It's Fall...you know what that means, right?

It's time to decorate for Halloween and head to the pumpkin patch for some over priced pumpkins!

First we've gotta dig the graves...


Then the graveyard inspectors must determine the gravestones are installed properly

Then the witch gets on her broom and flies away!

The graveyard is ready to be spooked!


Now for the inside of the house...
Every spooky house needs some blackbirds perched on a old jar of arsenic.


And a mantle dedicated to skulls and general creepiness.


I think the spirits here were musically talented.


Once the house had been creepified it was onto the pumpkin patch.

I'd like to say the experience matches the pics you see here.  But basically it was a lot of yelling and complaining.  So we may for go the pumpkin patch experience next fall.  There oughta be an age limit for that kinda of thing.  Instead of charging you for how much the pumpkins weigh they should charge you for how much your kid weighs.  Would eliminate a lot of pumpkin patch grief in my family, I tell you.

So here they are all jack-o-laterned up...lovingly cleaned and carved by moi...once again an overrated childhood experience.  Both kids totally grossed out by the cleaning.  And even though they chose what we all thought were simple designs, they both shut down and begged me to finish it.

But we are ready now to spook and be spooked.

Auld Lang Syne 2011

I've been a bad blogger in 2011.
Very Spotty.
If I may be frank, dear readers (those of you who have stuck around), I do not multi-task very well. I'd like to think that I do. Heavy sigh. But I don't. What I do well is hyper-focus. Let's give a shout out to Attention Deficit Disorder!

So here I am trying to give you a Reader's Digest version of the past year or so. And with my homage to RD it will also be sanitized to avoid dwelling on those parts of 2011 where I or others were not performing at our best. Ugly bits will be left out on purpose. Whining is not an attractive quality. So fasten your seat belts.

Here we go...

In August Gavin entered 5th grade and Anna became a first grader. They both are having a stellar academic year.


Gavin-10 years old
First Day of 5th Grade


Anna Mae-6 years old
First Day of 1st Grade

In September our artist in residence created a treasured birthday card. She truly gives my heart wings.



In October the holiday season commenced with our annual Halloween Party. It kinda surprised me...



But we managed to throw a good "pre-kicker" to Trick or Treating.




Because if you have enough vampire teeth, any party can be a success. Just ask these adorable party goers...


Love, love, love, the owl in perched on her hat.


Gavin and his crew made quite the statement


Anna and her bff, Rachel.

For one Halloween party, Anna went dressed as a Mexican Sugar Skull. Did I mention I love Halloween?



In November we adopted a geriatric dachshund. He's somewhere between the age of 6 and 10 according to the vet. The kids are in love. He's growing on the adults. Anna and Gavin named him Mr. Ollie Wienerkins but to friends and family he's just Ollie.



We traveled to Indiana to be with family on Thanksgiving. This is what traveling in the car for nine hours will do to you.




Thanksgiving day we were with the Kileys. And this pretty much sums up what we did all Thanksgiving Holiday. If only someone were to feed me...and I looked so cute doing it. But currently, sweet Miren has the corner on cuteness.


The Kiley clan's Thanksgiving Feast


Aunt Shannon gave early Christmas gifts to the girls. But the best gift from her was the day before...


I tell you, there was no happier girl in the state of Indiana that day.


The cousins stood still just long enough for me to prove they were all together

Mostly this is what they looked like...


Then it was on to the Gallagher's for Feast #2.

Shenanigans ensued...


And bites of dessert were sneaked...



Great Aunt Libby told the best "knock knock" jokes.


And handsome Phillip and his momma, Aunt Cindy (along with all the other kids) laughed at 'em all.

It was a beautiful autumn full of family, laughter, and life.


Then Christmas sneaked up on us...

There was a Clinton Elementary PTO Winter Wonderland Dance. Pulled off fabulously by fantastic volunteers! Think "controlled chaos". Then the next weekend I had the pleasure of flying to the Windy City to celebrate Christmas with dear old friends from college. Much drinking and inappropriate behavior occurred...and laughter, lots and lots of laughter. So good for the soul, old friends laughing together about the same things they have laughed about for 24 years.

