music man & horsie cuteness

We owe our weekend parenting sanity to man who calls himself "DJ Tiesto." Nate discovered that if you put on his station on Pandora, the kids magically behave themselves...for HOURS at a time. I'm telling you, it can be 30 minutes past starving and tired, and my children will miraculously turn from crazy banshees into perfect angels. It's downright odd. But do we ask questions? No siree Bob, we do not. We have beliefs about gift horses' mouths around these parts.

DIY holiday fun

Welcome to the October 2012 Simplicity Parenting Carnival: Holidays
This post was written as part of the monthly Simplicity Parenting Carnival hosted by The Lone Home Ranger and S.A.H.M. i AM. This month we are discussing how we simplify the holiday season. Be sure to read to the end to see a list of the rest of the excellent carnival contributors.
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In the past I wouldn't have considered myself the crafting kind. That's an understatement, really. I tried one Martha Stewart craft project in college--creating my own criss-cross ribbon photo board--which was an abysmal failure. Lately, though, I've been enjoying taking up more craft projects with my girls. Perhaps it's the fact that they are so small that makes me adventurous. After all, who cares if a child's art project isn't perfect?

a loaded tootsie: on kids and food bribes

Vivi marched in the door of her school yesterday proudly holding in two hands a sheet of homework--her very first, a page full of scribbled As--and gave it to her teacher, announcing "I get a prize now!" The prize would come at the end of class. I spent the three hours away from her occasionally pondering what the treat could be, and I found myself saying "Please let it not be candy." Upon picking her up I learned the prize was, of course, a tootsie pop. Greaaaat.

on getting old, and the visit of the Hair men

So I go and get all obsessed with farming, and a week goes by, and my family begins sending me the "WTF??" messages, and I finally get motivated to post about our weekend of fun with the men in my family. Despite 32 hours total of driving for them and an unexpected snow storm, we had a great time! Oh, you want more details? Well alrighty then, here we go.

On Saturday morning, I woke up with a small ache in my right trapezoid area. You know that part of the neck that everyone is always wincing and rubbing in those Bengay commercials? It was that area. The ache quickly developed into "I can't move my neck," which sent me into an inner spiraling pre-birthday depression. Why does it seem that in my thirties something falls apart on me right around the time I'm another year older? So yeah, anyway, that happened. I'm totally fine. No debilitating injury, just a little pain followed by a lot of whining.

Bright and early, we met the Hair guys (Dad, Grandaddy, and brother Billy) on the Lexington battle green with a Halloween parade. Then we caught the Liberty Ride trolley bus with a tour guide aboard who took us on a great driving tour of Lexington and Concord and told us amazing facts about the Revolutionary War. I'm a visual learner, so to me this is the best way to learn history. Plus, due to the chilly weather, toddlers in tow, and amount of distance to cover, we saw a tremendous amount more than if we had been on foot.

After the tour, we gathered back at home to warm up, catch some GA/FL football, and eat pizza.

Billy has deposed my dad as king of the Hair men in Vivi's eyes and is her new favorite person in the world. A deserved rank, I might add, as he played with her for six hours straight while the rest of us lounged on couches and called the dawgs. As evening came around, they retreated to the hotel, and we put the tuckered out kids to bed.

Saturday night we had an unreasonable unseasonable snow fall of six wet inches, which stuck to every leaf on every oak. At about 10 o'clock at night, we started hearing huge cracking sounds and made haste for the front porch. Every neighbor around did the same. We all stood motionless in dumb awe on our stoops watching the branches snap, crackle, and pop around us until one of our neighbors--the quiet one, I might add--yelled "F**K!" and turned around to go back inside. Glancing at each other, Nate and I nodded in silent agreement with his simple analysis of the situation and went back inside to wait for the power to go out. There was a huge branch sitting on our power line by then, so we figured it was just a matter of time.

Candles, flashlights, and camping lantern at the ready, we spent a few uneasy hours holding our breath until we finally grew exhausted and retired to bed, assuming we'd wake up if something bad happened. Thankfully, we somehow have averted the disaster of a power outage and are still, a week later, waiting for the power company to move the branch and repair the line.

