Leaf Pile!

Simple Pleasures of Fall

Wolf Scout Achievement 5e - Build Something

Alex and fellow Wolf Scout Nicolai met at the local Home Depot to complete another Wolf Badge requirement by building a pirate ship. Den leader Becky had walked them through the uses of several tools at their den meeting last Tuesday. Today was their chance to put it to the test

They did a great job. Aaron got to build one too, with Becky's help. After that we went to the tool section to review what they'd learned at the Den meeting. They must've had a great teacher because they did great. Nicolai and his mom said they'd be back next month. We'll see you there!

The Family That Trick-or-Treats Together...

I got home a little early so we could get out on time for neighborhood trick-or-treating. We paused to capture the family in full costumed regalia. Alex as Mario, Aaron as Yoshi, Becky as a Goth Witch, and me as a Jedi Knight.
Our neighbors really did a great job decorating their homes. Some had spooky lights, some played Halloween music, some were in costume themselves, and some had elaborate set-ups with inflatable Halloween "scupltures" in their yards. Alex and Aaron's costumes were recognized pretty much everywhere we went - someone even gave them extra candy because Mario Bros. was their favorite video game. One lady even walked candy out to the sidewalk where Becky and I were because she was impressed with our costumes. My light saber had a small flashlight bulb in it that wasn't really visible in the daylight, but looked cool when it got dark.
Aaron took on one other mission tonight - he had to pet every puppy he could find. Some of the dogs were even in costume. This was Buster - only 8 weeks old. We got back in time to hand out candy to the stragglers in the neighborhood and then we packed it in and got to bed. What a long but fun day!

Star Wars: Revenge of the Nerds

Ever since about 1977 I've wanted to be a Jedi. 30 years later I got to at least dress up like one. Susan, my mother-in-law, found some McCall's patterns that got her close which she modified to look like the uniform of Jedi Knight Obi-wan Kenobi. She and Becky found the belt and I picked up the light saber for $5 last year. The costume consisted of a dickie worn around the neck (and a plain white T-shirt), a long-sleeved tunic, shoulder armor pieces that hung down in front and back, and an obi (like a cumberbund). The belt was centered over the obi and the hooded cloak went on over it all. I wore some light-colored cargo pants and my brown hiking boots to complete the look. Becky rigged a couple of S-hooks for my light saber on the right and my stethescope on the left so I could work in it. It was a big hit at the office and my patients loved it - some more than others.
Two of my patients are Star Wars fans as well and got wind from my nurse that I would be dressed as a Jedi. They pulled together a Sith Lord and Stormtrooper costume and we had to have a duel in the hallway. I'm sure the video from that battle will never come back to haunt me. I enjoyed this so much, it will be my default costume for a while. It was the coolest costume I've ever worn, and didn't involve zombie make-up.

Dueling School Halloween Parties

As P-3 Grade Parent, Becky was in charge of helping Aaron's class plan and execute holiday parties. The first one was today's Halloween party. She got a lot of help from other parents which helped her divide the classroom up into game, craft, and snack stations. She developed a few fun games for this age group, including tossing "pumpkin" beanbags into a cauldron and bowling over some ghosts built from a toy bowling set. They ended with a long parade through the school showing off their costumes.

She then came over to help with Alex's Primary class party. It has become a tradition for her to set up a "touchy-feely" station where the kids stick their hands into decorated pumpkins that contain an icky item for them to feel and guess what's in there. This year she had them feel Vampire Bat Wing Bones (dry Ramen noodles), Hairy Werewolf Noses (unpeeled lychee nuts), Giant Ogre Ears (cactus leaves, needles removed), Zombie Veins laced with Maggots (cold cooked penne and rotini), and Evil Troll Eyeballs (peeled lychee nuts). Another big hit, but all this success comes with a price. After 4 years, she's running out of things to put in there. We trust her creativity and can't wait until next year.

Halloween Pumpkins 2007

In addition to our efforts at the preschool pumpkin party, we carved a few extra pumpkins to decorate the house. I found this pattern for a one-up mushroom from the kids Mario game. Becky carved it and then tricked it out with some LED lights and a color changing light on the inside.
Alex attempted a Mario face, incuding cutting all the way around the face. It ended up looking like a scary skull, sort of. He was very proud of it. We balanced the face in the pumpkin and lit it up.
I decided to go with a new pirate ship pattern. I messed up and cut the nose of the Jolly Roger skull almost out, but it actually left it floating in the middle of the skull.