Because nothing says Christmas like anti-diarrheal medicine.

Then came the annual Clinton Christmas Parade...

I'm not sure what they were going for here. Marie Antoinette would be horrified.

And we made what I think will be Gavin's final visit to Santa.

If he's a good big brother it won't be Anna's last.

Christmas arrived.

Santa didn't disappoint.

And we had ourselves a 21st Century Christmas Morning. No eyes were shot out this year. Well, there's always next year.

Then the kids and I packed up and headed to Indiana.


We were given a white Christmas. Sweet gift, Mother Nature. Thank you, dear.

And here we are, 15 days into the new year.
Once again playing catch up with myself. But I wish you all great and wonderful things for 2012.
May you find joy in small things and laugh often.

Fall Fairy House or What to do on a Saturday Afternoon in a Small Town when there is nothing to do

After a chilling fall rain the night before, the day was washed clean and the sky, blue and sunny. And the age old questioned that arises every Saturday morning in our little house arose again without fail, "What are we gonna do with the kids today?". Neither of the parental units were feeling too parental that morning so cartoons would have to do until lunch was the next activity of the day. With lunch done and the dishes cleaned up we were begging them to go outside...please! I evened opened the front door pointing with great momma intimidation to get...out....side...now! When that technique failed to work I succumbed to interacting with them. Yes, mom of the year award once again.

I stepped outside with the kids and looked at the decaying jack-o-lantern. It was then I remembered seeing a fairy house constructed out of a pumpkin. I brought the kids back into the house for a brief moment to review the rules of constructing a fairy house:

• Fairy Houses should look so natural they are almost hidden. A location close to the ground is best.
• You should use only natural materials. Dry grasses, leaves, sticks, pebbles and pine cones are just a few examples of materials to choose.
• Be careful not to use or disturb any of nature's materials that are still living, especially flowers, ferns, mosses and lichen. Fairies do not like to disturb or destroy anything that is growing in nature.

So outside we go to collect natural materials to add to our pumpkin house. Here is some of what we came up with:

Now, I have to confess we used toothpicks to attach some items. But they were once natural material, right? Gavin decided the decaying pumpkin was not too inviting for fairies to sleep in so he gathered very colorful leaves and layed them inside the pumpkin.

He also, I might add, was highly concerned that the lid of the jack-o-lantern would leak on the fairies if it rained. So he gathered leaves that still had their stems attached and stuck them through the lid opening creating a canopy of beautiful deep red leaves on the orange pumpkin. Mother Nature really is a great designer! Anna created the pathway to the house with pebbles and small rocks.

And I created the ladder leading up to the house.

The kids stood back and appreciated their creation. They walked around the tree and peeked around several times to see if they might be able to sneak up on a fairy.

Then I suggested they say a little something to dedicate their house to the fairies. This is what they came up with:

I must say, the magic of childhood is one of the best things about being a parent. And to think I had begrudgingly stepped outside with them. How lucky am I to be given the opportunity to share in that magic? What a gift. We are already planning what our winter fairy house will look like.

May you find some magic today too!

Simple Joys

As the trees and bushes in our little neighborhood grow more and more beautiful every day, I have the joy of looking out our living room window at Mother Nature's splendor. There are many days when I complain and joke about my little house and this little town but all I have to do is look out that window and my soul is soothed. Fall has also inspired Anna and Gavin to play together outside in the leaves. This makes our little house a little bigger giving the grown ups who live here a little more room to breathe every now and then. The previous renters left a rake and the kids decided that was reason enough to rake up some leaves and jump in 'em.

So jumping ensued and screams of pure delight. Their merriment brought us joy. This kind of bliss always sneaks up and surprises me.

And after all the raking and jumping was over I managed to catch a little girl dreaming, perhaps experiencing her own kind of bliss in the leaves and in the fall sky.

I wish you all simple joys this fall.

Haunted Memories...

Well, we got through our first Halloween season in our little town. It wasn't the same without the cousins and Saint Joseph street but we managed to have a good time. Enjoy the show...

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