I'll be honest. Trunk-or-treat does not thrill me. It feels like a big bunch of work, and the kids will come home with big bags of what I once heard referred to as "Poison Soup". Even though it is a church function, there were three things I was very displeased with last year. A little earlier this year, I discussed my issues with my Man (he was gone hunting during trunk-or-treat last year), and expressed that if this is the case again this year, that I would like it to be the last year we go. At least for some time. You see, there are several reasons we don't do regular Halloween. One of which is we believe in sheltering our kids as much as we can at this young age. If they will also be exposed to certain undesirable things at our church trunk-or-treat, then it is our job not to take them there. Last year was the first time I had problems with what I saw, so I'm willing to pass it off as a one-year thing and try again this year.
So the trunk-or-treat is tomorrow afternoon. Apparently I have to make a Rubik's Cube costume for Son. We have lots and lots of beautiful dress-up for the girls, but as soon as Sissy found out what Son was going to be, she wanted to be the same. So we have two boxes ready, and today I have to get them decorated. Honey wants to be like her brother and sister, but she is two; I think I can get some of the dress-up she hasn't seen for a while, out of storage, and sway her mind. I can't find a box the right size for her, so there you go.
Also, I have to buy candy. Ugh.
Friday, October 28, 2016
Monday, October 17, 2016
Yucks & Blocks
This season of our life is turning out to be somewhat depressing. The last couple of weeks we've had a bit too much lethargy going on. All of us have felt just a little under the weather and blah. I hope we're at the end of that season! This is why you haven't heard much from me. Probably will continue not to until we're all out of it. :-)
On a good note, it hasn't been bothering Son as much as the rest of us. The other day, he flew through 35 pages of Are You My Mother? Last night, he experimented with folding his lunch meat snack. He wound up using 8 slices of lunch meat, more than I'd usually grant him, to make "pizza slices" which he arranged into a circle so it would look like a cut pizza. He was pretty impressed with himself and showed me with a great deal of excitement. I, too, was impressed. And today, he has built many creations out of their wooden blocks.
The last one before bedtime, he stacked in a line, pyramid style, and didn't have enough blocks to make it as tall as himself, which is what he'd been attempting. So I began to wonder aloud how many blocks they already had, and he started counting. He got to 35 on the bottom two rows, and I decided to show him a quicker way to add them all up. Starting at the bottom, there were 18 blocks. The creation 9 blocks high, but the top row was one block shy of a full row. So we added 18+17+16+15+14+13+12+11+9. We have 115 blocks. Wow! I have a feeling that there are a few hiding here and there in places they aren't supposed to be, though. So actually, we probably have a few more than that.
On a good note, it hasn't been bothering Son as much as the rest of us. The other day, he flew through 35 pages of Are You My Mother? Last night, he experimented with folding his lunch meat snack. He wound up using 8 slices of lunch meat, more than I'd usually grant him, to make "pizza slices" which he arranged into a circle so it would look like a cut pizza. He was pretty impressed with himself and showed me with a great deal of excitement. I, too, was impressed. And today, he has built many creations out of their wooden blocks.
The last one before bedtime, he stacked in a line, pyramid style, and didn't have enough blocks to make it as tall as himself, which is what he'd been attempting. So I began to wonder aloud how many blocks they already had, and he started counting. He got to 35 on the bottom two rows, and I decided to show him a quicker way to add them all up. Starting at the bottom, there were 18 blocks. The creation 9 blocks high, but the top row was one block shy of a full row. So we added 18+17+16+15+14+13+12+11+9. We have 115 blocks. Wow! I have a feeling that there are a few hiding here and there in places they aren't supposed to be, though. So actually, we probably have a few more than that.
Saturday, October 8, 2016
Slow, Yuck Week; Slow, Wonderful Weekend
Our family has been feeling under the weather this week. It all started Tuesday. My mother-in-law and her sister were supposed to be arriving in the afternoon (just passing through, this time), and of course we started feeling blah right about that time. We still enjoyed their visit, though. And Grandmother came bearing gifts. Lots of gifts! :-) She had brought a 3rd grade workbook that was unused and she had picked it up at the Pound Goodwill where she lives. Son was determined that he was going to use the workbook, and boy, did he ever try! :-) I told him that he may trace the words, but do none of the other activities, because we didn't want it written in once he's old enough to actually get use from it. He also discovered that he loves Word Searches. He spent a LOT of time on Wednesday, completing Word Searches, and tracing words/letters in the 3rd grade book. Everyone wasn't feeling too horrible Wednesday, so we didn't cancel our dinner date at a friend's house that night. Thursday morning, Mother & Aunt left early, early. Apparently there was snow on the road, and they went off the road. They didn't tell us about it until my Man called later to find out if they'd made it in. It took them a couple of hours to get back on the road, and then they had to sit and wait for 4 hours to get past a wreck.
Friday, I felt awful all day long. My Man had left early, early in the morning, to go do a job several hours away. They didn't know if they'd have to spend the night or not. It turned out that they were able to come home, but he didn't get back until 1:00 in the morning. During the day, I had to force myself to get some housework done, but I had the kids help me and that made things go a little quicker. Not much, but some. :-)
Then this morning, since my Man had got home so late, we didn't get up until about 7:30. We spent most of the day slowly getting around to this or that. In the morning, he and the kids left at around 9:15 or so, to go to the restaurant for breakfast. This is something they frequently do on Saturday mornings, but usually he wakes the kids up at about 5:30 or 6:00 to get ready. That's part of the special time - they have to get up really early. :-)
They saw some friends of ours while they were out to eat, and my Man invited them over for supper tonight, since we've been meaning to have them over for a while. They agreed, then my Man & the kids went to a couple 2nd hand stores. That's a fun thing for our family to do. :-) He called to let me know we'd be having company in the evening, and I immediately started thinking about my sister-in-law's delicious version of Zuppa Toscana (Olive Garden soup). I had gotten the recipe from her 2 years before, but this was the first time that I actually got around to trying it out for myself. I planned my small alterations, and went grocery shopping.
