Halloween

This year we tried something new for Halloween. We took the kids to the Fall Festival at our church and they had a great time playing games and jumping on a moonwalk. They got quite a bit of candy and found some neat prizes hidden within a whole lot of hay, and they got their faces painted. Then we left there and headed to Granny and Paw-Paw's house for trick-or-treating fun. It was lots of fun, as usual, and now we have more candy than we know what to do with! The only disappointment to our evening was coming home to find that some mean person(s) had smashed the kids' pumpkins. I've had pumpkins taken from my porch and smashed before, but never my children's carved pumpkins. I am thankful the kids were asleep when we came home and have no idea what happened to their prized pumpkins. Bill put the pumpkin remains out for the trash. I'm not sure what we'll tell the boys. We should probably tell them the truth, but it might just be easier to tell them someone took them because they thought they were the cutest pumpkins ever.

I'll post pictures as soon as I can, but tonight, it's late and I have school planning to get to. I hope you all had a happy, happy Halloween!

Scary Monster

Alex just informed me that there is a scary monster outside. It's called a "Meridactyl Monsterous". Must be part dinosaur, part monster.

More Halloween Fun

Last night we carved the pumpkins we had obtained from the pumpkin patch (something I never got around to posting about). The kids had fun drawing faces onto the pumpkins and then helping to clean the pumpkins out. Of course, you may notice a common theme in the pictures below...





Alex was just a tad distracted by this "new" Halloween video we started for them while they carved their pumpkins.

After they finished helping us clean out the pumpkins, Bill and I did the carving while the kids sat in the den to continue watching the video and enjoy a special apple themed treat: cinnamon baked apples. Last year we did the toasted pumpkin seeds, but they weren't much of a hit so we opted not to do it again this year. Surprisingly, Alex did not care for the baked apple, though Nathan and Amy happily ate theirs and later helped eat mine and Bill's.



Here are the final carved products:



Finally, the kids decorated their small pumpkins using the stickers we purchased at the pumpkin patch. They always have fun with that. Alex and Nathan each put a face on both sides of their pumpkins. Alex did this so he could make one mean face and one happy one. Amy chose to give her pumpkin one big jumbled face.





The kids are really looking forward to tomorrow and all the fun activities we have planned. I am, too!

Halloween Preview

This afternoon the kids got to put on their costumes and attend a fall festival at The Little Gym with with their cousins. There were games and prizes, things to climb and slide on, music and of course, treats. The kids had a blast!

Back in Time...

at the Texas Renaissance Festival.

Yesterday we attended School Days at the Texas Renaissance Festival. I feel so fortunate to have this amazing resource so closely available for my family to enjoy. I attended the festival when I was a child and again with Bill years ago. We took Alex one time when he was just a baby, but this was the first time we've taken the kids when they are old enough to truly experience what the festival has to offer. It is such an incredible place, from the permanent village they've set up among the tall pine trees to the Renaissance attire. You feel as though you've gone back in time as you walk among people who not only dress the part, but even speak with the Renaissance dialect. Adding to the ambience of it all is the medieval music and dancing occurring throughout the festival.

This being our first time to attend School Days, I was very impressed with the care that was taken to make the day not only educational for kids, but also stay appropriate for young audiences. With the advance purchase of my tickets came the most amazing book entitled "School Days Curriculum Enhancement Guide". This alone was worth the cost to get in, which on School Days is very reasonable, I might add. The book contains information on the kings and queens, artists and inventors of the Renaissance period, as well as the various crafts, music and food enjoyed during that era. In the back of the book are all sorts of ideas for activities to do with your student(s) relating to the Renaissance Period. I have used this book, along with other books from our home library, to do a Renaissance unit study this week. Bill made the boys some shields that they have decorated and tomorrow I hope to try a recipe for Prince Bisket... I'll let you know how that goes!

