Some Spooky Pumpkins

This year we tackled 3 Pumpkin Master designs and one by Alex. This one was a mummy that Becky carved onto a small white pumpkin. She cut the bottom off of this one to fit it over a candle on a plate instead of trying to stick it in and light it through the top.

This is the pirate skull I downloaded from the PM website and carved. The trick with detailed pieces like this one is to start with the smallest pieces first (the teeth), then work from the middle to the edges. If you cut away the jawbones first, the "mouth" would be too unstable to stand up to repeated sawing as you tried to carve out the teeth.

Alex designed this ghost and Becky carved it. It gives you the illusion that the ghost outline goes all the way around it, but Becky tapered the ends of that outline cut and left it "floating" in the middle of the pumpkin.

Becky was a machine this year, cranking out this Monster Mash also. Note all the detail work including the outlines between the monsters and the six eyes that have floating pupils. We've been doing these for something like 17 years now and it never get old. We used our new camera on a tripod, no flash, on a 2 second timer to get these shots.

Visiting the Witch's Cemetery

The kids go to go trick or treating a couple of nights early when we took them to the house of one of my coworkers. She dressed up like a witch and had the front yard decked out as a spooky cemetery. She pulled flash paper out of her sleeve and ignited fireballs for the boys. She gave them goody bags and let them turn on the fog machine in the cemetery.

The kids were having a lot of fun and the party migrated to the back yard where they got to see an enormous old sanpping turtle shell she had found. They played a spirited game of "Whack the Pumpkin Off the Swing".

We then went into the music room to let the kids whack on her drum set for a few minutes. The kids had a blast and got to enjoy a bit of the holiday early. IT reminded me of a coworker of my father's who dressed like a witch on Halloween. We'd often make a special trip to her house to show off our costumes and get special treats. I hope they had as much fun.

Mara's Halloween Party 2006

Alex was invited again this year to a large Halloween party made up mostly of kids from his school thrown by the family of one of his classmates. He got to enjoy spooky treats, scary decorations (Lookout Alex! There's a werewolf behind you!)

They played games including a pinata whacking and limbo. Alex took his car costume off for this, but couldn't top his championship performance from last year.

Alex's Buggy Demitasse Cup

Alex made this at school - hard to see here but it has bugs etched into the clay and the handle is in the shape of a centipede.

International DInner 2006

Tonight was out second International Dinner at school. The dinner is meant to highlight the many cultures that are represented in our student population. We come from all over the planet and have the chance to get a glimpse of each others' worlds, culture, and of course food. While we were waiting for the potluck meal to begin, Alex completed a map of the planet and won a book about Peace on Earth.

Dinner was interesting - the kids ate mostly American kid foods like hot dogs and food that we brought for Aaron. Becky has always had a deeper palate than I but I did try some new foods - though I passed on the haggis. Mostly I dined on Becky's Chili which was a hit for the 2nd year in a row. After dinner we enjoyed the Talent Show. The most memorable moments included a recitation of Ode to a Haggis by a Scottish parent, a traditional Indian dance by about 12 students, and a participatory polka in which Alex first encouraged Aaron onto the floor and then joined his music teacher to finish out the dance. This is something we'll try to do every year - maybe we'll even get the kids to try the food - someday.

Fixing With Daddy and Off-Roading With Mommy

Aaron and I went to his Saturday class today. He spent a lot of time with the shapes puzzles and the tool table. In his mind he was rescuing the shapes from a volcano and repairing important equipment. He was hard to channel toward other things, but I got him to explore the room a little. He participated in the Farmer in the Dell game during circle time and listened to the animal sounds story, calling out when he knew which animal was making the next sound. He finished the morning with a pumpkin spice donut hole. When we came out, he said, "We had a great day!"

Alex and Becky took this opportunity to go on a date. I get one on one time with him if he goes to the office with me on the weekends and Becky gets to go solo with Aaron every day that Alex is in school. She seldom gets time with just her and Alex and she wanted to reconnect with him. They chose Chuck E. Cheese for their date - food and entertainment. They ate pizza, played a lot of skeeball and air hockey, and even rode in a monster truck - OK, just Alex. They had a good time and it reinforced for us our desire to have one on one time with each kid.

Flu Shot Day

I got a flu shot last week at the office but today it was the rest of the family's turn. It went surprisingly well except for 2 things. First, the fire alarm went off right as we were about to start. It was a false alarm thankfully. Second, Aaron tensed up during his shot in the thigh which apparently squeezed out a surprise from his diaper onto my pants. Lovely. We didn't take a picture. Sorry if you're disappointed. :)

School Pumpkin Carving Party

Tonight we all met at Alex's school for a pumpkin carving party, set up by our friend Martha. Becky cleaned a small pumpkin and she and Alex decorated it with paint and a scary hand carving.

The white coating is baby powder that filled in the little holes that Alex poked through a template taped to the pumpkin. These came from Pumpkin Masters and we've been doing these for 15 years.

These are some creative designs from some of the other students. It looks like this party might be a tradition.

