October was a fabulous month for us as far as Halloween and the welcoming of Autumn went. The house was hosed down with spider web and there were pumpkins and skulls on every shelf by the ending of the first week. And, boy, did we pack in the fun!!
Our first official Fall outing was to Sweet Berry Farm. It's a great pumpkin patch (or "punkin catch," as Mr.P affectionately calls it) which had loads of fun things for us to do. We saw a goat in a tree at their little petting zoo, went on a hay rack ride, had some faces painted, ate some of the most delicious homemade frozen treats ever (I went for the pumpkin ice cream while everyone else ate strawberry popsicles), and Camri and my nephew went through a 3 acre maze which took them over an hour. Wow, I know!
The weekdays were filled with things like cookie baking and jello making. We made gingerbread men that were supposed to be dressed with icing to look like mummies. We didn't quite get to the icing part. We'll have to try that again next year. We also made sugar cookie ghosts which I covered with white icing and sprinkled with large sugar crystals. I'm sorry to report that after tasting one, I had to get those out of the house. The neighbors and my nephews enjoyed them though. I just knew they were 5 pounds staring back at me after we finished them, so I gave them the boot. Don't worry, our kids got their share of them also. Did I mention that we made the gooiest caramel apples ever at my brother's house just last weekend? They were creamy and shiny and smooth and just gorgeous brown and sticking wonderfully to the most perfectly ripe, crisp Gala apples. Oh you should have been there, Mom! My mom and I never let a Halloween go by without having a caramel apple made from Kraft caramels. They're our weak spot. Actually, you can forget the apple. It's the caramels that we can't say no to, but they have to be Kraft. And after we cover the apples, we (and don't judge us!) chew on the wax paper to get the caramel off of that too. lol Hmmm...I wonder if she had one this year.
Last Sunday we carved pumpkins at my brother's house. I love the smell of a freshly opened pumpkin. I don't think I've ever missed my dad so much. He can carve a pumpkin from vine picked to a hollow happy face in under 3 minutes...well, maybe not 3, but he's pretty fast. We often tease him about that during this time of the year. We opened and scooped and carved and lit. Camri did me a great favor by becoming absorbed in saving the seeds so in a couple of days we had lots of salty pumpkin seeds to crunch on.
And now for the big day, Halloween, that is. Camri had a half day, so when Vanessa got home from school, we all jumped in the car and headed to Daddy's work. Families of the employees were able to come and trick or treat from desk to desk for a couple of hours in the afternoon. So we all arrived, Mr.P the dark Spiderman, Sabrina the princess, Vanessa the nurse, Camri the anime character, with candy buckets in hand. Keep in mind that this was just a little taste of trick or treating before we got down to business for real in the evening, or so I thought. Well, it turns out that our taste left us with approximately 20 pounds of candy! Can you believe that?! I thought, gosh that looks like a lot of candy so I weighed each bag to see. Each one was either just over or just under 5 pounds. Holy cow, no wonder Mr.P didn't want to hold his during that last lap! My mom found that to be a pretty funny story. The evening trick or treating was pretty normal. Ding dong, knock knock, trick or treat, wow you guys look cute, there you go, thank you! blah blah blah Afterwards we came home and watched Monster House, although I'm not sure how much of it we actually heard with all of the rustling and crunching going on. It was a nice sweet ending to October.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Holiday house
We have this fun little terra cotta holiday house. We break it out for the months that have major holidays. We decorate it with candy which is glued on with canned frosting and all month we pick at it until it's gone, then I rinse it, stick it in the dishwasher and put it away for next time. It's a really cute idea. In this picture you can tell that Mr.P did more tasting than decorating.
The eyes have it
This picture is a little blurry because I couldn't stop laughing while I was taking it. Mr.P is showing some of his Papa's traits with some candy eyeballs.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Aaaand CUT!
There's so much catching up I have to do! I haven't kept up with this for such a long time. I've been pretty busy. I'm just gonna skip to the now and go back and cover some other stuff later.
Okay, about a week and a half ago, Camri and I were talking and she said, "Mommy, would you ever let me get a perm to straighten my hair?" I almost blurted out a nonchalant, "Sure, some time..." But instead, I thought for a second and decided to use this to my advantage (and hers, but she didn't realize it at the time.) Instead I told her, "I'll make you a deal. If you get your hair cut to at least your shoulders, then I'll let you get a straightening perm." I was shocked when she agreed...seriously, I mean shocked. I didn't want to waste any time because I was worried she'd think better of it and change her mind, so I got to work making phone calls, getting advice, and tracking down a hairstylist. Her appointment was set for this past Friday right after school. I think Vanessa and I were more excited than she was while we were waiting for Friday to get here. Finally the day came! As soon as she came through the door and gobbled up an after school snack, we all piled in the car. I asked her if she was nervous or excited and received the usual response, "Not really." Her nose was in a book the entire time, so I'm not even sure she heard the question. We walked into the salon and met Cynthia. **When you read the name Cynthia, be sure to make that sound of angels appearing in your head. I try to imagine her wearing a halo. lol**After a quick wash and dry, locks of hair began to fall gently to the floor one by one. Cynthia (halo sound) snipped and chatted and straightened her little heart out. The entire process took about an hour which was fine with me. When she was finished she asked Camri, "So do you like it?" Camri, who was still reading a book the entire time, looked in the mirror and said, "Uh-huh." And then it was back to the book. She's so expressive!! She loves it though. I think she was just feeling a little like a bug under a magnifying glass with all of us waiting for her reaction. I reassured Cynthia (halo sound) and told her what a great job she did. Then I tipped her some ridiculous amount and we were off. Here are a few pictures of the outcome. Isn't she lovely?
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