Working on our talents

Mister is nearing the end of another great season of soccer. The kid never stops smiling while he's running up and down that field.

Sweetie loves her tap/ballet class.

And little H is now a pro at bubble-blowing.

1. A day off of school, 2. A day off of work, 3. Bedtime songs

Growing . . .

There are signs of growing everywhere these days. I will not be showing my own growing (due to Halloween candy). J will proudly show anyone his growing muscles from the gym time and all of those protein shakes/bars he's been downing lately. And the kids are growing up and older. (They warned me this would happen . . . ).

Here's Mister, with his 2 new bottom teeth:

And Sweetie, with her new older "do":

And little H with his new thumb (new to him anyway! He thinks that new fist and thumb is the best thing to have happened to him lately).

Halloween

Here's Sweetie the Astronaut, Mister as G.I. Joe, and H as a Turtle for the ward Trunk or Treat and then as a Bear on Halloween. Sweetie dressed as a witch for her dance class party because she had to be able to do ballet and tap with her costume (her teacher probably assumed all of the little girls would come as princesses or fairies or butterflies or something, not knowing that Sweetie is apparently above the whole princess thing). Mister also dressed up at school for the annual costume parade. Fun times, but I'm glad it's over and done. I wish I could say the same for the candy . . .

Poem of the Last 3 Months

I've been a poem-of-the-month slacker lately, but this simple and short one fits my last three months pretty well:

"Grown-up"

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Was it for this I uttered prayers,

And sobbed and cursed and kicked the stairs,

That now, domestic as a plate,

I should retire at half-past eight?

1. Breaking out the Thanksgiving decorations--bring on the pilgrims and turkeys! 2. Sunday afternoon football and naps, 3. Beating J at Kids' Sequence during family game night (we're cut-throat around here)

Sweetie's Halloween Party

Sweetie wanted to have a Halloween party this year. Thinking of how she'll be in Kindergarten next year, I agreed. Morning of as I tried to prepare for party, nurse baby, get baby to sleep, I thought, "What was I thinking?!" But all came together and H cooperated fairly well with little attention during the party. We've never had a party with just girls, and I'll do it again in a heartbeat! They took turns finding clues on the treasure hunt and wanted to play musical gravestones until everyone had a turn winning. We also decorated haunted houses (put together in advance using meringue frosting) and decorated pumpkins using free downloadable labels from Blonde Designs. We ate mummy dogs, apple slices, and spider cupcakes.

I feel sick.

It's not the swine flu. No, my sickness stems from that open (and empty?) bag of candy corns and the delicious baked caramel corn that my mom sends us every Halloween. If only there were a vaccination against eating too much.

Here's my mom's famous recipe, if you care to join me in my sickness:

1 lb (2 1/2 c packed) brown sugar

1 c white Karo syrup

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

2 sticks margarine

Boil for 5 min. Pour over 8 quarts popped popcorn, pour on baking sheet. Bake at 250 for 1 hr. Stir every 15 min. Empty on wax paper.

1. Long sleeves and a high of 63--hooray! 2. Baby smiles 3. Clean-smelling children

Lofty goals

Today's goal was to finish and fold all of the laundry. How'd that go for me, you ask?

Maybe next time I'll aim a little lower on the "goal" spectrum.

1. chocolate chip cookies, 2. clean sheets, 3. sleeping kids