started with a build-a-scarecrow game where the kids had to find, stuff, and assemble a scarecrow. To make it easier, instead of making the scarecrows sit or stand, we traced Nicky in chalk on the sidewalk like a crime scene and they assembled the scarecrows lying flat.

We had each kid make a craft when they first arrived to hold their loot throughout the evening. I found black and orange tote bags at Michael's, and then printed a bunch of Halloween coloring pages. Then, the kids traced the pictures in fabric crayon and ironed them on the totes to make trick-or-treat bags.

We played a walking variation of Musical Chairs called Spooky Walk, where the kids landed on Halloween symbols on the floor, and then I drew symbols from a pumpkin to determine who was out. We wrapped kids in toilet paper for the Mummy Wrap.

Everyone loved the "Trick or Treat" game where you had to draw a pumpkin card from a bucket and perform whatever trick was written on it. Unless you were lucky and your card just said treat! I made the tricks as embarrassing as possible: dance like a ballerina, sing "the itsy bitsy spider", do the chicken dance. The only thing more amusing than the game was playing it again with my seventh graders at our Halloween party. The embarrassment factor definitely went up! We watched a "scary" movie (Goosebumps, about as scary as Blue's Clues in my opinion, but the kids ate it up) while they ate, and finished off with Bingo as the parents began to arrive. I was SOOO glad I put an end time on the invites, but it was really great fun. I was also glad we rented extra movies to entertain the stragglers while we cleaned - my house was back to normal (with a few extra decorations left up for fun) by the time the last guest left, which was a great relief!

Anyway, I think the kids enjoyed it. And while Nicky didn't recant his statement that "Aunt Cyndy throws the BEST parties" maybe we can come in second place!

But we want a SCARY party...

I decided to throw the kids a Halloween party this year, and both of them wanted it SCARY. Since the decorations we had were minimal in the first place, and cutesy to boot, I spent quite a bit of October scouring the Dollar Tree and my drama loft for cheap, spooky props. It turned out great in the end, and didn't cost much at all! Here's some of the decorations and spooky food we came up with. The front door was friendly enough...

For a touch of spooky, the moving spider my sister loaned us for the other side of the door was a creepy hit with all the guests (and everyone who trick or treated at our house later in the month).
We kept the kids downstairs by blocking it off with these glowing pumpkin pails from the dollar section at Target. They looked really cool! The cardboard coffin that was a sarcophagus in last year's fall drama production "Unwrapped" gave the bay window a creepy feeling - especially with the gross mask on the dummy inside. Better yet, the mask cost a buck at the dollar store. It looked better after dark, trust me. The flag out the window was another Cyndy contribution - thanks sis!

A couple of black light bulbs and a few packs of spider webs go a long way! Paired with more dollar store decorations, the living room looked creepy and ooky. One mom commented on what a lovely home we have, which was kind of funny considering it was covered in spider webbing...
The kids liked this little wooden skeleton hanging from the chandelier the best. They later added spiderwebs and spun a tale about how the skeleton had died after he was caught by a giant spider.

There's something about candlelight that's creepy, even with smiling pumpkin faces. These ceramic luminaries I had, but I'm pretty sure they were dollar store finds the previous year!

We added some creepy window decorations, a cemetary sign from the drama loft, black crepe paper streamers to hide the kitchen, spiderweb tablecloths, and a few scary masks hung over family pictures, $2 mini strobe lights, foam tombstones (man, dollar store again! That place was helpful...), and the effect was complete. Now, granted, you'd have to be pretty little to actually be SCARED by any of this, but it looked appropriately creepy, so the kids were thrilled. Which is probably how I managed to sneak in this bit of cuteness on the way to the guest bathroom (also a bastion of cute decorations - I draw the line at creepy bathrooms...)


On the issue of gross food, though, the kids definitely won. A little homemade pesto and gummy rats transformed bagel bites into "Moldy Pizza". We also did the whole mummy finger hot dogs deal, and some pretzels shaped like bats and pumpkins.

Even the vegetables had to be Halloween themed. But these are kids... aren't veggies scary ALL the time? (Actually, they were very popular. I was glad we made them, because one little guy didn't eat much else.)
But it wouldn't be Halloween without lots of sugar. Cupcakes were a must, and I figured thesee could watch my waist for me.