On Sunday morning, my dad drove Billy down to see his girlfriend in Rhode Island, and then when he returned we made haste to Boston to see the USS Constitution in the Charlestown Navy Yard. Unfortunately they weren't giving guided tours that day, but they allowed us to stroll aimlessly about the cabins and deck and take pictures. It was beautiful! After several strange questions about finding a seat, we finally figured out that Vivi was very confused; she assumed we had climbed aboard this ship to go somewhere and was growing restless at our seeming stupidity about finding a seat and buckling in for the journey.

We were sorry to see them leave so soon but very glad they made the trip to see us. It was one of those trips where at the end of the second long car ride, everyone says "that was worth it, but I never want to do it again." There's just something about sitting through Connecticut traffic that does it to a beleaguered traveler.

Yee Ha-lloween!

We had a fun-filled Halloween week. I say week because I got Vivi dressed in her cowgirl get-up four times. It began on Thursday with her pre-school party. Then Friday we went to Nate's office for their party, which was lots of fun. I got to see his office and meet many of colleagues, and they hired a balloon animal guy who made Vivi a pony to go with her costume. Saturday morning was Lexington's Halloween parade, during which Vivi got to meet Elmo. When Elmo started walking toward town, Vivi postulated that he must be going to get himself a cup of coffee.

The girls and I spent Halloween afternoon at Wilson farm near our house, which seemed a fitting way to celebrate the holiday given their cow and cowgirl costumes.

We adore this farm because it sells fantastic food at great prices and makes an attempt to stay connected to the community through constant family-oriented events. Yesterday was no exception; they pulled out the stops with a spooky hayride, trick-or-treating with a choice of local apples or candy corn, and hot fresh apple cider donuts.

They are also known for their pre-made meals and recipe ideas. We each tasted samples of homemade turkey and mashed heirloom butternut squash (I'll add this simple, to-die-for recipe later in the week). Charlotte squealed for more after every bite, causing other shoppers to wander over and see what the fuss was about. Someone joked they should keep her around the tasting area as a salesgirl! We ended our trip by stopping by the portrait tent for a shot to win the costume contest.

As soon as we got home, Vivi and I scrambled to get our Halloween decorations up. We hung up homemade t-shirt ghosts and put up a scarecrow we picked up at Wilson farm. Within minutes, we had our first trick-or-treater, a boy dressed as a skeleton. Vivi hid around the corner because she was so afraid of his costume! I was glad we had chosen not to take her out in our neighborhood, since his was one of the least scary costumes I saw that night.

As I suspected, we had lots of trick-or-treaters. Most had great costumes, my favorite being the brother and sister dressed as Jack Sparrow and Keira Knightly (or whatever her character's name is), complete with Victorian corset dress. Toward the end, we had our obligatory share of teenagers dressed in sheets or holding hockey sticks. It was a great night, and the only thing I would change next time would be not to decide to make labor-intensive potato-leek soup while having to answer the door every two minutes.

October bliss

We're enthusiastically continuing on our merry way through this October sent from Heaven. After a few days of rain, this weekend was once again wonderfully 60's and dry. I am happy to report that leaves aren't yet at their peak; we are eagerly anticipating a long weekend with David, Caroline, and Edie and want the changing colors' perfection to strike in T minus 3 days. But the maples are just starting to turn, which made for a pleasant two days of hiking trips.

These pictures are from a Saturday trip an hour west to Leominster State Forest; we didn't mind the long drive as it meant we got to hear some of our favorite NPR programming. At the very end of our hike there were huge thunderclaps immediately followed by heavy showers, so we had a harried run back to the car. Of course the girls thought it was hilarious that Mommy and Daddy were running through the woods. Then Sunday we stayed closer to home and walked around the long pond at the Middlesex Fells Reservation; as always, we were happily greeted by a gazillion giddy dogs and their owners.

Vivi informed us that it's time to decorate for Halloween, and she demanded requested ghosts and a jack-o-lantern so far. I think her list will grow based on our neighbors' creations. We accomplished the pumpkin carving yesterday, and today I'm in search of an old white sheet to start cutting ghost squares.