Of course, attending the festival was the highlight of it all. At the last minute (is there any other way?) I made hooded cloaks for each of the kids to wear. I had originally planned to make full costumes for the kids so they'd really feel a part of the festival, but since I never got around to doing that, the large cloaks still made a big impact. And of course, Alex desperately wanted a knight's costume while we were there, so inexpensive plastic knight helmets purchased in one of the shops seemed to add just the right touch to their "costumes". While at the festival we went to a jousting tournament, watched the delicate art of glassblowing, saw how coins were made in the Renaissance era, observed how arrowheads are made, mined for rocks and listened to singing pirates. The weather was perfect, showcasing a perfectly clear, blue sky along with cool, fresh air. We could not have asked for a more perfect day.

And Alex and Nathan's favorite part of the Renaissance Festival? Attending the Tournament to watch the knights battle it out and listening to the funny band of pirates as they sang and joked with the audience. I think they also enjoyed the rare experience of eating off a giant turkey leg, even if it did seem a tad barbaric (I was the only one unwilling to taste of the gigantic smoked turkey leg).

We will definitely be returning on future School Days to the Texas Renaissance Festival!

Ship Ahoy!

Awhile back, the boys had the time of their life climbing around on my sister and brother-in-law's sailboat. And ever since that day they've been drawing boats and climbing on the coffee table, pretending to be sailing on the high seas. So you can imagine their excitement this past Sunday when they were invited to go out on the boat. Thanks, Aunt Lisa and Uncle Mike!

Ready to go!

Alex helping (?) Aunt Lisa

Daddy and Nathan, enjoying the ride

Storing Clothing - Looking for Ideas

Getting organized was a frequently posted topic not that long ago... for many of you. I don't think I blogged on the subject, because sadly my house is still in a state of complete chaos. Okay, it's not that bad. At least, certain rooms aren't that bad. But I still have boxes and stacks of items in my dining room that didn't sell in our last garage sale (yes, I know what you are thinking, Mom - take it to Good Will :) ). The dining room is also where we temporarily put things as we painted most of the downstairs. And of course, the beautiful new look meant that some of the older decor and excess clutter stayed off the walls and out of the rooms once our painting project was completed... and remained in the dining room. So that is no doubt a room that needs a lot of work. And it will happen soon because Amy's birthday is coming up!

But the big one I'm currently thinking about is Amy's room. Amy still sleeps in our bed at night, which I do still enjoy, but she is getting bigger and is becoming quite the bed hog. I'm starting to feel that the time has come to get her into her own bed at night. But before we can do that, we have to clean off her bed! In recent months, as I have gone through and plucked out the clothing items from the boys' and Amy's closets that they can no longer wear, I have simply piled them onto Amy's bed. I figured, why not, she's not using it! Although, the precious little quilt we bought for her bed should have been reason enough... And of course, now I'm faced with having to do something about all those piles. But what?!?

I have considered the nice flat storage containers to beautifully divide clothes up by size and/or season. Then they would simply be stacked and stored in the kids' closets or under their beds. But when Bill and I went and priced the containers we just couldn't bring ourselves to spend the money. So I am wondering... Does anyone out there have a good storage solution for outgrown clothing that doesn't cost an arm and a leg?!? I'm really trying to avoid stuffing their clothes into trash bags because they won't store well in closets; the attic won't work either because in the Texas heat and humidity, they'd never survive up there! Perhaps someone knows of a cheaper place to buy storage containers??? We've priced them at Target and Wal-mart...

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!!!

A New Experience with Paints

Today Amy got her first experience with real paints (not just watercolors, which she would mostly paint with only water). I let her have fun with the finger paints - and boy, did she ever! But at least she kept her face clean. :)

Sweetness in Pictures

**these beautiful flowers were a surprise from Bill today - though before he could present them to me, Alex ran into the kitchen and exclaimed, "Mommy, Daddy brought you flowers!" - just made the moment even more special**

Children Quilting

Sort of...


Today we did a fun little project where we pieced together a Joseph's Coat of Many Colors pattern block to illustrate the one the Quilting Mothers were making in The Rag Coat. Last night I cut all of the necessary pieces out of felt, using fall colors to make it more festive. I then made a sample so the kids would have something to go by. It was fun to see them create... they seemed to prefer the crazy quilting style.

