Halloween 2022

Halloween fell on a Monday this year, and I was scheduled to teach on campus in the afternoon.  Luckily, I planned ahead and scheduled an exam for my students that day and was easily able to secure a sub to basically just sit there and administer/proctor the exam.  This allowed me to have the day off to prep food for the kids' classroom parties and also to attend the much-anticipated Halloween parade around town in the afternoon.  

Sam kept it simple this year in a Winnie the Pooh 'onesie' that she was gifted earlier in the Fall.  (This was likely the inspiration for her Eeyore pumpkin carving).

Sophia chose a comfortable and warm kangaroo 'onesie' online that I promptly ordered for her knowing that the weather was looking questionable (as usual) leading up to the holiday.

Jack chose a Deadpool Spiderman costume online and Jimmy borrowed his Transformer costume from a neighbor, which worked out great for me.

I wanted to grab a quick picture by the woods to show that the leaves were just starting to fall.

And then Dirty Harry jumped in the photo shoot!

His jacket is genuine alpaca fur and he borrowed the hat from Jack (a great neighborhood garage sale purchase).

Samantha had plans with her friends for Halloween night (much to our disappointment; if fact, Steve has declared that she will be inviting friends over to our house from now on so that we can savor the last of our Halloween celebrations with her, ha!), so I did a special pre-Halloween dinner the night before.

There were brain-shaped muffins:

Bloody witch finger cookies:

Silly dentures (apples, peanut butter and marshmallows):

And mummy dogs:

Then, on Halloween day, I did fruit cups and a spider veggie tray for Jack's classroom.  No one signed up to bring the veggie tray so I thought that I would try to make it a little more 'enticing' for the 9 & 10 year-olds ... so I made a spider out of bread dough and then put the dip in a cup inside of it.  It was a hit!

I made a second one to take down to a neighbor's house for appetizers before trick-or-treating and also put together a fun dessert tray with peanut butter bats and witch hat cookies.

Finally, Sam had requested a 'brain cake' to take over to her friends' house.  I made one about 4 years ago for a classroom party and agreed to make one again.  They loved it!

After lots of food and fun at the neighbor's house, we headed back home -- with the rain still managing to hold off -- and took the (remaining 3 kids) trick-or-treating around the neighborhood in the golf cart.  They scored a TON of candy, which they sorted out as soon as they got home  ... and were happy to know that there was no school the next day due to a planned teaching meeting day for the district.  

Carving Pumpkins - 2022

It has been another unseasonably warm Fall this year, so we took advantage of the mild weather and carved our pumpkins out on the deck.  I am pretty sure that the kids chose the BIGGEST pumpkins that they could find in the patch forgetting that that means that they are often thicker to cut ... and take even longer to scrape out.

Jimmy's was about as big as him:

The anticipation of pulling off the stem and looking inside is almost as fun as waiting to see the finished, carved masterpiece.

Another tall one.  The backside wasn't great-looking but the front was perfect for what Jack had in mind.

More guts.

I eventually moved Jimmy's pumpkin down onto the deck (and off the table), making it much easier for him to do his own cleaning.

Sophia's was so tall that she still had to hike up her (short) sleeve in order to prevent getting any of the sliminess on her shirt.

A smart move -- laying it on its side to make it simpler to clean.

Still going at it.

Sam had just as much fun as her siblings designing and carving her pumpkin.  I am thinking that this will end up being yet another tradition (like Christmas cookies) that I ask all of the kids to come home from college for ... ha.

Jimmy told me what he wanted and I helped with the carving.  Jack approved.

Sophia looks a little intense and is not holding her knife properly, but I assure you that she was well-supervised.

Jimmy's finished design:

Steve surprised us with a masterpiece of his own:

I helped a little with Jack's, cutting out hands at both sides of the mouth:

The girls spent a lot longer on their designs than the boys:

Small, intricate cuts.

Sam made Eeyore!

And Sophia made a witch!

All lined up and ready to move to the front of the house for the neighborhood to see ...

I am still chuckling about this this one!

And This Is Fall ...

With the woods behind us, you would think that we would have an overabundance of leaves falling into our backyard each Fall season.  But that is not the case.  We have leaves that drift down from the pear tree and a few from some random maple trees but it doesn't involve any intense raking.  Jack is able to make a few passes around with the lawnmower and grind them up and by the time the winter winds blow, our yard is ready for the winter season.

The neighbors next door have TONS of leaves through.

One afternoon, the kids headed over there to rake and "jump in the leaves" and I quickly grabbed my camera to capture the moment.  And I'm so glad that I did.  It was impromptu but the colors were gorgeous and some fun memories were made.

Just two boys and a rake -- ready to make the biggest pile of leaves that they could.

Jack doesn't mind doing any form of work and especially if it means that there is a reward afterwards, like jumping into a bunch of leaves.  

Nothing says "Fall in Michigan" like throwing leaves up in the air and watching them fall.

