Halloweenie Roast 2012

Every year the kids' daycare has a Halloweenie Roast with fun games and activities and of course, weenies.  The kids get to dress up and they really look forward to it.  It was so crowded (and hot!) last year that I was really hoping to get out of going, but no such luck--they were too excited about it. 
It did, however, give us a chance to get their costumes out and try them on to see how they fit.  Perfectly!  Another plus is that it was warm outside so we didn't have to worry about coats.

I learned a thing or two about buying Halloween costumes this year.  In the past, I've asked Jack what he wanted to be for Halloween and then I found that costume online.  Past costumes include a monkey, a bear and a peapod.  I try to look for a deal and it's not usually all that expensive.  I've just been getting Claire a costume that coordinates with Jack's since she's been too little to really care.  Well, this summer Jack went through a big pirate/Peter Pan phase.  About that same time, he went through a "bad guys" phase as well.  Put these two concepts together and you get Captain Hook.  He informed us he wanted to be Captain Hook for Halloween sometime in July, I believe.  This was fine with me and I decided Claire could be Tinkerbell to go along with his costume.  Also, her love of dresses and all things sparkly made this a winning choice for her as well.

When it came time to buy costumes, I looked online and lo and behold, the only decent Captain Hook costume was from the Disney Store.  I can't believe it didn't occur to me that Disney would have the monopoly on all Disney character costumes.  Of course they do.  Same goes for Tinkerbell.  And, they don't sell everything together.  So, I bought the costume, but the hat, sword and hook were all sold separately.  Really? The hook for the Captain HOOK costume is sold separately??  And you couldn't buy the hook without also buying the sword.  It was a package deal.  Oh man, did they have me.  And I knew I couldn't get Jack a sword and not get something for Claire, so in order to avoid meltdown city, I bought her the Tinkerbell light up wand.  In the end, I just resigned myself to paying the exorbitant price for both costumes and chalk it up to experience.

You can bet I won't be asking the kids what they want to be for Halloween next year.  They can pick from what's on the rack at Target.  Or better yet, Walmart.  During the 50% off sale.

Ms. Tinkerbell

Mr. Captain Hook

At the Halloweenie Roast, the kids got candy...

and bobbed for donuts...

and played ring toss with witches hats...

and got their faces painted...(well, they would have if Claire hadn't chickened out at the last minute)

and ate "used Bandaids"...

and had cookies!

Making her list and checking it twice

Everywhere she goes, Claire is now accompanied by her pen and paper.  Since she was a baby she was always interested in my shopping lists at the store.  It got to the point where Mark had to push the grocery cart she was in because she was constantly trying to wrestle the pen and paper out of my hand.  We've always keep the pads of paper and pens in a top drawer in the kitchen, but now she's tall enough to reach in and grab them herself. 

Jack's been working on writing his letters at home and Claire isn't one to be left out.  She'd grab her paper and scribble and say "Look at my Js!"  The letter J was the first one Jack learned to write so he would practice on the chalkboard and say "Look at my Js!"  Claire wants to do everything he does.

Now, this scribbling on her paper has turned into making lists which I think got started when she saw me making a shopping list.  So now she gets her pen and paper ready and says "what else, Mommy?"  I'll say "What about grapes?" and she'll scribble it onto the "list."  Then it's "what else, Mommy?"  This game can go on for a very long time.  The problem is, she's very picky about what goes onto the list.  Lots of times my suggestions are met with "We don't need__________!" or "already have _______!"  She never lets you repeat an item for the list and she has a memory like a steel trap so even if I suggested an item three days ago, she remembers.  I'm starting to run out of things to add!

Flying Solo

This weekend we had a rare 24 hours to ourselves!  After the kids' swim lessons and tumble bunnies class they were off to Gram's.  I look forward to these weekends so much.  I certainly enjoy spending time with my kiddos, and I wish I was with them more, but I do like to have some time to do whatever I want for a day.  Also, they really like spending time at Gram's.  I had a lot of things on my list to accomplish with my free day, but I only got a few of them done.  It's hard to decide whether to work around the house and be productive or just relax and take it easy.  I did a little of both.  I actually spent time reading and finished my current book.  Even though I'm a librarian, I have very little time to read and don't do it a whole lot.  It was nice to kick my feet up and enjoy reading again.  I just have to quiet that voice in my head that says I should be folding laundry.

Saturday night Mark and I went out to dinner at one of our favorite Italian places and then hit up the new Menard's.  I've never been to a Menard's and they just built one down the street from us.  It's a bit like Walmart on steroids only with building materials and home goods.  It was overwhelming.  I can't imagine trying to shop there on a regular basis.  I thought Lowe's and Home Depot were big, but they've got nothing on Menard's.

