Halloween Fun

Well, we are full swing in the Halloween season! Although Kara hasn't worn her costume yet, John's made use of his several times over already. We tried to get to the Halloween event at the Udvar-Hazy Museum last weekend, but that just didn't work out. So, on Sunday we went to another Halloween party at a playground in our neighborhood. It was a lot of fun for the kids - games, prizes, cookies, and even a good storytelling time. John had a blast. Kara's nap made her miss most of the party, but Matt brought her over for the end and she was able to enjoy some fun too. Then we took a brief break for a couple of days...until yesterday when I took the kids to the arts and crafts store and we picked up some reduced price Halloween crafts. We also carved John's pumpkin last night while Kara used some glow-in-the-dark paint to decorate hers. It was a fun evening. We also got a wonderfully stuffed package yesterday from Matt's sister filled with even more Halloween fun for us all. Tomorrow it will finally be Halloween and Matt has taken the day off to spend with us. John's class will have a costume parade, there will be a neighborhood parade after school, and then on to the trick-or-treating. So much going on! We still haven't watched Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin - maybe we'll get to squeeze that in tonight. Happy Haunting Everyone!

Booking it together

My 2 kids are at the dining table as I write this and they are each working diligently - Kara in her Seasame Street coloring book and John in his writing/counting workbook. He's reading just fine already, but the writing skills are definitely in need of some practice. And I have had trouble getting him motivated to work on the workbook, but this seems to be working...for now. Both kids are content and I get a chance to type a bit on the blog - great for all parties! Now that we have the laptop my blogging can become more flexible and I can do it here at the table with the kids. I love getting them engaged in activities where I can start them off, they can take off with their creative sides for a bit on their own (but I'm always available for assistance), and then I can help finish up and clean up. It gives them a sense of accomplishment in their projects and they can (mostly) do them without the sibling fighting that seems to be growing in intensity around here lately. Any time I can go for 10 minutes or more without listening to anyone scream, cry, yell, or whine, I figure it's a success! ;-)

Rainy Day

It's raining here today. Off and on all day, mostly sprinkles, with a bit of wind. What a dreary day! After having a very low-key morning around the house, Kara is now napping, Matt's at the gym, while John watches some original episodes of Scooby Doo (Thanks to Grandpa Rankin for that - the kids love it!), and I'm doing some playing around on our new laptop. It's pretty cute to watch John get so excited about watching the Scooby Doo shows, which are clearly made in the era when I was a kid. It's funny to see how old the animation looks by today's standards. But at not quite 5 years old, John of course doesn't care about that. He just loves singing the theme song and watching what crazy antics Scooby and the gang find themselves in. Some things truly are classics.

Anyway, later this afternoon we're planning to head over to the Udvar-Hazy Museum (a branch of the National Air & Space Museum) for some Halloween fun. They've got an event they're calling "Air and Scare" which just sounds fabulous. I'll have to write about it again later, but for $10 per car you get in and everything inside is free. Lots of activity stations for the kids, pictures to be taken with the Star Wars characters, flight simulators, face painting, and an IMAX showing of the Jetsons! We're planning to meet up with some of our neighbors over there then all go out for yummy pizza (at Generous George's - YUMMM!!!) afterwards. I'm so looking forward to some good seasonal family fun. I just hope the kids all survive the event!!

By the way, for those that don't know, Kara's going to be a bumble bee and John will be Thomas the Tank Engine (for the 3rd year in a row!). Should be some cute pictures in the making! I'll post some soon!!

My 'Hood

I want to give a big shout out to my neighborhood moms. Lately I have been feeling a little overwhelmed and very hectic on most days. But one of my primary times of relief is the late afternoon outdoor adventures we have almost every day. After we pick John up at preschool at about 3:00, we come home, have a quick snack, and then are back outside to find some friends and play. Sometimes we end up at the playground, sometimes at a neighbor's house, sometimes at just random places along the way and we pretty much always have fun. The kids have so many good friends in the neighborhood who play very well together. And the moms are fantastic too, which is a big help to me. I find myself looking forward to our afternoon visits almost as much as the kids. There's a good group of moms that all get along well and have fun together. I always feel better after I have a good vent session or can remind myself that I'm not the only one who is frustrated with the whining or can't figure out how to handle sibling battles or whatever the issue of the day/week has been. As a stay-at-home mom it's easy to feel very isolated and alone. At the playground, I'm reminded that I'm very much not alone.

