PUMPKIN CARVING GHOUL-ORE!

Okay, we’re carving away! Superman and the kids got started on their pumpkins last night, and today we’re finishing things up.

Here’s Nathan’s so far:

Here’s Rene’s:

And here’s Superman’s.

He has a strange talent for this.

(He also likes to make the biggest mess.):

And here’s my project. Mom gets to roast the pumpkin seeds:

So we’re workin’ away, here! I’ll take some more when they’re all done and lit for the night.

Until then, let’s see Superman’s cool ghoul once more.

(I might have to hire him out next year…):

 

FOTO FRIDAY: LOVIN’ DISNEY HALLOWEEN DECOR NO. 3

Jack Head in Urn - Disney's Haunted Mansion

 

THANKFUL THURSDAY: LOVIN’ DISNEY HALLOWEEN DECOR NO. 2

Can you guess where in Disneyland this one is?

 

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: LOVIN’ DISNEY HALLOWEEN DECOR NO. 1

Spooky-Cute Cemetery, Disney's Haunted Mansion

 

REMEMBERING 9/11

I always feel melancholy on the anniversary of 9/11. In addition to feeling so bad for all the families who are going on eight years without their loved ones, it makes me remember how alone we can feel.

On 9/11/01, I had just started staying home with my children as a stay-at-home mom, and I walked them to the elementary school, then walked the baby home in the stroller, and when I got home I had the strangest urge to turn on the television. And when I saw what was happening, I felt strangely, oddly, alone. Because I didn’t know. The nation was in chaos and scared, and I had no idea. And I was alone. And no one said anything to me as I was walking the baby home! And I just left my children at school.

It was very scary to feel so clueless, and not to have another adult there to talk to. I felt so terrible for all those people, and their families, and so unsure about what was happening, and I just wanted to talk to someone about it. And I thought, wow, people must have been listening to this on their car radios and thinking gee, that poor woman walking with the stroller over there, she has no idea. And I would have continued to have no idea if I hadn’t had that odd urge to turn on the television when I got home. It was a strange realization of how isolated you can be as a SAHM. Needless to say, I always turned on the morning news after that.

I blogged about our nation’s collective memories of 9/11 over at Health Bistro today. I’d love to hear your comments (over there). Where were you when you realized what was happening? Did you have someone to talk to? Do your memories help you on these remembrance days? Please visit the post here and let me know. I’d really love to hear your story.

 

THE BEST PART OF BIRTHDAYS

I had a really fabulous birthday weekend!

As I posted here, I was able to spend the whole, long 4th of July weekend at a terrific little “beach getaway” with my sister-in-law, nephew, and my hubby and kids. Then I took a few additional days off and just enjoyed the time to officially welcome summer.

The best part of birthdays, though, is always what cute things my kids do. The teens are older, now, and not as silly (although I have many fond memories of seranades with 4th grade violin-playing, “concerts” performed by grade-schoolers, and breakfast in bed run by a “restaurant” of people under 4 feet tall).

But Nate is still of an age where he wants to put together “special” table decorations and make the day really memorable. He will run out into the front yard to find hibiscus or daisies and put them in little vases (usually a drinking cup from the cupboard). This picture was from a previous birthday when he set the coffee table up like a restaurant, complete with a comforter as a tablecloth.

Here were my favorite things from this year:

• Having Nate turn around when we were on Balboa Pier (and I was a victim of some fierce winds off the pier, with my hair “twist” falling down and my bangs blowing all over the place) and saying, “You look really pretty, Mom, with your hair all *made a motion all around his head.*”

 

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITES FOR THE 4TH OF JULY?

Hi, all!

I’m blogging over at Health Bistro today about the Top 5 Ways to Celebrate the 4th of July.

I just love the 4th of July! I love the flags, the flip-flops, the corn on the cob, the watermelon, the bike parades, the smell of the grill. … The boys and I ride bikes over to the lake to see the fireworks. Come on over to Health Bistro and tell me what your favorite aspects are!

 

YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE OSCARS …

I thought I’d open this post up to you: What did you enjoy about the Oscars last night? What surprised you?

• My list of surprises would have to start out with the fact that Hugh Jackman could sing!
• I also enjoyed the dresses: everyone looked beautiful.
• I was happy that Heath Ledger won.
• I was excited about Slumdog Millionaire winning, but I haven’t seen it (so now I’ll have to do so!).
• Lastly, I really liked that they had the previous winners come and “present” the new winners one by one — nice touch.

What about you?

 

COUNTDOWN TO THE SUPER BOWL

Some people may shake out their Steelers jerseys. Others may scan the position breakdowns. Others may scour sports blogs or review point spreads. But I do none of these things. I have more important things to deal with: like what type of chips I should bring and whether I should chop or mince the onions for the artichoke dip. …

 

Here’s my own personal Super Bowl countdown:

 

• 4 days before: Review complicated process for buying betting squares; discuss with coworkers; decide to buy two squares, even though my money would probably be better spent on the artichoke dip.
• 3 days before: Double-check with sister-in-law about what she wants me to bring to the party. E-mail Lauran from the book club to get the mac-in-cheese recipe that I will probably be asked to bring.
• 2 days before: Pick up brother-in-law at John Wayne airport. Note that he misses Christmas; he misses Thanksgiving; but he never misses a Super Bowl with his brothers.
• 1 day before: Scour the e-vite sis-in-law sent to find out who the players are. Skip names like Kurt Warner and Ben Roethlisberger; look instead for party guest names. (Did you really think I cared who the quarterbacks were? Stay with me, here, people. …)
• Day of: Ask my son (for the fourth time) who exactly is playing again? File into brain the fact that the Phillies is a baseball team, not a football team. Stand in kitchen with brother-in-law while he makes gumbo and manage to not bring up once that I don’t even know what state the teams will be playing in. Scoop up chip bags, artichoke dip, mac-and-cheese, and gumbo into car with hubby/ kids/ bro-in-law and head toward fun guests and great conversation at Super Bowl party. Have great time. …

 

What about you? What does your big countdown entail?

 

 

 

LET’S MAKE NON-RESOLUTIONS

I hate to be one of the five gazillion bloggers blogging about new year’s resolutions this week, but … well … I am.

 

Do you guys make resolutions?

 

According to some statistics I came across this week, about 40% of people make resolutions, which actually seems a bit low to me. I would think it would be higher. It seems like just about everyone I know is talking about their resolutions for the new year (usually involving some sort of food deprivation), and it’s not that I don’t want to join in, or that I don’t admire the fact that they’re doing this, it’s just that I tend to avoid resolutions. To me, resolutions end up feeling like a big ol’ long list of things I haven’t managed to accomplish. And who wants to go into the new year reading that?

 

Instead, I actually make a list of things I accomplished in the previous year. Now, lest you think I’m just making that up for the sake of this blog, I even ran upstairs and got my lists from previous years to prove that I really do (and took a photo for you, right up there in the corner!). My lists say things like “Got new garage door,” “Reorganized makeup drawer,” “Got photos organized.” One of my lists even says “Great trips for the kids: Catalina, Yosemite, Palm Springs!” because I was really proud of the fact that I got to take my kids to all those places one year.