Happy Halloween

Last night we had our annual night before Halloween dinner which consisted of eyeball soup with a side of roach and a worm infested drink! We ate by candlelight and had a frightfully good time! As Grace left for school this morning Harris exclaimed, "Grace, I can't believe that you have school right in the middle of Halloween!" They were both really excited! Grace participated in the school parade and then her class had a party.

This evening we (along with another couple) headed over to a friends house and had dinner together before we all went trick or treating. The children had a great time playing together and walking around town filling their bags. They got a lot of loot!

I wanted to include a picture of Brendan, the children's cousin. My Mom also made his pirate costume, and I think that he looks terrific. I liked the costume so much I jokingly (actually I was serious but pretended to be joking just in case she didn't go for it) asked her to make Harris one for the pirate party coming up.

Halloween Costumes

I think my Mom did an exceptional job with the costumes this year (as always).  The owl and fairy are perfect.  The children love them and look adorable!  It's amazing we got Harris to sit still for the picture, every time he puts the costume on he takes flight, literally!  Grace is so happy to be a rainbow fairy (she picked out the fabric) she can hardly stand it, apparently a rainbow fairy is very different from a regular fairy.  Did you know that?

I know that it takes a lot of time and effort on my Mom's part but it is much appreciated by the children and I.  Thank you!  

Remember the ornaments?  Here are this years. 

Apples, Snow and Pie

Yesterday after school I took Grace, her friend Hannah and Harris to the apple orchard to do this...

This morning we woke up and saw that it was snowing (and did so for many hours!).

So we did this.....

but only for a little bit because it was a cold, wet snow.  So we came inside and peeled our apples....

and made an apple pie.  

A new tradition?

We tried something tonight that I read about on another blog.  At bedtime, in honor of Halloween, we turned out all the lights, got into Harris' bed and read Halloween stories by candle light (we used the candelabra, just to add a dash of drama).  The children loved it.  I think we will do it every night leading up to Friday night.  It was such a simple way to mix things up and add to the fun of Halloween.  

Parade and Party!

This was a big weekend for us.  Today was the children's parade and following was our party.  We live right across the street from where the parade starts and ends so it's fun to have the children over for snacks and games afterwards. We were lucky and had fantastic weather after an all day rain yesterday.  We had good food, fun games and great company.

Decorations

Popcorn was in the cauldron, skeletons on the tray, witches brew and cakepops.

Games

Grace made the signs for each game, they turned our really cute!

Food

I (Harris helped) made 95 skeleton cookies.

I made cakepops and they were really good, but I need to work on my icing technique!

Fun

A Love Story

Can there be a love story about a tree?  I think so.   

We had some boxwoods put in the front of the house today (our porch is FINALLY done, I'll post pictures soon) and our small but mighty tree was transplanted yet again.  I chose to do a post about our tree because I want this story to be written down.  Twelve (and a half!) years ago Bryce and I received this Japanese Maple tree as a wedding gift.  At our first home we planted it in the corner of our yard and the corner promptly sank.  Thus the tree grew crooked.

When we moved across town we dug the tree up and transplanted it to our new home.  There the tree sat in a pot and wasn't planted until we began work on our landscaping several years later.

When we moved (850 miles away) again five years later we dug the tree up and transplanted it once again.  Except this time we were really overwelmed and the tree was not a priority.  Therefore, it sat in a pot for two years without any attention.  Finally we planted it.  

Today, it was moved again.  How this tree continues to live and grow is beyond me.  But I have begun to draw a parallel between the tree and our marriage.  As long as Bryce and I continue to grow the tree will too.  I love the tree and I love Bryce.  That's a love story. 

P.S.  If the tree dies next year from this latest transplant please forget you ever read this story because the parallel will have to end there!

  

The Jolly Postman

I have recently rediscovered a book that I loved when I was teaching, The Jolly Postman by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. The basic premise of the book is that fairy tale characters receive letters from other fairy tale characters. The postman delivers all the letters, stays for tea and then moves on to the next delivery. It's a fun play on the lives of each character where their famous stories left off.

Throughout the book there are pages that look like envelopes and inside the page are letters of all sorts. There is a postcard from Jack to the Giant, a letter to Mr. Wolf from Miss Riding-Hood's lawyers, an advertisement for witch's supplies, a letter with a pre-copy book for Cinderella (from Peter Piper Press), plus a hand-written letter (kid spell and all) from Goldilocks to the three bears. It's a great way to talk about letters and the different types of letters one might send for different purposes. The illustrations are also really sweet and fun to look at.

What I love about the book, aside from how utterly charming it is, is that it appeals to both my children and me. Harris loves the rhyming words and the fact that it is interactive and Grace "gets" the clever jokes and details that are found throughout the book. I just love it.

P.S. We also really like Each Peach Pear Plum by the same authors.

Child Labor

Does this count as child labor?

Daisy Cupcakes

I'm feeling very much like a domestic diva today, although I'm not sure that diva is the correct word for how I feel because I didn't get snitty or demanding (though I did demand that Harris go play on his own for a while, does that count?). I spent the morning cleaning the house- or more accurately three rooms of the house- and then I made cupcakes!

Grace's Daisy troop celebrated the birthday of Juliette Gordon Low so I made daisy cupcakes. If I do say so myself they turned out really cute and they were really easy! (Of course I can't take the credit for the idea; it was from a Martha magazine).

Carving of the Pumpkins

Last night we carved our newly picked pumpkins.  Harris picked out a design from a magazine and Grace decided that she wanted to make up her own.  I was really surprised by the fact that she was able to do most of the carving herself!  For dinner I made Pumpkin Rigatoni, which was good but not great.   

An original Grace design!

Never thought I'd see the day where we gave our children sharp objects and told them to go to it!

Grace's pumpkin!

Harris and his pumpkin.

The End.

Pumpkin Picking

We had a great afternoon today!  We (my Mom included) went to a pumpkin farm and picked out our pumpkins to carve.  We have gone to a farm every year since we have had Grace so it's a tradition that we all look forward to.  Today was the perfect day for it, it was crisp and cool.  The farm that we go to is about 30 minutes away, but it is such a beautiful drive with all the trees changing colors and the old stone farmhouses, that it is worth it to make the extra trek.  

We went on a short hayride before heading out to the fields.

Grace picked out a pumpkin....

and Harris picked out many.  He finally settled on one!

He gets all the best rides.

One of the really neat things about the farm is that on the drive in they have pumpkins that they have dressed up, painted and decorated to look like people.  I love how clever each one is!  Here are some of our favorites.

Why is it that Stars Wars never gets old?

I love this one!

This was the children's favorite, especially Harris.  They are huge Curious George fans.

Kind of makes me want one.