Halloween, in chronological order

I had a teacher work day today, which was lovelier than you can even imagine. No meetings, no students, just a day to get things done at school. Chad, meanwhile, took the kids to the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose. Once we were all back home, it was time for some pumpkin carving.

The kids disguised themselves as a robot and a magician. Chad did an awesome job of transforming a box, some paint, and a few other knickknacks into Trevi's costume, and I took on the task of engineering Clara's hat to fit her, using the inner workings of a hard hat and a bunch of duct tape.

Then, off we went, to meet up with some friends around the corner.

Cute kids trick-or-treated.

They kept on trick-or-treating. But, wait..... Who is that kid in the grey sweatsuit, you ask?
That would be Trevor, who decided after about five minutes that he didn't want to wear his costume anymore.

After all of the tricking and treating, candy was dumped and sorted.

The kids each chose the five pieces of candy they wanted to keep (mean parents).

The rest of the loot was left out for the Great Pumpkin.

What will the Great Pumpkin bring????? According to Clara, it should definitely be something good, because it needs to be worth the 96 candies she's giving up.
Happy Halloween!

Xeriscape Now and Then

Here is what the front yard looks like now:
Look how sparse it was on day one:
Now that the rainy season has begun, we are going to have our own personal jungle in no time.

Carwash

Carwashes are found often enough in our living room that they are not really noteworthy. Tonight, though, the sibling cooperation alone is a story that begs to be told. Oh, sure, I make it sound as though the kids are sweet, peaceful little creatures who treat each other kindly and have heaps of fun doing cute, creative things together. Lies. All lies. I need to fess up and tell you that I have photoshopped out the blood, the tears, the bruises and welts, the mouths forming insults, the pain and suffering. These kids are like rabid wolverines who also happen to know how to whine, rant, and accuse each other of committing countless injustices against one another.
But, they signed a ceasefire for at least 12 nanoseconds tonight, and they built a carwash together. No fighting.
All of the monster trucks are clean now, but 12 nanoseconds wasn't quite enough time for the kids to figure out a way to reduce the monster trucks' dependence on foreign oil. Maybe tomorrow.

Spidey

I am still hugely creeped-out by the fact that we live among the black widows here. We don't really see them all that often, but their telltale messy webs are all over the place.
Tonight, Clara and her friend were on a backyard safari when, suddenly, I heard screaming. They came flying in the door, gasping and out of breath. You'd have thought the spider was chasing them across the yard. Even though the whole scene was a bit overplayed, I am secretly rather glad that Clara has the good sense to be as scared of the things as I am.

Flashlight

Instead of wanting to build something or hit baseballs or watch trains go around, Trevi requested a snuggle session after dinner tonight. Fine by me. How often is it that you get to collapse on your pillow as a means of entertaining your child? And how much longer will the kids want to snuggle? Sigh.
After a few minutes of dark, it was time for some flashlight fun. First, Trevi made a light-show on the ceiling, and then he lit up his cute face under the covers. It was a lovely evening.

Doughman

Of course I think that my son is the cleverest boy in the history of the universe. Yes, I'm well-aware that I'm biased. But you've got to admire the fact that he constructed this masterpiece and said, "Look! Since I can't make a snowman, I made a 'doughman'!"

About the kitchen table

These two are always working on something or other at the kitchen table. This is the same table that folds to half its size; the table we bought for our teeny, tiny apartment, then used in our not-really-big-enough-to-be-an-eat-in kitchen at our old house. Now, it's kind of small and chintzy for our spacious, actually-designed-to-be-an-eat-in kitchen. But, chintzy or not, it seats the four of us just fine, and offers the perfect work spot for Clara and Trevor.
Tonight, it was homework for Clara and robot-making for Trevor. Homework, by the way, has become relatively painless, and robots figure prominently in pretty much everything Trevor says and does these days.

The Fall Carnival

The school's annual Fall Carnival was today, which meant that the kids spent about four hours tossing beanbags, balls, rings, and other tossable things into jars, onto pegs, and through holes in plywood. Whether or not the projectile hit its intended target, all players came away from each game with a piece of candy. Luckily, I discovered last year that the carnival was a big, pre-Halloween candypalooza, so this time I was prepared, and brought a bag to stash away all of the candy. Despite my being a mean mom, Clara and Trevor managed to have tons of sugarfree fun.

In addition to candy, they also won a few tickets, which were traded in at the end of the day for fabulous prizes. Clara's choice was an inflatable microphone, and Trevor picked a jack-o'-lantern whoopie cushion. Charming toy.
At least a whoopie cushion won't rot your teeth....

Signs

There has been a lot of political talk in the house lately. Part of the discussion has been about the campaign signs that Chad has been putting around town, only to find them removed a couple of days later. This bums me out to no end, especially since we are hoping to live in this city for a long time. Intolerance really bugs me. And when your next door neighbor is sporting a "Yes on 8" sign, it can cause belated buyer's remorse. Maybe this place is a little too right to be the right place. I am trying to take deep breaths and tell myself that it will be okay.

