Halloween

Halloween is not my favorite holiday. When I was little I had fun with it. I enjoyed dressing up, eating candy, making donuts, drinking cider. Then I grew up. And became a teacher. And began disliking the holiday. Chaos in the classroom. Students on a sugar-high. Big mess. Unending parade through the school, in front of all of the parents. AHHHH!!!

Then I had a baby. And she was fun to dress up. And this year she's been able to do some simple halloween crafts. And I started thinking that maybe halloween wasn't so bad. The night before halloween we decorated pumpkins. DH and I carved ours and our daughter used a Mr. Pumpkinhead kit. Isn't it cute? Doesn't it scream, "Some child created me and likes me?" Definitely not an adult pumpkin, right?

SO WHY SMASH IT????

I don't understand the thinking behind smashing jack-o-lanterns. But when I found that they'd smashed my daughters OBVIOUSLY child-decorated pumpkin I was FURIOUS. Luckily, she wasn't as shook up as I thought she would be. And I was able to salvage the pieces (except for the ears. Why would somebody smash a pumpkin and then steal the ears? I tell you, I'm clueless!). BUT STILL!!! Our neighborhood streets were lined with all of the pumpkins that had been smashed. And I realize that after halloween, the jack-o-lanterns aren't good for very much, but they could at least ASK to smash my pumpkin!

Next year I'll have to begin again to start liking halloween...

Wonderment #2

Why do hunters wear camouflage when they still have to wear a bright orange vest? And aren't deer colorblind anyway?

Moose Sighting

This past weekend we visited my Uncle and Aunt. We'd heard stories of the beautiful area where they live, how moose pass their back fence often, deer graze within view daily, the river is a walk away, the voles digging in the backyard. So we decided to see if the stories were all true (besides which, we wanted to visit). My personal hope was to see a moose. So we went.

And it lived up to all the stories. A picturesque (I love that word!) place. It was completely peaceful. The kiddos had a great time, DH and I had a great time visiting with my aunt and uncle, and we saw not one moose, but FOUR! Two cows walking through the trees, and a mama with her calf as we were taking a walk by the river.

This is our first moose sighting. By the time I got the camera out, they were deep into the trees.

It was a five hour trip to get there and five hours back (it would be shorter without kids:) but well worth the time. The kiddos had so much fun that they were exhausted and slept more than halfway back home.

This is the view from their deck. Who would ever want to leave this place?

Next time I'll be more specific and hope to see a Bull Moose...

What?!?!

Dear Readers, Friends,

My daughter has a favorite color. It's PINK. What?!?!

Love,

Me :)

P.S. I've recently come to the point of liking (and admitting that I like) purple. But my toddler daughter insists on everything being pink. Her halloween bucket - a pink pumpkin. Her shirt everyday - pink. Her hair elastics - pink. She loves her shoes because they're pink. And her boots. And the mittens that are too small for her that she found and insists on wearing - because they're pink. Where did I go wrong? What am I going to do?

Cashew Cake, drizzled with white chocolate (instead of the usual brown), is delicious!

I Won!

I recently went to a Taste of Home Cooking show with my mom and sister-in-law. It was a really good show, with a lot of great recipes demonstrated. There were a bunch of companies that set up booths to look at, trying to get you to buy their wares. And yes, I did buy something. Avon had a booth and had some really great earrings for sale at a really great price. They're larger than I usually wear, but I'm excited to try to wear them.

Well, at the end of the show a lot of local companies had donated items to for a giveaway. And I WON!!! I never win door prizes, so I was pretty ecstatic. Almost as amazing - the emcee pronounced my name CORRECTLY. Strangers never do that. First graders do. Adults don't. It was fantabulous!

A Wonderment

From the story of the Ugly Duckling:

How did the swan egg end up in the middle of a duck's nest? Especially without the Mama Duck knowing it had been added? Wouldn't she have realized that there was an extra egg in her nest? And hadn't she ever seen a baby swan before to know that it wasn't really a duckling?

Recap

I'm a huge blogging slacker! Wow! Here's a quick recap:

We went hiking to some falls that are about an hour away. They were GORGEOUS!!! WOW!!! The hike to the falls was short - less than half a mile. But there was a hike up to a lake, with a stop at the "Upper Falls". We thought we'd made it the upper falls, but we found out (from talking with some hikers on our way back down) that we were half a mile short of the upper falls. It was a good hike. We each carried a kiddo on our back and we ate our picnic on a huge rock and we hiked back down. The hike down was much shorter than the hike up. Crazy how that always happens.

We've been harvesting from our garden. We've eaten tomatoes, zucchini, purple beans (that turn green when you cook them. Kind of a disappointment...), and patty pan squash (I'd never heard of it before, and there's really not a lot of taste {similar to zucchini} but they're really cute! I will definitely plant them again).

We're selling my car :( A friend is helping us out and selling it in Utah. So if you or anyone you know is interested in buying a beautiful, blue, 2005 Volkswagen Passet TDI, let me know. We have one available...

Back to School

School is starting again. I haven't had a first day of school for 4 years. It doesn't seem like it. I feel like it was yesterday when I was setting up my classroom, and writing first-day-of-school lesson plans. As I walk down the back-to-school aisles, I get nostalgic. I really enjoyed teaching. I loved the students and I loved learning from them. Amazing lessons...

Arthur taught me that people live up to the expectations set for them. If you believe in them, they will believe in themselves.

Mary taught me that people can overcome what life throws at them.

Sam taught me that learning is important and that even when it's not fun, it's still important to learn.

Alma and Saul taught me to take the time to learn about the individual - their needs, their abilities, their likes and dislikes.

Brent taught me to accept my limits. And that I'm not accountable for the choices of other people.

Peace taught me to look for the humor in things.

Marcus taught me that kids are still kids. And even little boys sometimes need to cry. And it's okay.

I could go on and on (and I only taught for three years!). Each of my students helped me learn to be a better teacher and a better person. And now...

I have 2 little permanent "students" - or should I say "teachers". And even though I'm not setting up my classroom, or making first-day-of-school lesson plans, I'm still in the thick of teaching. I'm still learning something new every day. And I'm loving it!

*names of students have been changed

County Fair

It was a fun, busy week. Animal shows every day - horse, dog, sheep, goat, pig, beef. Extra entertainment for the last 3 days. Fun to be had for all. DH* (look! I really am getting to be a true blogger.) tried to catch the greased pig. It was incredibly large. He didn't catch it. But he had fun trying! We watched the chicken ropin'. Not really entertaining. I entered the watermelon eating contest. I came in second in the adults. Not bad. I entered a bunch of pictures. Nothing like it for help in the humility department. 7 pictures. 2 ribbons - 1 second place and 1 third place. I entered a couple pieces of jewelry. 1 blue ribbon (thanks, Elizabeth! Something good came of that crazy Super Saturday after all!) and 1 red. Some granola - another red. My daughter got blue for both of her entries (one also got Grand Champion!). Out done by a 2 year old. Chalk up some more help for humility. It was a lot of fun! Entertainment in a small town. Terrific!

*DH = Dear Husband