Cub Scout Halloween Party

The Boy Scouts held a Halloween party for the Cub Scouts out at Camp Miakonda. This was our first year for this, but it won't be our last. They had one Friday night, but it was rainy, so we came to the daytime one today. The kids got dressed up as Mario and Yoshi - two characters from their favorite videogame, Super Mario Sunshine. Everyone seemed to recognize them, even many of the adults. They went from station to station and played games, got their face painted, or went through a haunted cabin. They even had a haunted fort set up at the back of camp. Aaron sat out of the haunted houses. Each of the stations gave them a treat - one of the stations gave out a banana.
The games were relatively easy and they gave out the same amount of candy whether you won the game or not. The Council lodge had a snack station set up, so we paused for some hot chocolate, root beer floats and a taste of the treats they had gotten so far.
One of the special parts was a haunted forest hay ride where ghouls and goblins jumped out at us. We were warned that they wouldn't actually touch us, so we were asked to please not throw candy at them. It was fun and would've been a lot creepier at night. Becky got this picture of a sweet moment between the boys before we got under way. This party was better organized and more fun than ones we've tried at the zoo, so we'll be back next year.

The Dangers of Halloween Candy

Remember BJ's candy from last night. The boys both chewed (not licked) on a large sucker which further loosened one of Alex's teeth.
He woke up at 6:10 AM(!) and started working on it. He had it pointing straight forward while still attached at one point, but it didn't stay attached for long. This was his 7th lost tooth, but the 2nd that he extracted himself. Their dentist did tell them that if they eat too much candy, their teeth will fall out. He may have been right.

September Blog Entries

I know this feeling won't last long, but I am caught up with the September blogs, including our account of the Race for the Cure at the end of the month. It feels great to be blogging in the current month, but of course I'm behind in October as well. Catch up on all of the September fun here. I've also been trying to keep current with 2 of my other blogs - Remembering Melinda and Jason's 101 in 1001 Project.

BJ's Cemetery

We were minding our own business, when this ghoul wrapped in an old Ace wrap appeared out of nowhere. He made a drooling, hungry noise and scared us out of the house. We drove for miles down to Maumee to seek refuge at my medical assistant's (BJ's) house.
There we found a cemetery full of bones, cobwebs, and creepy sound effects. And a fog machine that Alex quickly took charge of.

She also had a steaming cauldron that was surprisingly cold, probably from the dry ice subliming in the pot. They had a fire pit set up and rubber snakes to scare their mother with. They wrapped the night up with candy that turned our ghouls back into sugar satisfied munchkins and all was right with the world.

Wolf Scout Acheivement 7d - Pick Up Litter In Your Neighborhood

While the weather is behaving, Alex and I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood and pick up trash. This is one of his Wolf badge requirements for Cub Scouts. We noted that there was a lot of recyclable trash, so we kept it separate in two different bags. Alex led the way around the neighborhood and found lots of trash for our bags.
We had to empty the trash bag once in the local Park trash can and then filled it up again. We also found 11 bottles and cans for the recycling bin. We may have to make this a regular outing.

Preschool Pumpkin Party

We gathered again this year for the PreSchool Pumpkin carving party. Aaron colored his pumpkin red and ate lots of snacks.
Alex tried to cut out a "BEWARE!" sign from the back of his pumpkin, but it proved to be very difficult to complete during the party. So instead, he designed a scary face with eyebrows a hacked it out with me holding it in his lap.

Beware indeed!

Primary Community

After the International Dinner at school tonight, we stole down to see how Alex's TV station fit into the entire Primary community set up in the Resource Center. They lined them up on roads in groupings that made sense. I noted after the fact that the TV station should be on the other side of the road.

Aaron the Scribe

We asked Aaron to draw a picture for his oldest cousin's birthday. Instead, he "drew" letters and wrote "To AAron" on his paper. This was the first time that he wrote ANY letters. He has not been practicing them, but he has watched Becky draw them on a blackboard we have in the basement. He seems to watch and learn and then one day just show us his new talents. He started talking a little later than most, but when he took off, it was in complete sentences. He is reading aloud with full sentence inflections. And now he's writing. His Pulitzer is somewhere around the corner.

August Blog Entries

I'm slowly pulled forward in time. August 2007 is up and complete. It was an emotional month, as most of you know. Getting back to our lives has been difficult. We have had responsibilities to work, school, and church to get back to - which has helped. We also geared up for the local Race for the Cure, but as you've noticed, I haven't got the blog post up for that yet. Click here to see what you've missed in August.

Wolf Scout Achievement 8e - Cook an Outdoor Meal

Alex needed to plan and help cook an outdoor meal for his Wolf Scout badge. He wrote out a menu which included hot dogs, fruit, and chips. He got to grill the hot dogs with supervision, which really tickled him.
Since it was his menu, he designed this sundae which included waffles, cookies-n-cream ice cream, assorted candies, and a maraschino cherry on top. Yummy!