Even though I don't believe in using one's children as political advertisements, it was just so funny when Trevor insisted on making his own sign today. 100% his idea.

And, in a daring act of bipartisanship this afternoon, Clara reached across the aisle to pose with her best friend Josie, a worthy opponent on the soccer field.

Darts

Trevi wanted to play darts after dinner, so he made a dart board and a few darts. He wanted to use wood for the board and nails for the darts, but I told him he'd have to stick to paper. The darts didn't fly very straight, but it was fun all the same, and no walls were damaged. My kind of game.

Visitors!

Way back in the days before kids, there was El Salvador, and a bunch of free-wheelin', fun-lovin', pool-floatin', piña colada-drinkin' fools. Two of those fools came to visit today, and they brought their cute kids (conveniently, a 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son) with them.
We had a great time reminiscing with Paula and Pat, and the kids did kid things.
Here are Shane and Trevor being cute: And Jenan and Clara being cute (and doing lots of reading):
And even stealing a chapter or two the next morning, before Clara had to leave for school...
Are we repopulating the world with future teachers???????

Soccer and Scarecrows and Sleepovers, oh my!

Today was action-packed. First, like every other Saturday, Clara had a soccer game.
Then, she joined her Brownie Troop for a scarecrow-building thingy at our local nursery, and I had to hang around for a couple of hours. Luckily, the nursery has an extremely cool playground, so Trevi was over the moon. It's a piece of marketing genius, really; they have all kinds of pricey backyard play structures set up for kids to try. I assume some people actually buy the things from time to time. We just play shamelessly and make no pretense of actually being interested in purchasing.
Trevi liked the "beenoclee-ers".
I call this next shot, "TREV-E".
A police officer visited Trevi's preschool this week, and Trev doesn't want us to wash the police tattoo off his cheek.
The hay bale maze was a hit.
The Brownies' scarecrow turned out scary enough. (If crows are frightened by over-the-top patriotism and big hair, that is.)
And, as if that weren't enough excitement for one day, Clara and Trevi also got to test out the inflatable bed that we borrowed for our friends who are visiting tomorrow.
This thing is wicked comfy, by the way.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

It was kind of chilly tonight, so we lit the fireplace for the first time this year. Then, we sat around in the front room listening to Windham Hill music and feeling cozy. Trevor decided that it reminded him of Christmas, so he wanted to decorate the place a bit. Clara helped him draw and cut out some trees. (Note the vast collection of green crayons and markers.)The pair of elves then made a "snow cave", and decorated the cave and lampshade with their trees.
The DVD on the cave is "Benji's Very Own Christmas Story" (as in, Benji the iconic 70's and 80's dog). I guess it was the one Christmas item that didn't make it back into the bins in the garage last year, so Clara managed to dig it up. I told them its illegal to watch it before December.

Come gather 'round people wherever you roam...

Today, while reading a book to me, Clara misread, "postcard" as "podcast".
For the times, they are a-changin'.....

On the other hand, little miss podcast will often while away the hours doing the exact same things I used to do when I was a kid. Take, for instance, the chair tunnels that magically appear every time I'm washing the kitchen floor (which is not very often, by the way). I have very vivid memories of my childhood chairs all lined up in the hallway. When they weren't tunnels, they were buses or trains. I think my mom used to keep her kitchen floor much cleaner than I keep mine, since it seems that we played with the chairs all the time....
And man, do I ever hope that Dylan was prophesizing with his pen about the upcoming election. We need the times to change. These beautiful children deserve change.

The Kitchen

The Christmas before Clara's third birthday, Chad built her the coolest little kitchen. In the 4 1/2 years since, many delicious feasts have been prepared there, and kajillions of dishes have been washed. The kitchen has been the proud centerpiece of Clara's room for almost half a decade. Today, after years of waiting, Trevor finally became the head chef. The kitchen is now in his room. I asked Trev if he'd like to make me something for dinner, but he insisted on making a cookbook first. He drew and dictated the recipe for a strange concoction called "Chuckie Juns". The main ingredients are tomatoes, sugar, and ham. Innovative.

The chef autographed his book.

Then, he got to work on his tantalizing dish.

Trevi shared his secret recipe with Daddy.

But I think they misread the instructions....I don't remember reading anything about pouring water on the cat.
The Chuckie Juns was actually quite tasty. Let me know if you'd like the recipe.

A new bookshelf!

Clara likes to keep her friends close and her books closer. And while I love the fact that she's such an avid reader, her loft was starting to look like it belonged to a mad professor. So, we finally convinced her to relocate her stacks to a more conventional spot. The books are snug and happy in a nice, cheapo bookshelf at ground level.

I did let Clara keep one basket up there to hold the book she's currently reading, her water, her lip balm, and her pen (to cross off the days on her calendars). You gotta have some stuff.
When she was heading to bed tonight, Clara said, "I'm going to sleep a lot better now that my room is so much more organized". I love the way that girl thinks.