Jimmy added a big jump in there for extra effect.

Just stunning.

Almost 14 years old and she still loves to partake in leaf throwing!

So happy.

(I'm pretty sure that some of Sam's leaves were thrown perfectly so that they would land on her sister).

My crew.  I couldn't love them more.

And, of course, Ainsley joined in on the fun.  After all, it was HER backyard that provided the perfect setting for this.

Samantha's First High School Homecoming Dance

As a freshman in high school, Samantha has jumped in "feet first" into so many activities and events and her social calendar is filling up fast.  We are doing a pretty good job of juggling the shuttle trips (the high school is less than 2 miles from our house) and are strong supporters of letting her find the things that she truly wants to be involved in and then letting her choose when there are other things that she 'tried,' but didn't enjoy.  

Right now, she is doing 2 dance classes but is likely going to drop one due to time commitments and not having advanced to the next level like she had hoped (only because she missed the single day of tryouts at the end of July when she was out-of-town with her friend, Grace).  

She is involved in high school band AND marching band ... she practices every day on her trumpet and plays/performs at all of the home varsity football games.  

And, she is hoping to join Jazz Band -- an elite club of high school students that meet and play for "zero hour" at 6:45 am every school day.

Later this Fall, she plans to play girls' basketball for a full season (22 games!).

This last weekend, she attended her first high school Homecoming Dance and she was absolutely BEAUTIFUL.  When her dad and I saw her all dressed up, we both held back a few tears.  Seriously, I have only seen Steve tear up a few times in all of the years that I have know him (almost 18 years, now) and this was one of those times.

The dress was a hand-me-down from our neighbor across the street.  It was a stunning color for Sam and apparently sequins were definitely "in" this year.  But, it was strapless and Sam was uncomfortable with the idea that it might not stay up.  Me too.  So, I made some (many, really!) alterations to it -- putting darts into it and making straps.  I bought her new shoes, some booty shorts for under it, let her borrow my earrings and surprised her with a hair appointment with the friend of one of our neighbors down the street.

And then I took about 96 pictures.

Those legs, though.

I don't think that this would have normally been a color of dress that Sam would have picked for herself, but it was PERFECT for her.

A braid, a few extra curls and some light make-up.  She was so happy with the result.

So pretty!  And with a hint of the purple ends still leftover from when her dad allowed her to dye the tips of her hair purple over the summer.  I took her two days before the dance to try and get the residual purple color removed and the salon lady tried (five times) to lift the color, and in the end, it was the best that we could do.

When did my little girl get so big?!

Steve managed to pull himself together (ha!) and pose for a picture with his little girl.

Grandpa jumped in for a picture because he was over to watch a Michigan State football game in our garage with neighbors.

And Matt too!  He's the dad of the girl that we inherited the dress from ...

Later that evening, I left the football party to pick Sam up once the dance was over.  She had a great dinner with friends at Relli's Restaurant in Dewitt and definitely had fun at the dance.  She was tired though!

First Day of School

The kids and I both started back to school on August 18th ... which seems SO early.  I have to keep reminding myself that they have now started finishing school before Memorial Day, so it makes sense that they go back earlier now too.  

By the way, if you ask them, they are quick to tell you that they would prefer to continue school into June because it is still chilly here at the end of the May and it still feels like summer when they have to return in August.

Samantha started 9th grade -- which means that I have a high-schooler!

Sophia started 6th grade -- which means that she is a middle-schooler now.

The girls ride the bus together and get picked up for school at 7 am.  This is part of a new strategy in the district for a "staggered start."  Apparently, it is supposed to help with the limited number of bus drivers that we have, but I have yet to figure out how it actually helps because they are now running 2 routes in the mornings and afternoons ... and we have 3 more drivers than we did last year.  Time will tell.

I always like to grab a picture of the girls in front of the front flower garden because the hibiscus plant is usually still in bloom and the black-eyes susans are so bright and colorful.

Jack is in 4th grade this year -- migrating down to the "big kids' hall" at the Elementary School (the school is filled with 1st through 5th graders).

And James is in 1st grade -- as he has moved up into the same school as Jack.

The boys get picked up at 8 am ... a full hour after the girls.  That also means that they arrive home an hour later and I am still working out the details on how that will work for us with after-school activities.

For now, they are excited because they get to sleep in longer in the mornings!

 

I wasn't able to get a group picture in the morning, like I usually do, because of the staggered starts.  So, instead, I took one after school.  Everyone had a great first day!  And for that, I am thankful!

As for me ... I am teaching more classes than ever at LCC this semester.  It wasn't in my original plans, as it is my first semester back after COVID, and I was planning to ease back into it.  But, the College was short on instructors and begged me to take on another class less than 1 week before the semester began.  So, I am teaching in the classroom 4 days a week with 3 lectures and 1 lab -- all with different preps.  And, on one of those days, I am traveling to campus for a class in the morning and another in the evening.  It will be tough, but teaching is something I truly love.