Alex's TV Station at Town Meeting

Every week the Lower School kids meet in the Resource Center and talk about what is going on in the school for something they call Town Meeting. This week it really was a town meeting because the Primary students had a chance to talk about their community model projects. Two kids from each of the 3 classes had a chance to get up in front of the entire Lower School and talk about the model they built. Alex got a chance to explain his TV station and it made the school's newsletter blog, from where we stole this picture.

Alex's TV Station

Alex completed a school project tonight for their "Community" unit. He was required to build a model of a building in the community. He pulled "TV Station" and "Furniture Store" out of a hat and wisely chose the former. He was to make it as much as possible out of found materials, spending less than $10 on any purchased supplies. He also needed to be able to talk about why this building was an important part of a community. He could get advice and some assistance from us, but needed to do the majority of the design and work himself. He used a shoebox for the building itself. The door is from a baby wipes package. The antenna is from a model kit and a Lite Brite bulb while the dishes are built from foil, muffin cups, and Legos. When you open the hinged shoebox lid...
...you can get a peak inside the studio. There appears to be an active 5 PM newscast going on.
It is being filmed by these two happy, bald cameramen. The top camera was built from Legos while the bottom one is a painted plastic bottle.
Gel bottle camera is pointed at this newscaster, also happy, as she tells the community about a car that had unfortunately been caught up in a flood.
Lego camera is filming the weather report. This poor, frazzled (also bald) weatherman is trying to make sense of the national forecast. As you can see, it is 40 degrees in Arkansas, 60 in New Mexico, but poor Oklahoma and Texas in the middle are baking. Now all we have to do is get this to the school in one piece. The real forecast is calling for a cool, breezy, light rain.

Another Tooth BITES The Dust (Get it?)

Alex showed me his loose tooth today by pulling it straight forward, parallel with the ground! I strongly urged him to let me pull it, but he refused. I told him it was so loose that he could easily get it himself, and so he did. We're not sure if the Tooth Fairy gives bonuses if you pull it yourself.

Blog Update - Catch Up on July 2007

I feel like I'm getting farther behind, but I've completed July's blog posts. Since I'm keeping them in order there's some you've missed. Don't procrastinate like I did, catch up on them here.

Recipe Summary - October 2007

I want this post to be a link back to previous posts that had recipes in it, so that it will be easy to refer back to. I'll update it as I add new recipes. Please check out our...

Ribs
Paella
Fruit Salad
Jambalaya & Creole Sauce
Fire Roasted Corn
Spatchcocked Chicken
Baked Eggs and Potatoes
Becky's Chili
Black Bean Soup
Lime Guacamole
Shish Tawook

Hottest Apple Butter Fesitval EVER

We try to his the MacQueen's Apple Butter Festival every year, but this year it was blazingly hot. It topped 90 degrees by this afternoon. Thankfully we decided to pick apples first and filled our half-bushel bag with honey crisps, golden delicious, and these red delicious apples nearly the size of their heads.

Then we took them down to the play area for overpriced tickets and inflatable playground equipment. The boys got a little dizzy on the spinning dragon ride but they had a great time. Unfortunately by that time, we were burning up. We bailed and had lunch at a Mexican restaurant.

Even though it was a short trip, we'll be eating apples for a month. Yummy!

Alex's Tiger Cub Badge

Alex completed the requirements for his Tiger Cub badge this summer for Cub Scouts. At the informational meeting tonight for kids and parents about the new school year plan for Cub Scouts here at school, he was formally presented with the badge. He's officially a Wolf Scout and plans to earn his Wolf Badge. He's been studying his Wolf book all summer, eager for the chance to do some fun things. Becky and I found out tonight that since there are not very many kids yet in his pack, we are going to have to be heavily involved with his Den. Becky is contemplating being a Den Leader and I'll help as much as I can behind the scenes. Way to go Alex!

Donuts With Dad 2007

Becky has tried to stay active in the parent association at the boys' school. In addition to being the Grade Parent for Aaron's class, she volunteered to chair this year's "Donuts with Dad" event. We got up early and I took the boys to the preschool gym where we got to have milk and donuts. There was Starbucks coffee and hot chocolate to warm us up.
Before the party even started, Becky and I got up early to fetch the donuts from Kroger's. She had previously placed her order and they had spent all night making 30 dozen attractively decorated donuts - frankly the best looking batch of donuts we had ever seen.
To decorate the gym, the kids were asked to color pictures of their dad. Aaron drew a picture of me in his favorite setting - a playground.

Alex drew this great picture of me. The sad thing is that my artistic talents haven't progressed past this stage - this is about what my own self-portrait would look like. After our sugar rush, the kids went to school and I went on to work. The word around the school was that this was a great success. We enjoyed it. Next year - Muffins with Mom.