On to November

Happy Halloween! I'm nearly up to November now that it's December already. This year Halloween was on a Sunday, so we made plans to do our usual trick-or-treating in the Windmill subdivision beside the church with our friends, then go to the fall festival at church. My friend Anne is always so good to let us park at her house and be our Windmill trick-or-treat host. I can only imagine how much extra candy those nice folks buy every year for shysters like us with no neighborhood of their own. 

This year the creativity was flowing at an all-time low, as was the motivation to spend time rounding up the perfect costumes. So we went easy cheesy with pre-made stuff.

Amelia wanted to be a cat, so that one was easy. Elizabeth had no clue what Halloween was, so I went through the dress up drawer for her. (She was happy about that anyway, she's nearly as passionate about dressing up these days as Amelia was.) Avery got the Power Ranger costume for his birthday so out it came...though he had requested to be a rock star. I thought that was very creative on his part, but we just didn't have the right stuff to pull off the look. Shannon requested Spider Man and I knew the costume would get lots of after Halloween usage, so Spidey it was.

Off we went to the Jennings, and started collecting the loot.

We took a group picture, of which I failed to get a good one. There were probably 12 or more of us taking advantage of Anne's kindness...and neighbors. The Power Ranger wanted no part of a group picture so he stood forlornly in the yard looking pathetic behind the mask.

The angel protects the black cat from cars since they were standing in the middle of the STREET.

"I got some candy!" It took this one all of one house to figure out that trick-or-treating was good. We walked from the back of the subdivision all the way to the front and then to the church. In the parking lot we ran into the cast from Mary Poppins.

Nicole B. and her family always have the best costumes. The twins are two now (the surprise "fourth baby"), and I joked with them that it's something when you have enough family members to fill the cast of an entire movie. My favorite year was the one they all dressed as super heros. There's nothing quite like seeing your Sunday School teacher in tights.

Unfortunately this year the church festival wasn't as good as last year's. All of the companies they usually get their moonwalks from were all rented out.

We had barely entered the gym when Elizabeth darted off and was sitting in a chair for face paint before I even realized she had left my side. She's such a shy, nervous kid after all, afraid of strangers...not.

There was karaoke in a back corner, and our other shy kid and her guardian angel decided to give it a go.

Not too bad for a couple of seven year olds. One being a cat.

My Savior, He can move the mountains, my God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save...(in case you didn't recognize it right away).

Thank you, thank you, we'll be here all week.

Many Oriental Trading Company treasures were located in this pool of sand. We came home with at least half of them. Power Rangers are gifted in the area of buried plastic smiley face ring location. 

After trick-or-treating our way back to the car, we came home with a good 200 pounds of candy. There's a chance I might have lifted a few of the more choice pieces for myself, though this is just a nasty rumor. Even after that alleged activity, the kids are still eating candy at the rate of two pieces a day and still have plenty to spare. It should last right into Christmas stocking time.

The first weekend in November we went to a birthday party for our friend Claire, who is in Shannon's Sunday School class. Her parents are in our class. There was a pinata, and in it were some vampire teeth...

Hee hee! (Incidentally, I can find no way to make the "tilde" squiggly lined accent that goes over the "n" in "pinata" on this blog program. Blog Spot, you're fired.)

The green ones are my favorite.

I've always said she takes after James.

I'd love to outline here how we spent the first half of November, but I have no clue. I try to savor something from each day, knowing the kids are growing at an alarming rate. I know what every grandmother who stops to chat with our cart full of kids in the store says is true: "They'll be gone before you know it." Yet try as I may, days and weeks often go by with such routine similarity that I get to the end of one of them and think, "What the heck did we do all week?" Monday- school. Tuesday- school, play group, and gymnastics. Wednesday- school and church. Thursday- school and ballet/karate. Friday- school. Publix usually makes an appearance one of those days as well, since I'm still couponing and that's the only place it's worth doing it. Liberally sprinkle in meeting the random yet constant needs and wants of four little people, cooking, cleaning, laundry, and horse feeding (not that I consider that one a chore), and it can add up to one pretty brain dead mama, at least memory-wise. I do remember that I mostly love it though, minus all the domestic duties parts. "Duty" was meant to be spelled "doody," someone writing the first dictionary goofed.

I did get a lift a few weeks ago from the oldest, and I won't forget it. Amelia was asking about the part of the Bible that talks about the new Earth. "Will we come back and have another life on it?," she asked. I told her I wasn't exactly sure how it worked but I'd work on an answer for her. "Well, I hope we do," she said, "'cause I'm having a lot of fun in this life."

One thing I do remember about this month is that I got to attend a theater production of Singing in the Rain in Gainesville with Rebecca, her mom, and Anne. Marjorie had extra tickets and treated us to a girls' night out. The production was excellent, and I was very impressed by Gainesville's theater group. James and I will have to go to another one sometime on a- what's it called again?- oh yeah, a date. Perhaps there are those of you who don't know that my huntin'/Jeepin'/gun lovin'/bike ridin'/outdoor dude husband was in several theater productions in high school and some at church in college. He truly is a renaissance man.

Now for more pictures. Jenny D., my faithful friend and partner in foolishness recently agreed to come take photos of our family for the price of one cup of coffee. Really quite a deal as photographers go. She's not a real photographer, but she plays one on TV, and she has experience taking thousands of pictures a week of her own crew.

Here's a sample:

And the evolution of a picture with Avery in it.

1.)

2.)

3.) Finally! I'll take smirk face over goof ball face any day.

"And her children shall rise up and call her blessed." I don't know how the heck this one happened but it cracks me up every time I see it. Maybe I should have it framed.

If you are a grandparent reading this, don't worry, there will be some coming your way. If you are just a person needing a background for your dart board, let me know and I'll forward some to you.

I also wanted some to replace the way outdated ones on the wall at home since the summer photography session attempt failed on that way-too-bright day back in July. We took a few individuals for that purpose.

Clearly this one's the best.

And the famous photo lady herself, Jenny D. of Hot Coffee Photography. Thanks Jenny!

That afternoon we headed to Murrayville for the kids' karate and ballet classes. Shannon's class met outside that day since it was warm and since I was babysitting the two sleeping beauties in the car, I took a few pictures. Both younger kids conked out on the way that day, which is rare. Must have been all the smiling for the camera.

He's still enjoying karate, and we'll keep doing it next semester as well. I don't know if it will be offered through the home school co-op again next year since Shannon's teacher will be graduating from high school. We'll see how he still likes it when this school year ends.

Later that week for school we experimented with fried plantains since we had been studying Africa.

Looks like a banana, tastes like french fries. Weird.

And finally, photos to redeem the last ones I posted of Avery singing with his choir. I knew if I didn't cave the first time he balked at performing in front of the church it would eventually pay off. It was like a 180 from last time.

He's even doing the hand motions.

Looks like a little man, doesn't he? It's the argyle sweater vest.

Look at me singing!

Perhaps he'll be a conductor some day?

I probably don't want to know what he and Kaeden think is so funny. What a four year old boy thinks is funny can be dangerous, at least if they say it out loud in public. That's been my experience.

Right after this we grabbed him and bolted to the car to head to McDonough for our annual Thanksgiving before Thanksgiving at my Granny's house. That's another post for another day.

I will leave you with my favorite story of the week before I sign off. Earlier in the week the kids and I were going somewhere in the car and they were talking amongst themselves about car seats. Avery said, "I wish my car seat was a toilet, then I wouldn't even have to get out to go potty!" Without missing a beat Elizabeth looked at him and said, "You're dumb."

Awesome.