Halloween

We went trick or treating with some friends in their neighborhood. There were seven children: an almost 6-year-old Anakin Skywalker, a 5 1/2-year-old race car driver, my 3-year-old Pancho Villa, an almost 3-year-old Darth Vadar (complete with a bow on her helmet), a 2 year-old octopus, an almost 2-year-old cat, and my 1-year-old frog. They were adorable! Darth Vadar and the race car driver LOVE the frog. The frog only wanted to be held by Mama (a mouse).

It was Pancho Villa's first experience trick or treating. (He's only gone trunk or treating, and there is a big difference when you are ringing doorbells and asking strangers, "Trick or treat?") You'll notice in the pictures that the sombrero made Pancho Villa a very wide load. If he was at the door, no other children were there, and if he was walking up the stairs, he walked up alone.

We also tried to emphasize safety: hold hands, make sure cars see you, no eating candy until Mama and Papi have checked it, have fun.

Darth Vadar (you can see her bow in this picture), the octopus, and Pancho did a great job holding hands. And then, when Pancho's sombrero fell off—which it often did—the octopus was sweet enough to help put it back on.

Here I am walking with the two boys. That's right: no sidewalks (or relatively few).

In the end, Pancho Villa, the cat, and the octopus trick or treated the longest. And they would have kept going but the frog was ready to go to sleep. We went back to our friends', ate delicious cinnamon rolls and chocolate cupcakes, and drank wonderful cider. What a wonderful time with friends.

My only complaint about the evening were the few houses who had decorated their homes, lit their pumpkins, left their porch light on, and left a light on in the house, but didn't answer the door (or weren't prepared for trick or treaters—the "Oh, I'm having a party" lady who eventually came through with some candy comes to mind). I don't expect anyone to participate who doesn't want to, but if you don't want to, turn off your light.

Happy 1st Birthday

Today was our youngest's birthday. I am amazed at how quickly a year goes by. We started off the morning with birthday presents. He thought they were really fun (wrapping paper and boxes—what gets better than that??) and loved that his older brother was sharing with him.


I had been brainstorming for weeks over what kind of birthday cake to make. I thought of making individual alphabet blocks or a frog or something like that, but was wisely vetoed by my husband. The oldest ended up helping me pick the pattern and the coloring (as well as they cake flavor): a black and white puppy made from French vanilla cake with a layer of fresh, sliced strawberries and white chocolate buttercream frosting. It turned out pretty cute, although some people joked that the puppy's collar looked like the stub of a neck.

The youngest thought it was pretty neat too. And he loved the little piece that he ate. (We learned from our oldest who spent the night after his first birthday throwing up because he ate more frosting than cake. The youngest got only the smallest amount of frosting and a smaller piece than his older brother had.) My husband manned the camera and forgot to get pictures of the youngest eating the cake, but there was comparatively little mess.

Dulces, dinero, o castigo

The ward's annual fall festival and trunk or treat party was last night. It was quite the event. We joined with another ward and had potluck chili and desserts (with rolls, chips, and beverages provided by our activitites committee), games (two bean bag tosses, one "pumpkin" toss, and a cookie walk), a craft (decorate a treat bag), and face painting. Since I'm on the activities committee, I was pretty busy, and since there were two wards, I was even busier with it than usual. The youngest was a champ sitting in a backpack for the first part of the evening, and his older brother was great too. (They both helped set up the games, craft, and face painting.)

The oldest dressed up as "Pancho Villa."

The youngest didn't dress up until right before the trunk or treating (he was in a backpack for a good while, remember). He was a frog (no picture yet; I'll post one as soon as I get one). He especially liked his webbed fingers. The oldest started off a little nervous of trick or treating. He did it with his dad last year while I was in the hospital with the youngest, but he didn't remember. He would almost whisper "trick or treat" from as far away from the car as possible and hold out his paper treat bag in a way that made it very difficult to get the candy inside the bag (especially as it got more and more full). He then whispered, "thank you." He was very excited about getting candy and, when offered the choice, picked lollypops.

The Pumpkin Patch

For the past five years, every fall that we've been in the area, we have gone with our good friends to the pumpkin patch to ride behind the tractor, play on an old tractor, greet real live animals, take pictures among the pumpkins, and eat a picnic lunch. (The only year we missed we were living in Spain.) This week was the annual visit, but it also coincided with the deadline to get job applications out, so my husband wasn't able to attend. Instead the boys and I braved traffic and went to the pumpkin patch. We didn't get as many good pictures (because I was having to help with set up, photography, discipline, and emotional breakdowns) but here are some of the pictures I liked.

I tried to get a good picture of the boys together—I've been trying for weeks to get a picture of the two boys together with both boys looking at the camera and seeming content—but, as you can see, it didn't happen.

Thanks, Amber, for helping out with this one. (If you look close enough you can see my head peaking out behind the youngest's head.)

The oldest LOVED the tractor. He thought it was the neatest thing and would have been content riding it all afternoon. The youngest, on the otherhand, had something against the hay-filled trailor. He didn't mind the noisy tractor, but started screaming the moment I would get near the trailor. Our great friends offered to take the oldest on a final tractor ride while the youngest and I watched. Here they are ready to go.

This was, hopefully, the last year for all of us to be at this particular pumpkin patch. Hopefully next year we will have tenure-track jobs somewhere near each other.

Camping Adventure

For the first time in the five plus years we've lived in the South, we decided to take advantage of Fall Break to do something that wasn't homework. A few months ago, we read in the Ensign an article that talked about how even though it is hard and not always the best bang for your buck, family camping trips were valuable. Now, I had grown up camping . . . a lot, and I've been talking about going on a family camping trip since my husband and I were married. So the article convinced him to give it a try. Now he (rightly) said, "The boys are a little young," but we decided to go anyway. [Husband: Correction, I said something like, "They're way too young."] So we picked a spot reasonably close to home and set everything up. Thursday afternoon, we were off.

