'Hood Crawl

Like a kid-friendly version of a pub crawl that included an eclectic cast of characters:

Jesse & Buzz,

Jaws & Casper,


Wolverine & Spider Girl,

a spider-observing dragon,

And Princess Leah,

they went from house to house;

five in all.

For there were crafts to be made,

games like Pumpkin Bowling,

and Skittles Toss to be played,

A pinata to crush,

cupcakes,

worm-infested dirt,

and candy to be eaten.

Not to mention a Haunted House scary enough

to have the Defender of the Universe

biting his nails!

It was the Woodtrails

1st Annual Halloween

'Hood Crawl!

This to That

It was right around this time last year that I told myself I was going to take a sewing class. While I don't aspire to stitch together haute couture, I do think that it's helpful to know your way around a sewing machine for certain things. On top of that list would be Halloween costumes. There's always the stuff at the store, but there seems to be two categories for those, cheap and ugly or decent and expensive.

When I decided M was going to be Jesse this year I looked to see what I could find. There was plenty that fell into both of the slots above but nothing in her size. So I went to JoAnns and bought the fabric. After some cutting and trimming, stitches were added to this,

along with a hat,

and she ended up with that:

You'll notice the after buying the fabric, the word "I" was never used in the above step by step. That's because "I" didn't do anything but buy the fabric. I haven't even taken the sewing class yet. My mom gets all the credit for her costume. She did it all by hand. She's amazing at doing stuff like that. When I was young I would show her a dress I liked and she'd go home and make it without a pattern. She made the mattress for the kids' bassinet and more recently she stitched a place mat into a pillow.
Intimidating? Yeah, a little. I should have learned from the best when I had the chance to do so. (Sigh).

Anyway, once M's costume was all done, I started to look for something J could wear. There was NO way I was going to put my mom through making a Buzz Lightyear costume without a sewing machine. Although she probably could have if given some time.
Instead I resorted to the store variety. The cheap-and-ugly store variety to be exact.
I couldn't bring myself to spend $50 bucks for the Disney Store version.
Did I mention it was the Wal-Mart-cheap-and-ugly store variety?

But when I added these

to the polyester, one piece, painted on, no muscle
Buzz Lightyear, he had this:

A much more respectable Space Ranger if I do say so myself.


Our trip to the pumpkin patch was late this year
and it was slim pickins once there:

But we did manage to get a decent one.

With a little bit of this

and a little bit of that

we had a scary Jack 'o Lantern in no time.

And so the day finally came.

The sun was out and the rain stayed away.

The candy, the kiddos, and the house were ready.

And just like that, it went.

The candy bowl is empty; the costumes, piled on the floor;

and the sun has been replaced by wind and rain causing the

pretty looking porch to go from that to this

in less than 24 hours.

Happy November Everyone!

Going Batty

I don't know about you, but I don't remember having to write a report in first grade. I don't remember exactly when it was, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't this early on. I asked D and he said the same.

Nevertheless, J had his first report due last Thursday. They are studying bats in his science segment and each kid chose a bat they were interested in and wrote a little bit about it. J chose a bat by the name of The Little Brown Bat. He had to turn in some preliminary findings and then the actual report would be written at school.

His teacher was kind enough to send us the grading scale, and I was really surprised to see how much detail she wanted in addition to the writing elements: Full sentences, neat writing, several facts. It seemed a little advanced for six year olds, and I have to admit I was a little concerned to see what J would come up with.

In addition to the report, the kids were also to turn in a visual of their bat. Again, the grading scale was extensive: distinctive features, several colors, habitat. All with one caveat: she wanted the kids' work -- not the parents.

That's all great and wonderful, except that my kid wasn't really that interested in doing much more than a picture, which would have been fine, but you only got one point for that -- if it was a good hand-drawn picture. A computer picture wasn't acceptable. J is good at many things but art isn't one of them so going that route, even one point was going to be hard to attain.

And, to be honest, I really wanted him to reach for more than the easy way out. A model could yield five points and I knew if I did the legwork I could get him excited about doing a project. I was right.

He glued cutout bats, he water colored the background, cut up some felt, and glued the eyes and fangs on. Anything that required the glue gun I did.

He was really happy with the finished product.

He presented to the class two days ago. I was amazed when I saw his scores. He did so well! In addition to his teacher he was also graded by some of his peers. He got the highest marks in almost every category.

The next day was the "Bat Gallery." Families were invited to come in and see all the wonderful work the kids did. This was the first time we got to take a peek at J's report. Turns out I had nothing to worry about, because it was great. There were full sentences, decent writing, and lots of information.

And not just J's was amazing. As surprised as I was at the expectations for these kids, I was even more surprised at how easily they exceeded them.