We spent a lazy Sunday going out to breakfast, picking the kids up from Gram's and taking naps.  After naps, Mark took Jack to Beck Park and they had a grand ole time from what I hear.  Claire and I went to Target and I think we were both much happier to be there.

Happy Monday and here's to a good week!

Christmas in October

This year I'm going to take a different approach to Christmas.  In years past, I've been a crazed shopper, baker and gift wrapper in the weeks leading up to Christmas.  I don't think I've ever been as stressed as I was last year.  Last year was the first Christmas season for my Etsy shop and I had no idea how busy it would be.  Unfortunately, the busy time in the shop and the busy time in life are at the SAME TIME!  I was completely unprepared.  Throw in a 3 year old and an 18 month old and I was ready for the loony bin.

This year, I'm going to take a more organized approach.  At the grocery store yesterday, I bought sugar cookie mix and I'm planning to bake and freeze those cookies this weekend (while the kids are conveniently at Gram's!).  That way, when we want to decorate the cookies for Christmas, all I have to do is thaw them out.  There are some things I will want to bake at Christmas time, but at least this will lighten the load.

I also have a better handle on gifts this year.  I am terrible at thinking up gifts for people and certainly this one of the more stressful things about Christmas for me.  I really want to get people something they will like/use/enjoy.  This isn't always an easy task, especially for the men in my life.  Surprisingly, I've actually been able to come up with some ideas myself this year and I'm getting a head start on shopping.

I haven't sent out Christmas cards in the last couple of years and I think I'll continue that this year.  It's really a pain to address so many envelopes.  It's much simplier to create the card and post it to Facebook as it pretty much reaches the same people that way anyway.

I really want to relax and enjoy the holiday season this year instead of dreading it.  I'd also like to start new traditions now that the kids are older and have the time to enjoy those.  I'm still on the hunt for ways to make it simpler and if I find any, I'll share those too.

Kitchen Chalkboard

We have a large, somewhat odd shaped wall in our kitchen/breakfast area that I've never really known what to do with.  So it's been bare.  For years.  It occured to me a few months ago that this would be a great place for a chalkboard.  I thought of a thousand things we could use it for and now that we have it, I LOVE IT!  The kids are loving it too and right now we're using it in conjunction with Jack's preschool class as a way to reinforce what he's learning there.  Each week we put up the letter of the week from preschool and all week long we write down all the words we can think of that start with that letter.  On the bottom of the chalkboard, he practices writing the letter.  It's worked out great and it's gotten Jack excited about learning and that's no small task.  Even though she's not quite there yet, Claire's getting a head start learning about her letters too.  So here's how we made it:

I went to Lowe's and bought a large board that is used for wainscotting.  I'm sure you could use any piece of thin wood.  This was easy because it was already a good size and I didn't need to cut anything.  We also bought some trim, magnetic primer and chalkboard paint.  The whole project cost about $80.

First, I sanded the back of the board.

 

 

Then, I used a thin foam roller to roll on the magnetic primer.  Let me just say this about the magnetic primer.  I read a lot of reviews about this before purchasing and most of them were really positive.  I didn't particularly care if the chalkboard was magnetic, but Mark though maybe the kids would like it, so we went ahead and did it.  Even after three coats, it will only hold the lightest of magnets.  It's also heavy and adds a lot of weight to the final product making it just a little harder to hang up.  If I had it to do all over again, I would have skipped this step. 

 

 



I didn't have to wait very long between coats of the primer which was nice so I got it all done in one day.  Next, I used the same kind of foam roller and rolled on the chalkboard paint.  The paint is pretty thick, but it rolled on smooth.  I read some reviews that said it could only be brushed on, but I had no problem with rolling it.  Using the roller did give it a rougher texture, but I sanded between coats and I'm happy with the end result.

I had to wait 24 hours between coats of the chalkboard paint, so I did three coats over the course of the next several days.  Again, I sanded between coats to even out the texture a little.  When it was all done and had dried for another 24 hours or so, I primed it by rubbing a piece of chalk over the entire thing.  Sometimes the first couple of things you write on a new chalkboard are impossible to erase because chalk gets in those new little crevices and it doesn't come out when it's erased.  Priming it gets chalk in all those crevices to start with so everything you write on it afterward is easily erased. 

 

 

I did the easy part of painting and Mark did the hard part of measuring the trim and making the frame to go around the chalkboard.  He cut the corners with his saw and nailed and glued them together.  He used clamps until the corners were dry.  Then we painted it white to match the rest of the trim upstairs.

