Last stop on the insanity train

I'm sitting here, eating a tootsie roll and although we had a FABULOUS time today, I'm so glad that Halloween is officially over. It's been too much, all lumped together and I'm looking forward to some weeks of NOTHINGNESS until we roll through Thanksgiving and straight into Christmas.

Yesterday, I met a friend at the gym to do the track and stairs with, after dropping Morgan off at school. I haven't done cardio quite that intense in a couple of weeks, and I was REALLY feeling it. In fact, after sprinting my last lap, I felt as if I were going to pass out. We were walking laps around the track to cool down and I got that chilled, shaky feeling that I know all too well. Luckily, I just kept breathing deeply and it subsided.

After the gym, Bennett and I came home and I did a few chores and then we went to pick Morgan up from school. The kids came home and had lunch and then went down for naps right on time, since we had planned to go to the park for playgroup after. While they were sleeping, the rain started to fall and playgroup was canceled. I took advantage of the atmosphere, and took a nice long nap, leaving my dirty floors to be mopped at another time. By the time we all woke up, it was nearly time for dinner! We did leftovers for dinner and then I headed off to bible study.

Today was Morgan's parade and party at her school, followed by Trick or Treating tonight, of course. The party was open to siblings, so Bennett tagged along. I was SHOCKED by how well he did. Yeah, he threw a few goldfish on the ground, but that's not something that the five year olds weren't doing. He even played with them when it was "choice time", playing and SHARING at the doll house and chalk board! I was so proud of him! All the true kindergartners seemed to be having a really good time at the party. There were stations for decorating cookies, making spiders, a witch's cackle station, monster hands, fishing for treats (my station) and other cute crafts. The kids had a blast and it was so fun to be able to be there and experience it all with them. :)




After school, we came home and had lunch and then I got to work finishing up the chores I had put off on previous occasions. I worked non-stop until the kids woke up. I'm so glad I did too, because now I won't have that stuff hanging over my head. Pretty soon, it was time to cook dinner. I made a chicken pasta dish (artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, mushrooms, goat cheese, and chicken) with the remaining chicken that I roasted the other night. Lance said again tonight,"you need to always make this with the chicken leftovers!". I think he likes it!

After dinner, the kids got back into their costumes and we took the obligatory cheesy pictures and then took off for trick or treating. We went with our neighbor, who's son went to preschool with Morgan. They did the whole neighborhood and filled their buckets! Bennett hung in there the whole time and was rewarded when he got home with his first Reese's peanut butter cup! He's officially hooked on Halloween!

Where have I been?

Yesterday it was the school to drop Morgan off, the tennis club, the grocery store, the school to pick Morgan up, home, dance class to drop Morgan off, home, dance class to pick Morgan up, home, and finally the movie theater (where I saw The Secret Life of Bees - GREAT movie!)

Today it was the school to drop Morgan off, Peet's, the school to help with the book fair, home, park for Bennett's playgroup, the school to pick Morgan up, home, Girl Scout meeting, picked up a toddler slide from a freecycler, and then finally home.

Yesterday when I was home, I did a good job of not sitting down and getting a lot done. Today, not so much. Although, I will brag on myself for a moment that even though I am flying solo tonight, since Lance left at 5pm for a geocaching event, I STILL cooked a full dinner. Yes, I had to talk myself back into it several times, but I managed to squeak out BBQ meatloaf, risotto and green beans for just the kids and I. And got them to bed on time. With homework and reading done. I even cleaned the kitchen.

The truth is, that what I should be doing with this time alone is catching up on ironing, sweeping and mopping floors, and filling out my absentee ballot. But, instead I'm sucked into Facebook and blogging and the mindless things I have been missing out on since I've been having to share a laptop with Lance. My power cord better be here tomorrow!!

Tomorrow is a relatively mild day, compared to the rest of the week. I'm meeting a friend at the gym for the track and stairs combo and then I plan to catch up on whatever I don't do tonight before picking Morgan up from school. After naps, we're heading to the park for playgroup, then we'll come home for dinner and then I'm off to bible study. Sometime, I need to actually carve my pumpkin. I like doing it, but I don't want to do it by myself! I think it's something that should be shared with someone you love over a nice glass of wine.

