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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.

While the Cats Are Away...

... the mice will play.

The boys are back in school which means all attention is on Mia!  Today we met our music friends at Como Zoo.

The girls made tons of discoveries in this tank.  It's the perfect height for them.  The saw a star fish moving it's tube feet to crawl across the bottom of the tank.  It even, possibly accidentally, crawled over a snail!

First Day at Edgerton Elementary

Today is the first day of school at our new school, Edgerton Elementary.  Both boys begrudgingly but dutifully wore collars and something other than nylon athletic shorts.  Evan will be in first grade this year!  He will only have 18 kids in his class plus both kids will have music, art and gym on a three day rotation.

Owen is going into third and will be in a 3rd/4th grade mixed classroom.  There are 31 kids in his class, which is a lot but not any different than what he's use to.
Owen was super excited this morning to get out to the bus stop with his friends,
 
but once there only smiled after Evan squeezed his cheeks, made silly faces, and whacked him with his lunch box.

 Here's the bus stop crew.  May the sun shine down on you today.

 Last night Jim overheard the boys talking before they went to sleep.  Owen said he was, "a little nervous being a new school, new teachers, and all."  He asked Evan if he was nervous.  Evan said, "The only thing I'm nervous about is the bus and music class."

 Grandma Connie came to stay with Mia this morning so I could be there to help Evan get off the bus and find his classroom.  I was glad I was there since the three older kids go in a different entrance than him.  Once inside he found his hook right away.  I snapped a quick picture of him and his awesome teacher.  Mr. Sauter sent a special surprise home with us after Meet the Teacher night.  It was a note, stapled shut, that said, "Do not open until the night before the first day of school.  Until then, no peeking!"  Inside was a sweet poem about being excited or nervous and not being able to sleep, with some magic confetti to put next to the bed to help him sleep.  The end of the note said that he would have to use the confetti too because he was so excited to meet Evan.  Owen decided he probably needed the magic of the confetti too.  AND, not only that, but Mr. Sauter is a Wisconsin sports fan and a former Badger.  I'm going to love this teacher.

 After leaving Evan in the very capable hands of Mr. Sauter, I went over to see if Owen made it to his room.  Not only was he already in his room, but he was seated and ready to go.  I didn't want to disrupt since the kids were already engaged in this 3rd/4th grade combo room.  He's going to do great!

When I got home, Mia was ready to do her job for the day: play.  First on the agenda was a kayak ride to the park with Mommy & Grandma.

 Then we made a trip to Costco where Mia picked out her Halloween Costume: Power Ranger.  She decided to wear the costume to welcome the boys home from school.  At least most of the costume.  She is already missing one shoe cover.

 As the boys walked across the street, Evan was already telling me that he made 2 friends today!  But, he can't remember their names.  One begins with an H and the other a B.  He eventually came up with Hector for the H, but he an Owen argued about the B for most of the evening.

Owen said he didn't talk to anybody in class and didn't make any friends, but upon further investigation it turns out a kid up the street who is friends with our neighbor and played football this summer is in his class.  They played together at recess.  Then he told me that the kid was sent out of class twice today.  I was concerned until Evan said that he also got sent out of class today!  Yep.  For talking while the gym teacher was giving directions.  Turns out he was really only giving polite responses to the kid talking to him (as confirmed by the teacher who called tonight!!!!) but a precedence must be set.  Evan made him an apology card tonight and tomorrow he's going to work on better listening and learning the names of his new friends.

Owen's 1st Official Football Game EVER

 Owen has loved football since he started school.  The kids would play at recess at Farnsworth.  He watched them for months, studying everything they did before he finally joined in.  He's like that.  He observes and then dives in.  

Owen and Evan both took football camp this summer and had a blast.  They met a lot of kids who go to school in Roseville.  They enjoyed it so much that they asked to sign up for league.  Roseville starts tackle football in 3rd grade.  He's playing for the Seahawks.  I went to the practices.  They gave him his number - 56.  (The numbers increase based on the size of the player.)  I watched them run plays and tackle a dummy.  I thought I was ready.  He seemed calm.  Nobody was getting hurt.

 But when the day arrives, I was a bit of a wreck.  See, my kid is big.  Jim is 6'5".  My dad is 6'4".  Owen is 8 and wears a size 10/12.  So, of course, they put him on the line.  He's a tackle or a linebacker or something where he's face to face with the opponent.  He was nervous too.  The game started at noon, but we were there an hour early, so I brought lunch of course.  I couldn't get a single kid to eat a cracker or even a cookie.  They were all a bundle of nerves.

 They had no reason to be.  From the very first kick, they played great!

 They recovered the ball right away.  Their spirits were high. The adrenaline was up.

 Coach ran their best play.  

A reversal or scissors or something... I'm learning here people... and they took it down for a touchdown!

The rest of the first half went pretty much the same way.  After the touchdown, the other team fumbled.  Owen recovered the ball.

We only had one injury and it wasn't really an injury.  His dad was sitting next to me and explained that he'd never been hit before (either has Owen) and he probably was startled that it actually kind of hurts.  Oh, these kids are just babes!

 After half time, we were up 14 - 0 (or 14 donut as the guy next to me would say) and the coach started making some subs.

 He put Owen in as center.  I was finally relaxed, getting into the game and all of a sudden the nerves were back.  Owen has never snapped the ball before.  Not even in practice.  The first snap, he kind of messed up, but it was OK because the ref called the whistle on the other team.  After that he pretty much handed the ball back to the QB.

 It almost wasn't fair.  The other team was hefty, but they were so much shorter than our guys.  We have three linemen who are even taller and bigger than Owen.  

 

See the one here smacking his fist!?  Is intimidation fair play?

