Pumpkin Carving, In Pictures

Just Stuff

We finished Huck Finn and then read a Geronimo Stilton book. That was our after dinner book. We had actually started it last Saturday while we were waiting for two new tires to get put on the van. I'll get to that in a minute. I have started taking a book with us when we go places. It keeps all of us occupied and out of trouble, for the most part. It's better than having everyone with their head stuck in a video game, or iPod, or whatever electronic piece of equipment we have. I had checked the GS book out from our local library and we hadn't started it yet. That presented the perfect opportunity. And we just carried it over to the after dinner book when Huck Finn ended. Geronimo Stilton books are so very cute. We also like to listen to them as books on CD. They read very quickly and keep everyone entertained.

I have decided that if I am going to do any extras in our school, then Monday is our day. After we are done with our core subjects, we are going to start learning Spanish. I have a great curriculum that I bought and it's time to start using it. We are going to start a little slow and do some review. My kids know a little bit, but not much past "How are you?" Monday is the only day we aren't busy with something else. If I don't just start, I never will. I think the kids are going to like it. We started with Spanish over the summer, but quit, because that's how I get sometimes. I also wanted to do some art, but the book I downloaded doesn't really show you how to start drawing. I got it for free from one of my homeschooling websites and thought it would make a good art curriculum. There's a website out there, I'm sure, I just need to look.

I want an external hard drive. I have so much on the computer that I really need to move. It slows it down and I could use more storage space. I've got stuff on the computer and on two flash drives. It just isn't enough. So if you're wondering what to get me for Christmas, there you go. I need more disk space. 500GB should do it. I have to go through periodically and figure out what we really need and what we don't. I delete and delete, but it just doesn't seem like enough. Off the computer entirely it needs to go.

The kids' dentist office is having a candy exchange. You turn in your candy and get a $1/pound and an entry into a drawing for one of two iPod nanos. I want one. The big girl got one for Christmas last year. I was so tempted to take it from her and give her mine. She would have hated me for the rest of her life, so I decided not to. I'm thinking about participating in that. What I might do instead, is have the kids make their own candy pizza at our next co-op. Or maybe our co-op Christmas party. I could be in so much trouble. But I could get rid of a ton of candy. We'll see how brave I am.

The baby has an opportunity to do some dancing with the company dance team from our dance school. To be in company you have to have taken, and be actively taking, ballet, tap, and jazz. You have to have multiple years of each and be at least 11. It is a lot of work and money and time. More than we have of either time or money. I think the baby will enjoy it. Her dance class is the highlight of her week. All the kids have the opportunity to be in a Christmas parade as well. We couldn't last year because of a conflict, but the kids love being in a parade. We usually help with the 4th of July float with our church. Loads of fun. I need to make up my mind tonight so I can have hubby drop off the forms.

That's what's going on here. Some little changes happening. Thanks for letting me empty the brain.

Have a great day!

Trunk or Treat

Sunday was our Trunk or Treat at church. What a great time! We didn't really have much time to put it together, but it was wonderful.

We had at least 16 cars participating. That was our main worry. How can you have a trunk or Treat without trunks? You can't. We thought we would only have about 10. Cars started showing up and almost filled our parking lot. Loved it! We also had a bounce house/slide combo for the big kids and a bounce house/slide for the little kids. That way parents didn't have to worry about their little ones in with the big ones. The little one was actually from our preschool. It had been donated to them and they were gracious enough to share.

We gave out free sno cones and popcorn and juice boxes and bottled water. That's my hubby in the black tshirt. He was on sno cone duty and had a great time. He said it was better for him to be there, making kids happy, than chasing ours around making them miserable. Go hubby! That's our friend C behind him working the popcorn machine. Love that machine. It doesn't pop a bad batch, let me tell you what. Fantastic every time, and super easy to use. When you're done, you just wipe everything down with paper towels and call it good.

The top picture is Earline and Floyd, not their real names. They had great costumes. I wish I had gotten the full shot of them. Too funny! They were the best rednecks I had seen in a long time. Earline kept walking around saying, "This ain't Wal Mart! I wanted to go to Wal Mart!" We laughed so hard we had tears coming from our eyes. They had the best time playing off each other all night. We did, too, just watching them.

And what were my kids doing? Going around and around and around to every car at least fourteen times. At one point, the boy was literally dragging his bag around it had so much candy in it. The big girl recycled a witch costume she had from a few Halloweens ago. It was a little short, so I made her wear leggings under it. Much better, thank you. The boy was a soldier. We bought him a pair of camo pants to wear for the cooler weather, he already had a shirt, and we bought a play grenade and a hat, each just $1. The baby was a ballerina. She wore her recital costume. She got so many compliments. I thought it was great. Overall, we only spent about $15 on costumes since we had so much. We were given a belt for the boy that happens to be a camo pattern, so we will add that to his costume.