Last night I made us a yummy semi-vegetarian dinner, which I will tell you more about in a rare second-post moment later in the day today. The high point in cooking dinner was when I decided to wet my whistle with a dark 'n stormy. The low point in cooking dinner was when, half my drink guzzled, I mistook the glass of chicken stock to be my cocktail. Reader, this is not a mistake you make twice.

In other weekend news, I found a picture of my childhood bangs and updated my post on the subject, lest you call me an exaggerator. I also updated our mantel with more fall accessories. I read my Thanksgiving Food and Wine magazine cover to cover in less than two days, which is my all-time record. And finally, I am enjoying the online magazine for moms called Babble; this week they posted their Top 50 Design Blogs for Mom.

Wonder Woman's beauty secrets

Got your Halloween costumes ready yet? Vivi is going as a cowgirl, both because of Jessie from Toy Story and because of the "Every Cowgirl" children's stories. I'm slowly gathering pieces from around the house and thrift stores for the big day. I'm all for homemade costumes for older kids instead of buying the expensive, cheaply-made kind.

I love his expression. "Yup, it's me. Batman."

Girls are especially fun to dress up since women don't get to do much "dress-up" any more as adults. Have you seen the "Breakfast at Tiffany's" look that has been bouncing around Pinterest lately? Too cute! Though I'm a sucker for making our own costumes, I gotta say I think the trend of putting babies in store-bought pumpkin or animal costumes is adorable. Charlotte is going as a cow, which was Vivi's costume a few years back (a hand-me-down of a hand-me-down I got at a consignment sale).

Love it! I will of course document the entire occasion, including the candy loot and any meltdowns, should they occur. I'm just glad we didn't go with any of these options. Really, parents? Really?! #Fail.

 To get you pumped for Halloween, here are some costumes displaying my own former glory. Most are from summer camp. Much silliness had by all.

Little known fact about Wonder Woman: control top hose.

Decade Day

Tomb Raider, Hulk, Wolverine, Britney Spears?

Me as a bunny, circa 1983. Don't I look excited?

My BFF AnnaLysa wins the award for best homemade costumes. Some of my favs...

Spiderwoman, with Billie Holiday and Michael Jackson in the background.

Troll!

Since Nate refuses to participate in Halloween (I know, what's the deal? I've made much ado about this in the past), I have to catch him being silly when the rare moments occur.

Exhibit A:

In Kenya, delivering used clothes to families. Boys will be boys.
Or in this case, boys will dress up like soccer moms.

Exhibit B:

Nate's 21st, I think. Where did he get this wig?

And here's an actual Halloween picture of him, maybe the last one he dressed up for. I love the use of the sweatshirt as a cape and the shorts over black sweatpants. Great homemade costume!

Circa 1984.

Our neighborhood is already very festive, so I'm guessing the kids will turn out in droves come Halloween. Thing I love about modern Halloween decorations: the lights! Running in the evening in October has always been a beloved pastime, and it just got even betterer. Thing I do not love about modern Halloween decorations: giant inflated pumpkins and ghosts that run on electricity. "Hello, we're Americans, and we love wasting power!"

We've got big Halloween weekend plans, but not of the traditional kind. My dad, brother (and maybe his girlfriend from Rhode Island...no, really), my brother's BFF, and my grandfather are all trekking up to Boston in my Grandaddy's BMW for a visit. I'm thrilled they are coming, but no more excited than my daughter who tells me no less than five times a day, "Pssst. Mommy, I have a secret. Grandpa Jim is coming in three weeks!"

What are your kids going to be this year? Got costume parties planned? I can't wait to hear what pop culture references ya'll use for costumes so I can live vicariously. Allow me to share some ideas for Britney Spears costumes I stumbled upon. I can't decide if this is satire or serious. Unfortunately, I think it might be fo' shizz. Check out step #7 on the first look: "Ask a friend to take a marker and draw diamond-shaped designs on your chest."And hey, while you're at it, don't forget to ask her to write "T-O-O-L" on your forehead.

Ever hear Seinfeld's bit on Halloween? Hysterical, but not at all funny in book form as it turns out.