Monthly Archives: October 2009

Eve’s Halloween (aka Halloween 2009)

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This was a funny Halloween.  It was a beautiful day, high 60s and breezy.  We spent the morning doing my stuff (WW meeting, exercise, etc).  Eve happily joined me while Lex stayed home with Alan and had a slow morning.  He was still running a fever and not feeling great.  At nap time he eagerly went to sleep (rare for him!) and she fell asleep with vision of candy dancing in her head.  Lex woke up even more feverish and was happy to stay home with Alan while Eve and I went to the local “mall” for indoor trick-or-treating.  I’ve never gone but I have friends who go every year and love it.  This year it was packed because the forecast called for a rainy evening.  Eve was SUPER excited all the way until we were standing in front of the first person handing out candy…. then she clung to the back of my leg like glue!  When we finally moved away from the poor candy-handing-out lady Eve let go of her death grip and started looking around.  She had a great time looking at people and wandering around, but refused to say “trick-or-treat” to anyone and usually hid her head whenever we got near someone handing out candy.  She is such a funny girl.  A few people put candy in her pumpkin anyway so we ended up with about ten pieces of candy, which she happily shared with the family when we got home.  By the time we left the mall it was raining pretty hard, so we went home (after a quick stop at the grocery store to get more medicine for Lex and lots of oohs and ahhs for Eve).

Lex fell asleep on the couch and is in pretty miserable shape.  I took his temp tonight and it was 103.6.  I don’t normally take temps because I can tell if they have a fevers or not without the thermometer and I don’t see much need to know the precise number, but tonight he felt SO hot.  I spoke with the pedi on call and she said to keep doing what we’re doing.  I’m hoping this is just one of his normal fever spells (they seem to come every 6 months or so and the timing is about right) and not some scary flu thing.

Eve, on the other hand, is on a sugar high from the lollipop she ate and she’s bouncing like  a crazy person!  I’ve been back up there three times already to find her in various states of disarray (and disrobed!)  The first time she took her cloth diaper off and took the whole thing apart! This most recent time I found her in the bathroom, naked, saying she wants different PJs.  Sigh.  H0pefully she’ll pass out soon :)  I think she came home with just the right amount of candy.  We all got a few bits and there isn’t a huge bowlful left over.  What is leftover though is the candy we bought!  With the heavy rains only the hardiest (and most foolish, in my opinion) were out and about, so we have lots of leftover stuff.  Hmm… now to find something creative to do with it… or maybe now it’s time to go to bed.  Yeah, I think that’s it.

Sleeping Beauty has a quick Skittles snack to energize for the big night.

Sleeping Beauty has a quick Skittles snack to energize for the big night.

There's our little pink pumpkin princess. Doesn't Lex look sad in the background? He was happy not to go out though, really he was.

There's our little pink pumpkin princess. Doesn't Lex look sad in the background? He was happy not to go out though, really he was. (and yes, she is a New England Sleeping Beauty, turtle neck, tights, socks and all!)

I suspect this chariot is unbefitting of a princess :) She was actually confused as to why we were getting in the car to go trick-or-treating.

I suspect this chariot is not befitting of a princess :) She was actually confused as to why we were getting in the car to go trick-or-treating.

An action shot at the mall

An action shot at the mall

Eve made a beeline for the first empty bench she saw and announced it time to eat some candy. She was apparently eager to eat that lollipop. Her first ever tootsie-pop, I believe.

Eve made a beeline for the first empty bench she saw and announced it time to eat some candy. She was apparently eager to eat that lollipop. Her first ever tootsie-pop, I believe.

Everyone surveys Eve's haul. The best part was, everyone was happy with it!! (except me who was a little disappointed not to have to "save" Eve from any tasty Reece's Peanut Butter cups. Oh well!)

Everyone surveys Eve's haul. The best part was, everyone was happy with it!! (except me who was a little disappointed not to have to "save" Eve from any tasty Reece's Peanut Butter cups. Oh well!)