Now that I look at tomorrow, I think I should just go to bed. :)

Someone needs to call CPS

Because I keep hurting my poor kids today! It started this morning, when I went to take Morgan to school. We are driving Lance's Eos today, so it's 2-door and, I'll just go ahead and use that as my excuse. Anyway - I go to get in and totally elbow Morgan right in the forehead. It was really hard, too. Poor girl. Immediately, I'm apologizing and telling her that I'm so sorry and I didn't mean to hurt her. The poor girl has tears all welled up in her eyes and she's looking at me and telling me that it's okay. "Accidents happen." I'm watching as the red spot on her forehead grows to about the size of the knobby part of my elbow. Oh my. I just continued, all the way the way to school, "I'm soooo sorry!".

After the gym and Bennett's toddler class were over, I came home and decided to finish up today's chores so that I could bake some cookies during nap time for our afternoon Halloween party for Bennett's playgroup. I'm doing this while also cooking corn dogs for the kids. Well, time crept away from me and before I knew it, I was running about five minutes late. I grabbed Bennett up, put his shoes on him and then started literally running out the door, through the garage to the car. And that's when I totally whacked his head on a cabinet in the garage. Nice. Poor guy started shake-crying and rubbing his head. I'm repeating from this morning, "I'm soooo sorry! Momma didn't mean to hurt you!" I ask him if he's okay and he nods his little head yes. Poor baby. We get out to the car and I swing the passenger side door open, slide the front seat forward and then go to put him in there, when I bump his head on the roof of the car. He's looking at me like, seriously??

It's just one of those days, I suppose.

In happy news, I baked the sugar cookies during nap time. It's amazing how a little music on the iPod can get you all dancing around the kitchen doing crazy stuff. I'm signing out loud to Erasure and shaking my booty to the Beastie Boys. Imagine the surprised look on the faces of the two teen aged boys who rang my doorbell and I answered with my iPod on, flour all over my hands, and having just wrapped up my part of the duet in "Power of Two" by the Indigo Girls. Carry on, nothing to see here. The funnier thing, though was seeing the looks on their faces when they asked what I did for a living. I told them that I am a stay at home mom now. They nodded their heads as if this explained it all. Then I added, "I used to be a Program Manager. For Lockheed Martin." They suddenly had a fearful look on their faces. Ha!

Haunted must mean hysterical!

Last night, after dinner, we packed the kids up in the car and headed over to Ardenwood for their haunted train ride. We had about an hour to kill, but we had fun with our friends and watching the kids run around in the dark. :) When it was time to go, we loaded up on the train, and we were off into the "haunted woods". The train ride was fairly slow and the scary scenes not overly scary, but any sense of fright was immediately diminished by my 18-month-old-greeter-of-all-scary-things.

Seriously, there were "ghost riders" riding horses on one side of the train. Bennett waves, "Hi!" The headless horseman was riding up along the other side, Bennett blows him kisses. It was this to one scary thing after another. It was hilarious! Everyone else would be quiet, taking it all in, and Bennett would be screaming "Bye!", which I totally expected him to follow up with "Call me, you've got my number, right?"

As if that wasn't funny enough, when the train ride was over and we all got to our cars, Morgan asked if we could take a shortcut home. I let her know that there wasn't really a shortcut, and that it would take a while to get home. She said that she "needed to do something", to which I asked if she needed to go potty. Bingo! So, she and Lance head off to the bathroom and she comes back announcing that she wasn't scared at all. Because she knows that they wouldn't take little people. Just adult people. Ha! So, I sarcastically add that maybe they would take Daddy. To which she replies, "Yeah. You probably want them to take him. Since he toots and is stinky." Yes, headless horseman, please come snatch up my farting husband. LOL!

The Fall Festivities continue!

Yesterday was a lot of fun, but certainly crazy. Morgan dressed up as a scarecrow for school. She looked very cute! The fall festival started at 9:30 and the kids were busy busy busy until it was time to go home at noon. Lance was home, so he was able to take Bennett to Tot Drop and then come join us for the festivities. There was a pumpkin patch, a wagon ride, apple fishing, face painting, and an old fashioned water pump. There were pictures and scarecrows and lots and lots of hay! They staggered having the kindergarten classes out there, so it wasn't too chaotic and the kids really had a great time.

