Go Forth and Be Silly

Cleopatra, Monarch Butterfly, & Soccer Player

What a fun night!   We walked a few blocks around our house and were very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the trick or treating in our new little neighborhood!  I even saw another Cleopatra!  And Robi met someone dressed up as an equally unknown soccer player!

Flannery wore her sparkly light-up shoes, and it was really cute to see her stomping and skipping around to light our path.  Her favorite part, though, seemed to be passing out candy to the "customers," as she called them.  (I think that was probably because she could eat candy while doing so!)

How have you been silly and had fun lately?

Go the Extra Mile for Family Time

Since we moved closer to family, I often feel like we didn't move close enough.  It takes us about 45 minutes to get to my in-laws' or my sister's house, and although I'm not complaining about that commute compared to the 8 hour drive it used to take before we moved, I do still sometimes get tired of all the driving we have to do to get to hang out with our family.

But even though it can sometimes feel like a hassle, it is always, ALWAYS worth it in the end.

I hope that one day, Flannery and her cousins will look back on fun times they spent together as kids and feel a part of something big and strong and loving.  More than just family--a family that really appreciates one another and realizes the strong effect we have on one another's lives.  On both sides, I tell you, we are so lucky to have just that.

monarch butterfly & little red riding hood are ready!

These were the scariest faces they could muster.  :)

hay ride fun

Stair-step cousins all dressed up for the fall festival

If you could, how close would you choose to live to all your family?  I think men and women might differ on this one.  I think I'd be happiest living 15 to 30 minutes away from family.  Mostly because I'd love to have a weekly dinner all together with the extended family.  And because any commute over 30 minutes long overwhelms me.  

My Life in Pictures

Halloween celebrations were in full swing this weekend.  Flannery had such a fun time!  Here are some of the highlights:

Flannery designed the face on paper first, then drew it on the pumpkin, and I carved her design.
She called her design, "A sad one-tooth-pumpkin."

The original design is in front.  I think it's pretty close.

Old one-tooth lives!

I just had to take a photo of this cute Halloween card Flanna made for our dog, Padme.
She drew a scary house on the left and Padme dressed up as a monster on the right.  She loves the dogs so much!

How do you foster creativity in your kids?

5 Reasons Halloween is the Best Holiday Ever

Halloween is really the best holiday ever.  I remember my friend Nikki telling me when Flanna was a baby, that after her kids got a little older, she loved Halloween even better than Christmas.  I couldn't believe it at the time, but now I'm beginning to see why Halloween really could trump Christmas as the best holiday ever.  Here are five reasons why:

1.   There are tons of fun traditions to share.   At my house, we've participated in the following super-fun traditions (which have all brought me big happiness boosts, by the way!):  decorating our front bushes with "spider-webs," creating ghosts from dum-dum pops and tissues, picking out a pumpkin, carving said pumpkin, baking pumpkin bread, finding the perfect costume, going to fall festivals, and of course, trunk-or-treating!

2.  We have an excuse to buy candy and keep it in the house for a week or two.  Not the healthiest reason, but, hey, candy is fun now and then!  Especially Twizzlers.  Yum.

3.  We get to dress up and be silly.  I love love love that my whole family dresses up to trick or treat together.  This year, we won't have a theme for our costumes.  (We would've never been able to top last year's costume, anyway!)  But we're really excited about our outfits!

4.  There's no pressure to buy gifts or cook anything fancy.  No wondering whether the turkey is really cooked all the way through; no stressing over the perfect gift for anyone; no intricate recipes to follow, no hoping you didn't burn the rolls this year.  Heck, you don't even have to buy candy if you don't want to.  Just turn your porch light off and go trick or treating!  (Although I highly recommend passing out candy if you get the chance--it's probably more fun than trick-or-treating, I think!)

5.  Much of the fun happens outside during a time of wonderful weather.  And you know how experiencing nature makes me happy!  I mean, really--who can be sad when you're tromping through pumpkin fields on a breezy day, or riding on a hay ride bundled up beside friends, or walking down streets lined with gorgeous orange and yellow trees to trick-or-treat?  

