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Halloween 2013 & The Drama Surrounding Costumes

Mia was the first to pick out her costume.  We were at Costco right after school started.  There was a long row of princess costumes, but she set her eyes on the pink Power Ranger and that was it.  She greeted the boys when they got off the bus that day with one foot cover on and one fist held high.

Evan said he wanted to be a skeleton.  I said that was fine as long as I could find one that glowed in the dark.  I have this thing about my kids not running around outside in the dark of winter while wearing all black.  While I love our neighborhood, we don't have sidewalks or good lighting.  But I needn't worry about Evan.  Last week I dug out our costume box for a birthday party and Evan decided he wanted to wear Owen's old raccoon costume.

Owen declared he was not dressing up... again.  For some reason he thinks it is acceptable to go door to door asking for candy without a costume.  He's 8.  And, of course, I "won't let him be anything scary anyway."  Well, most scary things are black, so he has a point there.  Plus, he has a 4 year old sister and some of our neighbors are elderly.  Anyway, two night ago we finally came with a compromise.  I said he could go as the Grim Reaper if he let me put reflective tape on the back of his robe.  And although Mia has croup, I ran to three stores today trying to find a black robe and a scythe.  I'm sure he will not appreciate that until he's at least 30.

Once I got his make-up done, he got kind of excited.  He wanted to ring door bells and stand in front of the door completely deadpan.  Eric, our neighbor and friend from college, didn't mind, but we had to put the kibosh on it when we got to less familiar neighbors.

About an hour into our trek, Jim had to take Mia back to the house.  She is still pretty weak from the croup.  I think Owen was getting tired too because he started declaring that next year he was not going to wear a costume.  Out of the dozens of kids we saw with cool costumes, most who were older than my kids, there were two teenagers with ambiguous costumes.  *sigh*  Well, I don't have to fight that battle again for 364 days.  Until then, who wants to trade their Milk Duds for some Dots?

Ew and Lovers of Goo: Variations in Pumpkin Carving

 

 This weekend, right before the Packers creamed the Vikings, we carved our pumpkins.  Mia has been helping me cook in the kitchen since she was old enough to stand on a chair, so she doesn't mind getting messy.

 Evan mostly enjoyed exaggerating his disgust.  He gets his drama from his mama.

 They all needed a little help getting the goo scraped,

 but I let them do the scooping.  Blech!

 Owen ditched out before his was finished.  You would think by the condition of his room, backpack, and desk, that he wouldn't mind getting messy.  You would be wrong.  At halftime I made him come back upstairs and draw his pumpkin face.  His pumpkin was so tough though that Jim had to carve it.

 Mia decided she wanted me to draw hers and then she would paint it.

Mia's 1st Day of Preschool

The long wait is finally over for my go-getter daughter.  Today she starts pre-school.  I have often talked about how my boys like to sit back and watch.  Mia, on the other hand, is always up for whatever it is you are doing.  She reminds me of my grandma in that way.  Before Evan started elementary school, he, Mia & I would drop Owen off at school in the morning.  Every morning as we drove away Evan would ask, "Are we going home?"  If the answer was "yes," he would say, "Yesssss!" and Mia would cry out, "Nooooo."  She just wants to go go go.  And today is her day.

We stopped outside the school for the traditional first day photo.

When we came in the room, the kids were sitting in a circle.  This wasn't what I expected since in the past every class started with exploratory play.  I felt bad that we weren't one of the first ones there.  I wanted to take a picture of Mia in her cubby and checking out the room, like I had for the boys.  Instead we made the walk across the room to the circle, all eyes on us, my anxiety about the situation and my embarrassment flaring for not being early.  Mia squeezed into a spot that was left and I said a soft goodbye.  I turned back and realized that it was only me feeling anxious.  She was fine.  In fact, she is use to starting class in a circle from ECFE.  I quietly went out the door and looked back... she did not.  With a mix of feeling happy, sad, relieved, lonely, free, and over-protective, I snapped my photo and left.

When I came back, she was in her cubby.  She told me she played in the sand box and painted.  She wondered where I was and why my shirt was different (I was working at the consignment sale.)  Since we hadn't before class, we took a second to take out her items to keep at school.

Then we went around saying goodbye and thank you to the teachers, as we always do.

When she came to Kristenza, she said she was a baby chicken.  Kristenza was there at Meet the Teacher day.  While we talked to David, she showed Mia the chickens.  Mia was fascinated by how they walk freely in and out the door.  I think she's going to like Dodge.

Evan's Flag Football Team

Evan wanted to play football.  He wished he could play tackle like Owen, but Roseville does flag for 1st & 2nd graders.  They spend the first half of the time practicing and the second half playing a game.  The flag kid's teams are named after college teams.  Evan is on the Oklahoma Sooners.  He missed the first game because he was Up North.  And I only had my phone with at the second game, so these pictures are actually from Game 3.

 

  We got to practice on our first day at the designated time, but they were already setting up to start the game.  Apparently, the coach told me, everyone shows up a half an hour early.  Evan was a little confused.  No introductions were made.  Just, "Here's your flag belt.  Stand here.  Guard him."  Evan gave his opponent a proper stare down.  He's pretty good at watching.

 Today he started the game with gusto.  He dove for the flags.  He nearly got one twice!  Defense is definitely his strength.

 

As soon as they switched, Coach Eland decided to have Evan hand off the ball.  Apparently nobody can move until the ball has been handed off.  Maybe I just never realized this because usually the ball is quickly handed off.  Sometimes during this game, the ball handler would turn around to pass the ball off and nobody would take it.  It was like they were all saying, "Not it."  Ball handling is definitely a skill they are all working on.

 

Let's try that again.

One thing I love about watching this age group is that sometimes they forget they are playing the game instead of watching the game.  (Note the yellow players in the picture above and Evan in this video.) So we find things to cheer for no matter what happens in the play.