Today, for example, I almost didn't go out after school. We were having a quick visit with Matt after he'd been gone for a day on a work trip (to Vegas, no less, ahem...), and it was almost 5:00. I was just starting to think that maybe it'd be easier to just stay indoors today. But then some friends came by and knocked on our door to see if we could play. That just made my day and the kids were thrilled to see their friends. John was so quick to get shoes on and get out the door. We were only out for an hour, but ended up seeing another family of friends too and had a great time. It was good for us all and my mood was much improved afterwards. It helps me gear up mentally to make the push to get through dinner and bedtime if I've had some time with friends late in the day. I only hope that we provide a similar reaction for our friends!

So, thank you to the Deepwood Moms - you're the best!

100!

Well, I got an email today that declared I have had 100 "hits" on my blog since I started the counter in mid-August. That's pretty cool. I started this as a way to relay info on the kids and to share a few pictures. And it is still just that. But I feel pretty good that at least a few people are checking out my site and finding things that are interesting and helpful. I know that a few of my neighbors are using the recipes I've posted. So, I want to say a big "thanks" to those who are checking this out and I hope it's a good read and enjoyable. I'm still hopeful that I will become better at putting up regular posts. We just got a new computer, (the old one was about as fast as a dinosaur) so I'm thinking things will become easier to do more frequent posts. We'll see. Thanks again! I'm enjoying it so far and I hope you all are too!

Recipe - White Chocolate Brownies

This recipe is one of my all-time faves! I started making these when I was in high school and have never had a bad batch. I can only imagine what the calorie count on these must be, but boy are they are delicious!

White Chocolate Brownies
Makes 16

Preheat oven - 350 degrees.

1/2 c. butter
8 oz. white chocolate chips
2 large eggs
Pinch salt
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. vanilla
1 c. flour
8 oz. chocolate chips

Melt butter over low heat. Add white chocolate chips. Don't stir. Beat eggs and salt with electric mixer until frothy. Add sugar gradually and beat until pale yellow and slowly dissolving ribbon forms when beaters are lifted. Add salt, vanilla, flour and butter mixture and mix just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Put into well-buttered 8" square pan. Bake about 30 minutes.

Sick Day

So it's a very good thing days like this don't come along very often. Or I might think pretty hard about going back to work. Seriously. Both the kids have been fighting off a cold for a couple of days. Mostly just a drippy nose, not a big deal, especially this time of year. Yesterday at the playground I think 85% of the kids had a drippy nose. But this morning John woke up with a nasty dry cough - not good. So we had a quiet morning around the house. I finally got motivated enough the vacuum upstairs, which I had seriously been putting off for WAY longer than I care to admit. But as the morning wore on it became very clear that he was not in shape to go to school today. Bummer. For both of us. His cough has been quiet most of the day, but the nose is running and he's definitely more subdued than usual. We got through lunch, had a short impromptu visit with some neighbors (who are also fighting off the cold, so sharing the germs didn't seem like a big deal), then Kara took one of her shortest naps ever - major bummer. So now she's up and screaming her curly little head off about every little thing. So I caved on John's punishment from yesterday of no tv for 2 days and turned on the end of Fantasia for them to get her to stop screaming and give myself a moment of peace with my coffee while I pray that my headache goes away. Oh, and did I mention that I have a preschool board meeting tonight too?

Today has been very rough. Tomorrow will be better?? I'm not sure who suffers more when the kids are sick - them or me. Today it was definitely me. Please, oh please, let John be able to go to school tomorrow.

We Love Fall

We've been enjoying some perfect Fall weather here lately. It's been in the mid-70's and sunny most days and we've all been spending as much time outside as we can. Over the long weekend, we went on a long family walk/bike ride, went to an Oktoberfest, took the kids to a picnic and walk around a lake, collected leaves for Halloween decorations, played at the playground, and visited with my best friend, her husband, and their new baby. It was just about a perfect family weekend filled with excellent outdoor family activities. Today we started the day off with a birthday party at a very fun local playground. And next weekend we're planning another fun day doing activities with the Loudoun Fall Farm Tour - always a good time. I'm not sure if I can keep all the other balls in the air of our normal everyday life, but dropping one or two in exchange for enjoying all this fun family time is a price I'm willing to pay!

