Spooky Foods

This past weekend was our annual spooky foods dinner.  I have to say that this year was my favorite spooky foods dinner so far.  I am realizing more and more that the most impromptu events can make for the most fun...it's all about what we do with the time we have together.  The last two years that I've had the spooky foods dinner, I've spent a full week preparing the menu, shopping, and trying to make sure the decorations were festive.  

This year, our schedule has been a little bit busier so while I knew we were going to do something with spooky foods, it wasn't until Friday night that Chris and I decided to have our dinner on Sunday and make the menu simpler.  We knew that the mummy dogs were Adelaide's favorite, mummy pizzas were Oliver's favorite, and Chris and I liked the snake calzone.  Those three items were plenty of food for us.  We decided that if we each had something we liked on the menu, then we couldn't go wrong.  I decided that bubbling brew would be worms, fruit juice, ginger ale and crushed fruit with silly straws.

Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Mike had given Oliver and Adelaide some fun mustaches and that made for the perfect Spooky Foods dinner accessory!  With a some spiderwebs, eyeball lights, a web with a spider, and an orange tablecloth that Nonna sent, we were ready to turn our dinner into a memorable night.

When Chris brought over the snake, the kids were excited.  True to our planning, Oliver ate two mummy pizzas and Adelaide ate two mummy dogs.  The best part of the party was when we turned out the lights, ate dinner by candlelight and told spooky stories.  Chris was the best storyteller.  He made up some story about the phone ringing and whenever he answered it, the voice on the other line would count down the minutes.  Adelaide was a wee bit scared.  She kept on looking at him and saying, "But, that's not real right?"

 Finally, when it was time for Adelaide to tell a story she created one about a scary straw that came out of the scary drink to go eat the mustard who ran away screaming.  Very entertaining!

Chris and I both agreed that this was our favorite spooky foods dinner because of the time we spent together.  I love my family very much.

Cupcake Princess

Trying to get a great picture of Adelaide wearing her cupcake princess costume to dance class was, well, challenging.  She is at the stage where she refuses to just look at the camera and smile.  It seems like that would be so much easier for her if she just smiled and was done with the whole thing.  Instead, it often takes many photos to grab a good one. 

 This one was when she was determined to get the cupcake to fall from her head with as little movement as possible.  She is doing this while I'm saying, "Adelaide, please smile for the camera."

Don't know what this one is...perhaps she is practicing a creepy ballet pose?

Getting a picture of her may have been a bit difficult, but it was fun to see all of the silly pictures that she had.  I took her to get her hair cut the other day.  I think that she will have her hair shoulder length, in a bob, for a long time.  I had this idea of her having luscious, long hair but given the type of her hair, the shoulder length seems to suit her and be manageable.

Pasta Tradition

This past weekend, Chris and Michelle came over for our annual tradition of making pasta.  Michelle brought over her pasta making machine and the dough and the kids got to work.  After they had rolled out all the noodles to make lasagna, we made a delicious lasagna and enjoyed a relaxing Sunday meal together.  Michelle was very patient with Oliver and Adelaide and I didn't get many pictures because I was busy trying to keep the kids from spreading the flour everywhere!  Who knew that playing with flour would be just as much fun as making the pasta.  :)!

Catching Up

The past month has been busy for us.  Oliver and Adelaide have been wonderful about coming back to school with me after I pick them up so that I can get some more work done.  We have still been embracing this wonderful fall.  I use my camera for both school and home so I accidentally left the camera at school when we went to the corn maze.  The kids had a great time and I captured a few pictures on my phone.  Hopefully I will get around to uploading them soon.  We also made some "delicious" cupcakes last week.  I gave Oliver and Adelaide the freedom to decorate them however they wanted and they came out, well, very orange and black to say the least.  Oliver and Adelaide were happy which is really all that matters.

We also discovered our love of really, really long straws.  

Saw these glasses at Target and had to pick them up.  They really made us all laugh!

Dzia Dzia joined us on Sunday at the Topsfield Fair.  Chris had to work so Dzia Dzia decided to come along.  Oliver and Adelaide enjoyed looking at the animals, being silly, and going on a few rides.

