Happy Halloween!

The weather here for trick-or-treat was miserable tonight. 30mph wind, pouring rain. Ick. We tried to make the best of it by wearing clear ponchos and covering Tyler's head with contact paper to make him a little more water resistant, but there's only so much sogginess a cowgirl, Steve, and their escort can handle. They hung in there for about 30-40 minutes. Then we shut off the porch light and went out for dinner. That was a much better choice. We have a ton of candy leftover. I think maybe I'm going to put some aside to use in the kids' stockings this Christmas.

Halloweens Past

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007 (That's his scary face.)

2008 (That's his the sun is in my eyes face.)

2009

2010

2011

2012 (Hated Tyler's costume last year!)

Profanity

Tyler had to sit in the hall for a few minutes today for using bad language. His teacher was assigning a lot of homework and Tyler commented, "Well, that sucks!" She directed him to the hall until she could talk to him afterward about using the "s" word.

Tyler said his teacher looked mortified when she asked if his parents used that kind of language at home and he said "yes". (Actually, he said "Her eyes got really big and her voice got higher", but I'm paraphrasing.) He also said that she asked him if he could think of any other words he could have used instead. What kind of question is that to ask a 12 year old boy?! Thankfully he was respectful and just said that he couldn't think of anything. That really could have gone either way.

Tyler told me all about this in the car on the way home. I explained that regardless of how we feel about it, now that he knows she finds it offensive, he shouldn't say it any more. Her classroom, her rules.

When we got home, Ron asked Tyler how his day went.

Tyler said, "I had to sit in the hall."

Ron replied, "Well, that sucks!"  :)

Halloween Stuff

The kids got to wear their costumes to church yesterday. Clara didn't get to go, but she dressed for the photo op.

I etched another pumpkin last night. I like the first one better, but this one looks pretty good. Danielle wanted to make one, too, so she made the ghost. It's kind of hard when mom won't let you use a knife, though. :)

Our Day Off

Today was teacher in-service day, so the kids and I didn't have school. Hooray! Ron took the day off, too, so we could all do something together.

We started with a couple games of bowling. I can't remember the last time the four of us went bowling together. We had a good time. The ball never went backwards this time, but we did manage to toss it into the alley beside us twice! Thankfully the people bowling beside us sucked, too, so they weren't terribly upset about the two gutter balls we gave them.

After we were done at the bowling alley, we went to the pumpkin patch. Are you convinced?

We actually went to Walmart and bought $3 pumpkins. The pumpkin patch was worth the money when the kids were younger, but it's just not the same now. The kids were ok with picking out big pumpkins at Walmart instead, but Ron did offer to put some hay in a shopping cart and push them around a little if that would make it more fun. They both declined. We carved our pumpkins when we got home.

Tyler was so picky about his this year! He was so upset that he couldn't draw a symmetrical pattern on the pumpkin, so he drew it on a piece of paper first and used that as a template. He still won't touch the guts. Danielle just dives in up to her elbows. After we were done with our pumpkins, we finished off the evening with cider and doughnuts.

Tyler's pumpkin has a little something in his teeth.

Mine, Tyler's, Ron's, & Danielle's

Danielle added a tail to her pumpkin cat.

We had a very nice day together...and we still have 2 weekend days left!! 

Afternoon Escape

I escaped to the park for a little while yesterday. The weather was so odd. It snowed yesterday morning, the sun was out periodically throughout the day, it sleeted, it snowed, it was windy and then it wasn't. While I was at the park I saw a frog in the water! I imagine the water was a little warmer than the air temp but his little froggy head was out of the water. Brr! Anyway, here are some pictures from my outing.

Fall leaves floating down the river.

Snow showers. I'm not sure they reached the ground, but it was really pretty watching them move across the sky.

I had the park to myself, which was exactly what I needed. Quiet.

Snow?

Yep! October 23 and we had snow this morning. I thought it was pretty. Ron sent this picture to me while I was at work this morning. I guess Danielle played in it for a few minutes before school started. I don't remember a time when the first snowfall was this early, but I also can't remember what I went in the other room to get, so that doesn't mean much. It didn't last long, but it was pretty.

Crafts

Last night for dinner we had fresh pineapple. The smell always reminds me of our vacation to Hawaii...and the long standing grudge Danielle is holding against Ron for eating the last of the fresh pineapple while she was playing in the sand. Last night we enjoyed our pineapple in the shape of pumpkins and ghosts. Why? Because I had a bad day and pineapple shapes are fun.

I decided I wanted to etch a pumpkin, so I got one to decorate for work. I like the way it turned out. I swore I wouldn't make another after spending the entire evening working on it last night, but I'm thinking I might like to try another. I found a template on line, printed it out, taped it to my pumpkin, and then cut the outline into the pumpkin. After the outline was there, I removed the template and shaved and scraped the pumpkin skin to make the design. After it was done, I wiped it off with bleach to try to better preserve it. I didn't have any Vaseline or I would have put a little of that on the design, too. Hopefully it will last until next Thursday.

Tyler decided he wasn't going to go trick-or-treating this year because he didn't want to dress up. We had a difficult time finding a decent costume last year, so I wasn't surprised. When we were at the costume store on Sunday looking for a cowgirl hat for Danielle, he saw a Minecraft sword he wanted. He didn't get it, but that prompted him to consider dressing up as a Minecraft character for Halloween. The call of free candy is so strong. He decided to be Steve. All he really needed was the head. Uncle Ron bought him a flashlight shaped like a Minecraft torch for his birthday that he is going to carry. He already has a blue shirt. So, we made the head last night and tonight. His costume cost about $5. I think it looks really cool, and he is pleased with it. We still need that cowgirl hat for Danielle, though.

This & That

Danielle made the travel basketball team and had her first practice last week. They will be practicing 2 hours a night, 2 nights a week for the next few months. Scrimmages start late November. Games are in December, January, & February. Practices for her travel softball team start this coming week. They will practice one night a week for the next few months. She will be a busy girl...which is exactly the way she likes it.

Ball handling drills.
It will be neat to see how much they've improved by the end of the season!

This Saturday was Danielle's last volleyball game. Here is a picture of the team. I am so glad we are done with volleyball. Practices were a joke. At the last practice Danielle attended, she got kicked in the head by someone who insisted on doing a cartwheel after each serve, tackled when she ran to get the ball, and just generally annoyed by all the fooling around & rolling around on the floor by everyone else. We did not attend the final practice because I was tired of wasting my time. Do I sound grumpy?

Today we went to the park to look at the winners of the photo contest. Danielle and I did not win. Some of the winning photos were really good, some were not. The winning photo in the kids' category was not stunning. The guy monitoring the photos told Danielle he had overheard several people commenting on her photo, and we could see entry forms in the fan favorite jar with her picture # on it, so she left feeling pretty good about herself.

While we were at the park I convinced the kids to let me get an updated picture of them. We decided a family picture wouldn't kill us either. How did the kids grow up so quickly...and how did I get so old?! :)