Witch hat cookies, lots of candy, and cupcakes galore disappeared like ghosts. Unfortunately, some children had eyes WAY bigger than their stomachs and took so much food they were throwing away whole cupcakes uneaten. *sigh* Now that we've got all these decorations, though, the question is.... should we do this again next year?? Maybe I'll just "forget" where I stored them. Hmmmmm.....

More Than A Movie

Scott and I started a new ministry at church this year. It's a once monthly movie night with a Bible point that goes with the theme of the movie. Throw in some games and crafts and themed snacks, and it's all the fun of VBS with about 1% of the work! Plus, it gives us a great chance to decorate Hollywood style. We started with Toy Story, and then did Mulan in October. Those of you who remember my cake disaster from Nicky's birthday will be glad to know I think I've decided to stick with cupcakes for awhile. Gotta love the Mushu ones! We're having lots of fun, but we need to attract more people! So far, we haven't had more than 16 people. We'll just keep praying and advertising, I guess!

Rock and Roll(erskate)

What perserverance! What strength! What determination! What a sore behind you must have!

Poor Nicky! He hasn't been skating in three years or more, and the last time he went, he lasted on skates about 5 minutes, with plenty of grown-up help. During our weekend at Cyndy's though, he didn't want his cousin Hannah to keep showing him up with her fabulous skating skills.

So he skated a few feet. And fell. And skated a few more. And fell again. But he couldn't give up! Not wearing his #4 Favre jersey! Brett would keep going! He had to try again!

Well, by the end of the night, he made it all the way around the rink without falling once. (Okay, maybe once, but I'm pretending I didn't see, okay???) Then he even skated into the *drumroll please* middle of the skate floor! And crouched and stood up again for his very first skate trick.

After that awesome display of bravery, you'd think he'd be rewarded, right? But alas, it was not to be. We went home to watch his beloved Pack lose to the Bears. Their only loss, all season, and it had to be in front of a butt-shaking, "whoop there it is" singing Uncle Barry. Oh, the humiliation! Hopefully, we'll get ours when we face his favorites, the 'Boys. (But I wouldn't count on it...)

An Apple A Day...

It wouldn't be fall without a trip to Indian Ladder Farms apple orchard. We had a great time picking apples, eating cider donuts, drinking hot cider (or coffee, if you're boooooring), and playing with the farm animals. After the orchard, we headed up to Thatcher Park. We could see the mountain from the orchard, and then looked down at the orchard (and Albany, and the surrounding country for MILES) from the mountain. Very cool! (I know, I take too many pictures... I'm an addict. Mostly Nicky and Juli here, dunno why...)

Autumn Traditions

Every October we can manage it, we slip away to Aunt Cyndy's for a weekend of fall fun. Since Cyndy and I were kids, we've gone to The Pumpkin Patch on Rt. 30 in upstate New York, and now we love sharing it with our kids. Usually, Cyndy has to break out the winter jackets for us pathetic "southerners" when we visit, but this year, it was brutally hot - poor baby Faith got a heat rash! (That's probably why we couldn't get her to smile in the traditional tree photo above!) Here's some pictures of the fun, starting with an adorable shot of Cyndy and Juli. For some reason, Scott always manages to get a picture of me I actually like at the pumpkin patch. My son's pretty darn cute, too! I usually try for non-blurry photos, but gotta love the sense of motion in this one - the tire swing is everyone's first stop.
They added a see-saw this year, and Hannah and Nick are just the right size to bounce together. I'm surprised we got them off it, actually.
Kai did a great job with Baby Juli all weekend. Baby cousins are the snuggliest kind!
At the very least, Kai liked holding her pumpkin of a cousin more than holding this one from the field! As you can see from her face, EWWWW dirty pumpkins! (Um, they grow on the GROUND, Kai...)

Onward and Upward

Nicky just keeps rolling on through the belts in Tae Kwon Do. He's a hard worker, very coordinated, and I have (accidentally) experienced just how hard he's learning to punch! He's up to Advanced Gold now, and we're very proud of him.

