Halloween . . . not so bad this year

For the past few years, I have felt like an outsider when it comes to holidays, big events, and other things that are significant as you watch your child enjoy her childhood. Halloween last year was one of the hardest. I didn't even attempt to do anything ... there's nothing harder than having great expectations and watching a situation deteriorate, as we've seen happen so many times.

Today we had a good Halloween. One big reason for this is because it was an awesome day here in Michigan, warm and sunny. Honestly, when it comes to fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, I think Michigan is hard to beat ... the traditions surrounding these holidays are well-respected.

And it doesn't hurt that autumn is beautiful here ... on a warm sunny day, the sun hits the fall color and there's this warm golden light, especially at sunset.

Here are the kids playing before trick-or-treating:


(My mantra is to rake one bag of leaves each day ... the leaves are going to overwhelm me soon).

John took a cool picture of Stella by herself, too.


A.J. is really fun this year. He had all of the excitement for the festivities of Halloween, but very little understanding. He and I went to John's office and went trick-or-treating there early this morning. Everytime someone would give him candy, he would pull a different piece of candy from his pumpkin, thinking it was supposed to be a trade? But then he got greedy, and tried to eat every piece of candy as soon as it was given to him.

Here he is before we left:


The crazy thing is that A.J. was supposed to be a dog for Halloween. I bought him the costume at Meijer and immediately put it in the closet. I didn't try it on him until this morning. It didn't even almost fit, even though the tag said it should fit a child his weight. Ugh. So I dug up Stella's lion costume from a few years ago and rolled up the sleeves and pantlegs. He wore it well.

I put Stella's same costume on her that I did last year, and it wasn't that good. I can do better. I don't know if she cares, but it was too baggy on her. I feel guilty because we didn't make it to her classroom Halloween party. I was daunted by the possibility of having to chase both of them amid the chaos of a class party. I feel bad about it. I hope next year A.J. isn't as ornery and can be trusted a little more ...

She enjoyed getting all the candy:


I just took the kids around the neighborhood in the wagon. I used it as a chance to meet some of the people who live on our street. Most of the trick-or-treaters are not from this neighborhood, and they number in the 300s, supposedly. There were kids darting here there and everywhere, and a lot of beat-up cars with exhaust issues (cough cough). And there was one kid in a very scary grim reaper costume. A dark hood and robe, and only red eyes visible ... shiver.

Anyway, I enjoyed getting to meet more of our neighbors. John handed out candy, and we ran out, which is probably a good thing.

I'm hoping for a good Thanksgiving and Christmas. Happy Halloween!

What's Happening

Stella's horseback riding lessons are about ready to wrap up. These lessons have definitely helped improve her strength in her hands and arms, but she hasn't always enjoyed the lessons. The trick is to schedule the lesson earlier than 3 p.m. so she's not too tired. She had a few good lessons in October.

They trained a new horse, Leo, for the lessons and here is Stella riding him:


Here is a closeup of Leo. He's a pretty horse, a lot more spirited, and more fun to ride, I'm guessing:


Stella is also in her second year of swimming lessons. She's still doing pretty well at it. She has many challenges with her coordination, such as trying to swim vertically rather than horizontally, but we work on these issues in OT.

Miss Kathryn, her teacher, is in her last year of teaching swimming, and she's really an excellent teacher. We will miss her when she graduates.


Pictures
We've never had a family picture taken. We haven't had good pictures of Stella since she was 2, and A.J. hasn't had many portraits taken either.

So yesterday, we had a local photographer come to our house to take pictures in our backyard. It was wonderful not having to go anywhere. I've been in J.C. Penney's and Sears before and seen families all dressed up – little girls in velvet dresses and patent leather Mary Jane's, little boys in ties – and thought, "That's not my family!" Our family would be chaos waiting for pictures at J.C. Penney. Stella wouldn't stand for it, and A.J.'s not too easy to control either. I figured a family picture could not be possible for us.

But last year, the president of the CAN Council board recommended Deanna Flora to come take pictures at our auction, and she did so pro bono. I decided to call and ask her if she'd take pictures of our family here at our house, and she was glad to. I'm looking forward to seeing the results. I think we might've gotten some good ones. We weren't able to get one of Stella and A.J. together, but I didn't expect miracles anyway.

John snapped some pictures to document the event. Even though we were in our backyard, the day wasn't without its challenges:

Stella wouldn't look up from her book very often:


A.J. insisted on playing peekaboo:


In other news, I spent Saturday making 3 pies for church. Ugh, I am all tired of pie-making. Though I still have plenty of apples left and John asked "when do I get apple pie?" Luckily John bought me an apple-peeler on Saturday, which helped a lot. The worst thing about apple pie is the peeling.

John also bought me a pretty ring for my 36th birthday, which was Friday. We actually went out, too. We went to see "W," the new Oliver Stone movie. It was a more sympathetic picture of our 43rd president than you might expect. John's favorite aspect of the movie was Richard Dreyfuss's portrayal of Cheney.

I also made 2 batches of my favorite Japanese soup over the weekend, Miso soup. It was delicious. What a relief to be able to have it without spending a fortune at the Japanese restaurant here in town. Just like with guacamole, though, I'm probably going to have to eat gallons of it before I get tired of it.

Have a great week.

Long overdue

I'm sure many of you have checked the blog a few times, wondering when the heck I'm going to put something new up. Well today I've finally gotten to it.

We had a great visit with Joe and Kathy yesterday (Sunday). We are glad they got to come to B.C. before their big trip to Florida. We had a full day of cooking, hanging out, and chasing after the kiddos. Both kids had a great day. It was also a belated celebration of Joe-Dad's birthday, which was Sept. 28th.

A.J., who enjoys watching all the things the guys do, was intrigued by Papa's grilling:


Here are the ribs and chicken we grilled yesterday:


Here he is hanging onto his dada:


A.J. is also intrigued by his dad's getting-ready-for-work routine. Here was so proud when Dad gave him his own tie. He strutted around the house and grinned from ear-to-ear:


On Friday, A.J.'s daycare had a field trip to the apple orchard, and we both went along. We went to Gull Meadow Farms, and had so much fun. It was a cool, crisp fall morning. We picked apples, rode in a wagon, and worked our way through a maze. We also brought home a pumpkin, and stuffed our pockets full of apples ... which went into this:


This is Karmel Apple Pie ... actually caramelized apple pie, a recipe sent to me by Aunt Edie. She got it out of an old-fashioned, old timey cookbook – Farm Journal cookbook, which I think she said belongs to my Grandma Goldie. Anyway, the pie has a mixture of pecans, brown sugar and butter on the bottom -- the Karmelized part, and the apples are on top of that. Delicious! I also used my food processor to make a butter crust. My apologies to Joe-Dad, though ... I know he is trying to get back on his healthy-eating program, and I put this thing in front of him!

Lastly, I visited the eye doctor for the first time in 12+ years. I've always had great vision, but I noticed recently that things were starting to get blurry. Well, the eye doctor confirmed this by prescribing me BIFOCALS! I was pretty stunned by it. Going from 20/20 vision to bifocals ... yikes. But here they are:



When I put them on, I said, "I look like my mom!" Especially in high school, when those pointy frames were in style (or maybe all that was available?). Isn't it true that all things come back in fashion?


Recently John went up north, and on his way home early Friday morning, he snapped this shot, which I think is absolutely beautiful. I love the muted colors and the fog: