Shades of Tween-hood

This expression has been rearing its head more and more frequently. 

This time was because she made a deal with Don that if he made pancakes for breakfast that she would wash dishes. H doesn't wash dishes and doesn't know how. She thought she could skate out of her promise. Don and I held her to it. Here's the joy we got to see:

Halloweenie Fun

What a day! We started with facing a gloomy wet day. It had rained during the night so the Halloween parade at school was moved to the cafeteria. Parents were practically standing on top of each other. So crowded. But H and N had fun watching the parade and did well marching across the stage. 

Then there was pumpkin fun for the kindergarteners (selecting a pumpkin, measuring its width, weighing it, and predicting if it would sink or float). N chose an enormous pumpkin. H's  class had a party. I was happy to get to spend time in their classes for this fun day. 

At night we freshened up the costumes again and went out trick or treating. We had to take along an umbrella because it was sprinkling on us on and off during the night. 

When we got home after an hour and half walking around, the kids checked out their haul. Quite a bit of loot. N later counted and sorted out his Crunch bars, Kit Kats, M&Ms and then the lesser candies (in his mind). He counted to 90 mostly on his own. Quite a bit of candy.

I hope you all had a safe and happy Halloween.

Go Barack!

Homework is such a pain in the tuchus. Yes. This teacher is saying it. I do whatever I can to make it easier. Not only do I have to grade it. I get double whammied from my kids' homework nightly. H has one easy enough way to cut out some of the bulk of homework. She can write a paragraph about a current event or a visit to an educational place. We have been talking on an off about the elections for a long time with H because it is such an exciting time for our country. 

Tonight I told her she could write a paragraph about the elections that are happening next Tuesday. I asked her to tell me what she knew about the elections. She knew quite a bit so I told her to get working on it. After reading her paragraph...she also proved she has been listening to mommy quite a bit. Here's H's paragraph. Hope the teacher is a Democrat.

In two weeks I am going to elections with my parents. There are two men that are running for president. Their names are John McCain and Barack Obama. I think Barack should win because he didn't pick an unexperienced Vice President like John McCain and he is black. Obama is a Democrat and McCain is a Republican. I cannot wait to see who wins. I will cross my fingers for Barack Obama. 

Don't forget to get out there and vote on Tuesday. I know you will make the right decision. How could you not?

  OR  

Pumpkins Pumpkins Pumpkins!

I was worried we wouldn't be able to squeeze in the annual pumpkin patch trip this year. Phew! We made it. We went to Moore's Pumpkin Patch today. A new one for us. Our usual one decided to give their fields a rest this year so we had to venture elsewhere. This one had loads of rides (at $3 a pop...what can you do?) and the kids had a great time. It was further out from our part of the bay so it was quite warm (hot in my opinion). We hit the rides first and then went on our search for our pumpkins. H decided she wanted a little pumpkin (after I told her she couldn't have the $30 giant pumpkin). N has been saying he wanted a white pumpkin for weeks. He seems to prefer them. He got to choose a few of them since they were so small. 

Darth Cowboy

N raided his costume drawer and came up with this mix of Darth Vader, cowboy and prince. He was very insistent that I take a photo. 

A few layouts while I'm here. These are from when my sister was visiting in late July. 

Feeling Scrappy Challenge

As part of a blog challenge for Feeling Scrappy I am including their link here http://feelingscrappyclasses.blogspot.com/. I took one of their classes this summer and loved the techniques. I hope to take their sketch class at the end of this month.

A few recent layouts

This one is for a Becky Fleck Sketch challenge from her blog. Here is her sketch:

Here is my interpretation. I stretched her 8 1/2" x 11" sketch to a 2 page spread (12" x 24"). This was H and N at the KODA picnic we went to this summer. They loved wading in the creek at the park.

These final two layouts are of H's Jungle Book Kids drama camp this summer. The paper piecings were done for me by an online pal (thanks Holly!).