::souvenirs::

Last week Max went on a field trip with school. He was way excited to ride on the bus, and I was way cool to not freak out and make him stay home after the American Fork band bus incident not too long ago. Anyway, enough about motherly worries. I volunteered to go along and assist, but of course in true Rhode Island public school fashion they didn't have any parents come along.

But this post isn't about any of that.

They went to a farm, took a hay ride and got to pick out a pumpkin to bring home. At least that's what I gathered from my son's very non-descriptive description of the day.
His pumpkin was cute, and he liked it although he was very glad to hand it over to me when I picked him up. He's kinda wimpy and doesn't like to carry heavy things--wait, really anything that weighs more than an old cell phone. He'll carry an old cell phone around all day.

But, here I am sidetracked again.
Here's the man with his pumpkin.


I brought him home and fed him lunch. I cleaned up the kitchen and was sweeping the floor when he suddenly said, "oh! I almost forgot! Look at what I brought home!"
He reached in his pocket and pulled out a big handful of hay.

Seems that they did actually go on a hay ride! This is the same boy who would come back from his preschool in Kansas City with pockets full of the big gravel in the playground. I'd have to go and put it back all the time.

I was really please (as you might imagine) to have the hay hit my newly swept up floor. He gathered it up--with no small amount of encouragement--and took it outside to his "house" which is our little shed in the backyard.

What a goofball. I think he was more excited about the hay than the pumpkin. Oh well, there's no accounting for taste, right?

::more party::

We had some pretty great costumes at the party this year.
Kris:

As you've already seen, Kris made a pretty convincing Spock. Would you be surprised to know we threw the costume together an hour before the party? Good thing we found the ears at savers.
Me:

Max:

the residents: (at least the ones that made it to the party)

It was so fun that everybody dressed up. The kids all looked so cute. Like Natalie as Tinkerbell:

And Zac as Yoda:

I didn't get a photo of everybody, unfortunately, but that's at least a taste for you.

Our party activities mainly consisted of eating yummy food, watching the wonderful Halloween movie and playing doughnuts on a string. Everybody's played that at some point, right?
We just did it for the kids this time. It was pretty hilarious, and messy. We had to do it inside because it was freezing outside.






It's a serious deal for these little guys. Danny ended up eating his off the floor dog-style after it fell off of the string. Impressive dedication, right?



Then after we sugared them all up they went home. I'm sure it took a while for them to go to sleep. But who can complain with kids this cute?::::

I have to say, we have dang cute kiddies in the program this year. I think St. Joe's must have cute kids as a requirement. Like Grant and Porter. You can't go wrong!

Oh, and proof that Dash is fast.

Oh yeah, he's fast.

::look what i made::

Look!
Marilyn's muffins.

I made a couple of tiny adjustments. I used a "I can't believe it's not butter" stick instead of normal butter and I used Trader Joe's white whole wheat flour instead of white. They turned out delicious!
A pumpkin:


A silly fish:




I made him too. It was a while back, but I still take plenty of credit. He's the best thing I've ever made.

::spooky food::

We had some great food for the party.
I made some delicious homemade oreos. Mmmmm. Using Erica's recipe. I made them last year and loved them. They're killer straight out of the fridge.

My friend Yonah brought an awesome death by chocolate. And I'm a big death by chocolate fan. It's the best. The worms took it over the top I think.

Jess made spider cupcakes. They're pretty spooky. And the kids loved them. They were all running around the house with black mouths lips and teeth.

::spooky::

I love the bats I made last year. They're so spooky. And that cute pumpkin quilt Kris's mom made isn't so bad either!

::new halloween movie::

This past weekend we hosted a halloween party for the Kris's fellow residents. We did it last year too and it was so fun. Last year we made a halloween movie with Max at the last minute to screen at the party, just for fun. It turned out ok, but we thought we'd try it again this year, and this time it turned out fabulous!
We got the families who were coming to the party involved in the movie, which was really fun. I think it's our best movie production so far. Definitely check it out.

I'll have more to report on the party later too, it was quite fun.

::::

::literature & life::

If you ever read the books about Ramona when you were little, you might remember that when Ramona went to Kindergarten she met a little boy named Davy. She decided she loved Davy, and every time they were in the school yard she would chase him around and try to kiss him.

That was all I could think of today when I was waiting in the school yard with Max for his teacher to come and call the kids into class. It was cold. All the kids' cheeks and noses were rosy bright.  I couldn't see their breath--but I know that's not far away.
For some reason we haven't been able to figure out there is no playground equipment at the school--just a yard. So all the kids can really do is run around. And run they do.
The girls like to chase the boys and hug them. The boys like to run away. If you get caught in the middle of one of these events it feels like being accidentally caught in a stampede--a miniature one, but a stampede none the less.

Unlike Beverly Cleary's Davy, Max likes to be chased. Today he was hiding behind a tree waiting for the girls to notice him. When they didn't he came out along with another little guy and they yelled, "Hey girls! Hey girls! Hey girls!" Finally the girls came. And the little boys were chased.
And then everyone was happy.
That Mrs. Cleary knows her stuff.

::round the horn::

Anybody out there ever watch the show on ESPN called "Round the Horn"?
Kris likes to watch it. There's a host and a bunch of sports writers on video monitors. They talk about current sports issues and events and debate. It's fast moving and silly.
Max decided he loves it too. Especially the sports writer from Denver, Woody Page. He's super silly and on the first episode Max ever watched for some reason somebody dumped about 10 pounds of confetti on Mr. Page and it went into his mouth and everywhere. Max was instantly hooked.

Anyway, this morning when I was getting ready for the day Max came into me with a card he'd drawn. For me. I love the cards he makes for me.
This was a special one--an Around the Horn card.

Max and I are on the left. Then he drew the other guys from the show on the right. I'm glad it's just pretend though, because I don't think Max and I are up to speed on enough sports stats and trivia to survive.

The mysterious part though is that on the left hand side it says (I had to have some help translating the acronyms and mixed up letters)
Do Not go Around the Horn.
So I won't.

It's getting colder around here! We're wearing coats and gearing up for it to get really cold--remembering last winter. Dark long and cold.
I got a new fleece jacket I really love last night and I've already worn it twice.
It really feels like fall when I'm wearing brown corduroy pants. Which I am.
I tried to get a picture of me wearing them, but it's dark and gloomy in the house and our mirror situation is not so good.
So here's a substitute. Me in a corduroy hat instead. My hair was still wet when I took Max to school this morning so the hat got pressed into service, keeping me from freezing.


Alright, now I'm off to pick up Maxles from school and to mail a little birthday package for my october siblings.
Later.