Happy Halloween!

About two weeks ago signs started showing up on the walls of our house, warning us of potential destruction:

Of the upcoming holiday...

With instructions about how to eat the candy on the front hall table (which Hannah decided she MUST eat):

Signs warning of dangerous birds...

And even a sign about what to say during this most sweet season. The signs were Hannah's way of decorating our house. She usually leaves me notes all over the house, but this time she decided to celebrate Halloween. So, we've been celebrating for a few weeks now. However TODAY was the big day!

After a crazy, snowy weekend, the girls school (which doesn't have electricity, but does have a generator) had a two-hour delayed opening, which (praise the Lord) did NOT interfere with the Halloween party or parade. Here's Lizzie, a Vampire Bride at the parade. She's actually yelling at me because I put a huge spider in her lunchbox today, which scared her when she opened it. I guess she takes after her Aunt Beanie that way:

And here is Hannah in fully Cleopatra garb. I promise you she was very happy at the parade, but this was the best smile I got. Probably because there is a werewolf right behind her...

Dinner before trick-or-treating was Mummy Dogs, bone chips with goblin guts and bat juice (not pictured) Oh, and the spider made another appearance at dinner.

Then it was time for the MAIN EVENT. Here they all are getting ready to go out on the road. Doesn't Cash look handsome in his Halloween sweater? You can't see it here, but he's also wearing a collar with skulls and bells on it.

Walk like an Egyptian and sneer like a Vampire Bride:

Is anyone else worried for me when this child enters her 30s and is allowed to date?

Luckily I will have the Vampire Bride enforcer to take care of things...

And they're off for the evening. They got a lot of loot and WE actually got two trick or treaters this year. YAY. We moved into our house four years ago today and we've never had any trick or treaters so it was, well, a treat to see two little kids (Lizzie's piano teacher's children) stop by. We hope you had a nice Halloween, too.

53 Things

Here are 53 things that I'm happy about this month:

1) Ice cream bars in the freezer
2) The new season of House starting
3) Lizzie's sense of humor (Mommy, ALL Hannah did was complain about every little thing during dance today ... oh wait, that was ME...) Ha!
4) Cash keeping my feet warm at night now that it's turned from summer to winter in one day
5) People from college that I am still proud to call friend and who email on my birthday to remind me how awesome they are
6) Hannah's silly laugh that she just can't keep to herself
7) Rob's Saturday dinners, even if they are made by the Chinese restaurant
8) In-laws that are really family
9) Math homework that can be done in 20 minutes
10) John Denver's enduring music
11) That I get to interview Garrison Keillor in a month
12) Laughing so hard with my sister-in-law Ann that I can't breathe
13) New friends who feel like old friends
14) Old friends who feel like sisters
15) That when Lizzie is sick she always tells me my hugs make her feel better
16) Hannah's singing up in her room or in the basement when she thinks I can't hear her
17) Neighbors who don't vandalize my house
18) Mom's Irish sweater that's warming my shoulders as I write this
19) Dunkin' donuts ice decaf with French Vanilla creamer and splenda
20) The courage of my friend B
21) Rob's voice on the phone every day at 12:40 p.m.
22) Brownies who fight to hold my hand during our friendship circle
23) Scott Bakula
24) Sisters who are also friends
25) Book Club
26) My craft cabinets
27) Crafting
28) Rob and Lizzie in duet on the piano
29) Sunday drives with "A Prairie Home Companion"
30) Peace and Quiet
31) That I finally ordered my new digital SLR camera, a canon T2i
32) Three solid weeks of exercising at least 30 minutes six times a week
33) Burning leaves
34) CCD kids who run after me in the supermarket just to say Hi.
35) Brownies who do the same thing
36) Tandoori chicken marinating in the fridge
37) That Cyndi Lauper told security to (please) wait a second until she finished her phone call with me
38) Surprise phone calls made only to make me laugh
39) Hannah's love of her toe-shoes even though they give her big toe a blister
40) Lizzie's last three spelling tests where she got all the words right
41) Mother Teresa quotes
42) Our new wireless printer
43) That I'm old enough that I DON'T have to eat Brussels Sprouts if I don't want to.
44) Chocolate Almond Tea with Deb
45) Cows -- I don't know why, but it's aways been true
46) That I still love my job
47) That I still love being a Mom
48) That I still love being a wife
49) Steven Curtis Chapman's song "Cinderella" even though it's more poignant than happy
50) Warm apple cider outside on the deck
51) Lizzie's determination
52) Rob's kindness
53) That I'm still happy!

And one reason that you'll be happy ... here is some of my brownie troop (I have 18 girls in the troop) at a recent activity, acting as normal as they possibly can...

And here they are acting like they normally do:

Splitting to the Rock, Yo

(NOTE: I noticed as I was posting this that I never posted my 53 reasons why I'm happy post that I wrote the day after my birthday... I'll try to post that in a day or two!)

Don't ask me to explain the title of this post. All I can say is that I've interviewed a couple of rappers this past week (no one you've ever heard of) so I'm "spittin' in the flow" as they say.
Anyway, we took a quick overnight trip to this place....

