Double double toil and trouble....

Double double toil and trouble...

dress like a witch and fly to school on the double.

bring with us a decorated tray of fruit...

made to look amazingly cute.

Carve a pumpkin and add a hat...

place it by the doorway mat.

excited to go to trick or treat...

enjoy the candy - her most FAVORITE thing to eat!

Hope Everyone Had a Very Happy Halloween!

(the fruit platter was very cute - but in my hurry I never got a picture of the final... it was great though I promise)

Trike-A-Thon Thank Yous...

Today was the big trike-a-thon for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. I know you received your table-side deliveries but I wanted to send another big thank you to everyone for your generous donations to a great cause!

 They should really investigate trike-a-thons for adults, because I so would do that in a second. 

:-) 

Journey to the Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday Morgan had her first school field trip at a local pumpkin patch. 

There was a hay ride... 

..and corn maze...  

...pumpkin picking (this took her a while to choose just the right one)...

... and one very happy group of kids...

It was cold... and there was a small batch of snow flurries but overall it ended up being a good trip to the pumpkin patch. 

I also happened upon my own fabulous find (photo to come later). I could not help but zoom in on a turkey shaped squash - totally natural... And, then I could not help but buy the bumpy little thing (after the kids packed up of course). It's going to be such a great little Thanksgiving craft project. 

The Year of the Ugly Witch

With Halloween quickly approaching it's costume time! About a month ago Morgan said she wanted to be a witch and she has stuck to her choice - not wavering one bit, which is the first time that has happened in terms of costume options. 

We went on the costume purchasing expedition tonight and it indeed turned into an expedition - who knew finding a simple witch costume would be SO tough. There were witch costumes to be had, but all of them were frilly / shiny / pretty / etc... all of these things that normally make Morgan a very happy child do not make the perfect costume when she wants to be an "ugly witch". 

Luckily she is growing older and has a greater understanding and level of patience. We went to three stores and finally decided it was late, cold, and past a normal dinner time - all adding up to heading home. I assured her that we would find her ugly witch costume and that we could look on the computer after dinner. She agreed and also chose to head home for dinner - can I just say how much I love the reasoning and understanding that comes with age!

We were successful in our search and found her ideal simple / ugly witch costume, orange stripe tights, and a broomstick. Because every witch MUST have a broomstick. We're going to embellish the broom with spiderwebs and other creepy things and I have also promised to paint her nails black. We'll also explore the world of green face paint - but will have a trial run to see how that works and how she feels with that amount of make up spackled to her face.

It will be great to see it all come together. I  loved being a witch for Halloween (and I always secretly hoped my broomstick could really fly) - can costume preferences be genetic??? 

ps - this is yet another instance that confirms my hobby interest - I need to learn the magical art of the sewing machine!

Workin' Hard for the Money

I am in the midst of a personal finance class - one of the most recent topics being kids and money.  It, combined with a recent request for a Jonas dog,  inspired me to implement a new cash for chores program for Morgan.  May I introduce: 

and 

Morgan now has a list of 5 tasks she can complete each week. 

Two of them are once a week gigs and bigger tasks hence the higher value. The others are every day items... The reasoning behind the paper money is two-fold. One, I have something to give her on the spot (a suggestion in the class for small people - so they can see the immediate reward). Two,  I am rarely if ever in possession of actual cash - although I am sure I will be better about that from now on. And, the conversion of quarters into dollars could be a pain later - so this will just add up to dollars at the end of the week, month, etc... 

Her new cash for chores system allows her to use the money both to save and to buy things she wants. I think it will be interesting to see if she still wants the $25 dog after she has to work for a few weeks and wait to earn the money. 

Overall I am hoping that she will learn a few things from this process - 

* helping around the house and a sense of personal responsibility

* that it takes money to buy things and real work to earn the money

* patience.... she is actually fairly patient, but I think this could further that virtue

So far she is very excited to do chores and asks for extra chores above and beyond those listed on the chart. She was quite helpful in her room cleaning yesterday and with her bed sheet laundering. The only thing I wonder is - when does a quarter stop being "a lot of  money" to a little person... :-) 

The first day of the rest of her life....

No, not Morgan's (this is a slight detour from Morgan)... This is about Grandma... 

Grandma, as of Sept. 30th at 5 p.m. is officially a retired woman - YAY x 1,000,000.... 

I know she is beyond happy and we are equally as happy for her.  After 35 + years a rest is well-deserved. 

CONGRATULATIONS Mom / Grandma / Lady with a whole lot more free time now... :-)  

BINGO with a Chance of Meatballs...

The new library program for Fall is based on the BINGO game. Each child signs up and gets a BINGO card with different activities to complete (based on age range). After you get a BINGO you can show the card and get a new book, but you can also keep playing and for every BINGO you get  you are entered to win a bigger prize. 

Sunday allowed us to have some serious progress on the BINGO board. We were able to cross off: 

* Go to a different library location than you normally visit 

* Attend a library program 

The location we picked was offering a dinosaur based theme - they read a couple of books, showed pictures of some fossils and then let the kids make their own fossils.  

* Read a Caldecott Award Book 

* Read Goodnight Moon

and then... 

*Watch a movie based on a book 

Perfect timing because Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs just came out...I of course had to make spaghetti and meatballs for dinner afterward.... 

Before the movie there was a preview reminder of Where the Wild Things Are coming out in October and I am super excited about this movie.  a) because it looks to be done well and b) I just can't help but like a movie right out of the gate that plays one of my ALL TIME favorite songs.. Wake Up by Arcade Fire - love love love this song.