The block they were supposed to be copying

The one Alex made

The one Nathan made

The one Amy made

Successful First Day Back

Despite getting off to a late start, I think our first day back to school went pretty well. We didn't begin our workbook lessons until after 10am, and then we took a break until lunchtime. Then, while we ate lunch I read our Five in a Row story, The Rag Coat. The kids paid really good attention as I read; I think reading the story during mealtime seems to work well for my kids! I didn't have time to plan anything to go along with our story, so we just talked a little bit about some of the story elements. The kids spent some time coloring and playing on the computer after lunch while I did laundry and baked our snack for tea time.

Tea time was a lot of fun today. We read My First Columbus Day Book, since we didn't get a chance yesterday. I found this book at Half Price Books for only 50 cents! The kids again listened attentively while enjoying their yummy Pumpkin Cream Muffins. This is a really good recipe that I just tried for the first time today. I've posted the recipe at Mixing Bowls and Measuring Spoons.

After tea time, we made some fall/Halloween decorations. Inspired by Melissa's butterflies, we painted coffee filters in fall colors before our trip. Today, I was finally able to complete the craft by cutting leaf shapes out of black construction paper, cutting out the center of the leaves, and then attaching the coffee filters (cut to fit) to the back of the leaves. I think they turned out really great, and so did the boys' wonderful decorations!

Alex's bat, monster, and ghost

Alex's pumpkin

Nathan's pumpkin

Spiders and Butterflies and Cockroaches, Oh My!

On Monday, Alex had his first Contenders field trip. They met at the Houston Museum of Natural Science for a tour of the Butterfly Center. First, the boys had to recite their memory verse for the month, and though I was worried Alex would have trouble with it, he recited it beautifully! Then it was time to check out the insects! The kids had such a good time looking at the various insects, and they especially enjoyed going into the Butterfly Center where butterflies were everywhere! Alex was a little disappointed because he desperately wanted a butterfly to land on him and one never did. But he still had a good time, and afterwards we were able to go check out many of the other exhibits the HMNS has to offer. I just wish we'd had more time. There is so much to see! I need to take the kids back one morning and just plan on staying there the whole day!

Vacation Catch-Up

This past Sunday we returned home from our week long adventure to Ohio to see Bill's family. We drove, which is always an adventure in itself. It takes us two days to drive there, especially because we like to stop at a couple of interesting places on our way so we can all get a break from the car. On the first day of our trip up to Ohio, we stopped at a state park in Tennessee to let the kids play. This was also timed with my needing to wash out Amy's blanket, which she had thrown up on shortly beforehand... We've learned not to give Amy food from McDonald's while going on a long driving trip.

On the second day of our drive we stopped at Lost River Cave in Kentucky. This was so much fun. We took a tour where we learned all about this underground river and even got to ride on a boat into the cavern. It was truly an amazing experience.

We spent the first couple of days visiting with Bill's dad and stepmom. The kids had so much fun fishing with Pa-Paw. They look forward to it every time we make this trip! We also had a visit from Sister Esther, Bill's Great-Aunt. She is amazing at making things with balloons. Oh, how the kids loved the neat things she made for them: jack-o-lanterns, fishing poles (with fish), an airplane, and little mice. She even made me a flower out of balloons. Really neat!

Halfway through the week we went to the Cincinnati Zoo with Bill's mom. This is a fantastic zoo. They have so many exhibits to look at, and the zoo itself is really beautiful. Maybe I was just enthralled by all the trees and hills, something I'm quite unfamiliar with when it comes to our local zoo.

The following day we went out to Bill's aunt and uncle's farm in Indiana. We have done this once before and what an incredible place it is! It's gorgeous on their property, the lovely white farm house and barn, set alongside a creek, which is so spectacular in the fall when the leaves are turning. And of course, the kids' favorite part of the experience, though feeding the cows and pigs is a close runner-up, was riding on the four-wheelers. Harold and Gina have three, which worked perfectly for the adults to each take one child for a ride down to the creek. At the creek, we all had fun looking at the rocks along the creek, finding many fossils in the process. We also had many encounters with cow patties and Nathan took a fall into the mud (yes, thankfully it was mud), but it was all part of the experience. We are so thankful to Harold and Gina for letting us come and visit them at their farm!

