Jack-O-Lanterns!!!

A Jack-O-Lantern...such a simple concept. So easy to do and it provides so much joy for the kids. You get pumpkins and(this is where I went wrong) you bring them in the house so critters do not decide to burrow into them and take the seeds for a mid-winter snack. My kids and I went to get pumpkins to carve into Jack-O-Lanterns. I left them on our deck overnight only to come home from school the next day and find that an animal had chewed a hole in Travis's pumpkin. When I tell you that this kid was fit to be tied over this, it will be an understatement. He had hand selected this particular pumpkin and I guess he was super-attached to it. It was obnoxiously huge and perfectly round. There was enough eaten out of the top to make in unsalvageable. We came up with a culprit... a squirrel. In his fit of rage my son condemned all of the squirrels as BAD and STEALERS. If the kid had his way he would have gone out the next day with me in the pouring rain to pick out another pumpkin. I held him off, telling him that if he waited until Daddy could take him on a sunny day, he would get to pick a bigger pumpkin because Daddy is so much stronger than me. This made him happy and I came home from work to be greated by a pumpkin that was even bigger than the first one (now sitting under a tree to help the little critters prepare for winter).

Travis helped Daddy by drawing a face on his pumpkin. He was very excited and wanted it to get done as soon as possible. I think he was a little surprised to see how long carving a pumpkin actually takes.
Midstream Travis changed his mind about what kind of nose he wanted to give his Jack-O-Lantern. Daddy dutifully obliged and changed the octagon into a triangle. Then it was time to plan the mouth. It would have been fine but Travis kept adding more teeth to the plan.
Chelsea was a lot more laid back (read: absolutely not interested) in her Jack-O-Lantern. She walked away before the planning started and came back for a glance until it was picture time. Then she hammed it up just like always.
Travis and Chelsea pose with the finished Jack-O-Lanterns. Or we thought they were finished until Travis decided his needed ears!
Finally... the lighting of the Jack-O-Lanterns. Chelsea was a little freaked out by this. Not because of the pumpkins, but because Travis insisted on shutting off every light in the house. He probably would have gone over to shut off the neighbors lights, if we let him. He decided the only way to experience the lights was in the pitch-dark. The thing that matters most is that everyone was happy with the outcome. Now if only they can stay in one piece for 4 days until Halloween! One can dream!!!!

Here Chelsea shows off the lollipop ghost she made at the library. This will probably be the only proof I have that this existed... She is anxious to tear off the tissue and eat the pop. Halloween should be interesting now that she is so into "nandy".

Just Another Crazy Weekend!

The weekends have recently taken on a life of their own. For the umpteenth weekend in a row we have been running in circles. We had a sleepover on Friday night. Travis had a little friend from preschool stay over on Friday night. We had a campfire in the yard and they watched The Incredibles for the hundredth time. They were in bed and asleep by tenish.
The boys decided to dress festively for the movie. They were thrilled with how they looked as their favorite heroes.

We were up early on Saturday morning. Off to Travis's last soccer game. Here he is posing with his buddy at the field. The game went as usual... the kids who were really into soccer were taking it very seriously. The other kids were running around and randomly kicking the ball, sometimes towards the correct goal, sometimes not. Then towards the end of the game Travis dribbled the ball a little and took a shot and it went in! It was nice to end the soccer season on a good note. He almost had a second goal but it was just a bit too wide.
Here they are...The Green Dragons of Fall 2008.

We had a few moments to breathe and eat lunch when we got home and then it was off to a local library to see a kid's performer. Each year at this time friends of ours host a performer at their library to honor the memory of their son. He died right after he turned one and this has helped keep his spirit alive. The kids wore their costumes and danced and sang and listened to silly stories.
Trav was thrilled when I finally found an Incredibles costume. Although when he first put it on, he poked at the quilted chest (designed to look like muscles) and said, "Wow, Mom! Mr. Incredible has big boobs!" Lovely!!!!
Chelsea, of course, was a princess. Her God-parents sent her a princess dress for her birthday. She has other princess outfits, too, but when they were all placed in front of her, she chose theirs. She grabbed her little purse as we headed out the door. She loved her dress. She found out that if she spins, the skirt will fan out all around her. As if that wasn't enough, in the middle of the show, she turned herself upside-down and exposed her royal diaper. A real lady- that one!