Mulching Up The School

Today we joined several families from Alex's school to mulch the area underneath several new ropes course elements scattered throughout the Maumee Valley 72 acre campus. We brought our wheelbarrow, shovel and several rakes to help move piles of mulch to spread underneath the elements. I was mostly on wheelbarrow-filling duty and Becky served double duty as a mulch spreader and a kiddo wrangler. Alex helped spread the mulch and fetched donuts from the snack table for him and his brother. Aaron basically threw mulch and ate said donuts.

When we got home Becky and Alex still had enough energy to plant a few Dutch allium bulbs which we should get to see in the late Spring. I'm really sore and moving very slowly. A long spiky thorn plant stabbed my hand and its starting to swell. Hopefully just an icepack and some Aleve will settle it down.

Aaron's Heart Checkup - 2006

Today Aaron went in for his semi-annual heart check-up. When he was born, his doctor heard a heart murmur and sent him for an echocardiogram. At that time he had a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) and a patent foramen ovale (PFO) - both remnants of fetal circulation that should have closed off when he was born. The PDA was causing the murmur that we could hear. We fretted about it, because it occasionally takes a surgical procedure to close it up. As we found out 2 weeks later, his closed off on its own. The PFO closed later on its own also.

Unfortunately, we found out that he had a another problem. His aortic valve was divided into 2 leaflets instead of the usual 3. This bicuspid valve isn't causing him ANY problems now - we can't slow him down sometimes. As he gets older, the valve may leak or become stenotic, where it won't open all the way. So far, so good as today's echocardiogram showed us.

He did really well with some comforting words from Mama, some treats, Toy Story on a TV during the echocardiogram and LIttle Einsteins on Daddy's iPod during the EKG. He really didn't like the stickers for the EKG leads when they came off, but was a trooper for the whole experience. He doesn't have to come back for 2 years.

Jesus Christ Superstar

Becky and I went to the Stranahan Theater to see Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber today. It featured Ted Neeley as Jesus - a role he portrayed in the movie 33 years ago. This was Becky's first time to see it and we both thought it was really good. The only major problem was that Ted Neeley is 63 years old now. His voice - while way better than mine - is starting to crack. He looks like the middle-aged man he is, but he's portraying a man in his 30's, so it took you out of the production a bit. The actor that played Judas, Corey Glover - the lead singer for Living Colour, is almost 42 and was cracking a bit also. They both gave very emotional performances, however. We want to rent the DVD of the 1973 movie now to see Ted in his prime.

We weren't quite ready to pick up the kids just yet, so we chilled out for a few more minutes with a venti (large) chai frappicino (Becky) and a tall (small - go figure) double chocolate chip toffee nut frappicino (me - whew!) from Starbuck's. OUt next show in the Broadway series isn't until March 2007. This will have to tide us over.

Apple Butter Festival 2006

Once again we hauled everyone to the MacQueen's Orchard Apple Butter Festival. This year we got to pick some VERY large, juicy, and of course fresh Golden Delicious apples - our favorites. We always look for large ones that have just a hint of pink "blush" in the skins which makes them just a little sweeter. This year we lucked out.

They had these large crates in the aisles of the tree rows that they use to place the apples into for hauling. This one was tilted on its side and the boys wanted up on it. We got several pictures, but we love the natural happy smiles in this shot.

Alex has recently discovered the air guitar - or as he calls it, his "invisible guitar". This bad was called Bandera and they were pretty good. Alex, by the way, also plays a mean invisible bassoon. Seriously.

We made it back home with our haul - a half bushel of crisp apples. The challenge will be to eat them before they go bad. Becky already has plans for caramel apples and I may make a pie. My applesauce hasn't been very popular in years past, so I may take a break from it this year.

Harvest Days at "School"

Today was Aaron's first day of school. Sort of. Maumee Valley offers a 2-year-old class on each Saturday this month. Kind of a pre-pre-school. Becky went in with him and spent 90 minutes exploring the room, participating in group activities, and making lots of yellow salt dough balls. He was a bit apprehensive, but seemed to like it over all. She has a hedgehog and big lop-eared black bunny that enjoyed seeing - from a distance.

Home Depot Firetruck Bank

Today Alex and I went to Home Depot for their monthly craft day. We've been doing this for year with him and he continues to improve. He and Aaron are watching a new show on the Disney Channel called "Handy Manny" which is about a repairman with tools that talk. It's got them more interested in tools than "Bob the Builder".

He used those tools to build a firetruck similar to one he made before, but this one has a bank built in to the top. They even gave him his first coin - a penny! - to start it off right. They also had a deputy sherrif there to talk about safety and fingerprint Alex for our records. Notice the pins on Alex's apron - one for every craft.

Mrs. Potato Head Pumpkin Witch

Book Fair 2006

Today was the Maumee Valley Book Fair sponsored by Scholastic, inc. Becky volunteered by helping kids find books and figure out how much they could buy with their money. She said this was the best book fair in the last 3 years.


Alex really got sucked into James and the Giant Peach. He bought it and started reading it there. He got through chapter 12 tonight at home and I went into his room about 5 minutes after tucking him in and had to confiscate it so he'd go back to bed. :)


He sat with his friend Will and they read the latest Captain Underpants book.