Halloween Festivities

We had a late start to Halloween this year. Generally, the girls start planning each holiday at least a month ahead of time. This year other things have taken priority and everything Halloween, except a vague discussion of costumes, has just not happened. In an attempt to show some last minute holiday cheer, we made a quick trip to a local pumpkin patch after Catherine's soccer game Saturday afternoon in search of the Great Pumpkin. We came pretty close.
Everyone got to feel the gooey yuck of the inside of the pumpkin.
Our jack-o-lantern. This is the first one we've carved in years. It was fun!
Getting ready for the big day. Seth and Sam were trying out their 'silly hair' to go along with their clown costumes.
Ta-dah! Ready to hit the streets and get some sweet treats.Our little Harrison was so cute. Harrison kept trying to make candy trades. As folks would hand him candy, he would try to hand candy from his basket back. Of course, he did that only when he wasn't trying to fight his way into the house.
After two hours of candy seeking, our little clown was done!
Everyone else was just getting started. They all dumped their loot in the living room. The girls sorted theirs while the boys just marveled at the small hill their candy made.
The loot sort by type. Almost make you want to draw a bar graph, doesn't it?
Bring on the whining for candy at all hours of the day and the sugar crashes!

Kitchen Remodeling -- Week 3

We started the weekend with a cozy library that doubles as an entry. Truly, it's an ex-laundry room/butler's pantry that has challenged my homemaker's brain. In addition to the odd shelves, it has exposed pipes and the fuse box. But it's cozy and it's off the courtyard and it's easier to access from the driveway and so by default, it is the entry.
Not for long! We are converting the back half of the room into a huge (4.5'x12') walk-in pantry while the front of the room (5'x12') takes on the look of a more formal and proper entry. Mark always looks so happy in these before shots, doesn't he?
Sam got in on the demo. He keeps talking about how we're 'destroying our house'.
From the same spot as the first picture...the doorway to the new pantry is framed in.
Then the dividing wall went up. Now we need to wait a couple weeks for a drywall team to finish up.
Now, use your imagination. This is the new entry.
This is the new pantry. Of course, shelves are to come.
Remodeling is such a roller coaster. At the end of the weekend, we feel happy and pleased with our progress. We see the hard work paying off but during the interim (Thursday-Saturday) we often are tense with each other and I generally end up totally frustrated and asking myself why we're doing this at all. Ugghh! Only seven more weeks...hopefully.

Brotherhood

When brothers agree, no fortress is so strong as their common life.
--Antisthenes

Cursive Literacy

One of the rites of passage of being a third grader is learning cursive handwriting. I know that it is a much debated topic in these electronic times. One side of the debate claims typing is all you need. I agree. Madelyn practices typing daily for 30 minutes. The other side argues that cursive makes a child's handwriting clear, legible and fast. I agree with them too. Writing letters and jotting down notes is something lifelong learners do. A computer is not always handy when genius strikes or when your grandmother needs to be thanked for the handmade quilt.

While Madelyn's school values cursive handwriting, it does not take the time to teach it. So, a teachable moment presented itself for me. Not only do I get to teach Madelyn something new, but I got to peruse the teacher store in order to prepare for said instruction. I could spend days looking at teacher stuff. It inspires me; it motivates me; it gives me warm fuzzies.

I chose a workbook for my pupil and proudly presented it to her. She looked at the alphabet inside the cover and decided that Mandarin symbols meant more to her than what she saw there. Reading cursive, it seems, is akin to learning to read a foreign language. Now, Madelyn and I sit shoulder-to-shoulder daily marveling at the beauty of cursive handwriting and the challenges of reading it.

Sick Sunday

I am generally very thankful for the good health of my family. We seem to be a fairly resistant bunch. We generally don't have fevers and we've only made one trip to the urgent care in our eight years of parenting and it ended up being an aborted mission as the problem resolved itself. We've made a handful of sick visits to the pediatrician's office for tummy bugs, ear infections, pink eye and a strange rash. Really mild stuff, right?

This weekend, however, everyone but Madelyn caught a cold. We were full of sniffles and sneezes and sore throats. We were tired, a little cranky, and definitely more whiney. We decided to hole up for the weekend. We went out for tissues, medicine, and donuts on Saturday morning and didn't leave the house again until it was time to leave for school this morning.

It was wonderful! This weekend I was thankful for the common cold and the time it gave us to relax at home.

Which is better?

Is it better for the environment to use plastic grocery bags and reuse them for trash can liners or is it better to use reusable canvas bags and buy plastic bags for trash can liners?

Kitchen Remodeling -- Week 2

We put pen to paper this week on our kitchen plans. We signed the cabinet contract yesterday, all 19 pages of it. Today I signed off on our granite choice and gave the fabricator a deposit. I am totally lovin' our granite selection. The photo is not the best but you get the idea.
Next week, more decisions and hopefully a firm schedule!

As a final note, I have to brag about my boys. They have been so patient this week as we've visited a 'kitchen place' everyday while sisters are in school. Of course, the boys have memorized which stores bribe little boys with cookies and which bribe them with candy and which bribe them with toys. If they're really lucky, they get a combination of the above. So shopping with mom has become more like a treat than a chore.