The Requiste Halloween Post

Because I KNOW you're totally NOT sick of seeing other people's adorable pictures of their totes adorable kids in their amazingly adorable costumes, amiright?

Happy All Hallows Eve!  For the first time in forever (ha! now I've got you singing it...) we couldn't decide on a family theme.  We had been discussing ideas for months, but could not all agree on any single one.  So this year was a choose-your-own-adventure kind of Halloween.

There were a few rules: no choice may involve either a) an expensive get-up from the party store, or b) Mom spending hours sewing.  Sorry, kids, Mommy doesn't love you that much any more.

So, working within the stated limits, here are the spooks that haunt our house:

Mona Melendy, from The Saturdays, after she got her infamous haircut and manicure.

Miriam

A ballerina.  (She was crushed that we wouldn't get her a Classic "pancake" Tutu and instead insisted that she wear Mom's old, and therefore free, Romantic Tutu.)

Katie

 It got pretty chilly that evening, so Miss Ballerina had to add a layer to her elegant ensemble:

this is after Trick-or-Treating, if you couldn't tell from the battle-weary face

Darth Vader.  Anyone who says money can't buy happiness never spent $10 on a Darth Vader mask for a 6-year-old boy.  (The lightsaber was a birthday gift -- another brilliant purchase.)

aka Darth Jojo.

Daniel wanted to be -- of all things -- a fox.

sly old thing -- not holding still for ANY of the pictures I took

After a fruitless search for fuzzy ears and tail, we got creative using leftover craft stuff: red felt for the ears, an old red t-shirt for the tail, polyester fiberfill, and tempura paint, all for the low, low price of free ninety-free!

Katie helped paint -- Miriam was going to help sew but she was involved in the carving of her pumpkin Halloween morning.  What, doesn't everyone wait until Halloween day to work on their costumes???

To complete the homemade feel, everything's attached with safety pins.

  The tail held on admirably -- it went bouncing along behind the fantastic Mr. Fox as he booked it from house to house!

Andy got what we could dig out of the Dress Up Box: an elf (or an imp, depending on how you look at it).

He wore this hat for about 30 seconds -- just long enough for the picture.  And that was it.

So in retrospect I guess we DID have a theme this year: "Mom Is Cheap And Lazy"!  I find it actually more creative and challenging -- and therefore more satisfying -- to try to use what we have on hand to create the look we want.

Store-bought costumes are for sissies.

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In our house, every child picks his own pumpkin.  The only stipulation is that he has to be able to carry his chosen pumpkin to the car.

Miriam's pumpkin was 25 pounds.  Andy's was 2.5.

Here are Andy's and Miriam's pumpkins.  Miriam swore she would never a) get a pumpkin this big again because it took SO LONG to scoop out and her hands were SO SORE, or b) carve a spider web again because she COULDN'T get it to look right and it was SO HARD to cut out and it KEPT BREAKING.  Oh yes, preteen drama in full force here, folks.

We actually had to blow out Andy's pumpkin's candle before we left for Trick-or-Treating, because it was starting to cook the lid -- his pumpkin was so tiny!

L-R: Joseph's, Katie's, and Daniel's.  Joseph did most of his himself.  He was very proud of it.

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For dinner we had Smilin' Jack Casserole.  (aka "Beef in a Pumpkin," courtesy of Mom B.'s recipe from ages ago.  We did not have Wormy Baked Apples -- there is only so much ambition of which I am capable in one afternoon, especially since I thought it would be a good idea to can some apple butter that afternoon before we ate all the apples!)  It's basically ground beef sauteed with onions and bell peppers, then baked in a parboiled sugar pumpkin until mushy, and everything is scooped out together.  The grownups loved it.  The kids... not so much.  No matter what you flavor it with, baked squash is still baked squash.

One of the Jacks got poked in the eye.

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After a token dinner (the kids eating just enough to qualify for a candy binge when they got home), we went traipsing about the neighborhood with some dear friends.

when they arrived at our house, we didn't recognize the clown until she started talking!

We ended up splitting into two groups -- those able to run from house to house, and those needing to be carried after about 20 minutes.

Everyone had a little more stamina this year, so they brought in a larger haul.  We would have been out longer, but for the cold!  Poor Miriam's legs almost froze off.

Since Miriam couldn't eat any of the candy, she got to have... apples!  Yay!

No, I'm nicer than that.  We bought a big box of allergen-free candy earlier in the week so Miriam and Mr. Pickles could eat themselves sick too.  So now there's this poor, lonely, unclaimed pumpkin full of candy, just sitting on the kitchen island....

Happy Excessive Flossing Season, everyone!

I think they got the memo.

They were gone 3 days later. 

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DEATH TO ANTS recipe:

Bring to a boil in a saucepan:
-1 c. sugar
-1 tbsp. Borax
-1/2 c. water
Boil for 3 mins.  Cool.  Place in shallow container (like a jar lid) near ant trail, inaccessible to small children and pets. Watch ants swarm (heebiejeebieheebiejeebie), then vanish.

Guess who's two!

It's Andy-pants!

What? Who?

Wait, it's me?

Oh yeah!  Happy Birthday to meeeeee!  Hahahahahaaaaaa!

Wow.  Such fancy.  Very cake decorating skilz.  Amaze.

"Andy, smile!"  *click*

ERRbody knows the icing is the best part.  The ONLY part, really.

