BOO!

Pumpkin Carving Party. Smashing Success.  I do think we'll make it an annual tradition.  We had so much fun.
I'm almost 37 years old, and fairly certain I have never carved a pumpkin!  I mean- I've sat there while my Daddy carved it, or John or Josh or Bill. But not actually ME. and it was kinda fun! I did two!


Definitely a fun time. We made two kinds of chili (white and regular). We had spider web brownies (which were actually super cute, but actually tasted a tad nasty). We had the Pumpkin Cheesball, which was not only good- but easy to make. And Shannon didn't believe I'd made it! There were Mummy Dogs, which Bill and I almost ate all of...And we were supposed to have Broken Glass Cupcakes, but my glass never did harden. Oh well. maybe next year. And Sarah brought dirt cake- which was insanely good tho I don't have a picture. 

We had some of Eileen's buddies & their parents come over. Awesome weather so we got to set up tables out front and go to town! At one point one of the kiddos was bored.. I asked him if he wanted to pick the seeds out of the Cauldron (filled to the brim with innards) so I could roast them.. and magically, he was no longer bored. Heehee. 

Check out  <---THIS pumpkin! do you see that half of Hannah's body is in that thing? (and previously mentioned cauldron of innards..)  That pumpkin was a hit. 


So Friday night, Eileen was upstairs playing. Bill and I downstairs talking about what to cook when.  Chili, mummy dogs, cupcakes.. WHAT CUPCAKES?!  that's what we heard from above the moment I innocently said "I'll probably make the cupcakes tonight" - and it was not loudly that I said it.  Apparently Eileen not only has Eagle Eyes she also has the ears of a BAT. 

Baby Stella was there.. she's about six mos old. And as you can see, this blue haired child to your right - aka Eileen - is fascinated. I missed a lot of it, but rumor has it that Eileen hung out with Stella quite a bit.  I think she's quite excited for Edith to be here. Too sweet.

<--- this one cracks.me.up.  When some of her friends arrived in costume, Eileen decided to go put hers on. So this is her coming back outside, and Lucas and Jonathan are super excited to see her. She's not the least bit phased by the Ninja and the Masked Boy set to pounce. 

 On Saturday, we'd gone to services for a friend who'd lost a family member. Eileen was incredibly good, not counting when she was sitting directly behind my boss and sighed an 'annoyed sigh' quite audibly.  I'm fairly certain fire came out of my eyes at that moment. But considering the circumstances, she was good. 

So after that, we went to run errands while Bill was at the Farm. She's generally quite the shopping buddy when it's just she and I. But after wandering Target and then hitting Ross to see what dresses I could scour, she was losing patience. As we walked to the checkout, I spotted The Boot Section.  And really, one can't have enough boots. I started to walk in that direction, and Mini Me grabbed my hand, stomped her foot, and said "NOOOOOOOO MOMMY!"  She was ready  to go home. (luckily, I am taller and bigger, and dragged her anyway to look at boots. Much to the security guard's amusement. They had none I liked/wanted. But honestly, the girl needs to learn endurance with shopping. I mean, as her mommy, it is my duty to pass on these life skills). 

So, raise your hand if you constantly have a camera in your kid's face. Clearly I do. And clearly I am not the only one. Take, for instance, this shot to the right ---->.  These two were moving like freight trains through the yard. I attempted to get a shot. Without skipping a beat, they both came to a complete stop. Arms around each other. And smiled. HILARIOUS. I cracked up. At this rate, candid shots will become non-existent. 

In other news, Eileen's class has some new rules (with nineteen 4-5 year olds, and more boys than girls, a dictatorship is not out of the question..).  So now there is Student of the Week. (a good thing). So Eileen has decided that THIS week she will win it. She said she will not have any red points (red points= bad, green points = good).  Now don't be shocked - she generally gets one red point a week.. for talking too much.   heehee.  You think she's my kid or what? What's funnier is she tries to hide it from Josh/Sarah/Bill/me.  She wont tell us- even tho we clearly see it on her chart. Then when whichever parent has come to get her DOES see it, and asks her about it, she says "but mommy, you can't tell daddy!" (or Bill, or Sarah, or Mommy...).......

That falls under the "oh I want to giggle but I'll suck it up and make this a teaching moment" category.  She did it to both Josh and I, and we both made it clear that we don't lie to Mommy and Daddy, and she needs to be able to tell us things. We'll see how well that works out in about 8 years....


ANYWAY - I got off track.  Back to Student of the Week. So she has decided this will be her week. As we walked in this morning, she asked if I ever lost points when I was a kid, and did I ever get Student of the Week (note: I have limited recollection these days of anything more than one hour old, so I really don't know...)

But being Mommy of the Year and all, I promptly told her that I was always good in school and often won Student of the Week. and then I next promptly told her that Aunt Sissy was always getting red points and never won the Student of the Week. OH how she cackled. HEEHEEHEE.


In other news - check it out. Look in this shot <---  behind Bill- you can see the beginnings of our new screened in porch!  Like the idjits we are, it did not occur to us to take before and after pictures. Me, the camera queen, didn't even think about it (in my defense, chaos has reigned of late..).  Anyway.. we think it will be done before the week is over. It will be wired, we bought the ceiling fans at lunch. Yep, two. And we plan on a small TV out there (blatantly stealing that idea from Dottie and Croft) so we can chill outside and watch football.  We have at least another few weeks of decent weather down here. I grew up with a screened in porch. They rock. 

Speaking of chaos.. we have a little left. We have the Pumpkin Patch trip on Thursday (with Eileen's class), we have the Halloween Party on Friday afternoon at Eileen's school. Then, this will be the first weekend since before Labor Day (that was eight weekends ago) that we have not had some plan/wedding/event/obligation to do.  And if that new porch is done, I plan on parking there Friday afternoon, and I may not get up until Monday Morning. (ok fine, that's extreme, maybe I'll get up to run and take a shower and refill my beer or wine). 

Then Monday will be Halloween. Can't wait. And then, it begins. The Holidays. Which, in all honesty, I am excited about.  A new baby, friends and family, a graduation, baking, days off from work, sending out (and getting) cards, and Chuckie The Elf.  I figure we have 2, MAYBE 3, years left before Eileen wises up.. so we'll have fun with it.


Til next time.. Happy Monday. Watch out for goblins and ninjas.