We also got to go and visit Bill's sister and her family for an afternoon. They have a large backyard that the kids enjoyed playing in. And what a view! Nathan had talked about seeing his cousins the whole drive up, so I'm glad we were able to stop by for a little while.

I'm disappointed that we missed out on seeing some of our friends during our visit. I had especially hoped to get together with Kris. We planned this trip so quickly and didn't give anyone enough notice. Hopefully we can plan better next time!

Our drive back was somewhat somber, as we knew it'd be another year before we'd get to do it again. We had so much fun on our trip and are so thankful to the many relatives who made the experience so wonderful. And in case I didn't say it enough while we were there - thank you for the delicious dinners, something you truly appreciate after two days of fast food!

We are taking it slow since returning home. I have been busy with laundry and unpacking, but we've held off on our schooling... until today that is. We are off to a slow start this morning as it is already almost 9 o'clock and none of us are even dressed yet. But we have no outside activities today and can take it as slow as we want. I think "slow" is about all I can manage today, anyway. :)

With the hundreds of pictures we took on our trip, I couldn't just pick a few to post. So I created a slideshow album with selections from all the events of our trip. Enjoy!

Quality Service a Thing of the Past?

I really don't like using my blog as a place to complain. I know, I know... The Bible tells us to do everything without complaining, and this should include blogging! But sometimes an issue comes up and I just have to talk about it somewhere... Sorry!

Tonight's Issue: What has happened to service at the grocery stores???

We just returned from a week long trip to Ohio today (an entry to come on that later), and of course, our fridge was bare. I didn't think much about it until this evening, after it was too late to go before getting the kids to bed. So, I helped with bathtime and then quickly got Amy to bed while Bill took care of the boys. Then I was off to Kroger to replenish our food supply.

It was already 9pm by the time I began my shopping, so I knew I was in for a late night. But I was determined to get as much on my list as possible to hopefully prevent a second trip later this week. I managed to finish up in less than an hour, and I had quite the basket full, including four containers of ice cream (Celeste, you're rubbing off on me!). As I approached the front of the store and the many checkout lanes, I noticed that the only lanes open were the U-Scan lanes. I stood there staring for a bit, unable to believe that not a single normal lane was open. I finally flagged down an employee and asked if the U-Scan lanes were the only open lanes. She confirmed my observation, commented on my full basket, and walked away. That was that. So, I had a grand time checking myself out. Have you ever used one of these lanes before? There is a place to put your scanned items so that the computer can keep a weight tally. Througout your order, everything has to remain on this platform. Well, when you have a whole cart full of groceries, there is no way everything is going to fit on a platform made for express shoppers. So I had to split my order into two, and each time I had to go up to the attendant station to sign my receipt. I also ran out of bags midway through checkout. By the time I got home, my ice cream had become quite mushy.

I ask you again, what has happened to quality service???

There have been many times in recent years that I have had to sack my own groceries. This used to bother me, but then I realized that my groceries were in much better condition when I returned home if I had been the one to sack them. A long time ago when I was a Kroger cashier, I remember the required training where we learned exactly how to sack groceries. Now you get home and find every plastic grocery bag is about to rip open due to the excessive amount of items crammed inside, your can of bug spray is in the same bag as your grapes, and your bread is smashed into the same bag as your canned goods. Is training no longer provided?

And of course, now you are expected to unload your own basket, which I remember being quite difficult when I was almost 9 months pregnant!

Again, I know I shouldn't be complaining to all of you about this. But I am just so disappointed by the lack of service that seems to be more and more common in our stores these days. Am I selfish in my desire for the old way of doing things, back when store employees were actually quite helpful?

I guess I want to return to the "full-service" grocery store as opposed to the new do-it-yourself version.

Thanks for letting me complain. I'm done. :)