Trick-Or-Treat!

Trick-Or-Treat night has ended.  Molly ate 20+ pieces of candy in less than 2 hours.  Ross is sitting in the living room eating a bowl of ice cream topped with caramel sauce and chocolate syrup, Maisie is crying that she didn't get dessert.  Huh?


We carved pumpkins last night.

This was my favorite one.

I tried my best to get a shot of the 3 kids together in their costumes.  But this was the best I could do.  They weren't into getting pictures taken tonight. 

See what I mean?

Quote of the night by Sugar Plum:
Me: "Hey darlin', did you have a good time tonight?"
Maisie: "yep"
Me: "What was your favorite part?"
Maisie: "Halloween"

Pretty much sums things up.
 

Pumpkin Patch

Whew, we made it to the pumpkin patch just in the nick of time.  The Pumpkin Ranch would be closing for the season at 5:00 on Sunday.  We got there at 4:00.  We like to keep things challenging like that.


Mike and Maisie on the hayrack out to the pumpkins.

One of the perks of being at the Pumpkin Patch during their last hour of the season is that many of the pumpkins are rotten. As far as were concerned, it makes for some awesome pumpkin stomping.  Mike started it.

 

Molly was certain she wanted to take this pumpkin home.

My man in a half-rotten pumpkin patch.  Love that grin.

 

Meanwhile, Molly became addicted to jump houses.

 

And this was a swing that looked fun and interesting.  Maybe a tad awkward and uncomfortable, but we appreciated the thought.

 

Once home, Molly decided to apply some make-up before dinner.  I'm pretty sure were going to need a little more practice.

 

She went out to the garage to check herself out in Daddy's dirt bike mirror.  Sometimes it's tricky to find a mirror around this place.

 

Everyone at 221 S 5th Ave is ready for trick or treat night tomorrow!  Ross will be dressed as a scuba diver, Maisie will be a witch and Molly will be Tinkerbell.  Stay tuned....

 

Fairy Puzzles

I am unique because I can do puzzles.  I am good at my fairy puzzles.  - Maisie

While waiting in the hallway outside Ross' classroom Friday pre-lunch, Maisie showed me the self-portrait she made in pre-school.  I'm guessing each student was asked to think of something that made them unique. 

Granted, she is one heck of a puzzle-doer, but of all the things she could have come up with, I'm a little surprised she chose puzzle skills as her 'unique quality'.

Perhaps that in itself, is what truely makes her, one-of-a-kind.

Target Toy Catalog

With Trick-Or-Treat night only 2 nights away, Ross decided he'd better start his Christmas list.  It all started when the Target Toy catalog showed up in the mailbox Friday.  Crazy enough, not a single item from the catalog made the list. His list cracks me up. So practical, except of course, for the gas-engine dirt bike he's got his eyes on.  I also can't get over that the first thing on his list is underwear.  Who is this kid?
I'd like to mention he needed help spelling everything but the last item. I told him "Go ahead, take a stab at it, how hard can it be?" I'm guessing Santa will be able to sound it out just fine.

 

The list: Boxers, Dirt Bike, Wimpy Kid Book (Santa's already got the green book for him), Bike Helmet, Slide (for his boyscout neckerchief, of course), and fudee peejes. 

 

I just love that kid.

 

 

 

 

School Carnival

There was a carnival in the school gym this week.  The kids thought it was awesome. Made me think of the Long Grove Strawberry Festival games held in the fire station, complete with not 1, but 2 of the fishing-pole-over-the-cardboard and 2 pick-the-sucker-with-the-black-spot-on-the-bottom-of-the-stick games.  Whoa!  Some things never change.

The kids just before we left for the carnival.

The Cafe

 

The Winterset Elementary School has a pretty cool cafe.  No, I'm not talking about the cafeteria, I'm talking about The Cafe.  And yes, reservations are required.  The Cafe is a special place outside of the cafeteria where parents or grandparents can spend a 'lunch-date' with their kid.  Elementary age kids aren't embarrased by their parents yet, so it's a win-win.

I called the school early in the week to get reservations at The Cafe for lunch Friday- you just never know with these types of things.  Ross was pumped because he was also chosen to be line-leader on Friday.  It was a big day.  As the girls and I arrived at Ross' classroom, he was quick to ask whether he could invite 2 guests to join our lunch date.  I figured, the more the merrier!

Charlie, Ross and Tate- buddies.  Ross made this face for the majority of the photos I took.  It's his "I'm a tough-guy-ninja-face. 
 

 

We spent a good 3-5 minutes discussing what the "sauce" was on Tate's plate.  Not a ringing endorsement for school lunch.

 

Ross requested a Personal Pan Cheese Pizza on Friday.  Luckily, I found Tombstone personal-size pizza's in the freezer at Fareway.  Unfortunately, my oven quit working Thursday night so I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do.  Turned out technology saved the day- my microwave does convection-oven cooking.  Anything for you, Ross!

For some reason this makes me think of a pose they will try to re-create someday at a high school party.

I seriously think Ross believes he's in a gang. 

Rabbit ears are hilarious to 7 year old boys- ranks right up there with making fart sounds with your armpits.

Molly was content with orange Dorito's.  They matched her shirt. 

The Utensil Drawer

Ross helped me fold kitchen towels Monday night.  He can't get shirts and pants to lay right, so he sticks with towels- I'm not complaining.  When I commented on how nicely he had the towel drawer arranged, I asked him if he'd like to tackle the untensil drawer.  He immediately began unpacking the drawer and piling my random gadgets into categories. 

 

It didn't take him long to finish.  Of course not every utensil would fit back in the drawer; they never do.  Which is why I've adopted the "crock" untensil-holder idea (as I explained to Ross is for awkward items).

If you come to our home, please don't question why nobody can find a wooden spoon, a whisk, a can opener or a rubber scrapper.  I'm sure they will turn up at some point.  In the meantime, we have any tool you may need for sweet corn or egg slicing located front and center.  Obviously, Ross has a pretty high opinion of sweet corn.