Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween from our house of twin goblins....

Boo!

Changing Seasons...

The following is Minnesota in the fall. Last Saturday I picked the last of my roses because the evil meteorologist said the four letter "S" word (that would be snow).

And then this...

Yes people that is SNOW! Cold, blustery and SNOWY...it's gone now but, it will be back.

P.S. I really do love snow but, I'm just not ready for it yet, it's too early. Besides we need it to be warm enough for someone in this house to be able to go trick-or-treating in her pixie fairy costume without a jacket (it doesn't match, oh, the horror!).

11 Years ago today...

"The strongest and sweetest songs yet remain to be sung."
-Walt Whitman

Why I love Halloween...Part I

Jenna is a pixie fairy for Halloween. Now, many of you may be surprised that I, miss-finish-the-costume-the-night-before-Halloween, actually completed her "costume" with so much time to spare. Well, let me assure you that the real me is still here 'cause she needed her costume for her Girl Scout Halloween party last Tuesday...I finished it at around 3:30 in the afternoon...party starts at 6 (I love being me).

Let me move on to the hair piece. When I think of pixie fairy (and I do soooo often) I think of wings, a wand with ribbon and this hair thingy. Last week when the kids were on "vacation" we went to Hobby Lobby...yes, I took both kids and it was ooooodles of fun (if you cannot detect the sarcasim in that please read it again), we then proceeded to pick out the flowers for her hair thingy (I call it that because I have no idea what it is actually called).

Already this is turning into a typical Halloween for me. I always make these costumes into a way bigger deal than they need to be. Hardly anyone sees them and they wear it once, maybe twice and then it's gone forever. I spent hours of my life that, by the way, I will never get back wrapping ribbon around a paper mache ring, gluing flowers (which resulted in numerous hot glue "burns"...prompting my husband to utter this sentence that I'm sure he wishes he could take back "geez honey, you'd think you'd know how to use that thing by now"-if looks could kill....) and let's not forget the glitter (more on that later). Anyhoo, the next morning I proudly show Jenna my "creation" to this response...."that's nice, Mom...thanks". Yup, reeeaaal enthusiastic...great! Okay, let's try it on....not good. It doesn't really sit on her head very well and she walks around the kitchen like when you used to when you would pretend to be a runway model with a stack of books on your head. She then say's the following..."Ummmm, Mom, I don't think this is working maybe we should go to plan B". Yes, she's nine going on 20. My response you ask? well, it was this...

"Jenna, THERE IS NO PLAN B!" We are going to have to make it work, okay?"

Jenna: "Okay, I guess".

Me: "Don't worry I'll figure something out by the time you get home from school".

Jenna: "What?"

Me: "I don't know but, trust me". and she does because well, she doesn't have a choice. So, I end up hot gluing (yes, more "burns") a little comb inside and we fit it over her "bun". I put "bun" in quotations because it barely resembled one. For all of you that have seen how thin her hair is you know that I deserve an award for actually getting her hair to kind of look like a bun.

All was well in the end and she looked adorable for the party. Pretty much everyone at the party was dressed in black (except for the one girl in a red power ranger costume) so, pink Jenna really stood out...she wanted purple and ended up in pink, don't ask.

One more thing regarding the glitter...upon looking at her hair "thingy" and noticing the glitter she made this statement:

"Mom, glitter looks just like the fairy dust that the tooth fairy leaves, really, it does".

Me: "Yeah, fairy dust and glitter are the same thing. When the tooth fairy uses it it becomes fairy dust...I'm sure she just buys it in bulk from Hobby Lobby". Okay, I added that last part for dramatic effect but, you never know she could buy it there.

And for the record I'm really not ready for them not to believe in the tooth fairy.

Fall in the country...

So, by now you've seen a million photos of fall colors well, brace yourself, here's a couple more. There are a lot of reasons why I love living in the country and this time of year is definately one of those reasons. We are surrounded by a cocoon of yellow, orange and red...and there is nothing like the crisp air with that fall smell. I try not to think about when the leaves will all be gone 'cause then I get to see what new "junk" my neighbors are "storing" behind their shed...that's when I so miss my curtain of green leaves.

Fall Traditions...

Every year we go to the "Scarecrow Festival" at a local apple orchard/general store/restaurant/pumpkin patch...busy place. They have tons of different scarecrows and activities for the kids. This week is MEA (MN Education Association for all you non-Minnesotans), which means all the kids in the state are out of school Thursday and Friday. I'm not exactly sure what the teachers do on MEA weekend...I guess they have workshops and lectures for them to go to but, what I really think is it's just a long weekend for the teachers to catch their breath after finding out what hooligans they have in their classes. Anyhoo, this little festival is packed on those two days but, luckily for us my kids also have Wednesday off. There were just enough people so that the kids had other kids to play with but, not so jam packed that you had to wait an hour for a hayride to the pumpkin patch. Lots of fun especially, picking out our first pumpkins of the year.

They have a bunch of these "photo things" and guess which two kids had to have their picture taken in EVERY SINGLE ONE? Luckily for you I'm only sharing one. Think I could get ONE good picture in the haystack? This is as close as I got...thanks guys!

This was my favorite scarecrow...can't you just feel the love?
For the record, Jenna's favorite was the Miley Cyrus Scarcrow and Sam's was Walle...shocking, I know.

This photo needs an explanation...

When you have kids you kind of hope that they might be interested in some of the same things you were into when you were little. Not that it's a big deal or anything but you think it might be kind of cool. For those of you who don't know I started dance class at age four until I was 22...now I'm old and the only "dance" I do is when I have to chase the dog around the house trying to get a pair of socks out of her mouth and she thinks it's ome sort of bizarre game, uuuugggghhhh! Anyhoo...when Jenna was five she went to dance class...let's just say it really wasn't her thing. She did fine but, she thought she just needed to memorize the steps and that was it (with her memory that didn't take long)...she didn't get the practice to improve part. So, we moved on to theatre...she was now amongst her people. It was a good fit for her. However, the drama is not limited to the theatre, she lives and breathes it...there is literally never a dull moment in the life of Miss Jenna.

I shall now explain the pieces of this ensamble (and I use that term loosely). Let me start with the only normal piece, the skirt; which was a gift from Aunt Julie...very cute and a darn shame that it is pared with the rest of this "get up". Then things start to go awry. The "pom pom" on her head (and who doesn't put pom poms on their head?) is from the Giant Day's Parade last summer. The lei is leftover from last weeks homecoming fesitivities, the wrist things are from a halloween costume from a couple of years ago (a princess costume, I believe), the "cape" is actually a skirt from one of my old dance costumes, the top is a cinderella dress-up piece that is NOT BIG ENOUGH FOR HER (did I emphasize that enough?) and last but no least...her pink slippers. One should alway finish an "outfit" with pink slippers, I say!

Life is never dull around here and we like it that way...