Pumpkin Patch -> Jack o'Lanterns

We headed off to a local pumpkin patch on Saturday to find some good pumpkins. We didn't have a huge selection, but there was enough. And even though we didn't play on all the bouncy houses or huge tire swings, we still had fun riding on the trailer and wandering through the field. It was a lovely (if a bit cool) day to be out.

We ended up getting these three.

Did this with them:

Which resulted in this:

Left to right: Alison (Wolverine), Megan (on the stand, the BatSignal), Caitlyn (fairy house), Russell (a haunted castle) and Kristen (it's puking).


Happy Halloween!!

30 Degrees

At the beginning of the week, it was 85 degrees, the girls were going to school in shorts and begging me to turn on the air conditioning. (I refused. Who turns on the air in late October, outside of those living in the Deep South?)

Yesterday afternoon, when I got home from work, I turned on the heater. It was 58 degrees in the house. Crazy place we live.

 

We had a crazy week, mostly because I went to work all six days. Which means a lot of jumbling of the schedule around my work. Sometimes I wonder if we just shouldn’t cave and get a second car, just to make things a bit easier on the mornings I have to open the store. And then there’s winter... Shoot. Why can’t life be less complicated??

 

Amid all the hours I was working, life happened. The girls went to school. Megan went with school groups to the art museum, and on a campus visit to University of Kansas. She was, actually, quite impressed. She liked the campus, she liked what they have to offer, and there’s a very good chance she can get in with a full-ride scholarship. So, if she can’t get in someplace she really wants to, KU may just be a really good second choice. And then, yesterday, she was off with the band to the Arkalala band competition. She was quite tired today. No wonder.

 

The rest of us went out to the pumpkin patch to see what was left. There were carnival rides and games, but they were ridiculously priced, so we said no to that. We did, however, get three nice looking pumpkins to carve. (We already had two, one from a church event and the other from Kristen’s field trip to the dairy farm on Tuesday. Which was very fun. The best part? Learning how to milk a cow. And she was quite proud of the pumpkin she chose. Though she wanted to get one for herself yesterday, and not use the smaller one she picked on Tuesday, so someone else *cough*parents*cough* will have to use that one.) Which makes us all very happy. 

 

And we did the last-minute odds-and-ends shopping for our Halloween costumes. Caitlyn helped me come up with one: finding the clothes and having opinions about the whole thing. It’s hard not to be excited about it when she’s so excited about it. She and I also hung out last night while we were waiting for Megan to come home, and watched You’ve Got Mail. Still a cute, if a bit dated (I had to explain why AOL was so slow, and what that funny noise was), movie. Caitlyn liked it. 

 

Alison fell off the monkey bars on Thursday at school, and hurt her elbow. The nurse (it’s a new nurse, who – possibly thankfully – isn’t hyper-sensitive about these sorts of things) didn’t call me, so I didn’t find out about it until I picked her up. She couldn’t straighten her arm without a lot of pain, so we hauled her off to Urgent Care to get x-rays. Turns out it’s not broken (yay!) only sprained (or as she says: “My arm is sprung.”), so it’s in a sling for the next little while It still hurts when she tries to straighten it, and getting shirts on and off is a bit tricky. But mostly, it’s okay. l I know I should get her to the real doctor (not just the harried urgent care guy) but, honestly, that means I have to find time, and time is the one thing I don’t have until, oh, January. Then I’ll have LOADS of time.

 

(In other news, my knee is feeling better. I knew you were concerned.)

 

And that’s about it for us. Happy Halloween!

If You Can't Say Anything Nice

Don’t say anything at all.

 

So, the positive things this week:

 

1. We had a nice sacrament meeting. Russell was asked to speak last minute (being the one conducting and all), because the assigned speaker was sick. I’m always impressed and amazed at his ability to talk, off the cuff, for a half hour and have it interesting, funny and insightful. Then again, he is a college professor, and the main ability needed, really, is to be able to talk in front of people, sometimes at short notice.

 

2. We saw Brave, finally. Both the older girls have seen it already, and said it was okay. Not great, but okay. Since they both had Things To Do last night, we took Kristen and Alison. After having seen it, I can see why the kids weren’t that enthused: it’s a movie for Moms, not for kids. I cried. And I loved it. Alison was scared of the bear and Kristen loved the triplets, though, so it wasn’t all bad. 

