Meet Mr.Big Nose and Mrs. Hairy

Last night we realized, looking at our busy weekend ahead, if we didn't hurry up and carve pumpkins they just weren't going to get carved this year.  After dropping a steaming hot, fresh out of the oven 20 lb pan of homemade lasagna all over the floor (and myself, up the cabinets, dishwasher and as high as the counter tops), we almost scrapped pumpkin carving all together.   I just didn't want to deal with another big mess! 

But, alas, we persevered, laid out the newspaper, got out our fancy pants Williams Sonoma carving tools and got busy.  My pumpkin was exceptionally stringy inside, so she got a hair-do.  Andrew's pumpkin had a great stem for a big ole' schnoz.

A while back, we got Logan this Domo doll.  We told him every time he felt angry, to go sit with his doll and talk to him, hit him, do whatever he needed to do to help him feel better.  It hasn't exactly worked out, but that's another post. Anyway, I kind of modeled my pumpkin face after the doll and Logan thought that was pretty funny.

parade of treats

Its that time of year...Logan had his adorable Halloween costume parade and party at preschool today.  Its really a prelude to a whole weekend jam packed full of so many ghoulish activities, I know the boys will both collapse after their sugar coma wears off Sunday night.

Both Dylan and Logan insisted on being the same thing this year for Halloween, which 1) is just so cute and 2) made it very easy for us to get everything together.

Here is our tiniest Harry Potter, looking not so tiny anymore in his first necktie and glasses, and his parade at his school.

They made Spooky Stew at their kid-only party, read stories and played games.  And how cute is this soda bottle pumpkin they made?

its a scary world

Does this look like a neighborhood a terrorist would live in?

This is the neighborhood across the street from us, within walking distance of Dylan's elementary school.  White picket fences, millions of kids, moms walking strollers, lemonade stands and yard sales.  People stop and chat.   Most everyone is friendly.  Its the kind of place people move to raise families and feel safe.  Many of Dylan's teachers from his school live here.

But yesterday, the FBI arrested a man who lived in this community accused of collaborating with Islamic radical terrorists to help plot a massive bombing of key Metro subway stations this winter in Washington DC. He lived here with his young wife, and 18 month old son.  They blended in just like any other family. 

Its a scary world.  Thank goodness they caught him.

before and after

This past Saturday night, my long time friend Jay, husband of my long time friend Julie, threw her a little surprise 40th birthday celebration.   Over weeks of planning, he invited five of Julie's long time girlfriends to come take over their house for the night.  He supplied the food and booze, and left with their kids to spend the night at his parents. 

I have known these ladies since my middle school years...three of them were in my wedding party.   Some of the girls have known each other since kindergarten.  We're spread out all over the DC Metro area and don't get to see each other very often, so it was a night to of catching up and laughing our rear ends off.  There's something so comforting about being with people who have been a part of your history for so long.

My friend Heidi is taking these photos, so she isn't actually in them.  Thanks for being our photographer Heidi!  We ended up going to a waterfront bar and whooping it up for the evening.... then riding the (drunk) bus back to Julie's house, music blasting the whole way, for an all out slumber party.

Before:

After, in the back of the bus:

Kind of makes you wonder what  happened in between these two photos, but as the saying goes, what happens at The Jetty Bar, stays at The Jetty Bar.

Thai Chicken Soup

This is what I'm making for dinner tonight and I can't wait.  I love things made with coconut milk, and I love curry.  Should be delish!  I found everything I needed at Wegmans in the Asian foods aisle.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil


1 onion, thinly sliced


2 cloves garlic, minced


2 tablespoons green curry paste


6 cups low-sodium chicken broth


1 15-ounce can coconut milk


1 tablespoon fish sauce, plus more to taste


2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced


4 ounces thin rice noodles, broken into pieces


2 small skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 1 pound), very thinly sliced crosswise


1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, plus more to taste


1 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro


Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and curry paste and cook, stirring, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the chicken broth, coconut milk and fish sauce; cover and bring to a boil.