He looked so proud of his work,

and I love that he's enjoying learning so much!

hAPPy

About a month ago I got the new iph0ne 4. It is one of the coolest gadgets out there and I have no idea how I navigated this world without it for 44 years. Aside from my wedding ring it is my favorite material thing that I own.

Several weeks before that, Daddy was issued an ipad from work. Another amazing machine from the folks at Apple. This picture doesn't do it justice. It's basically a larger version of the iphone but without the calling capabilities.

By the time J and M are old enough to read this there will be unimaginable things for them to work and play with and they'll laugh at me for being so excited over something that by then is sure to be today's version of an eight-track tape. But for me, this is innovation at its finest. Just a couple of decades ago the thought of literally having so much access at your fingertips was unimaginable to me.

Needless to say, both D and I have been playing around with our little pieces of technological goodness non-stop. He's downloaded a couple of books ~ even finished one which is quite a fete for him. I've downloaded some applications, also known as apps, and some music.

AK was here the other day and we were comparing smartphones. He has one from another company but many of the apps (I feel so cool when I use the correct terminology) are the same. He intoduced me to one of his favorites: An LED light, sort of like a little flashlight in your phone. It was free so I downloaded it if for no other reason to show J who for some reason or another likes flashlights.

It hasn't even been two weeks and I had real use for it last night. Our power went out while we were upstairs. Both the kids were already asleep but we wanted to make sure we were prepared in case they woke up to pitch darkness and were scared. I found my phone, pressed the button, and WA-LA, there was light.

We went to sleep hAPPy campers after that.

Mommy's Prayer

Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my shape to keep
Please no wrinkles; please no bags; and please lift my butt before it sags
Please no age spots; please no gray; and as for my belly, please take it away
Please keep me healthy; please keep me young

And thank you, Dear Lord, for all you've done

It seems like I've been in the copy/past mode lately, but this was perfect for today; albeit, a little late for some of the requests ~ let's try this again: A little late for ALL of them.

We leave to Sacramento in 31 days, one month, and I want to lose 10 pounds before boarding the plane. To some people that is a very doable goal. To me it's not much different than climbing Mt. Everest.

Before I go any further, I want to put in the disclaimer that I know my family and friends love me at this weight or any other. The trip is simply a motivational tool to help ME, because that's who I want to do it for is myself. And although the BMI charts say I'm still at a healthy weight for my height, I'm not comfortable at this size and really want to get back to my pre-M weight.

At the start of 2009, AK and I started a contest to see who could lose the most weight in three months. He smoked me! M wasn't sleeping through the night and the gym wouldn't take her until she was 6 months. A couple of months later, in an effort not to go out and buy new clothes for our very-short summer, I did a two-week diet that promised a loss of 8 to 13 lbs. I lost 6. It was just enough to get the zippers up. And then about a year ago, I embarked on yet another Biggest-Loser style diet with the girls. The pot was big but my motivation wasn't. I lost just enough to get my money back but have since gained it and the previous 6 pounds back.

I don't like to exercise, that's no secret. I love junk food. That's a bad combination. It's been a struggle, but this is the most motivated I've been. I sometimes ~ very seldom, but sometimes ~ look forward to going to the gym. I've devised a two-day on, one-day off plan that seems like a reasonable goal, yet for one reason or another I can't seem to get there.

Between grocery shopping, running errands, BabyGym, M's sleep schedule, and the gym's childcare schedule, it's overwhelming. I think that I'll go early in the morning before D goes to work but that never works. I tell myself I'll work out at home while M naps ~ never happens. Maybe I'll go after dinner, I think. I think NOT when after dinner comes around.

Back in August when we purchased our tickets for Cali, I told myself I was going to lose a pound a week until the day arrived. One pound a week didn't seem like a daunting task but it's really proved otherwise. Shorty thereafter I twisted my ankle; then my mom came to visit; school started, and on and on.

Last week I had to go to Js school to volunteer. I had to be there at 9:45 so I got to the gym at 8:55 to be there right when childcare opened and I could get in 35 minutes before heading out. Well, I forgot my ID because I used it the last time I was there and forgot to put it back in my wallet, and policy states that everybody needs an ID to check kids in and out. So much for that. On a different note, my ID has since been upgraded to Lost status.

Today, I did my grocery shopping first thing, came home and cooked dinner so that this afternoon as soon as J got off the bus we could head there, be the first in line for the 4pm opening of childcare, get an hour in, and be home in time to have that dinner on the table by around 5:30. Well, guess what? Childcare doesn't open until 4:30, which normally would have been okay, but my efficiency came back to bite me in the flabby butt that I possess. The kids were having Salmon and I set my oven to start preheating by 5 to ensure it was nice and toasty when I got home from my supposed workout.

Seriously? Seriously.

So for today, my prayer, or a revised version of it, is all that I have left.

Oh, and my belly, yeah, that's hanging around too ~ kinda literally.

I really need to get to the gym!