 

3. We had a ward party, and actually had a good time. We’ve managed to mooch ourselves onto another family for Thanksgiving, which is always good. We were talking about having them over to our house, but then it came out that I’m going on my yoga-cation the day after, so they offered to host us at their house. Hopefully, it’ll be a good day. On the other hand, I’m kind of glad I don’t have to make a turkey this year.

 

That’s about it. The rest of the week was just normal stuff: work, piano, school, marching band (which is almost over!), seminary, homework, and the like. It’s nice that fall is here. (Even if the temperature can’t decide whether it wants to be 85 or 65; it was both last week!)

Look, Mom!

Butternut squash soup.

And for the record, Russell ate a bowl, I ate a bowl, and Caitlyn tried some.

It wasn't a hit, but at least we tried it, right?

Jack, 2012

One of the things that unfortunately is happening is that the older girls just don't want to be a part of our Family Traditions as much. At least not the "little" ones. Thankfully, we still have Alison and Kristen to help us make our scarecrow.

It's Fall!

Or Autumn, if you prefer.

Which means that the leaves are falling, and there are Piles to Jump In.

For My Girls

I think you're all beautiful.

The Halloween Gingerbread House

So, last year, when I was doing some after-Halloween clearance shopping, I must have seen thease Halloween Gingerbread House kits and thought: "Wow! A kit! That will be SO much easier than trying to construct something out of graham crackers! I should get that!"

And so I did.

They sat in their boxes in the garage for a year. Through a mild winter, and a very hot summer, until October rolled around and I (having forgotten all about them) pulled them out of the Halloween boxes.

The girls, of course, were wildly excited to Try Them Out.

Here is what we learned.

1. When you leave gingerbread and frosting in a box for a year, they're bound to be dry, brittle, and not at all workable. You're going to break a lot of pieces, and end up making royal icing anyway, just to glue whatever it is you can back together.

2. Because of this, there will be much frustration and arguing and fighting.

 3. That said, the kids were quite friendly for the youngest of us, and she enjoyed doing whatever it was she could do.

4. And we did manage to come up with something in the end. It just wasn't nearly the fun experience would have been had we just done it from scratch like usual.

In other words: don't believe everything the box has to say.

Guess Who Got a Haircut?

 

She's been wanting a "pixie cut" for a while now. The last time we went to Great Clips, they flat-out refused to give her one, saying they couldn't. So, I promised Alison that we'd take her to my salon (well, Cosmetology Academy) and they would happily give her the short short haircut she's ALWAYS wanted (well, at least for the last few months). So we did.

And she loves it.

Pithy Catch Phrases for the Week

Warning: Children Left Unattended Will be Sold to the Circus: Russell left to go to South Carolina, for an American Political Theory conference. So he was a bit swamped this week, with teaching and getting a paper written and then, well, leaving. And it just so happened that Alison and Kristen had half days for the three days they were in school this week. And then everyone was out both Thursday and Friday. Somehow, I didn’t catch this in the Overall Plan, and didn’t ask for work off early, and because Things just Work This Way sometimes, I got scheduled for a Saturday, which NEVER happens. (Well, I can’t say never, now.) So. Alison stepped up to the plate, and got herself and Kristen home after school Monday through Wednesday, got into the house, called me on the phone and managed not to panic until I got home from work. And all of them had a good day on Thursday (it helped that the Kitchens came and took them to the park for several hours) and Megan even got the whole chores thing moving for me on Saturday. I love my girls.