Halloween Eve

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Lex woke up yesterday, looked at the calendar, and said: “Mom, tomorrow is Halloween day and Saturday is Halloween night.  That means tomorrow we have to go to the store and buy candy to give to the trick-or-treaters.  We also have to go to the store and buy pumpkins to make jack-o-lanterns.”  Like that was his plan all along.  I wish he’d start writing these things on the calendar for me!  We already had candy so we checked that right off his mental list and I started trying to work jack-o-lanterns into my Friday plans.  Truth be told, this Halloween scrooge was hoping to avoid the jack-o-lanterns this year.  We bought a few little pumpkins a few weeks ago and the kids happily painted them (per Lex’s instruction) and they both participated in the carving of many jack-o-lanterns at daycare, so I was hoping to skip it here.  But I guess Lex had it scheduled for Friday.  After I picked him up from school (the cookies were a hit, by the way!) we stopped at the farm stand and bought pumpkins, mums and apple cider, on sale :)

MY Friday plans had included a playdate with a friend and her kids, so after naps I gave them a call and, conveniently, they had pumpkins to carve too… so they came over and we had a pumpkin carving playdate.  As seems to be the case with pumpkin carving, the kids were interested for about five minutes and then ran off to play, leaving the grown-ups to finish the job.  Luckily we had fun with it. I also LOVED when Lex insisted we “play” the “five little pumpkins” game.  With some effort I came to understand that means singing a super cute song and at the end the lights go out.  Anyone know this song?  I love hearing about stuff he learns at school.  We tried to record him singing but the other kids were making noise and he is a quiet singer so you can’t really hear him in the movie.  It was a beautiful thing though, from a mommy perspective anyway! :)

Then we got pizza and around 6:30, after eating only a few bites of dinner, a very tired and sick (cold, congestion) Eve got down and said it was time for bed.  She does this at nap time a lot lately.  She’ll have some lunch and then say its time for nap.  She goes upstairs and climbs into her bed.  Sometimes she just sits there and waits for me, other times she reads a book to doggie while she waits, tonight she pulled the covers up over her head and fell asleep!  The door was open, the other kids were running and yelling downstairs, and Eve was out like a light.  I went up and put a diaper on her, she smiled and hugged me but otherwise kept sleeping.  She’s so funny!  She’s always been a great sleeper but lately she has become crazy and fights bedtime.  About a week ago she started putting herself to bed and really appreciating sleep again.  I think it’s just because she hasn’t been feeling well lately, but I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.

Then while my friend and I chatted, Alan did an awesome job of wearing out the other three kids.  They cleaned up the GIANT mess they had made in the living room and office, they played Simon Says, they played tag, and lots of other fun stuff.  I lost track.  I sat on my butt and chatted with my friend.  It was a great night :)

When they left Alan read a story to Lex while Lex had a snack (skipped dinner, too busy playing).  Then they went upstairs and Lex threw up, several times!  Blech!!  Luckily they were in the bathroom so the mess was fairly contained, but poor Lex just shook and shivered and moaned and cried.  Alan put him in a warm bath for awhile then I got him dressed and we snuggled in bed.  I’m hoping it was just from so much activity.  Hopefully!!!

We have a few Halloween plans for tomorrow, but I think we’ll see how the kids feel when they wake up.  There is so much to do around here (I love this area!) but I try to remember that my kids don’t like doing too much and are often happiest with one or two small activities. Lex’s plan for tomorrow is to empty out the Pampered Chef boxes that were delivered today and make another playhouse.  It’s Halloween and he is most excited to make a cardboard playhouse.  I hope the innocence lasts for a few more years.  Eve, on the other hand, has been practicing her door knocking and “trick-or-treat” yell and is eager to go out on the town!  :)

I am that mom

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Halloween Pumpkin Chip cookies

Halloween Pumpkin Chip cookies

At Lex’s open house last month (did I tell you about that disaster??) I volunteered to be on the “parent committee” for Lex’s class. Not sure what that meant, but I figured it could be fun. Turns out the parent committee is in charge of organizing class parties and… well, that’s all I know so far. The teacher asked me to talk to the other parents who signed up and organize a healthy Halloween snack for their class tomorrow. No costumes or games, just snack and drink. Umm… yeah, I can do that!! When talking to the other parents I politely offered to bring the snack :) Yay! A chance to bake a fun Halloween snack and give it away! My first plan was oatmeal raisin cookies with black and orange M&Ms, but I was forced to abandon that idea when I couldn’t find black and orange M&Ms. Oh well. Plan B… Google! I found a recipe for pumpkin chip cookies with butterscotch chips. Yum! I doubled the recipe (why not!) and threw in some extra cranberries I had. Plus a little nutmeg.  I actually did half with butterscotch chips and cranberries and the other half with plain chocolate chips (Lex wanted chocolate chip cookies). I think the butterscotch/cranberry version is far superior! Then I decorated them with some leftover frosting I had in the fridge. Yep, I am that mom! :) Hopefully the kids enjoy their tasty treat tomorrow.

