Halloween Weekend Extravaganza

In our house Halloween begins in mid September.  The kids have been wearing costumes and decorating the house for weeks.  Of course, this weekend, the monstor madness only intensified.

Here's a recap of recent Halloween (and other) events happening recently. I've been having so much internet trouble lately that I went a little slap happy with the photos when I found out I could actually upload this evening without much trouble so settle in, it's a long one.

FRIDAY

Halloween parties at school. No costumes allowed, but kids all wear orange and black.  There is a school wide pumpkin carving contest, so the hallway was lined with many tables like this one.

Cole's pumpkin won in the first grade category for "scariest."

This is Wayne's Halloween cat, which I think should have also won an award.  W & C both told me what they wanted to carve so I drew the design on the pumpkin, but they carved completely themselves.

Cole with his certificate of winnership.

The first grade party - a game of pin the stem on the pumpkin.  Cole wanders off in the wrong direction.

Heather continues her status as honorary member of this class.

SATURDAY

Hockey for all 3 kids at 8:30 a.m. sharp! This week went much better than last week when Heather, after being so excited about hockey, refused to set foot on the ice.  This week she was a little nervous at first, but clung to her milk crates and scuffled around happily enough. When it was over she admitted, "I really liked hockey."

Heather is in the blue snowpants.

Cole is in the yellow group. He has the orange ended stick.  I took about ten pictures of some other stumbly skater before I realized it wasn't Cole. From then on I had to look for that orange stick.

Wayne with the reds.  There are some good skaters in that group, let me tell ya.

In the afternoon we went to Joanie's to have lunch with Martha, Chris, Grammie, and Joanie. Joanie had made a cake for Wes.  Then we all came back to our house for an afternoon of pumpkin carving.

 SUNDAY - HALLOWEEN

CCD classes in the morning for Wayne and Cole. Then baking and decorating yet another cake for Wes.

And then, finally, the moment they've been waiting for since September 15th - donning their costumes for trick or treating. Heather is a lady bug (I think Martha gave us that one) Cole is Darth Vader, and Wayne is a Clone Trooper.  I tried to convince them to be Land of the Lost characters.  The Sleestak, Chaka, Will, Holly...A family theme. They wouldn't hear of it.

Thank you internet, for holding out long enough for me to get this post done.

Happy Halloween!

A Letter From the Reverend

Today I found this letter addressed to Cole and Wayne, proprietors of the C&W, in our mailbox.  You may need to re-read this post to refresh your memory.

"Cole and Wayne (Proprietors of the C&W stand)

"I want to tell you how your enterprise brightened the day and weeks of me and my friend Beth.  In response to our stop and visit and purchase I wrote the following story.  I think I wanted you to know that sometimes your profits cannot be measured.  You earned a quarter and you earned the knowledge that you enriched the lives of others.

"Thank you, Don Vincent

Beth and Butterfly

"As the days of summer were shortening and the approach of fall was in the air, a lively 73 year old great grandmother continued her joy and thankfulness for the life that was given to her and the universe to which her days were called to respond to.

"I refer to her as my sister, and could be one in faith or in imagination.  On the final Saturday of August 2010 Beth rode with me to Orleans and saw the village and Ethan Allen factory.  Upon returning, she mentioned having seen the C&W  stand and wanted to stop.  So stop we did.  The A******** boys were selling lemonade and cookies and homemade applesauce.  We visited and noticed cups of green to the side.  They were also selling caterpillars on milkweed.  Paying her quarter, Beth purchased one and we proceeded on to The REV drive.

"On Sunday her new friend was eating milkweed and living in a jar.  The shared life was a joy to Beth as she followed the colorful creature's journey everyday.  The first Sunday in September it was attached to the jar lid and forming a cocoon.  By Wednesday Beth saw a butterfly release itself from its house of transformation and she opened the jar and let it breathe the air near her gazebo.  Having read about the various life cycles of the Monarch she was sure her new friend was preparing to head for Mexico.

"At last report it had flown from Mum to Zinnia and dried out and aired out its wings.  What's next God only knows.  What we know is that eternity is a long time and we are but caterpillars waiting for what's next.  As humans of faith we speak of the loving Spirit that continues creating and we trust the process that wraps us in cocoons - no matter what we call them.

"Faith - Hope - Love"

I read the letter to Wayne and Cole and of course the spiritual references went waaaay over their heads.  But what I really tried to impress upon them is that a neighbor took the time to write down how something they did had brought happiness to other people's lives.  I'm pretty sure this also went waaaay over their heads, but I'll tuck this letter away in their memory box and someday they'll appreciate it.



Hockey Love

It's that time of year again.  Hockey starts this week - on Tuesday evening for Wayne and Cole and Saturday mornings for all 3 of them.  Heather loves her new (rented) hockey gear. She keeps putting it on and wearing it around the house, or she takes it off and carries it all around in her bag. I felt a little bad about not giving her the choice of figure skating.  So far she doesn't know such a thing exists, and having only seen her brothers and dad play hockey, she naturally wants to follow suit. Someday, she may discover figure skating and the jig will be up. In the meantime, her princess costumes have been abandoned for hockey gear.

Origami Titanic

I've never been a fan of origami.  I should say, I've never been a fan of doing origami.  Seeing the end product of something someone else has done is impressive, but trying to follow all of those step-by-step folding instructions and trying to decipher the diagrams - I can feel the migraine coming on just thinking about it!  However, the other day I stumbled across this book at the library, and how could I pass it up?  Because do you see what it shows on the cover?

In the back of the book are the printed sheets of origami paper that you could use if the book actually belonged to you, but since this was a library book, we had to make our own paper.  Cole paints with watercolors to match the Titanic.

Then we attempt the folding part. I had to practice this beforehand while he was at school, so I would sort of know what I was doing when I helped him.

Here is his final product.

And one that Wayne made. I won't even bother to show you the one Heather made.  She got tired of all the folding steps and decided to cut hers up into little bits with scissors.  Much more fun for a 3-year-old.

Here are just some fall leaf photos.

I only got this one of Wayne before my batteries died.

Bright and sunny but cold today. Off to Wayne's soccer tournament.

Welcome October

September seemed like a very long month.  When I think of our trip to Maine and Wayne's birthday, it seems like a very long time ago.  So, here we go with October - the month of hunting, Halloween, Wes's birthday, and about a bazillion doctor, dentist, orthodontist (yes), and veterinary appointments which somehow all got crammed into this month.

I almost always take Wayne and Cole to school and pick them up in the afternoon, but every once in a while I have them take the bus.  Here is Heather running ahead of me as we walk down to meet the bus.

Cole is showing you the building plans of the Titanic that he took to school with him.  At Open House the other night, his teacher Mrs. D, said that he's been teaching everyone all about the Titanic.

Wayne has started learning how to use a bow.  He's doing a really good job - hits the target every time.

 While he was practicing, we saw some Canadian Geese flying in their V formation.  A few minutes after this flock flew over, another big group went over.

With this chill in the air today, I think they've got the right idea!