 

 

To hang it, Mark laid the frame down unpside down.  Because he had routered out the inside of the frame, he was able to just lay the chalkboard into the frame.  He used tape intended for HVAC (because that's all we had laying around) and secured the board in place. 

 

 

 

 

Then he used some complicated method involving painters tape that only he understands to measure the wall and figure out where to hang it. 

 

 

 

Once we knew where it was going, he screwed it into the wall through the molding with big drywall screws.  Over the next few days, we filled the holes with putty and touched up the paint. 

 

 

 

The next morning, Jack came out of his room and stopped dead in his tracks and asked "what's that?"  He wanted to write on it immediately. 

 

 



 

When Claire got up, she too wanted in on the action.

 

 





The first masterpiece on our new chalkboard





 The entire project took less than a week start to finish and we are really happy with it!

What's in a Name?

Jack is growing and maturing by leaps and bounds these days.  Since birth he's always been a little timid, a little shy, and a little afraid to try new things.  He's a lot like me, actually.  Rather than jump into life, we've always had to drag him a little.  I've had several people lately tell me that kids change a lot between age 4 and Kindergarten, but I didn't think that would be Jack.  I was sure we'd still have to pry him off our legs on the first day of school.  He's certainly proven me wrong.  One day this past week when Mark was dropping of the kids at preschool, Jack asked him if he could go into his room all by himself.  And he did.  With no crying.  He just walked into his room, took his coat off and started playing.  If you know Jack or his history, you'd know how incredible this is.  Of course I hated that he'd cry and hang on me when it was time to leave every morning, but a part of me also liked that he still needed and wanted me.  I'm so glad that he's found the confidence to do things on his own, but I can't help but think it will be a very short time until he will be embarrased to be seen with me or no longer wants to hug me in front of his friends.  That breaks my heart just a little.

In Pre K, he's learning about the letters and the sounds they make and how to write them.  I can't believe how much his writing has improved in a short time, but more importantly, his attitude is one of perseverance and excitement about learning.  Previously, if something was too hard or he didn't get it right the first time, he used that as an excuse to give up.  Now, I see him diligently working on his letters at the chalkboard (that post will be coming up soon) and proudly showing us how well he's doing.  As a result, he can now write his name! 

There have been many milestones for Jack over the last several years and because he was a preemie, some were harder fought for him, but for some reason I can't describe, this milestone surprised me a little.  I'm not an especially emotional person, but like walking into his preschool room by himself, this is just another sign of his independence.  I'm so proud of  him and all that he's accomplished lately, but he's certainly not a baby anymore.  And that breaks my heart a little too.

Pumpkin Patching

Last weekend we made some stops at the local pumpkin patches.  The kids loved it.  This is the first year Claire is really old enough to enjoy it.  First we stopped at the Heritage House because they were giving away free pumpkins.  There's no pumpkin I like better than a free one.  It had rained quite a bit the night before and the pumpkins were all muddy.  There's very limited parking and it's hard to get in and out of there, but I guess that's the price you pay for free pumpkins.  Needless to say, I was ready to grab our pumpkins and leave.  It's futile really to try and get a round pumpkin at this place.  I'm pretty sure that since they're free, they're the rejects from all the other pumpkin patches around.  Mark was annoyed with me when we left because he said I had a bad attitude and I should learn to just relax and enjoy the experience.  Me?  A bad attitude?  I can't imagine.  But he probably had a point about just relaxing and enjoying the kids.  We did run into a old friend I hadn't seen in a while and her daughter and new baby so that was nice.  Here's some pics from the first stop.

They have matching goofy smiles.

Next, we headed over to Kleather's pumpkin patch right by our house.  We drive by this place every day on the way to preschool and the kids get so excited to watch as all the decorations go up in September.  Every day there are more and more pumpkins until finally you can hardly see grass.  Jack use to call this place "choo choo train pumpkins" when he was little because they have a large train around the outside.  We've called it that ever since.  Inside the train are chickens and rabbits.  I will never understand kids' fascination with small, stinky animals.

They always decorate with Wizard of Oz decorations and it's really pretty neat.  Last year, we discovered it's family owned and run by some friends we previously met through their preschool who also happen to go to the same church we do.  This family has two kids who are both in Jack and Claire's rooms at preschool.  When we got there, the kids got complementary popcorn--it's nice to have an in with the owners!  They were on cloud nine.  Sometimes, it takes very little to make something special. 

Jack pulled that wagon all over the place and he couldn't have been happier.

I never did get a decent smile out of them!