The new seasonal fun that we experienced this weekend was that we were "boo"ed by our neighbors! If you haven't heard of it, it's a new Halloween activity that involves giving 2 of your neighbors small Halloween gifts or decorations, along with a treat or two, and putting a ghost (the "Boo") on their door. The gift includes a poem describing the tradition and asking the receiver to pay the gift forward to 2 more neighbors. It's very fun and John was thrilled to have been "boo"ed. He helped me go to Target to collect new items to give to the families we will "boo" and was excited to put the bags together. I can't wait to see how many doors will have the "boo" ghosts on them by Halloween. Too fun!

I hope you are all enjoying the fall season and all the activities that abound with your families!

Potty Training Already?

So Kara's recently had an increased interest in the training potty we have in the kids' bathroom. All of a sudden she's decided that it's time for her to use it. She's done both #1 and #2 in it, often using it multiple times during the day. It's been a complete surprise to me and I'm not quite sure how to approach it. Of course I'm supportive and offer lots of praise when she completes her task. She's just thrilled with her ability to do it. But I'm skeptical that she's really ready to go much further with the potty training process. I'm not sure she's really able to consistently recognize the need BEFORE she's got to go. And I'm mainly not sure I'm ready to find every public bathroom in every store we go into again. John's finally old enough that he doesn't need to go every 10 minutes. If I go ahead with her now, I suspect that her ability to hold it will be pretty limited. I guess it's mainly the inconvenience that comes with having a toddler who is potty training and I'm just not ready for it. But I do know that it's coming and probably sooner than I'll be ready for it.

Just like how she climbed up the ladder at the playground for the first time this week with no assistance! It feels like she's running ahead of me to do these things and I'm having a hard time keeping up! I guess I'd better get used to that feeling. ;-)

Kara's Officially 2

Well, her birthday was last Friday and it was an adventure of a day. We had a rough morning as a family, lots of whining and fussing while Matt and I tried to get us ready to get out the door to go camping for the weekend. Wasn't too much of a birthday morning. It was all made better by a late lunch at Five Guys where the birthday girl was perfectly happy to eat some very yummy french fries for lunch before a good nap in the car. Then once we got to the campground all was better for all four of us. The kids had a great weekend, the weather was PERFECT, and the food and company was excellent. It was a good trip for us all and Kara was thrilled spending her birthday with us all together.

Yesterday we had a little impromptu gathering at the playground with some neighbors and we brought brownies and juice. It was a great time for all the kids. Lots of running around, climbing, sliding, swinging, and fun was had by all. I'll post pictures of it all soon. The kids were in their element. Everyone was so tired by the time we got home. Excellent, since I had yoga last night and Matt was on his own for bedtime.

The birthday gatherings will continue as we have not had a chance to celebrate with the grandparents yet, so although we did not choose to do a big party for our big 2 year old, it feels like she's getting all the attention she deserves. And she's busy enjoying every minute of it!

Happy Birthday Kara! We love you!

Busy Busy Week

Again, yet another busy busy week for us. Monday - swim class, errands, lunch out, home for nap, then a doctor appointment for me. Tuesday - Trader Joe's, play with neighbors, lunch, working at the preschool, then playground time before dinner and yoga for me. Wednesday - swim class (last day), bath for the kids, quick lunch, working at the school again (and bringing snack), laundry, dinner, grocery store, and John and Matt went to Frying Pan Park for a program. Thursday - library, school, getting ready for a camping trip, new front door installation, and hopefully some play time for the kids.

Whee!!! And then Friday will be Kara's birthday! My goodness, the week has absolutely escaped me. I have gotten a lot of productive things done, but there is a lot more to do, mostly for the camping trip we leave on tomorrow, but also for Kara's birthday. I feel a bit guilty with a definite lack of purposeful planning for her big day, but I also do believe that she will be perfectly happy to enjoy the day with all of us together and going camping, which she definitely enjoys. Maybe next week will be a little less crazy? Probably not....