Add the bell peppers and noodles and simmer, uncovered, until the noodles are al dente, about 3 minutes. Add the chicken and simmer until just cooked through, about 3 more minutes. Stir in the lime juice and cilantro. Add more fish sauce and lime juice, if desired.

feed the monkey

Last week, Logan's preschool teacher told me he's struggling with his fine motor skills a bit....writing, cutting, etc.   He needs to get lot of practice in this area to be more ready for kindergarten.   As a very active little boy, he isn't always really interested in lots of coloring or drawing.  Once in a while, but its not his 'go to' activity.

So as I usually do in these situations, I reached out to mommy friends for some ideas on ways to get him to exercise his fine motor skills without realizing we're making him do work.   I got a great list of homemade ideas to get us started.  I had him sorting dry beans by color with my eyebrow tweezers in no time.  Here are some other good, easy things to do at home to work the fine motor skills:

* Cut confetti out of colored paper or even the Val Pak inserts.  
* Sort the soft puff balls from a craft store into jars by colors or sizes.

* Fill a bowl with soft fuzzy craft balls, or marshmallows, etc.  Have him transfer into another bowl using kitchen tongs.
* Sort Skittles before they eats them.  Hmmmm, I could probably apply this to half of the upcoming Halloween loot.  And maybe while I'm at it, I'll get the boys to graph their candy booty too.

* Buy the bag of 15 bean soup dried bean mix and give them lots of little bowls to sort them into.

* Beans in a pan (you will need a 9x13 pan, spoon, a wide mouth funnel, beans or rice, jar).  Pour beans or rice into pan and then using spoon or fingers transfer them into the jar via the funnel. Hours of fun! Well, at least 15 minutes in Logan's case.

* Having them string colored Cheerios onto yarn in patterns.
* Cutting food with a butter knife, especially things like apples, celery, etc. 

My teacher-y friends also told me about some great websites with tons of educational games and resources.  I was tickled to learn the fabulous Lakeshore Learning company has a store in Alexandria, about 40 minutes from us.   I browsed my way thru the store yesterday, drooling over all the selections for math, science, language and tons of other goodies.  Will have to go back for some holiday shopping for the kids for sure.   But while I was there, I picked this up...

He loves it, and its a great fine motor skills game.  Dylan got this cool puzzle game by another company I love, Think Fun.  They also make Rush Hour Jr, which was a big Christmas gift hit here last year for Dylan.

falling for fall

We took a little field trip out west yesterday, beyond picturesque Middleburg and into the valley for the annual Shenandoah Hot Air Balloon Festival.  And though the winds proved too gusty for any hot air balloon action, the boys did get to take a spin in a real honest to goodness MONSTER TRUCK. 

We saw it as soon as we entered the festival, and knew it had to be done.   Dylan got a little nervous about it at the last minute, so Andrew and Logan whooped it up with Mary Ann and her two boys.  Dylan is like his mama, we don't like things that shake up our insides.  Andrew captured the whole ride on his phone video camera, so we'll try to get that on here soon.

It was as beautiful a fall day as could possibly be.  Virginia in the autumn is simply my favorite time...the crisp air, shocking blue sky and crunchy falling leaves.   No bugs, no humidity, no need for coats or sunscreen even. Perfect for a picnic and a hayride on a beautiful farm with fun friends.

We women toured the historic Long Branch Mansion, elegant, posh and over the top.

Yes, this was a real giant pumpkin!

If October lasted three  months, we still couldn't get to all the festivals, orchards and pumpkin patches in our area.   There's so much to choose from and every fall we try to shake it up a little and visit new places.  Much too soon, the cold weather will be here and we'll be stuck to indoor activities.  So right now, the goal is to be outside as much as possible!

BFF

Logan has made a new BFF in his preschool class.  He's going four days a week this year, and the routine is really great for him.   He's always done well when things are predictable and scheduled.  A few weeks ago, we started hearing tidbits about his new friend J at school.   "Mommy, we played Batman on the playground! We sat next to each other for story!"