After we all sat around at the house for a little while, my Man decided to go to the 2nd hand store around the corner from our house, which is only open on Fridays & Saturdays. The kids had been too tired to go to this one, as part of the Saturday Breakfast Tradition is that they always try to walk down there and back. They'd done a LOT of walking this morning. :-) Well, Sissy & Son ran off with their Daddy, while I was in the middle of reading a Dr. Suess book to Honey. As soon as she realized everyone was gone, she wanted to go too. So she and I moseyed down to the store, where I bought a small cast iron skillet and a container full of wooden blocks to add to the kids' collection. Wooden blocks are a toy that my Man & I both approve of, whereas many toys we don't particularly care for.
I left the kids with my husband, and walked home with the purchases. Then my Man called to tell me that there was a Kirby vacuum cleaner at the adjoining 2nd hand store. Since his family had great success with a Kirby, he wants to buy every Kirby he sees. So I told him that if he wanted to buy it, he could, but I was NOT interested in storing two Kirby's, and I like the vacuum that I currently use. I said that if he bought that Kirby, I thought we ought to promptly get rid of the one sitting in our basement. Surprisingly, he agreed to this. I had expected him to decide that $45 was too much just to switch out storage vacuums. But after talking to the proprietor, he paid $30 and brought home the Kirby.
Then our company came over, and the guys went shooting. I had Son take his shower while I began to prepare supper. We had a good time visiting with our company, and the Zuppa Toscana and whole wheat breadsticks turned out very good. We all ate too much. Although I dished up small portions of peach cobbler for the kids, they didn't eat any. All of us adults didn't even try. We knew we were too full!
So then I bathed the girls, our company left, and I took the kids to bed only 30 minutes late! :-) Everyone is all cleaned up for Church tomorrow, and I feel pleased with our slow-paced, moseying around, relaxing Saturday. For a change! It was really quite nice to take a rest. And yet the day wasn't wasted! I'll wait to wash up our supper dishes until tomorrow... Oh, for a dishwasher...
:-)
Friday, I felt awful all day long. My Man had left early, early in the morning, to go do a job several hours away. They didn't know if they'd have to spend the night or not. It turned out that they were able to come home, but he didn't get back until 1:00 in the morning. During the day, I had to force myself to get some housework done, but I had the kids help me and that made things go a little quicker. Not much, but some. :-)
Then this morning, since my Man had got home so late, we didn't get up until about 7:30. We spent most of the day slowly getting around to this or that. In the morning, he and the kids left at around 9:15 or so, to go to the restaurant for breakfast. This is something they frequently do on Saturday mornings, but usually he wakes the kids up at about 5:30 or 6:00 to get ready. That's part of the special time - they have to get up really early. :-)
They saw some friends of ours while they were out to eat, and my Man invited them over for supper tonight, since we've been meaning to have them over for a while. They agreed, then my Man & the kids went to a couple 2nd hand stores. That's a fun thing for our family to do. :-) He called to let me know we'd be having company in the evening, and I immediately started thinking about my sister-in-law's delicious version of Zuppa Toscana (Olive Garden soup). I had gotten the recipe from her 2 years before, but this was the first time that I actually got around to trying it out for myself. I planned my small alterations, and went grocery shopping.
After we all sat around at the house for a little while, my Man decided to go to the 2nd hand store around the corner from our house, which is only open on Fridays & Saturdays. The kids had been too tired to go to this one, as part of the Saturday Breakfast Tradition is that they always try to walk down there and back. They'd done a LOT of walking this morning. :-) Well, Sissy & Son ran off with their Daddy, while I was in the middle of reading a Dr. Suess book to Honey. As soon as she realized everyone was gone, she wanted to go too. So she and I moseyed down to the store, where I bought a small cast iron skillet and a container full of wooden blocks to add to the kids' collection. Wooden blocks are a toy that my Man & I both approve of, whereas many toys we don't particularly care for.
I left the kids with my husband, and walked home with the purchases. Then my Man called to tell me that there was a Kirby vacuum cleaner at the adjoining 2nd hand store. Since his family had great success with a Kirby, he wants to buy every Kirby he sees. So I told him that if he wanted to buy it, he could, but I was NOT interested in storing two Kirby's, and I like the vacuum that I currently use. I said that if he bought that Kirby, I thought we ought to promptly get rid of the one sitting in our basement. Surprisingly, he agreed to this. I had expected him to decide that $45 was too much just to switch out storage vacuums. But after talking to the proprietor, he paid $30 and brought home the Kirby.
Then our company came over, and the guys went shooting. I had Son take his shower while I began to prepare supper. We had a good time visiting with our company, and the Zuppa Toscana and whole wheat breadsticks turned out very good. We all ate too much. Although I dished up small portions of peach cobbler for the kids, they didn't eat any. All of us adults didn't even try. We knew we were too full!
So then I bathed the girls, our company left, and I took the kids to bed only 30 minutes late! :-) Everyone is all cleaned up for Church tomorrow, and I feel pleased with our slow-paced, moseying around, relaxing Saturday. For a change! It was really quite nice to take a rest. And yet the day wasn't wasted! I'll wait to wash up our supper dishes until tomorrow... Oh, for a dishwasher...
:-)
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