Pumpkin Night

Fall is in full swing and, while winter is a long way off, I can see my winter habits starting to form. I must admit that I am one of THOSE people who get so excited when she walks into the store and sees Christmas decotations. Today we went to a local play farm only to find that they were celebrating "Christmas on the Farm". I was psyched. I tried to build on this theme at home and asked if everyone wanted to listen to Christmas music. A resounding NO from my family. So I sit here typing listening to Stevie Wonder. But the stores don't lie and Christmas is in the air. I abide by the wishes of the majority of my family members and control my urge to decorate and play holiday music...but it will happen eventually...YOU HAVE ALL BEEN FORWARNED!
Part of what I love about this time of year is that my family and I tend to hibernate. Last weekend we cooked a big turkey dinner to share with my mother, her friend, and my grandmother. The house was filled with the smell of turkey and apple crisp. It was a warm autumn day but it was still nice to have everyone inside in one space enjoying the delicious meal.
Here are my kids posing for the camera while our guests looked on.

Travis's school hosted "Pumpkin Night" this past Friday. The parents donated gift baskets to be raffled off and the kids could paint pumpkins. There was a DJ who played the fun music that the kids all knew the dances to. It was a lot of fun and very reassuring to me, as I still have a little trouble with the fact that I am not able to be a volunteer during his school day. I happened to drop him off at school one morning this week and his teacher mentioned how much better he was doing in school now that he adjusted to the full day. I was thrilled to hear it. I am seeing it at home, too. But being able to be there for school events helps me adjust to not being present during the day.
Here are the kids painting their pumpkins. The paint stained our hands and clothes (found out the hard way on that one) but they had a very good time. Even our two-year-old daughter found things to do.
Travis chose to hang out with several friends from his class. This also gave me the chance to meet some of the parents in the class. It was nice to get a glimpse of how he spends his days with the other kids. He seemed right at home with his friends, as they hung out on the railing of the handicapped ramp and chased each other around.

And so fall continues. Soccer ends (mercifully) next week. The weather this weekend was definitely cold and autumnal. And even though the cold weather grows old fast, the excitement and energy that comes with the holiday season is starting to creep into focus. Hooray for me!

Autumn is Upon Us!!

I asked my students to tell each other what their favorite thing about fall is. They all had the typical kid answers...jumping in leaves, going to the apple orchard, halloween... Mine tend to change as my life changes. There was a time when the autumn meant field hockey games, Oktoberfests, and pretending to follow football to impress my boyfriend. Now I have married the boyfriend and we have two children and my answers have changed! Go figure!
My son had two soccer games this weekend. The best part was that he scored 3 goals during the first game. It was so exciting to see.
Here he is during the second game of the weekend. He is #1 on the green team. His buddy is #11 on the blue team. This is the game where his friend scored his first goal! He and Travis approached this game as more of a social hour than a competition.
Done with soccer, our family headed to a local apple orchard to pick apples. It was so crowded, probably because last weekend was so lousy, weather-wise. We went with 5 other families. We lost track of most of the group we went with, but had a great time anyway.
Here we are with our neighbors. We walked up and down the aisles picking an absurd amount of apples. How we will get through them all, I will never know!
Travis and Chelsea show off their rewards. They were very proud. Travis was especially proud to show us how to pick an apple. He had been to the orchard two days earlier on a class trip and spent most of the hayride lecturing us on proper apple-picking technique. "Lift, twist, and pull!"
I am pretty sure Travis's favorite part of the day was being lifted up high by dad to get the perfect apple. Thank goodness daddy is 6 feet and 3 inches because the perfect apples were, in Trav's opinion, at the tip-top of the trees.
Chelsea would go into the trees and grab the apples right off the tree. She would emerge triuphant saying,"I did it!" Then she would (not so gently) throw the apples into the bag.
A big highlight for the kids was finding some ladders set up to pick apples. Travis took the first trip up the ladder, followed by his buddy. Not to be outdone... Chelsea went up, too. She was determined to go up as high as she could and got so annoyed when daddy put his hand on her back to spot her. She will be our independent toughie.

Then it was off to the pumpkin patch. Chelsea had fun just looking at the pumpkins and trying to pick them all up.
Travis and his buddies raced through the pumpkin patch. "It's a maze!" they kept telling us, proving once again that it is simple things that please children (and adults) the most.

Then it was off for a quick trip to the playground and home. Apple crisp for dessert. YUM!
The perfect ending to a great fall weekend!!!