There's nothing quite like watching your child make a new friend, totally on their own.  In the five or so weeks since Logan started preschool, we've watched his confidence increase so much.  And part of this confidence, no doubt, has come from his new friendship.  I've gone to pick Logan up at the end of the school day to find he and J laying on each other like puppies, snuggled up and listening to storytime. 

Here's where it gets tricky.  You can't just invite a child over to your house without first meeting their parent.  I would never send my boys blindly to someone's house I didn't know or hadn't met (not even Dylan who is 7 1/2).   So when the playdate requests started coming in from Logan, I emailed his mom and we met at the park one day last week.  When you do this, you hope the mom is going to be cool, fun and laid back.  It isn't always the case.  Sometimes you get stuck with someone you have little in common with and you're counting the minutes until you can escape. 

But this time I got lucky and we clicked, not only was she cool we also had some mutual friends ...  So as the boys ran off to giggle and throw sticks into the creek, we bonded over tales of mommyhood.  And J is a very sweet, enthusiastic kid with good manners, who shares and is just as silly as Logan.

This past week, we brought J home from school with us one day for lunch and playing.  As the house filled with shrieks of "Oh my GOSH, you have THAT Wii game??!!!", we made cookies and Logan was in bliss for three hours.

I'm so thankful my boys seems to really know how to make friends and how to be a good friend themselves.  Its one of the most important life skills you ever learn.

camping bliss

Splendid.  In a word, splendid describes our weekend camping adventure.  With picture perfect weather, a great, fun group of friends, beautiful surroundings, no run-ins with critters (except for a very short-lived snake incident), and Halloween festivities out the wazoo.... it was a perfect, amazing weekend. 

We all came home filthy and exhausted, still smelling of campfire.  Dylan took off his Crocs and literally left a trail of filthy footsteps all the way to the bathtub.  And though we're still working on getting all the gear put away for next time, and although our backs are a bit sore from air mattresses that didn't quite hold their fill of air, and although I'm still not sure how to extract the black crud from under Logan's toenails, we'll never forget the fun we had this weekend.

Thanks to my good friend Dianna, who planned the trip and kept us all informed.  We're so lucky to have the friends we have!  The kids all played so well and had the time of their lives.  We plan to do a big snow tubing trip this winter with many of the same people. 

I took a TON of photos and there are so many good ones that captured the spirit of the weekend.  It was hard to pick and choose which ones to post, so forgive the plethora.

Kristin and Sharon enjoy a little campsite cocktail hour.

Andrew and Randall man the campfire cooking.

our first attempt at foil packet potatoes, delish!

Logan and Colin in the hammock.

in the morning we walked to the waterfront (Bay).  This is Dylan, Brynn, Kate, Logan and Arianna.

Kate and Logan, future wife and husband.

crabbing on the pier.

Lee and Maggie try their luck

Dianna and Baby Palmer

Kristin and Erwin

Dylan loves to fish.

Our campsite was next to the putt putt course, and Logan played at least 40 rounds.

craft time, wax lips and candy necklaces and gooey eyeballs oh my!

Hey ladies, check me out!

And then it was time for Trick or Treat.  Not sure, but I think the adults had more fun than the kids.  This is Bob, Randall and Andrew.

I think we had 26 kids, give or take a few, in our group.

Dianna and adorable Baby Yoda

Andrew was worried he would scare the kids but they all loved it.  And Randall's tattoo shirt...Sharon tried it on later but I promised her I wouldn't take any photos.

some of the campsites had really amazing Halloween decorations.

grilling burgers before the group hayride.

Logan, Connor and Dylan in line waiting for the hay wagon.

Arianna, Sharon and Logan

our group took up the entire hay wagon.

on the hayride we got a good tour of all the campsite decorations.  check this one out!

The weekend was so much fun, I don't think we were ready for it to end. So the next morning, we packed up camp and took the Maryland Eastern Shore route, stopping in St. Michaels with the Tates, Wrights and Stierles for some waterside dining.  A great ending to a perfect weekend.

Dylan loves crabs!

I can think of numerous captions for this photos, one of them being "Tune in Tokyo!"

Peek a boobs!

Bob couldn't resist the temptation.

In fact, none of the boys could keep their hands off her!