I did take some of the candy and recycle it. We got treat bags from the dollar store, for a dollar, and I filled them with some of our candy to give out at dance class for the boy and the baby. I didn't think about it until I was at the big girl's dance class, so they missed out this year. We have plans to TorT at a local grocery store chain on our way to our TorT destination. There is also a fall festival that we might stop at. That means even more candy. I think this year we are going to participate in a candy exchange at the kids' dentist. You get $1 for every pound of candy, up to five pounds. And for every pound you get an entry into a drawing for an iPod nano. That could be cool. And I don't have all that candy just tempting me.

I handed out popcorn and candy until I couldn't anymore. I ran out of candy. But I was also working two vehicles. Hubby brought his truck so we did candy out of the van and the truck. The big girl handed out candy for awhile for us, since we were busy elsewhere, but she got a break and got to hang out with her friends. I saw a bunch of them piled into the back of hubby's truck eating candy out of their bags. The boy saw a friend of his from K and 1st grade. They exchanged phone numbers. The baby ran around and ran around until she just almost dropped. They slept good and so did I.

The next couple of days I'll be hunting thrift stores for white sheets. I'm going to cut a bunch of holes in it and be Charlie Brown from "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". We watched last night and the kids thought it was funny. That's kind of a tradition for us. We sit and watch when it comes on TV. Poor Charlie Brown with his bag of rocks. I always feel bad for him.

That's the skinny. It was a great event and is always my favorite. I like it better than our Christmas or Easter programs. Go figure. We need to start working on Christmas, but I'm waiting until November. It's only next week, but gives us some time to relax. I'm thinking a Santa's Workshop where kids can make their own toys or gifts. We'll see what happens.

Have a great day!

Candy,candy, candy

We had our Trunk or Treat last night and it was a blast! I had so much fun, and so did the kids. I'll do the full blog on that as soon as I can. I'm waiting to get permission to post a picture of two friends that had the best redneck costumes I have ever seen. They were way too funny. Here are the pictures of what my kids brought home. And we still get to Trick or Treat on Saturday. We are going to stop at a chain of grocery stores in our area before we head to our annual TorT destination. There are three stores between here and there. That should be enough candy to last us until next Halloween.

The kids want me to point out the eyeball in the middle of the candy pile.

Have a great day!

Huck Finn

We finished Huck Finn tonight. That was our family book, and has been for what seems like forever. It was quite a long book and had 43 chapters. I read this when I was in school, but I can't remember if it was high school or middle school. I do know that I don't remember the book being that hard to read. I figure we got the edited version in school. Hubby had suggested it and I said OK. I didn't remember the controversial subjects in it either, so I'm wondering what kind of impression it made then. Apparently not a favorable one.

It definitely led to some interesting topice I didn't think I would have to talk about with my 11, 8, and 5 year old. The baby doesn't understand most of it. I don't think she has any knowledge or understanding of what a slave is. I don't think she has the concept of slavery. The other two on the other hand, asked so many great, wise questions that I found myself having a hard time answering. I give Mark Twain props for that.

I had to change some of the language. I definitely do not remember the main word I had to change. When the book was written, and for many years after, and to some extent even today, the N word was prevalent and had a myriad of uses and meanings. The problem is that none of them are good. That opened up discussions that could have taken days to finish had I not finally called an end to it.

The story itself shuffled through a plethora of emotions. We would laugh out loud, be angry, shake our heads in disgust. It was a cute story about a very precocious boy, a slave who wasn't, and eventually Huck's best friend, Tom Sawyer. There were times we just could not believe some of the things that Huck did or said. A lie could roll off his tongue with ease. If he told the truth at any point we were more amazed than if he told a lie. He definitely had many grand adventures and met some interesting characters.

We very much enjoyed this book, for many different reasons. I will say that I think it was way too old for my kids. By the time I had finally made that decision, because I'm slow sometimes, we were too far into it to stop. If I had pulled the plug on it, the kids would have revolted. I decided to keep the peace and keep the discussions flowing. We return it tomorrow to the church library and pick out another book. This time, though, I will make sure that it is a little more appropriate for us. And Tom Sawyer is just going to have to wait several years before he gets dragged out.

Have a great day!

Oceans

I forgot to post these cute guys. These are the fish we made at co-op a couple weeks ago. You take 2 CDs, and cute out a template for the fins and mouth. Glue the fins and mouth on one CD, then glue the other CD to the first one. Decorate the outside and add googly eyes. So very, very cute and easy.

Have a great day!

Changes

I've done some rearranging on my blog. Can you tell? I was getting a little bored with the plain Jane look. I added some gadgets, changed the format, and finally got to one of those websites that offers different backgrounds. I tried to match colors with the new backgrounds and think it looks really good. See what happens when I get bored? I also changed the other one, too. I hope you like it. I do.

Have a great day!