Saturday, October 31, 2009

Halloweening

Marie was a very enthusiastic pumpkin carver. She kept reassuring the pumpkin that he would be okay; we were just giving him "a new head." I decided it was all about the experience and not the final product so we did not get any fancy templatesl rather we just free-sketched. Needless to say, there are no shots of the final product. But it was fun indeed.
Ty, warming up for the big night. He loves wearing his costume. He was quite layered. He had on a onesie, shirt and two pairs of pants under the costume and a hat and gloves to boot. He did just about 5 houses so we weren't too worried about his catching cold.

Both of them BEFORE trick or treating. Marie has 3 shirts on under the turtleneck, tights, leggins and pants under the skirt. (This is merely to reassure the older generation that they were dressed warmly enough.) Marie was pretty excited beforehand but remarkably cool during the actual T n T. She kept negotiating with me on the gloves. For a while she had one on and one off. It wasn't until all her friends had their gloves on that I sealed the deal on glove usage. She also kept telling me that her friends were really loud. Marie really enjoyed herself and walked quite a few blocks. The only time she was hesitant was at a REALLY scary house and that was fine with me. We were downtown in an area of homes that are on smaller lots, many of them are 100+ years old. The residents took great pride in decking out their homes. Front yards were littered with graves, one home erected a dance floor out front with a dancing skeleton, fog machines spooked up the night. I enjoyed it and was glad that I live in a sub that didn't draw this much attention.


Ty's first shot. The only confusion was trying to explain that you only get ONE piece of candy from the giant bowl that was offered. I can see why that would be confusing to him; there is so much candy, why not take a handful? Poor Ty; his basket has already been robbed off all chocolate and left with candy Momma does not care for.



Marie and Friends
A little Pumpkin Work




Monday, October 26, 2009

Best Use of Pampered Chef Product Ever

Sunday Night, lesson planning, not wanting to make a big meal...and we are out of popcorn so there goes my back-up of Movie Night with popcorn and apples. Hhhmmmmm.... Enter Pampered Chef Product. This is a tray with an insert that you can stick in the freezer. One side of the insert is flat and the other side has little holes to hold deviled eggs. It is intended for when you are bringing a tray of fruit or veggies or eggs to a summer picnic. But we have found a higher calling for the Divided Tray. We used the flat side insert and then placed the plastic divider on top. And, voila, magic snack tray for dinner-and-a-movie! We loaded this with grapes, apples, sugar snap pea chips and one corn dog for each kiddo. They each had their side so no squabbling over who gets the last grape. Perfect-O dinner!!!


Who knew Jim's lap held so much? Two kiddos and dinner. Wonder if the people at Pampered Chef had this in mind when they made this product?
Oh, and the movie of choice? "A Year Without a Santa Claus." Marie's pick.


Thursday, October 22, 2009

We've Been Boo'ed from Georgia!

We are lucky to have such great "China Sisters." If you read our blog, you saw our trip in June to see our special group in Tennessee. (Aaaahhhh....I am sooo ready for a rocker on that porch! And a massage chair!) Well, we now have an annual tradition of our Boo Box. The Boo Box arrives on your porch some autumn day as a surprise treat. And, yesterday, we got Boo'ed.



The dynamic duo received the special box yesterday but Momma had Parent-teacher conferences so we delayed the opening till today. Besides, yesterday Ty was not in the best health. But...here they are today eagerly awaiting the opening of "The Boo Box!"
Marie is indeed reading her and Ty's names on the address (Thank you, Rossette for including Ty!) Ty is hanging out, knowing that something is up but no clue what it is...



Marie learns who sent her this box o' joy...her Atlanta bud, Annalee. Then, they dove into the box and started discovering all the treats!!!!

Ty can't figure out what exactly is candy and what isn't so he decides to taste-test each item. No kidding...by the way the dinosaur is NOT candy. But, you gotta try!!!


Marie tries on the hat. ARRGGH - her hair is in her eyes!!! That one wisp I cannot tame!!!




The dynamic duo are L-O-V-I-N-G their treats!!! Thank you soo much! We have stamped, colored, enjoyed M & M's, eaten the ring candy and my fave is that Marie took her nap with her little Jack o'Lantern Lamp on the ENTIRE time. She was truly thrilled!!!
(Well, Tarita, do not tell Shoshannah but in the next week she will be Boo'ed!!! Hope she has as much fun as we did!)



Sunday, October 18, 2009

Prepping for the Big Night

Ty LOVES his Halloween costume; to the point that he drags it around the house with him. So today we let him give it a spin. You can see he is quite comfy being Pumpkin Boy.


Friday, October 16, 2009

Work and Play

The kids are in a definate music kick. Ty will sway at just about any tune; I have seen him start to shake it to a jingle on the radio. Marie is very very into the marching band right now (must be football season). So the other evening we had them rocking out to the Michigan Marching Band blasting from my I-Pod. This evolved into a full dance party to Flock of Seagulls. Oh yes, it was 80's night in the Whall kitchen.




I don't know what exactly happens in Marie's classroom while she is there in the mornings but they taught her to love cleaning. I have to watch her to make sure she doesn't "clean" the dark walls. She will wrestle us for the broom, sneak off with the Swifter and loves a container of soapy water and a rag. This is obiously not a result of her home environment. Thank you, Ms. Julie!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Ty's Secret Stash

The very mobile toddler likes to empty drawers, shut himself into the bathroom and laundry room and chase his sister. But when that ain't happening, his favorite thing to do is to drag around his secret stash.


Let's peek, shall we? What's he got in that IKEA barn anyways??? The lid to a shaving cream bottle, a plastic hammer, a letter magnet and letter chains, one retro-Little People person and some farm animals.

And soon, the remote!
THAT'S WHERE IT WENT!!!


Off to walk laps with his stash!




Sunday, October 11, 2009

Belated Bubbles Beauts

We take our bubbles very, very seriously. No clothing to distract with it's dampness, fan to supplement bubble production.

Final Product

Chief Bubble Production Engineer Pleased with Results


Far reaching
(Yes, these are old. The high today was 45 and has been unseasonably icky for a while. We are a little lax on the dress code around here but we do insist on clothing when it is near freezing. But, hey, I have been really busy. )



Friday, October 09, 2009

Apocryphal Moment

Marie was "reading" to me last night from her children's Bible. One page showed the manger scene which she described as Jesus's momma and Jesus and Santa and some deer that got lost in the woods!?!? Gotta work on some catechism...

The best was when she told me that Jesus died for us...cause he's Awesome....like Daddy's Awesome...and he prays for all the people in his Kingdom.

Evidently Jim is doing a good job!