We scored a couple more times.  I think the final score was 31-0.  They don't really focus on the score, which I like.

 There was no big celebration or sulking by the teams when they were done.  They did the obligatory "good game" line

and dragged their tired bodies back to their parents.

I asked Owen if he had fun and he said, "Yeah."   I asked him if he wanted a cookie and he said, "Nah."  He's a man of few words, but he says what he means.

Playdates - Few and Far Between

 In between the craziness of camps, reunions, and graduations, we found a few quiet moments this summer to just play.

Our neighbor Ana came over one morning with bubble wands.  She and Mia made beautiful bubbles while sitting in our white pine.

The Smiths joined us for a swim day at Lake Gervais, the lake near our house,

and then a few weeks later for a playdate at the Children's Museum.

After juggling our schedules, we finally joined the Yeagers and Knights for a trip to Crystal Caves.  It was a pretty hot day.  I did not think about how cold it would be underground so we ended up with 3 new sweatshirts...

in addition to some bags of pretty rocks that we sifted after the cave tour.

On the way home we hit A & W.  This is something we definitely need to do more often.  Nothing beats root beer in a cold, frosty mug on a hot, sunny day.

This has nothing to do with play dates, but Mia is also taking dance this summer for the first time.

20 Year DDHS Reunion

After 6 months of preparing, and falling WAY behind on this blog, my class reunion has finally arrived.  The committee planned a daytime, family-friendly picnic at the park where, as kids, we swam, played baseball, and had carnivals.  It was fun to see all the Mini-Mes running around filling water balloons.  My kiddos hid in the shadows tossing the football around, but I was glad to have them there.  The committee did such a great job on fundraising, that we were able to provide free food at the picnic!

In between the picnic and evening festivities, there was a high school tour.  I skipped that this time so I could change (it was sweaty hot!) and help set up.  My partner in crime and loooooong time friend, Becca, and I managed the check-in table.  Those books on the table are the prime reason I am so behind on this blog.  I collected and edited pictures and bios from classmates, searched for senior photos, scanned old school activity photos, and made a memorial page for those few classmates who have passed on.  Then I added advertisements designed by another committee member and tried to align the whole thing into a power point file that was sent to a printer in Idaho.  The books ended up costing less than $4 a book and looked AWESOME if I do say so myself.  But, phew!  I am glad it's done.

Finally after check in, I was able to do a little socializing.  Love this sneaky photo Jim took.  It was really fun for me to catch up with classmates and hear what they are up to now.   I think I've only been "home" 5 or 6 times since my folks moved 19 years ago.

Becca alerted me that it was starting to get dark and if we were going to take a group photo, we better hurry up and do it.  Jim tried to tell me it was too late, that there was no way I could get all the classmates organized before sunset.  Oh yeah?  I told him to give me 10 minutes.  It took me less than 5.  I finally found a use for my cheerleader skills.  I used my booming teacher/cheerleader voice with the help of a microphone to call out individuals to "head to the hill."  And they listened!  I love our class.

Jim always asked me what "group" I was in in high school.  I could never explain to him that that's not how our class was.  Yeah, we had our good friends.  There were athletic kids that hung together and farmers and whatever, but - at least I never felt - that anyone would ever exclude somebody.  I went to bonfires with farmers.  I went to games with athletes.  I hung out with other band members.  Anybody could.

After the reunion, we headed to a bar downtown.  Jim ended up getting the same story from a guy I didn't know very well in high school.  He told Jim, "It didn't matter who you were (in our class.)  We all just got along."  The thing is, I didn't know this guy very well, but when we saw each other that night, we hugged like old friends.  We have a commonality.  

When we were in middle school, our principal was killed in a hunting accident, our 6th grade math teacher developed a brain tumor and died while we were in high school.  Our sophmore year, a classmate, loved by us all, was killed in a car accident that killed another high school student and injured two of our other classmates.  Maybe these experiences made us realize that life was too short for petty disputes or childish games of snobbery.

The night of the reunion, at that bar, my hair was a sweaty mess.  I desperately needed a hair tie (because there was no way I was going to stop dancing!)  Another classmate who I didn't know very well, took two bobby pins from her hair and whipped my hair into a bun that withstood all my rockin' moves. LOL  Two minutes later another classmate showed up with a hair tie that he had gone out to his truck to get.  I haven't seen either of them since graduation day.  So much love, I tell ya.

So, anyway, I had a great time.  We stayed out late.  My folks came down to Delavan to be with the kids while we were at the adults-only dinner.  We stayed at Lake Lawn Lodge where my parents and I all worked at one point during our days in Delavan.  Owen stayed in my parents' room that night.  My mom stayed in our room with the other two until we got home.  Mia slept with us so you can imagine how rested and happy I was when the above photo happened at 7:30 a.m.!!!  The cars for the Antique Auto Show started rolling down the grass with their old engines roaring and the MC directing traffic.  Owen and my dad went out early and took a look around.  I was glad that I didn't have to join them.  Old cars are not really my thing.

When we finally did get moving and checked out, we took the kids to see some of the circus monuments downtown.  Delavan is known as the original circus town in Wisconsin, although Baraboo has the International Clown Hall of Fame.

Luckily somebody was using their head when they picked our team mascot and did not make us the clowns.  Instead we were the Comets.  Different, but at least not laughable.

After the park, we drove past my old house.  The same people who bought it from us still live there.  The trees have grown, the neighborhood has expanded.  How much is relative.  In my mind the neighborhood spreads all the way from Delavan to St. Paul and out to L.A. and down to Florida.  All the places where my classmates have gone to build their lives and start their families.  Looking at it that way, it really is a small world.