Halloween – party edition

Many weeks ago Eve asked if we could have a Halloween party. After glossing over Halloween altogether last year (a fact she likes to remind me of ), I thought a Halloween party sounded like a great idea. Of course, I didn’t think to look at the calendar when I agreed to this crazy idea! Turns out it’s book fair week, parent conference week, Halloween and a Halloween party, “that time of the month” (TMI, sorry), AND I had to stop taking all allergy medications so I can go next week for testing. Whee! It’s a little crazy around these parts, but we’re having fun!

We had a great Halloween party tonight. Both kids dressed up and we had seven friends over, plus a few parents. I ordered pizza and helped Lex finish his costume between book fair sales this afternoon. We got home in time to move piles of stuff from the living room to the tucked away office and throw a table cloth on the table. Alan got home with pizza just as company was arriving.

Rita Skeeter, Luna Lovegood, a fairy witch, and an inch worm (not in costume), cracking open some butterbeer.

Eve reigns supreme!

Our first trick-or-treater was a little kid from down the street. All the big kids in my house rushed to open the door and hand out candy. :)

Our local OR nurse brought a brain for dinner. Yummy! Brain surgery is her specialty.

There are nine of them there. One is hiding in the back.

I forgot to get a picture of my two alone. I didn’t even get a good picture of either of their costumes.  Eve was Luna Lovegood, from Harry Potter, and Lex was a Minecraft phantom.  He put a lot of work into it, including light up eyes on the head.  It was cool!

Lex’s costume plan

This.

Back at home the candy trading floor opened for business!

We had a lot of candy!

We were home from trick-or-treating around 7:30 and everyone left before 8:30.  Now we are all exhausted!  We had a momentary scare when we couldn’t find the cat anywhere, but she eventually turned up hidden in a pile of Eve’s stuffies.  Jasmine is the best hider ever!

Off to bed now.  Tomorrow is another early morning and late evening for book fair!

 

What’s that sound?

While laying in bed with Eve tonight I heard an odd sound. “What’s that sound?” I asked. “Bananagrams!” she replied. I laughed. She said, “Don’t judge! Sometimes I like to play Bananagrams with my stuffies.” I laughed harder. A bit later I heard another odd sound. “What’s that sound?” I asked. “Chickens!” she said. Chickens?! I laughed, then laughed even harder when I realized it was chickens! Minecraft chickens, coming from the family room where Alan was playing Minecraft. It’s good to end the evening on a laugh. 😂

TGIF

Happy Friday! It’s been a busy week, with a busier one coming up!

This has been about 110% of my focus lately:

I had a teacher preview event this afternoon with goodies, a raffle, and a chance for teachers to shop and add items to their wish list. It was a hit! I had about twice the number of teachers come this year over last year and many more decided to use the wish list. I’m happy about that. :)

We got home, crashed in front of the TV for awhile (I may have had a small nap), and we’ve been doing about nothing for the rest of the evening. We have a winter weather advisory for the weekend, with wet, heavy snow predicted. Good thing we don’t have plans this weekend!! :)

I thought I had more things to say, but my mind is suddenly blank. I guess it’s time for bed! :)

The little things

When I look at my children, especially around the holidays, I feel like their childhood is going by way too fast!  There are wonderful parts to their growing up, but it leaves me in a weird, somewhat lost position.  I try to notice the little things and appreciate the way they are growing into kind, capable human beings.

  • Lex took care of a bug all on his own the other day.  It was a little winged thing.  Eve shrieked (she’s dramatic), but Lex grabbed a tissue.  When he saw it, he decided to take it outside instead of squishing it.  He got a cup and a stiff paper and took care of the bug.  It took him two tries, but he didn’t stop, didn’t ask for help, and didn’t even think twice about doing the job.
  • Eve went to her first school dance.  I think she was a little nervous, but she wouldn’t admit it.  It was a Halloween dance and costumes got you a discount at the door, so she put her on her Luna Lovegood outfit.  We picked up a few of her friends along the way and they all had a great time.
  • Picking up her friends last night was the first time I’ve had passengers in the back seat of my car in a long time!  It surprised me to think about.  The kids can now stay home alone, so I rarely have both of them with me at the same time.  Usually I’m alone in the car or I have one kid with me in the front seat and the other kid home.  When we go out as a family we always take Alan’s car.  I’ve gone from giant carseats to a largely unused back seat. Weird.
  • Lex’s voice has dropped and Eve had acne and a developing body.
  • Eve is planning a Halloween party on her own (with my $$, of course) and carved a Jack-O-Lantern today, all on her own.
  • They are both basically the same height as me.  The other day Alan was convinced that Lex was taller than me and wanted us to stand back-to-back.  Lex took some convincing.  I don’t think he wants to be taller, or to acknowledge it anyway.  When I talk to them I’m looking straight ahead, and when they hug me we do the “dance” of arms, who goes over, who goes under.

The list goes on.  What happened to these adorable little things?

We used to take walks together, splash in puddles, do craft projects, go everywhere together, read stories, snuggle, make presents for teachers and cookies for classmates, and smile for photos.  We were like the three amigos.  Now it’s like four adults living in one house together.  Not exactly, of course, because they ARE still kids, but they are so independent and self-sufficient and into their own activities.  Eve will spend hours up in her room, sewing or crafting.  Lex will spend hours on Minecraft, then want to talk about it when he turns the computer off. He’s rocking his drums these days.  I can’t wait to see him perform with the jazz band.  She likes to draw and bake. She’s got the holiday enthusiasm that I so adore, but always wants to do things on her own schedule.  She decorated for Halloween this year, all on her own, at 5am on a Saturday morning!

I think the point of this post is that I have amazing children who are all too quickly outgrowing their childhood.  I feel more like an observer and less like one of the team these days.  I guess I need to get my own hobbies now. :/

Or maybe I’ll just lose myself in the blog for awhile, and drag you along too. :)

 
July, 2009

Baby faces.

CHaD Hike

Rosy and I did the CHaD hike today with the kids.  Alan ran the 5K.  It was a beautiful day for it!  The weather is perfect, not too hot and not too cold.  The hike is a whole new route this year that took us over hills and along rivers.  It was beautiful.  Best of all, the kids were willing participants the whole way!  Yay!

One year!

Hard to believe, but it’s been one whole year since we bought our house!  Yay!  We celebrated by having a dinner party with our neighbors.  It was fun to get to know them a little better.  I still love our house and every day I’m thankful for this amazing place.  Here’s to many, many more years in this great house!

The weather all day was really weird, but at one point we got a big sun shower that make a triple rainbow!

Pictures never do rainbows justice. The bottom rainbow was a double, then there was another on top. All arching beautifully over the dumpster!

Mystery Skype

I’m super proud of the Mystery Skype I arranged with my 5th graders.  We Skyped with a 6th grade class in MA, and both classes had to ask yes/no questions to figure out where the other class was located.  It was so fun.  The kids enjoyed it and the classroom teachers both thought it was a great activity and are interested in doing it again.  Yay!

If you’d like to know more, I posted about it on my library blog.

Local tourists

Our buddy Mark came to visit this weekend, so we took him and his daughter around to the touristy spots, like Quechee Gorge, the newly renovated town hall, and the Center for Cartoon Studies.  You know, the usual places.  :)

I realized I haven’t been to the gorge in several years!  I don’t think anyway.  Maybe I have and just forgot.  Lex reminded me that he went with school last year and it was just as boring then as it was now.  Ahh, fond memories.  Reminds me of how thrilled I was all the times my mom dragged me and my siblings down there and back.  :)

We had a nice visit.  Little V said she DEFINITELY wants to come back again!