BOO!

Carving Pumpkins

Wolf and Alligator before going out

Here they are when they came back because Cooper was tired. Notice the red cheeks. It was chilly out! Good thing they had such warm costumes.

Well, we had a fun Halloween! We spent the afternoon carving pumpkins. Cooper wanted to do a bat on his, and Kestrel wanted a cat with an arched back. We downloaded some templates which made it a lot easier. We also had fun decorating the front of the house with the pumpkins, some lights, a bat and a skeleton. One of the highlights at our front door was this cat, that Grampa bought the kids when he was visiting this weekend. It has a motion detector and hisses or shrieks or sings a goofy song when someone gets near it. The cat would surprise the trick-or-treaters when they got near the door.
This year it was Paul's turn to take the kids out trick-or-treating, and I stayed home to answer the door. After an hour they came back home because Cooper was tired, and then Kestrel and Paul went back out for almost another hour. Cooper and I had a great time answering the door. Cooper loved to hand out candy and wish everyone "Happy Halloween"!

"my room"

Kestrel wanted to participate in the PTA "Reflections" program (where students submit creative works, such as art, literature, music, etc., to be judged). The theme this year is "My Favorite Place" and Kestrel created a painting and a poem, both titled "My Room".

Here are her works! She thinks she is going to win for her painting. It is very good, in my own unbiased opinion. I can't seem to get through to her, though, that winning is not supposed to be the point. However, I'm really rooting for the poem!

I know the pictures are a little hard to see, especially the poem, so I'll re-print it here.

My Room, by Kestrel

My room, my room

I like my room.

My room is very nice.

My room has lots of different things.

The one I sleep in is my bed.

I have a toy box.

I have a dresser.

I have two closets and I have a hermit crab.

My room makes me feel so joyful and happy.

I feel really protected and safe in my room.

My room, my room

I like my room.

a pre-halloween event

I finally finished the wolf costume! Last night I took the kids to the mall for a Halloween Funfest. They were so excited to go, and were talking about it all week. They both were excited about the haunted house that was supposed to be there. Well, we went and they got some candy and played a few games, but all in all it was just too crowded. They decided they didn't want to go to the haunted house once we were there (we ran into Kestrel's friend who went in, and told them it was very scary). They both participated in the costume contest, but that was too crowded as well. We couldn't see anything because there were too many people crowded around the stage, though they did each walk across the stage. The best part of the evening was they they got to eat candy! I couldn't get a great picture of them.. hopefully I'll get some better shots on Halloween.

more pumpkins & parties

Cooper was at a birthday party Saturday at the orchard. Here he is decorating his pumpkin. The other picture is all three pumpkins together: Kestrel's two that she decorated earlier in the week on the ends, and Cooper's in the middle (they asked me to put in a picture of all three together).

Kestrel was at her good friend's party also on Saturday. This friend is turning 8 and just got her ears peirced! So exciting!

bike ride

The kids rode their bikes to Walgreens Friday(about a mile away). They kept stopping and picking dandelions to wish on all the way there. They thought it was so cool to park their bikes at the bike rack while we went inside. I may have tired them out a little too much by the trip, but they still had fun.

Here they are at one of our stops.

pumpkins & hair!

Today was Kestrel's turn to "teach" the craft at Brownies. Last week we decided we'd decorate pumpkins. Kestrel came up with a list of all the items we would need: little pumpkins, constructions paper, glue, glitter glue, markers, and straw for hair. The straw was an awesome idea! I also ended up buying sticky back black felt which worked well for face pieces and other shapes. We decorated one last night to try it out.

So I had 10 pie pumpkins, and had them in my car for the past two days since I bought them. When I got to school this afternoon for Brownies of course there was nowhere close to park, and found the pumpkins were a lot heavier than I expected (I don't know why I didn't expect it)! I felt a little silly trying to drag this box full of pumpkins while all the kids were getting out of school. I could only drag it a few feet and then had to keep stopping. And of course I was running late!

Eventually the pumpkins and I made it, and Kestrel did a great job leading the craft and the other kids all seemed to really enjoy it. It was very cool to see what they each did with the pumpkins. Kestrel was sure to tell the other girls that they were free to use the materials in any way they wanted, and that the decorated pumpkin she brought in was only a "demonstration". Kestrel's pumpkin that she made today with her troop is the last one on the right, the cat. She finished the straw whiskers at home. Yesterday she made a witch (the demonstration).

Cooper got a much needed haircut yesterday. We were at the mall, and I asked him if he'd like to get his hair cut, and before I knew it he was gone. He went right into Mastercuts all by himself and I found him at the counter asking for a haircut! He certainly is not shy. This morning I asked him if he wanted me to spike his hair, which he did, but we got into a little argument because he wanted it spiked all over, not just on the top. I tried to explain that was impossible, because the hair is far to short to spike on the sides and back, but he didn't seem to believe me.

photo shoot

My friend Joanna took these pictures just over a week ago (as well as the two pictures at the top and bottom of this blog). She is starting up as a photographer and wanted a family she could practice on. Aren't they great? She had this big red chair she put out on our front lawn. After some shots in front of the house we took the chair to a cornfield. They loved playing around with the chair and the corn!