 

D’oh!: So, remember when I said that I was staying off my knee in hopes that it would get better? Well, it was. And I even got two days of light exercise on the elliptical this week, which made me very, very happy. Then, on Friday night, I was goofing off with the two younger girls (we had just gotten back from a party at the Dumlers and dropping Caitlyn off at a friend’s house, and were just playing around), and I looked at the wall and thought to myself, “Hey! I bet I can do a handstand.” I kicked up, and as I did, heard an audible pop. Yep. Back to square –10. Friday night was bad, working on it all day Saturday was not nice, and I went and picked up a (much-needed) electric hot pad to help me sleep last night. It’s doing better today, but I still can’t put weight on it when it’s bent, which makes stairs an interesting challenge. I’m also beginning to think that I need to break down and go see the doctor about it. *sigh*

 

You Think You’re So Smart!: Well, it’s because they are. Both Alison and Kristen’s parent-teacher conferences went well (the reason for the half days, by the way). They’re both doing well in school, they both like going, and their teachers both really enjoy having them in class. All of which is good to know. Megan’s still managing to stay on top of things in class, and Caitlyn’s doing just fine, too. (Though she has discovered that she REALLY HATES it when teachers compare her to Megan.)

 

Who’s Up for Round Two?: Megan, of course. Finally, some great summer movies have made it to the Pink Palace, and she went and saw the Avengers (again) and Brave (for the first time). Both of which I’d love to see. Must. Make. Time. To. Go. Out. (On a date with my husband? What’s that again?) We also watched Castle (yay for fluff!) and the first disc for Big Bang Theory, season 5 finally showed up, which made us all happy as well. 

 

Don’t Forget About Me: In the midst of all this running around – between play dates and sleep overs (both Caitlyn and Alison) and movies and parties (one at the Dumlers for all of us, and Alison had a birthday party) Kristen decided that she wanted to do something “we haven’t done in a long time.” Unfortunately, it was raining, so we couldn’t go to the park or the Keeper or Mini Golfing, all of which was on her list of Things To Do. So, we settled with going to the mall, and after we didn’t find anything for her to spend her $4 on at the toy store there, we ended up at Target, and bough Play Doh. Which reminded me: I love play doh. We should always have it in the house. And it was nice to spend time with

 

And there you have it. Have a lovely week!

A Little Mix-up

Me: "What song shall I sing?"
Alison: "Hercules."



Me: (after trying to sing a little of the song) "Nope. I don't know that one."
Alison: "Oh, wait! I meant Nephi. I get those two mixed up."

I'm on the Edge

Photo credit: Laini Taylor.

So, yeah. We were going to go to Austin (because we’re all huge Rick Riordan fans, except for Kristen who hasn’t read the books yet, and Russell who just isn’t), but Russell convinced me that we’re really not that insane. Too bad. It would have been fun. Insane, yes, but loads of fun. (And since when were we not insane? News to me.)

 

With that off our plate, the whole week opened up. Sure, there was still piano (Russell took them on Monday and survived) and school and seminary and work and book group (a whole four people came, all from the “old” ward. My theory? That no one from the “new” part of the ward wants to come to a book group. We’re going to give it through January and see what happens, but I’m not hopeful.) and TV and choir concerts and trying to just stay on top of things after being gone for a weekend.

 

We did manage to clean the basement (there’s insanity for you), and go pants/costume shopping (taking all four girls at once, another spot of insanity), and even find time to watch Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (meh. If you’ve seen the shot where Tom Cruise is climbing the outside of the world’s tallest building, then you’ve seen the best of the movie) and Field of Dreams (I liked it better back in the 80s, when I first saw it), working it all in between (and after) conference sessions.

 

Meh. All this sounds pretty normal. Maybe we’re not so insane after all.

The Purple People Eater

Or, Caitlyn's choir concert.

She's actually decided that she enjoys choir more than band, and to be honest: I can see why. She loves performing, she's good at it, and we ought to get her vocal lessons so that the quality of her voice will be better. She's the last solo in this piece (which lacks energy, but they're seventh graders), and (in my humble opinion) she knocks it out of the park.



(If you don't see her, she's the one with the red flower in her hair.)

The Lion King!

When we heard that the Lion King was coming to Wichita (!), we figured that even though Russell, Megan and I have already seen it, the other girls would enjoy it, so we would buy tickets for them. Then Megan piped up: "It's my Favorite Musical, so I have to go too!"  Russell went the day they released tickets to the public, and manged to score six tickets for a Thursday matinee at the end of the run. Yes, they were nosebleed seats. Yes, we could tell the cast was tired from doing a month-long run here.

But you know what? It was totally worth it.

A's Phantom Awesomeness

You can't deny that she is quite dramatic in this one.