Here is the recipe from Cooks.com.

HALLOWEEN PUMPKIN CHIP COOKIES

1 cup pumpkin
1 egg
1/2 cup any kind vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup white chocolate or butterscotch chips
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 370°F.

Note: If using butterscotch chips, try using butter rum extract or butterscotch schnapps instead of the vanilla for extra flavor.

Blend pumpkin, egg, oil and sugar. Whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt; gradually add to first mixture. Dissolve the baking soda in milk and add to batter. Stir in chocolate (or butterscotch) chips, nuts and vanilla.

Drop by the teaspoonful onto lightly greased baking sheets.

Bake at 370°F degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Recipe can be doubled.

Bake and freeze the extra cookies.

He said, she said

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Sesame Street

lexThe other day when I was talking at the kids (I do that sometimes) the subject of Sesame Street came up and I said something along the lines of, “I’m sorry you guys have never watched Sesame Street.  You’d probably like it.”  Lex thinks for a moment and says, “Don’t worry mom.  I watched it at the hotel.  It was just ok.”  :)  I’m not sure what hotel but I totally believe him.  Also, as I’m writing this, I’m remembering that we rented DVDs a few times from Netflix, so Lex at least has seen Sesame Street DVDs, though not actual shows.  He’s nice to reassure me, isn’t he? :)

Pampered Jeff

eveAt the gas station the other day Eve excitedly pointed to a man and said “He looks like Pampered Chef!”  I had no idea what she was talking about (I’m trying to pump gas in the cold!) but eventually she added “like Pampered Chef at daycare” and I realized she was talking about Mister Jeff, one of the daycare teachers.  I told her that Mister Jeff is a person and Pampered Chef is a company.  She nodded as though she understood.  The next morning at breakfast she told Lex, with a very authorative nod of the head,  “Pampered Jeff is a country.”  She still can’t quite get Mister Jeff and usually calls him Pampered Jeff :)  (if you’re curious, they call all of the teachers Miss or Mister plus the first name and Pampered Jeff owns the daycare with his wife).

A peaceful moment at the easel

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I love when they have their happy, playing together moments.  Here Lex decided they should draw together, so he divided up the board and wrote their names on top.  He drew a tree and started writing the word, but then got distracted by Eve’s drawing.  She drew snails.  In the bottom picture you can see that he wrote “snal” for her :)  They make me happy.

Drawing on the easel

Drawing on the easel

Snails

Snails

Artwork

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Lex has had an artistic burst lately and now spends lots of time sitting at the table drawing pictures.  Usually his pictures are just lots of color on a page, but occasionally he actually make something, like a porcupine.

A porcupine with a blue head, black tail, and lots of legs.

A porcupine with a blue head, black tail, and lots of legs.

He also knows where we keep the tape and proudly hangs up each drawing when he’s finished with it.  Our walls are covered with Lex art :)

Our own personal art gallery

Our own personal art gallery

Notice anything different?

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Notice anything different?

Notice anything different?

Notice anything different in this picture? Look closely… what’s missing?

This truck and trailer contains all of our remaining leaves and the shrubs from the front of the house!

This truck and trailer contains all of our remaining leaves and the shrubs from the front of the house!