Andy's birthday was a week ago Saturday.  We invited some friends over in the morning for a "very informal birthday-playdate-with-cake."  (That translates to: "Please don't worry about presents since I'm only calling you about this three days before the fact.")  After a frantic morning of vacuuming up most of the leaves tracked inside and making sure the downstairs bathroom didn't smell funny (I have a 4yo boy -- 'nuff said), the girls decorated with copious balloons and a wall of streamers while I prepped snacks.  (I made caramel sauce to dip apples in!  Go me!)  The kids played, the grownups talked philosophy, we forced the kids to stop playing so they could eat, we sang to Andy, we had cupcakes.  Then everyone went home and Andy took a nice long nap.  Great two-year-old birthday!

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Andy is a funny kid.  He began walking exactly a year ago, on his first birthday, and I think he's hardly sat down since.

except here, to ride Katie's unicorn pillow pet -- which is just right for him!

 He will sit down to eat, though, unlike Katie who had to have drive-by dinner or else she would have starved.

Whenever he's hungry, he asks for "Os", which usually means shredded wheat.

 He is turning out to be similar in temperament to Jojo, which is going to be just lots and lots of fun as they grow up together.  (Can you hear the sarcasm dripping from my fingers?)  He has a short fuse and tends to be strong-ish willed, and his most common way of expressing frustration with the universe (or his brothers) is by shrieking.  (Joseph's preferred method of expression is roaring like the Incredible Hulk.)  Once I heard a loud noise and couldn't tell if it was Andy shrieking or the tea kettle boiling.  No joke.

these two are often thrown together when I'm doing school with everyone else.  lots of cuteness

 But, he is very cute.  He loves all his siblings, and is loved and adored by all of them.

"Tetee" teaching him how to take a selfie

 And like a typical 2-year-old, Andy is a just a silly pants.  This is how we know he is definitely ours.

The Manolo he love the shoes.

He loves vehicles.  No, I mean, really LOVES vehicles, which are all "trucks", or in Andy-speak, "dutch."  (He's just starting to sound more like an English speaker -- once he figures out more consonants, he might actually be understandable!)  Once during the summer I had a planning meeting at a friends' house.  She brought out a giant box of match box cars to keep the little boys occupied.  Andy spent a happy TWO HOURS parking them all along the window sills and bookcase shelves and end tables in her living room. 

I regularly find trains and trucks and cars lined up along our coffee table.  They are always all pointing the same direction.  And HEAVEN FORBID you should put them away before he is done with them!!

Looking forward to another year of his silly-pants-ness!

Bluebells

This way ages ago, but who minds looking at bluebells at any time of year?  No one, that's who!  Plus, I figured all you semi-desert-dwellers might appreciate a spot of color at this point.

it's odd to see Miriam's hair so long here -- she had it chopped in June

 The girls spent a good part of the time giving Mom a heart attack.

...or getting muddy in a delicious mud puddle Katie found.

The boys spent their time getting their pants wet and throwing rocks in the stream.

 
 ...and, of course, finding the largest sticks they could carry.

The bluebells are like magic -- they surprise me with their beauty every year.

 And they make everybody happy!

Last Family Fling of the Summer

hmm... netflix, blog... netflix, blog... oh fine, blog

Hey there!  Bet you thought I'd forgotten about you.  Nope, I've been composing posts in my head ever since the last one.  Which is unfortunate because I am easily distracted by shiny things so all those brilliant thoughts are gone and you'll have to put up with my usual pathetic-attempts-at-witty meanderings.

(Okay, I'm really tired tonight, so this oughta being interesting...)

So the main reason it's been quiet around here for a while is that we went to THE BEACH!!!  Well, it wasn't a California beach, but Bethany Beach in Delaware still qualifies as a decent beach experience: it met all the necessary requirements -- sun, sand, water, seagulls, and a delicious salty breeze.

The only thing it was missing was Harolds.

Irish Silliness from St. Patrick's Day

Commercial's screenplay, set, props, and costumes by the girls (mostly Katie).
Camera work by Dad.

(please note: no irreverence to the Blessed Trinity is intended or implied, so you can put away your heretic-burning bonfire now)

(...should I feel guilty for laughing as hysterically at this as I did?)

Some Summertime

So, yep.  It's Labor Day already.  I know I say this every year, but where did August go?  And July, for that matter?  At the end of the summer I always feel like I wasted the golden hours, but when I look over the days I don't feel like they were a waste.  It was a gloriously mild, golden summer.  We spent many, many hours outside.
 

playing hard all day long is TIRING!

Musical humor

Get it?  Get it??

Friendship

What a blessing when your best friends love reading too!

Birthday Week/Quarter/Year

Five birthdays in one!

So, backtracking by about half a year -- Birthday Week was in March, immediately after Miriam, Andy & I returned from the blessed trip to California of blessedness.  As I mentioned in my CA trip post, Birthday Week was necessarily quiet since we had an ear infection and a case of bronchitis to manage.  Plus it was cold.  So we whooped it up, Pickles-style, with lots of sugar and chocolate to compromise over-taxed immune systems further.

First celebration: Miriam Elizabeth.  Good night, I can't believe she's 12.  Because unless the globe suddenly stops spinning, she's going to be 13 next year.  That's right, folks, t-h-i-r-t-e-e-n.  I'm not old enough for this.