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One Wet Week
We filled this week up with Halloween fun, more pumpkin carving, and a whole lot of rain.
We sat down to carve the pumpkins last Sunday afternoon, which was a big messy bit of fun. Unfortunately, Hakan's pumpkin was pretty soggy after his stem had fallen off and it rained all day on it, so that it seems the water all soaked in through where the stem had been. It made it simultaneously easy to cut and very challenging to carve out good shapes.
Carver wanted a creepy clown, so he drew a rough draft and then I made my best conceptualization onto his pumpkin, then carved it out myself. He was thrilled with the result (picture at the bottom of this post).
Avey worked hard on a Spiderman logo, which turned out great (also pictured below), especially given the challenging intricate design.
Hakan wanted a cartoon Frankenstein's monster, which I drew and then Kira worked on carving, though, as I said, the soggy pumpkin made it a tough job, and we didn't ever get a very good photo of it.
Hannah also had a couple of pumpkins, and turned one small white one into a little vampire, and then at an activity later in the week carved one to look like the duck from The Duck Song video over which she and Merritt have forever bonded.
Merritt and Kira joined Avey at her school this week for Avey's award ceremony, where she was recognized for being on the Honor Roll. We are, of course, so proud of her!
Naturally, Halloween itself brought with it the worst weather we've seen all week. Although it had been raining for the preceding 3 days nonstop, Thursday brought snow and high winds. By the time I left Chicago, most of the ground had a thin layer of snow, but back home everything was just wet from the snow. Kira took the kids out, bundled up like they were on their way to the North Pole, and I manned the door for candy-seekers in between doing the dishes, getting some dinner, and taking out the trash for the next day.
The kids came home wet, but with a good haul. I don't think I had any kids come by the whole time they were gone, but before and after they left we had a total of maybe 15, leaving us a good amount left for ourselves.
The boys got to bed especially late, of course, and us older people stayed up later to watch a scary movie. Merritt then woke up around 3 the next morning and came into our room wanting to lay down with us. That was cumbersome, but he fell asleep pretty quickly. Kira then tried to move him back to his bed, but he woke up and demanded to go downstairs to watch TV. Kira tried to convince him that it was still time to sleep, but he would have none of it. He shook the earth with all the fury of a thousand hurricanes, waking up everyone in the entire house and probably the neighborhood with his screams. He trashed my guitar music that was unfortunate enough to be close by, and stormed into his room, making sure that he woke Hakan. Kira eventually had to force him into the van and took him on a horrific drive until the Hulk was once again Bruce Banner, and he agreed to go back to bed.
And of course he slept until 8 a.m. after that, but the damage was done. Avey, Hakan, and I couldn't get back to sleep. We let Avey sleep in and Kira took her to school late on her way to an appointment. She also let me sleep a bit, and then I took over so that she could have a nap in the afternoon. I'm lucky that my work schedule is flexible enough that I can choose my hours most Fridays!
Saturday was a total loss for the boys and me as Kira was at an RS meeting all morning while I cut the boys' hair, fed and bathed them, vacuumed, and did other odds and ends. Hannah took Avey to a library class where she decorated skull-shaped sugar cubes for Day of the Dead, and Hannah did some work there while she waited. When Kira got home, she ate and then took Avey and Hannah for some shopping. Avey does not have a winter coat that fits, so they needed to get her one quickly as the weather continues to turn colder. They came home at dinner time with some great finds, and I got out of the house to pick up pizza for dinner.
This morning, Carver complained of a major headache and neck ache, though it seemed to me that it was mostly because of the way he was straining his neck to watch the television before breakfast. In any case, I gave him ibuprofen, and then let him try to go back to bed. Of course, as soon as the others pulled out of the driveway, he popped right out of bed, feeling like a million bucks. I hope he's at least enjoyed the time off of church.
It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is coming up so quickly, but we'll see if we can turn it into more of a crisis than it needs to be!