So, what do you think?  Is Halloween the new Christmas?  All the magic but none of the headache?  All of the fun and none of the expense?   Or do you think it's too dark and spooky to claim rank among the top holidays?  I have to say, it really is one of my favorite times of year.  So there you go, Nikki, you were right!

What do you love about Halloween?

   

Be Silly

This weekend was really just too much fun. We dressed up for Flanna's school Halloween party on Saturday, and then today, we dressed up again for the neighborhood party and trick or treating. Flannery went as Ariel. My husband was King Triton (Ariel's dad), and I went as Ursula the Sea Witch.

We had such fun being silly in our costumes, and it made us all really happy to be silly together. I'm hoping this will be a tradition we carry on for many years.








How can you be silly or light hearted more often with your family?

Reflect on Happy Memories

I love looking back at photos from years ago. There's something about a photo that just takes me back to that feeling I had in the moment. Thank goodness no one saved photos of me all melancholy as a teenager--I'd hate to relive those days! But reflecting on happy times really brings me joy.

My daughter loves to look back at her "baby book," too, and often asks me to "read" it at night as one of her books before bed. She loves the part where the doctor proclaims that's she's a strong baby because of her good strong cry when she was born.

I was looking back at our Halloween photos from the time Flannery was very small, and I just had to share some of the them. It has been such a blessing to get to share fun times with my family.










What photo brings you a happiness boost every time you see it?

Anticipate Fun

Since anticipating fun is almost as much fun as actually having fun experiences for me, I've been trying to think up small things to do each week leading up to our weekend of Halloween festivities. Today, we made some yummy Halloween Pudding Cones. Here's what you need:

1. 1 box instant pudding
2. 2 cups cold milk
3. fall colored sprinkles
4. a few ice cream cones that will stand up (not sugar cones)

First, make your instant pudding by adding the 2 cups cold milk, stirring or mixing with a mixer, and letting it set for about 5 minutes. Then, once it's set, scoop some pudding into each cone, and sprinkle with your holiday sprinkles. Voila!

You could vary the sprinkle colors and use this idea for pretty much any holiday. We love to make "holiday" pudding for practically every holiday (green sprinkles for St. Patrick's Day, Red Sprinkles for Valentines, etc.), because it's just so darn easy and yummy.

Flannery really enjoyed adding the ice cream cone idea this time, and, boy, you should've seen the sprinkly mess we made in the kitchen! But it was worth it, and it brought me a big happiness boost to do this little project together with her.



What food do you love most at this time of the year?

Share and Create Family Traditions

It really makes me happy to participate in little family traditions, and to pass them down to Flannery.

Today, Flanna and I carved our little pumpkin. Last year, she was too grossed out by the pumpkin smell to help me scoop out the seeds, but this year, she was much more brave. She used her bare hands to get the seeds and flesh out of the pumpkin. She did make a face at the "ickiness" of it, but I was proud of her for being willing to get yucky!

She drew the face onto the pumpkin, and then I cut it out. At first, I thought she had given the pumpkin four eyes, but then she explained that she had given our jack-o-lantern "cheeks." It really turned out cute! And I loved how creative she was with the scary mouth she drew!

We even roasted the seeds from the pumpkin in the oven. Last year, I remember they turned out chewy, so I roasted them longer this year, and this time, they turned out too crispy. Oh, well, maybe next year will be perfect. We ate them anyway!

We had painted masks in the morning, so Flanna wanted to wear her colorful stegasaurus mask for the picture. My little artist!







What family traditions do you want to pass down to future generations?

Halloween Phonics Fun

This week, in my speech class, I made some "Bat Books." First, we cut out the bat from construction paper. Next, we glued the "at" on one wing. And just in front of the "at" block, I stapled about 12 rectangles of construction paper to make a little flip book. The kiddos enjoyed making their own "-at" family words. And because the books were cute, they were motivated to sound out the words to me several times over and over, and to their teachers several times, as well.

I also had them write the real words they created on the other wing of the bat in pencil. You probably can't see it here, but the kids were able to create lots of -at words like, "mat, hat, fat, cat, pat, etc."

Flip books are a fun way to work on word family patterns, and I'm using these not only with my speech kiddos, but also with Flannery at home.





What fun halloween decorations do you display at your house?