The first part of the adventure was packing the car and deciding what didn't need to come. In the end we brought one foam mattress (instead of two) and two pillows (instead of three). (More on that part of the adventure later.) The car was PACKED and even more packed when we borrowed another child backpack from a friend. Then we drove. It was nice to get away from the crazy city and drive through apple country. When we were finally driving into the mountains, we got stuck behind a school bus on its after-school route. 24 children later, we were on our way.


We got to Fort Mountain State Park in Georgia and began setting up camp. My husband started getting the coals lit for dinner, and I strapped the youngest into the borrowed backpack, grabbed the three-year-old, and started setting up the tent and pack 'n play.

I was done before the coals were, so I took a few pictures of the boys on their first camping experience.




Then my husband started playing with the boys while I got dinner together (hobo dinners). They went on a walk to the lake and climbed rocks. All three boys were enjoying having some sort of yard to play in.


The boys had a hard time falling asleep. The youngest fussed and fussed, but finally fell asleep. The oldest had both a Nomis and an Ymme (pronounced Ima) story and still couldn't fall asleep. When my husband finally came to bed, we cuddled on our single pillow and foam mattress and listened to every sound, waiting for the black bears (that we had been warned by the rangers were especially active in October) to show up at our camp. In the end, we kept listening to acorns and leaves falling until finally we dozed. But since we were not in our own home, the youngest woke up to nurse four times and the oldest woke up on his own and was scared. He ended up getting another story and mama cuddling with him (until she got too cold outside of her sleeping bag and pulled him next to my bed so he could fall asleep [and stay asleep] on my arm). When we woke up it was raining, so we headed to the picnic area where they had a pavilion where my husband cooked breakfast and I started feeling nauseated because I didn't get enough sleep. The youngest fussed in the backpack (like a mama's boy) because he wanted mama.

After breakfast, we packed up camp (with my husband doing most of the work [I still feel guilty for getting sick on our first camping trip]) and then, since I was finally feeling better, we decided to go ahead and hike to the stone wall. As you can see from the pictures, it was pretty foggy, so we didn't get to see the splendid view, but it was a nice hike.




This last picture is the oldest boy and my husband at the stone tower. We found it first, then we found the overlook, which for us overlooked fog. We never did find the stone wall. But we decided that was okay. The rain was still coming down and we had to hike back to the car.

Every time I do things like this, I remember how much I like it. I like hiking in the mountains; I like camping and seeing nature; I like spending time away from it all. (Singing: "I love the mountains; I love the rolling hills; I love the fountains; I love the daffodils; I love the fireside; when all the lights are low; boom-dee-ada, boom-dee-ada, boom-dee-ada, boom-dee-ah.")

After we were done hiking, we climbed back into the car and drove to Chatsworth, Georgia, where we ate lunch and let the oldest get some exercise before the next leg of our journey. He played hard and had fun.

Driving home, we stopped at New Echota State Historical Site. In the early 1800s it became the capital for the Cherokee Nation. It was from there that Georgia State and the Federal government rounded up the Cherokee and forced them on the trek to Oklahoma. It was nice to be reminded of the history (and to learn some of it). I do think that it is a sad moment in our nation's history, especially since Georgia and the federal government were acting against the law—the Supreme Court had ruled in favor of the Cherokee.

The boys again had a ball running around as if the whole world was their yard.

Driving home, we got caught in traffic, but it was great fun. [Husband: BS] Everyday since then, the oldest has asked at least once, "Mama, can we go camping again?" or "Are we going camping?" And my husband and I mediated our concerns—the boys are young and have to be constantly watched, but if we get them used to camping, they won't wake up as many times during the night and will enjoy it all the more as we keep going. That's right, we will go camping again, maybe not until Spring Break, but again before we move.

Hensen and Us

Thanks to the Smithsonian Museum day, the boys and I went to the Puppet Center downtown to see their musuem. The Jim Hensen Foundation has offered them the great opportunity of displaying Hensen's Muppets in their museum for a long-term exhibit. So we went to look at Big Bird, some Fraggles, some puppets from Labarynth, Rowlf, Kermit, and others. (In the main museum, they have a Skeksis from Dark Crystal.) Kermit and Big Bird sang to us, and Hensen explained a number of tricks he used in his puppeteering. All in all it was great fun.

Here's the group of us that the entrance to the main museum--inside the door is a garbage can that turns into a bird when you push a button. It frightened our oldest pretty badly. But after coaxing him through that and the second room, he had a ball with a show of Super Kangaroo and manipulating his own baby bird (only two controls; I got to help him with the Shape Shifter's head which required four controls to manipulated the 6 mechanical parts).

I tried to get a picture of both boys, but the oldest dropped his brother right as I pushed the button and the picture flashed right as I was reaching to grab the youngest after he fell off his brother's lap on the shoe. Not much of a picture.

The Sandman

Yesterday I let the littlest guy play in the sandbox with his brother for the first time. (Now I was willing to let him play earlier, but he just wasn't interested.) He thought it was great! He only tasted the sand once and didn't like it, but he thought that sweeping it around with his hands was so much fun.

His older brother was very patient with the little guy. He didn't throw sand or dump it outside of the sandbox. He shared his sand toys and was excited that his brother liked the sandbox too. (Of course, that attitude didn't last all day. Eventually he wanted his toys back and was done sharing.) The littlest fussed when I decided that it was enough, and his diaper was filled with sand. He got a quick rinse in the bathroom sink and then went down for a nap.