The shrubs!!! And bonus points if you also guessed the leaves :) The dad of one of the kids in Lex’s class owns a property maintenance business and he came over to do some work for us. I’m thrilled!!! He raked and removed the remaining leaves (will be back again when the rest of the leaves are down), raked and removed the pine needle carpet in the backyard that I had pretty much given up on this season, cut back several of the flower gardens (will be back to finish the rest, I think), and cleared out the brush corner of our yard where we’ve been throwing fallen branches, Christmas trees, etc… for lack of anything better to do with them. I’m amazed at how much work three guys can get done in a short period of time. The first day they were here for 2hrs and got more done than me and my little “helpers” could have gotten done all year! Awesome :)

Busy weekend

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We had a very busy weekend.  Very busy.  I’m very tired now, but I know it’s been a few days so I’ll bang out a quick update :)  May or may not proof-read!

Saturday was nice weather and we spent the day outside raking leaves.  No kidding, it was 5hours of raking!  Ridiculous!  My current leaf handling solution is to put them in the leaf compost pile in an effort to make leaf mulch.  Last year we shredded them up and put them in.  This year I moved last year’s leaves from one pile to another (to turn them) and was disappointed at how little composting actually occurred.  I guess I need to turn them more often, or something.  The process of moving them all from one place to another took a long time and I did it over the course of a week or two.  The process of raking and filling the big container with new leaves from this fall took about an hour!  I didn’t shred them first because I can’t figure it out logistically (deep leaves, SLOW leaf blower, can’t mulch with the mower with both kids running around, etc.) so I just put them in the pile whole this year.  Probably even less composting will occur :(  This is our 4th fall here and I still don’t think we have a good leaf removal system.  Next year (when our ship comes in!) I’d love to just pay someone to make it happen.  Wouldn’t that be cool if we could rake and play in the leaves and then they would magically just disappear?  I know I sound like I’m whining, but if you saw the vast amount of leaves on my lawn you’d understand.  After 5yrs of dealing with it Saturday I still have a whole side yard untouched, a backyard full of pine needles, and 3 large leaf piles in the front/side yard.  PLUS two giant leaf composting piles.  Ugh  I ran out of room in the composting piles so I’m not sure what I’m going to do about the remaining leaves.

The lawn, mid-raking

The lawn, mid-raking

Two leaf composting piles, the one on the left is last year's leaves.

Two leaf composting piles, the one on the left is last year's leaves.

Today we got up bright and early and headed over to the hospital for their free flu shot clinic.  They do several of them throughout September, October, and November, but yesterday’s newspaper said that the remaining clinics (after today) may be canceled due to a shortage of the vaccine.  Sooo…. today’s clinic was INSANE!!  The parking lot was packed, there was a line out the door, down the driveway and into the parking lot!!  A nice guard told us that since we have young kids we could go to the kid’s clinic inside, which was nice.  The line there was equally long, but at least it was inside and the kids could play in the hallways.  There’s nothing like carrying heavy winter coats and bags while trying to maintain your place in line and simultaneously keep an eye on two active, excited kids in a mobbed hallway to EXHAUST a person!  After about an hour it was our turn.  Alan and I got shots, Eve got her with some tears of pain, and Lex got his despite a HUGE fight with tears and screaming.  Fun, fun.  Then we went to the cafeteria for lunch and more overexcited energy.

After the flu shot clinic we stopped at the pharmacy to pick up a “spacer” for an asthma inhaler… yes, you read that right.  On Friday I took the kids to the doctor because Lex and I have had a deep cough that just won’t quit for about 10 days now.  He checked us both, and Eve as well, and said that we sound fine other than the cough (no phenomena or flu or anything) and prescribed Robitussin with Codine for me (to finally sleep through the night, though it hasn’t worked yet!) and an asthma inhaler for Lex and I to use for a week.  Apparently it’s a common thing to help ease a heavy cough and end the “cough cycle.”  I’m now the proud owner of an Epi-Pen and asthma inhaler.  How did this happen??  The spacer piece we picked up today is an adapter thing to make it easier for kids to use the inhaler.  I’ll tell ya, the whole inhaler thing looks a lot easier than it really is!  I’m using the spacer too!  :)  Hopefully by the end of the week we will all be cough free and inhaler free!  Maybe in a year or two we’ll be Epi-Pen free too!!

Lex's drawing of a tree.

Lex's drawing of a tree.

This picture makes me happy. After nap today the kids helped me clean the upstairs (change sheets, dust, vaccum) and then came down and drew pictures while I made dinner. Lex likes to draw abstract art, but when I asked if he could draw a picture of something, he made a tree :)