 They were allowed to choose one special treat.  I was hoping they might choose fried dough but they had to go for the cotton candy!

 We went during a special animal brushing time.

 Adelaide refused to look at the camera that day!

We all got some apple cider.  I never knew until this year how much I love hot apple cider.  Love it.  The kiddos are loving it too so we often have it as a special treat at night when we get home from school.

 We took a little break and decided to watch a show.  The show was for kids and the performer asked all the kids to join him on the stage.  Oliver and Adelaide went up to be helpers.

 Oliver lost interest in staying on stage but Adelaide was really into it.

Oliver came home from school the other day with this certificate from his teacher.  He was so proud of it so I felt as though I needed to document it on the blog.

Dancing and Laughing through Life

Whenever I pick Adelaide up from preschool, one of her teachers comments about how funny she is when she is around them.  She is always trying to make them smile and giggle.  They told me that this year her personality has really shown through and they are really enjoying spending time with her.  We made the decision to keep her in the same preschool room because she is young for her age and so far it seems like the right decision.  

This happiness has radiated through in dance as well.  She loved her first dance lesson.  She wore both her ballet and tap shoes during her lesson.  At the end of the lesson, she tapped her way out the door with a sticker on her nose and an enormous smile on her face.

She decided she had to show me some of her new dance moves after class.

And then she couldn't stop laughing...contagious, belly laughing that made me smile.

My sweet little girl.  I love her so much.

Soccer

The Night Before Kindergarten

Everyone else has headed off to bed and I am sitting here trying to focus on two different things: my lesson plans for the week and the fact, FACT, that my son is going to kindergarten.  TOMORROW.  Oliver is very nervous.  I can tell by the questions he has asked me over the past few days and the restless nature of his behavior.  I have tried to make it as easy on him as possible.  Lunch has been packed with his favorites: pasta with alfredo sauce, apple juice, and cookies (yes, I think a first day calls for cookies.)  His snack is clearly labeled "SNACK" so he knows what to eat when he opens his lunchbox during snack time.  I have no idea why this little detail caused me so much worry.  I guess on his first day I don't want him to have to stress about what to eat at what time of the day.  He chose sliced apples, cheddar cheese and crackers and a bottle of water for his morning snack.  Those are all set.  Chris and I put a special note in his lunchbox so he'll see that we are thinking of him.  His school supplies are ready, his backpack is packed, and his new sneakers were finally purchased today after Oliver and I had to go on a search to find the perfect size 13 1/2 sneakers for my particular little man.
We had his favorite dinner tonight.  He chose tacos but he could hardly eat anything.  All he wanted to do was read books before bed and climb into his bed.  Chris and I surprised him with a new book called "Kindergarten Rocks" and the book did a really thorough job, I thought, of explaining kindergarten and what to expect.  He liked it so much he asked me to read it again.  After we finished, I asked him if he had any questions.  He told me he was really worried about eating in the cafeteria.  I told him what he could expect.  He was also really worried that our sitter wouldn't be there at the end of the day.  I talked to him about that as well.  I asked him if he had any questions about his teacher or the classroom and he said, "No, I think I am going to love them."  Before he closed his eyes in my arms, he looked up at me and said, "I just love you, mommy."  I about lost it then.  Kind of hard to keep it cool when my eyes are full of tears.

I don't know why this is such a big event for me.  He's gone to preschool for two years so it's not my first time being away from him.  I guess it's that there is something so big about going to kindergarten.  He is my baby, but he's not really my baby anymore.  He's a little boy who is making his first real imprint on the world.  I remember kindergarten and I know he will too.  As a parent, it is my biggest hope that Oliver and Adelaide are happy.  More than anything else, I want them to feel happiness.  I want Oliver to be happy in kindergarten.  

Even though I really try to approach special occasions with happiness and excitement, I know it's also okay to fully embrace the emotions that go along with such momentous occasions.

I am going to bed tonight hoping that he has a great day.