For those of you who haven't been vacationing here for the past six summers, it's Split Rock Resort up in the Poconos. Rob and I decided to take a short trip up there this weekend, in search of fall foliage. The conversation went like this:

Rob: I've got five vacation days left.
Me: The girls have Monday off. Let's take a trip to look at leaves. Like we did in the old days. When the trees were big and gas prices were small.
Rob: The hotels will be booked.
Me: Maybe not.
Rob: The hotels will be expensive.
Me: Maybe not. (To me, a maybe means YES I WILL FIND A WAY TO DO THIS!!!)

So I found us a cheap hotel room (don't ask me how ... I've got connections through this thing called The Internet) at Split Rock, booked it, and we took off just after I finished selling art at Jake's Flea Market.
Speaking of Jakes, I'm happy to report that I made $185! Seriously. There are few things that I'd get up and on the road in the dark for, but making money on stuff that's been lying around my basement for at least 8 years is one of them.
But, I digress. We got on the road (Aunt Terry made sure Cash and the Hamsters didn't starve, although now that I think about it, I never told her about the hamsters...) Sunday afternoon and took a leisurely drive up to the Poconos. Here's some of the sights...

This is a road somewhere near Beltzwood State Park, where we stopped to walk around a bit. People were SWIMMING in the lake there -- that's how sunny and warm the afternoon was:

This is a tree near the lake condo that I want someone to buy for me (feel free to contact me for details if you're in the mood to purchase a gorgeous lakefront condo for a very nice writer and her family). Isn't it gorgeous? The read was sparkling in the sunlight:

And here is the fall view of Big Boulder lake from the condo. I still haven't gotten a new camera, and this photo is only okay. This morning when we went to tour the condo again, the trees were reflecting their colors off the water -- beautiful:

Finally we got to Split Rock. This is the view across Lake Harmony (we were standing by where they have the Turtle Races for those of you who know the place):

Here's a slightly different angle that includes the happy faces of my lovely daughters:



We did look at a lot of scenery, but also did a few other things in our day/night away.
I don't have a picture of it, but we had dinner at one of the Split Rock restaurants where we might still be if I hadn't snagged us a server. I have never waited 30 minutes just to have a server come to the table. It was disgraceful, but the server we were SUPPOSED to have told us that they weren't expecting so many people at that time, so they got overloaded. There were about 10 tables  and at least four servers, but whatever ... we just had a very long conversation period. ;)

The girls wanted to go swimming so we were waiting for the pool to open this morning. This is the kiddie pool, although they spent most of their time in the regular pool. That pool was too dark for photographs:

Hannah and Liz weren't allowed in the hot tub (too young) but alas, Rob was NOT too young, so he jumped in:

We walked around a lot. This is the view from the deck of the Lodge (where we stayed) nearby the pool that was under renovation. Check out the gorgeous trees in the back!

These are the stairs that I did NOT climb (Lizzie or Hannah took this picture) to get up to the top of Split Rock:

This picture made me smile. Hannah and Lizzie were following these two ducks, like two extra ducklings:

And of course we had to go to the arcade. We spent $20 and won ALL THESE PRIZES.

We also had a great view of the lake from our room. We got up early enough to see the sunrise over the mountain. It was stunning!

We all had a great time, but it was a whirlwind. Here's Hannah in the backseat coming home. Lizzie was sitting in the way back, in case you were wondering why she's not sitting beside Hannah! Shortly after this Hannah woke up, so we could end our little getaway at Yocco's.

Simple Woman's Daybook

For Sept 25, 2011

Outside my window... Bright sunshine and no hint of fall that started a few days ago. The sun and warmth are a special gift because rain was predicted for most the day (week, month, etc. etc.)

I am thinking... that life is funny. Just when you think you've got it figured out things happen to open your eyes to new things -- both good and bad. I've been having one of the weeks and I am hopeful that the good things I'm seeing eventually overtake the difficult and challenging aspects of life.

I am thankful ... that I have once again found the dining room table under mounds of freshly laundered clothing.From the kitchen... not much going on in there right now. In a few minutes I'll make some sandwiches for an early fall picnic at one of our favorite parks. Dinner? I have no idea! I was planning some sort of roast, but it's too warm for that!

I am wearing... black, flowered dress, gold jacket (just got back from church and CCD).

I am creating... two essays to send to publications. I've been on a bit of an essay tear lately -- mostly about my Mom.

I am going ... on a picnic with Rob and the girls, and then to do some more cleaning and the girls need to interview Rob and I for a homework assignment.

I am reading... Family Fun Magazine. One of the things that I miss about summer is that I don't get to read as much. I try to get in a half hour when the girls are reading, but it's hard to concentrate when litte girls keep asking you "how much time do I have left?" every three seconds.

I am hoping... to get my house organized this week. The only problem with my only-clean-when-you're-having-company housekeeping plan is that eventually all the places you use to throw things where no one can see them, get full. And then you've got to clear them out. So that's what I'm doing this week (and last week!)