He really wants to join the Leadership Academy, which is the advanced program. But it's VERY expensive, and we're not sure we want to commit to it just yet. We made a deal with him, though. If he saves up enough money to pay for half of the required equipment (from allowance, "You Count It, You Keep It" (which is how he's been practicing counting money with the change from our pockets at the end of the day) and any other source - gifts, extra chores, whatever) we'll pay the other half and deal with the extra tuition. Since HALF of the equipment is $350, we figure that either he'll get sick of saving and stop asking, or if he actually has the willpower and determination to wait the YEARS it will take him to save that much, he'll have earned our trust that it's worth the commitment. Best of all, since the whole focus of Tae Kwon Do is character, his teacher can't bug us to upgrade him, because we're making him show black belt attitude. Plus, how much cooler will it be to earn that black and red uniform and the chance to break boards instead of just having us buy it for him?

Saturday Night Lights

I think it's a good thing we're football fans. 'Cause Kairi came home from school very excited early this school year. Saucon puts some SERIOUS emphasis on music, which is great. Kairi has band EVERY morning at the start of school. Plus lessons, plus practice at home, plus private lessons. But I confess, I was a little surprised when she shared why she was so excited. Turns out she had been invited (along with the other sixth graders) to perform with the high school band at band day at a Saucon football game. But that wasn't all. A few weeks later, they were going to perform at band day at the University of Delaware! In front of a sold-out crowd of 22,000 people! Now, granted, they were mostly there to see a football game, but they all stayed to watch the bands at half time, and the UDel band apparently has a deservedly great reputation.

We went to the Saucon game, and were proud as punch. You can see a video of the performance here. (A warning - it keeps freezing up on me, so I'm not sure if it will work for anyone else - I have a lousy computer, though. It's not my video, it's from the tv broadcast.) I was still a little nervous about sending Kai all the way to Delaware on a bus full of high schoolers. But she and her friend Sheri were so excited, we had to let her go. A few days before the trip, we got a cool surprise. Kai got a special "junior band" uniform to wear! She looked so cute!On the day of the performance Scott and I headed out to the university. We were seated almost at the top of the northwest corner of the stadium. Guess where Kai was? You got it. The VERY top of the southeast corner. Go figure. So all we could see while the band was seated were little red jacketed children LEANING OVER the chest high wall to look at the couple hundred foot DROP right behind their seats. Of course, I was very worried that Kai was going to fall over, but when I finally got her on her cell phone and told her not to lean over the back wall, her response was typical and amusing. "Of course not, mommy, that's the BOYS."

At any rate, when the bands went to march in, Kai happened to be right below us. I took this picture looking down at her. (NO, I did NOT lean over the wall! I was on the side of the stadium where only a wire mesh fence kept me from free fall. Yes. I have a few issues with heights. Not as bad as Scott, though, cause he had to sit on my other side so he couldn't look down.) Oh, yeah - she's the one with no hat, looking up.

Finally, the bands took the field. They were AWESOME. There were only two middle school bands there, and Kai is really too young for middle school, so we were guessing she was probably the only 10 year old there. The funniest part was the songs they played - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap and You Shook Me All Night Long. Not exactly appropriate, lol, but as band numbers they sounded pretty cool. In a weird sort of way.

Here's the scene from above. WAY above. (Kai's the dot that the arrow is pointing to....)


So, all went well, she got home safe.... and she wants to join the marching band now. So starting next year, for possibly the next 10, it's gonna be football games every fall weekend for this crew. Like I said. Good thing we like football!

How Can I Blog My Life...

When my life just won't slow down??! I love keeping a record of what we're doing on this blog. I know barely anyone reads it, but that's not even the point. I take so many pictures (such a shock, I know) that I'm way behind on my scrapping, but the blog helps me keep track so that when I get to scrap, I can remember the events. Beyond that, I tend to the artsy rather than the wordy in my scrapbooks, so the blog gives me a written record of our days. But lately, our days have been a nightmare of to-do lists, schedules, and running around. Tonight, though... my to-do list is done. (For approximately 12-13 seconds. If I don't pay attention to the fact that I have these tests to grade. Since I left them at school, I can hardly grade them, right? And sure, I probably SHOULD give my house a good cleaning. But it LOOKS clean, even if I know better. Let's just stick with my to-do list is done...) So, I'm hoping to blog the past month. Of course, now that I've put that in writing, whaddaya wanna bet I don't get all caught up? Here goes nothing...