After the kids picked their pumpkins, they rolled them back into the classroom, where we had various activities to do with the pumpkins. We weighed them and measured the circumference in blocks. We dropped them in a bucket of water to see if they would sink or float. The kids colored scarecrows and drew faces on pumpkins. And they even got to watch a Garfield movie, which I knew would please Morgan to no end.

Here are some pictures from the fall festival yesterday morning. The scarecrow is the one the kids did during centers last week when I helped in the classroom. You can't see it, but there is a Diet Coke can in the apron of her pocket. The kids loved that finishing touch!











While the kids were finishing up their pumpkin stuff, we were able to put the finishing touches on the door for Trick A Dooring last night. Morgan and I went home and then while the kids were napping, I finished getting everything together for Trick A Dooring. Around 4:30, Morgan and I went over to Kristin's house to help her finish wrapping candied apples that she had made for the kids in Morgan's class. Once we were done there, it was time to go to the school to set up for Trick A Dooring. We put out a touch box with eyeballs (peeled grapes), ears (dried apricots), teeth (unpopped corn kernels), brains (scrambled eggs), and fingers (Vienna sausages). Once everything was set up, Lance and Bennett met us there for the festivities. We went from classroom to classroom, getting candy at each stop. I thought our door was good, but these other doors BLEW OURS AWAY! We didn't think about using the hallway at all, and some of these other classrooms had elaborate tunnels and canopies set up. WOW! I was taking mental notes for next year, now that we know better! It was pretty crazy at the school, with a ton of the kids and their parents and siblings there (this school is K-8!). But, we had a good time and then had to go to eat dinner and get the kids to bed.


After dinner, it was time for a moms night out to the fondue restaurant for dessert. It was fun to hang out with some friends, drink a glass of wine, and unwind over chocolate decadence! I even managed to come home at a decent hour and get to bed at a decent hour. Which is a good thing after a week like I've had!

BOO it forward!

Last night, as we were preparing for my parents' departure, we noticed a little Halloween basket of goodies that had been left in our courtyard. We brought it up to our front porch and left it there for Morgan to find this morning.

She was so excited to find this bucket full of fun stuff for the kids. Two Cinderella pom poms, a Disney coloring book, some candy necklaces, glow in the dark stickers, pumpkin peeps, glow sticks and LOTS of candy all in this cute pumpkin bucket. Immediately, I wanted to know who had delivered it, so my mind went to work trying to figure out who it was.

According to the really cute poem that came in the basket, we have 24 hours to BOO two neighbors. We were to make two copies of the poem and two copies of the BOO sign to deliver with our treats. After dropping Morgan off at school, Bennett and I did the grocery shopping and then came back home to unload before heading to Target to find stuff to "Boo" our friends with. I had decided that I would have to Boo my friends Kristin and Andrea since I wasn't sure if either of them had BOO'd me, and I just wanted to anyway. Then, I decided I should pass it along in the neighborhood and pick two here. I picked Morgan's friend, Nolan, who lives part-time with his Dad across the street and the family down the street who has two older daughters and a son who is just a little older than Bennett. Yeah, I probably spent more money than I should have, but it's nice to do nice things for others. Here are two of the baskets I made for them.


The one on the left is for Nolan and the one on the right is for the family of three. I had so much fun making these baskets and Morgan had so much fun being super sneaky and delivering them to everyone's front porches after school. Unfortunately, we weren't sneaky enough because Kristin already called to see if we left something on her porch. To which I innocently replied, "I have no idea what you are talking about". :) She told me how she had wanted to do this to me, but didn't. So, I really have now I'm even more clueless as to who could have BOO'd us. There are so many different groups that this could have been from - the moms group, church, the charter school, MOPS, the neighborhood, the tennis club, etc. I really have NO IDEA! My husband can attest to the fact that it WILL drive me crazy until I figure out who it's from. :)