I am hearing... Dog barking, children laughing, birds outside the window -- typical Sunday morning stuff.

Around the house... did I mention that my dining room table is FINALLY clear of clothes. YAY! There is nothing good to say about the rest of my house though. But did I mention that my dining room table is FINALLY clear of clothes?

One of my favorite things... . this scene from iCarly. Yes, it's a kid show, but this scene (this is just a small part of it) always makes me laugh.

A few plans for the week ahead... The fall has hit with its usual busy, hectic pace. Today we'll do the picnic, but need to come home for homework. Then there's coffee with friends, piano class, dance class, Nutcracker rehearsal, work on a Brownie project, Lions Club for Rob, etc. etc. etc.

A Picture I am sharing... Last weekend Hannah and Lizzie and I attended a fund raiser put together by my friend Kathi's daughter, to support the Youth Corps for the Susan Komen 3-day, 60-mile walk in Philadelphia. Kathi was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer late last year and finished her treatmet a month or so ago. She's done the 3-day for several years and intends to do it again this year. Alexa (who is in 8th grade and knows Hannah and Lizzie through girl scouts and dance) is walking with her and has been holder her own fund raisers. She did a "Dance for the Cure" event at the dance studio and Hannah an Liz took a hip hop class (here they are showing off their hip hop stance), entered raffles (Lizzie won a basket with bath lotions and a beautiful pink scarf) an ate pink-frosted cupcakes. They had a great time, for a great cause.

Split Rock Talent Show

I promise you that (if you are related to these children) you will think that this video was worth the wait...

Everytime Aunt Anonymous is around the kids want to do a talent show ... whether or not they actually HAVE talent. I imagine that this will only get cuter as the kids get older and more embarrassed by their actions. Aunt Anonymous on the other hand ... well it appears she's going through some sort of second childhood (ha, ha)

All in all it was another successful vacation and another successful talent show.

So without further ado, please enjoy our very talented  exuberant children...

Poconos Part 3

Here are the pictures from part 2 of the Poconos (and other pictures that I forgot to post the first time!). As you can see, during the second half of our vacation we spotted Bigfoot. Or a bear. You really can't tell from this picture, but since I was there, I can tell you that it was, in fact, a big bear. My point and shoot camera takes rotten pictures to begin with, but they are really bad when the subject is moving. And they are especially really bad when the photographer is yelling, "WHERE'S MY CAMERA?? THERE'S A BEAR, THERE'S A BEAR!!!! while jumping up and down on the seat throwing papers all over the place... So here's the bear ... and I left a little corner of the car in the picture so you can see that we were really pretty close to the big bear.

And here is the bear running away from us. Rob assured me that if the bear had moved towards us WE would have been the one running away:

But the bears were not the only animals that were spotted in our trip to the mountains. Here's tiny peeper that the kids found. He's kind of a super peeper since he fell between the slats on our deck and lived to tell the tail (or hop away as the case may be...)

Then we saw some ducks heading out for a family paddle:

You can't see it, but Grandpa is actually inspecting a giant toad that the kids found:

Here Hannah and Lizzie are surrounded by deer in the backyard of our condo:

And here, Tommy, Hannah and Lizzie were tossing bread to the squirrels. Seriously, it was like we were pioneers or something...:

We did have some rain during the week, but we made the best of it by going out to dinner! It did stop raining long enough for me to snap this picture of Beanie and the girls with Lake Harmony in the background:

I taught Hannah and Lizzie that the slide (the big dangerous metal slide!) went much faster if you slid on your jacket:

 

Dad and Beanie relaxing in front of the condos (where we spent much of the week!):

Tommy carries on the proud tradition of making bunny ears (or devil horns) in a picture:

Oh wait, there IS one m ore animal photo. Here are Tommy, Lizzie, Brenna and Hannah pretending to be dogs. Aunt Tina is not pretending to be a dog:

The kids put on a puppet show with socks and a golf club cover -- and (not surprisingly) absolutely no plot:

Here's the fireplace of the condo on the lake that I am just SURE Rob is going to buy me for my birthday. Hannah and Lizzie were imitating how easily Cash would fit in at the condo:

Oh and there was golfing, too! Here are this year's golfers: Terry, Dad, Beanie and Casey:

This was Beanie's second time golfing, but she sure does look the part, doesn't she?

Three of my favorite people at Terra Cottage ... I love this picture of the girls:

And here's the whole picture of us at Terra Cottage (again!):

And here's the gang at Hog Heaven. T.A. and Ann went to the nearby casino, so Tina took the kids for ice cream and the rest of us tagged along. And Grandpa paid!

Here's another rainy day activity: Mad Libs. If you've never played Mad Libs with 8 and 9 year olds every other word is either poop or fart or some other body function. It's a hoot -- at least to them:

The girls waiting for the movie (Mr. Popper's Penguins) to start. The best part about the movie theater was that the soda and popcorn only cost $3 each. A total bargain. AND the soda was small enough and the movie short enough that NO ONE had to go to the bathroom until the movie was over:

And that is, as they say, the rest of the story: