Tinkerbell and the Vampire

As the kids and I were packing on Sunday, I suddenly had a panicked thought and burst out with something like, "Oh, no! Kids, you have to go put your costumes on RIGHT NOW!"

Because if the kids are going to be in California with their grandparents for Halloween, then that's where they'll be wearing their costumes, and so if I wanted to take pictures of them in their costumes, it had to be before I packed them! Yikes!

Fortunately, the kids were excellent sports, and put on their whole Halloween costumes for me, just so I could take photos of them.

Sydney is Tinkerbell:

She created her entire costume with very little adult assistance--I showed her how to draft a dress pattern to her measurements, Matt showed her how to transfer it to fabric, I threaded elastic through the casing she sewed in the top of the dress, I helped her bend the wire of her wings, and I showed her how to glue the clear cellophane to the wire. Syd thought up the entire costume, then watched a Tinkerbell movie and paused it whenever Tinkerbell showed a new angle, so that she could sketch her design from all sides. She sewed her dress, cut out the details at the bottom hem, drew a template for the wire hanger wings to follow, then spent hours painstakingly hot gluing clear cellophane gift wrap to them.

Fortunately, because Syd can be quite hard on herself, her costume turned out just the way she wanted!

Well, except for the part about the wings making her really be able to fly. That part didn't work out at all...

Will's usually an easy girl to please about Halloween costumes. For her vampire costume, she let me wrap one of my old homemade Moby Wraps around her head as her hood. Matt bought her a black shirt and black pants from Goodwill, and although she was going to make her old standby, the plastic fork fangs, she actually received a set of fangs as a favor at a Halloween party, so she was good to go!

  

Again, this costume surprisingly doesn't confer any superpowers, either; nevertheless, leaping the chain that blocks the drive-in's driveway remains a fine pastime for young daredevils:

The kids will actually be trick-or-treating in La Jolla this year, and they've already been teased quite mightily about the treats that a swanky neighborhood like La Jolla shall surely yield--full-sized candy bars! Each kid her own pony!

For my part, my health is going to take an outstanding turn for Halloween this year, since unlike in previous years, I have not had to buy Halloween candy and then buy it again five days later because I ate it all, and in the best of all possible circumstances I will not spend all next week sneaking treats from the kids' Halloween stashes, either, because the day after Halloween they have another five-hour plane ride to get through.

Know what makes the time pass quickly during a five-hour plane ride?

Eating all your Halloween candy, I'm going to bet!

Years of Jack-o-Lanterns

Matt has teased me, since the children were very small, about my tradition every year of buying the kids a Funkin to carve, and then keeping that Funkin, with the kids' name and the date on it, for... well, forever.

"We don't have anywhere to DISPLAY three years (then four years, then five years...) of Jack-o-lanterns!" he'd point out quite reasonably. And, of course, there were also the real pumpkin Jack-o-lanterns to display, and the squash, and the lights...

Yeah, no room on that cozy porch outside our cozy house across the street from the park and a mile from downtown.

But we don't live there anymore. We live in a sprawling, oddly-shaped house outside of town, now, with lots of porches, a couple of them quite roomy. And one of those porches, it turns out, is the perfect spot to display several years' worth of Jack-o-lanterns, all in a row just like they should be:

We don't have neighbors real close, and don't expect any trick-or-treaters this year (in fact, our own trick-or-treaters are flying to California right. This. Minute!), and so this low stone wall, facing our large picture window, is the perfect place to make a Halloween display that faces its most important audience--US!

I made that Halloween bunting ages ago, and I love pulling it out every year. In fact, I may make one for every holiday, now that I see how nice it looks in front of the wall:

I was given these spider lights for free from QVC, as part of the You're Home with Jill DIY Halloween Challenge, and I really like them. They're sturdy and realistic and even though they're Halloweeny, Will has already requested that we hang them in her room after the holiday.

We're going to. Of COURSE.

And then, yes, you do get to see every single Jack-o-lantern, all in a row, just because this year I finally can!

 

Now, don't you think there's plenty of room on that wall (or the ground in front of it) for several more decades of Jack-o-lanterns?

My Latest: Halloween and Wood Burning

a round up of Jack-o-lantern projects

and one of luminaries and lanterns

and a discussion of one of our favorite tools, the wood burner

One of the things that I'll definitely be doing next week with the kids in California (Weep! Wail!) is kicking the DIY into high gear. I've got several projects that I'd like to get created and written up--black walnut ink and dye, another bookshelf makeover, a portable set-up for a wall-mounted Hot Wheels track that is super getting on my nerves, a T-shirt quilt for a baby cousin, some new dyed play silks, etc.--and I'm enthusiastic about the idea that the more of my paid writing that I get scheduled then, the more time I'll have to spend with the babies when they get home, lightly tanned, arms full of souvenirs, flush with adventures.

I'll just keep telling myself that this time next week they'll be back home with me!

Fire Station Field Trip

I know that fire station field trips sound like something for the preschool set, but I assure you that there's much about fire safety, civics, and STEM-in-action to be learned by even my advanced scholars of the fifth and third grades.

For instance, yes, we covered stop, drop, and roll, and why you shouldn't play with matches and lighters (I shared a quiet look and laugh with another mom during this portion of the presentation, as I'd previously told her how I prepped the kids to give the "correct" answers to the firefighters by explaining to them that the firefighters are much more conservative on this issue than our family is, and it's best not to upset them by telling them that your mommy lets you light matches, yes?), and what a firefighter in full gear looks like and why you shouldn't hide from them, but there was a lot more information suitable for the older kids that they are now.

We got an excellent review of emergency escape plans, a wonderful explanation of the importance practice; the firefighter carefully explained to the children that the smoke and noise of a fire are extremely disorienting, so you won't be able to navigate your home as well as you think you will, and if you're suddenly woken up, the disorientation will be even more severe. The firefighter suggested that we practice our escape plan on hands and knees, as that's how we'd move most safely in a real fire. He also suggested that we practice middle-of-the-night fire drills, because he said that many children simply won't wake up to a smoke alarm, and even more children will simply roll over, bury their heads in their pillows, and fall back asleep.

Everyone loves touring the fire trucks, of course--

Yes, Syd chose to wear her fashion show outfit on this day.

But I was also pleased that we got a look at some vehicle rescue gear, including the jaws of life (the firefighter explained that the jaws of life work using hydraulic power, and on the way home we had an excellent discussion of hydraulic and pneumatic power, and our vacation to Disney World!) and this wonderful airborne ladder:

This field trip inspired us to get our emergency evacuation plan for this new house down pat (thank goodness for our bizarre FIVE doors to the outside, our bizarre crank windows that won't have to be broken to be turned into escape routes, and a certain drive-in movie sign that makes a fabulous meet-up point), and fits right in with both levels of the Girl Scout First Aid badge, for which we're undertaking a study of medical and emergency personnel of all sorts.

I also think this trip has inspired our culinary efforts, as these firefighters are definitely getting a big basket of muffins hand-delivered after the kids return from their California vacation!

In Memory of Ballantine, a Good Kitty

Our Ballantine came to me and Matt twelve years ago as a tiny, tiny kitten, back when our local Humane Society was not the nice place that it is now, but instead bank after bank of dreary, small cages, and they'd give you tiny, flea-riddled, ill kittens just because they had a better shot with you than with them.

In fact, we adopted two kittens that day twelve years ago, but even tinier, even more flea-riddled, even more ill grey Prudence didn't survive her first night. After that, tiny Ballantine slept in our bed every night, in between our two pillows, so that I could wake up, reach a hand out, and check that she was still breathing every hour or so.

I named Ballantine after the building that houses the English department at our local university, since that's where I spent the vast majority of my time in those years. On the weekends or evenings when I had work to do in our grad student lounge in that building (they had MUCH faster internet than we did at home back then--we were still on dial-up!), Matt and I would actually bring little Ballantine with us, because we couldn't bear to be away from her for that long--she was too cute! We'd sneak her in and bring along little dishes of food and water and even a litter box, and I'd work and play with her and watch her explore.

Ballantine grew into a fine, sleek, sweet-tempered cat--

--who was good company for me when I got pregnant and suffered terribly from hyperemesis gravidarum, and near the end of my pregnancy when I was too paranoid about going into labor to leave the house alone. After Willow was born she switched much of her loyalty to Matt--what was that small, yowling, grabby thing that I always insisted on holding now?--but remained fine and sweet-tempered and good company.

When we moved house to a safer neighborhood, Matt and I, after a giant amount of angst, tentatively made the decision to let Ballantine roam outside, as she clearly so longed to do, and were happily rewarded for our risk by the fact that Ballantine never, to our knowledge, left the yard, never hunted small animals, never did more outside than make a comfy little nest for herself from which she could watch the world go by.

Still more Matt's cat than mine, Ballantine's favorite time of day was night, when Matt and I would finally lie down to watch a movie together before bed. Sensing the very second that Matt lay down, Ballantine would appear from whatever indoor nest she'd made for herself and run to the bed, leap onto it, and settle herself down onto Matt's chest, her face exactly right in his face. Matt would try to scootch her down so that he could see past her, and she'd gradually, with all the subtlety she could muster (which was not much), scootch back up until their noses touched. Matt would scootch her down, she'd scootch back up, and so the night would progress.

In the last few years, Ballantine suffered constantly from some sort of mystery rash that made her want to scratch her back and her belly until they bled. Vets had various theories, none of which panned out, and so she lived a life of constant itching and discomfort with the same even temper that she lived out her years of perfect health. Her suffering ended abruptly, unexpectedly on Wednesday morning, however; she had a delicious breakfast of dry cat food, then just fell over--seizure? stroke?--gasped a few times, and with the kids and I looking on, horrified but still totally uncomprehending, she simply died.

We laid Ballantine to rest in a fine spot in our backyard, a multiflora rosebush behind her, a Syd-made plaque at her head:

She had a happy life, she made all of our lives happier because she was a part of them, and as is the reward of all good kitties, she will be deeply missed.

How to Solve AMC 8 Problems: Year 2013, Problems 1 and 2

I have mentioned before that I don't expect my children, a third-grader and a fifth-grader, to be at all competitive in the AMC 8 exam this year, but nevertheless, the exam is actually quite accessible even to these younger students, since much of the math involved utilizes the four basic operations in ways that require only clever, logical thinking to suss out.

The exam is also a great, free opportunity for the kids to get some experience taking standardized tests, as well as to deal with specialized mathematical formatting (that dot is a multiplication sign!) and multiple choice trickery (is your answer one of the choices? It still may not be correct!).

And the AMC 8, in particular, is maliciously intent on asking its students to be very thoughtful and VERY observant as they work the problems, as you'll see in a minute.

Fortunately, all the AMC 8 past problems are available for study, and this is not only helpful when preparing for the exam, but it also makes an excellent part-time math curriculum, and the kids have been enjoying spending one day a week with me, going over a couple of problems and solutions each time. For each problem, I first have them work through the solution using a hands-on method, and then I show them the "short-cut" pencil-and-paper calculation that will also solve the problem.

Problem #1 from 2013, for instance, is obviously and easily solved using Hot Wheels. The kids actually set up 23 Hot Wheels in rows of 6, and then could easily see that they needed to add one more car to make the final row equal to the others. They counted by sixes to count the total cars, and I helped them connect this to the 6x table; you would use the 6x table to calculate how many total cars you would need, then use subtraction to calculate how many you would still need to buy.

Problem #2 from 2013 is only a little more complicated. Will glanced at the problem and immediately said, "Six!", AND was pleased to find that six is, indeed, one of the choices (see? Multiple choice trickery!), so I had her physically underline the parts of the problem that she'd used to calculate that answer, and then showed her that there were parts of the problem that she hadn't taken into account yet.

Syd drew a big fish--

--cut it in half to make two "half-pounds" of fish (it would be better to use half-pound weights as the manipulative here, but I don't have any at hand), and placed the sale price on each half:

They can both easily see, then, that a pound of fish at this price would, yes, equal six dollars, but that's the sale price, and the problem is asking for the regular price. 

Although we haven't done a lot with fractions and percentages yet, both kids know the easy ones, and so 50% wasn't a hard one for them to figure out. They simply doubled the sale price to find the regular price! 

To calculate this on paper, I pointed out to them that doubling is the same as multiplying by two, and it was a piece of cake from there. 

The kids LOVED working through these problems with me--most of this, I know, was the opportunity to play with toy cars and real money and draw fish, but nevertheless, some if it was definitely the fun of figuring out tricky math problems and discovering how to solve them. 

I love math so much precisely because of that feeling!

Pumpkins from our Next-Door-Neighbors

The family who owns the drive-in that we live next door to also owns a pumpkin patch! And when your next-door-neighbors own a pumpkin patch, well, it just wouldn't be neighborly not to stop on by one Sunday afternoon, now would it?

We are nothing if not neighborly, especially when movies and pumpkins are involved:

The Freemans open up one of their barns so that you can pet some of their animals (and yes, this is the place where a pony bit Syd ON THE FACE one year--she has much better horsemanship skills now than when she was five), and they've also got plenty of toys out for the toddlers.

Like this one!

Only I guess the toddlers aren't riding their ponies like a bucking bronco...

Part of the fun of a visit to the pumpkin patch is taking a long, long hayride around the Freemans' property, across a creek and through the woods:

Will is behind Matt, who was completely incapable of getting out of my way so that I could photograph her.

See this photo of Syd?

The guy driving the tractor for our hayride was smoking (I know, I know...), and so Syd, of COURSE, pulled a piece of hay out of the bale underneath her and pretended to smoke it while pretending to be a tractor driver. I said to her, "What are you DOING?!?"

She said brightly, "I'm smoking wheat!"

Now you say it. Say it out loud, like an eight-year-old would.

I laughed my butt off, absolutely inappropriately, then of course got her to tell me what she was doing about eight hundred more times, and each time it make me collapse into gales of inappropriate laughter all over again.

I know, I know. But to be fair, our family anti-smoking campaign clearly isn't that effective thus far, if the kid is happily pretending to smoke just like the tractor driver. Mental note to show her some photos of cancerous lungs during our human biology unit.

Our haul was two perfect Jack-o-lantern pumpkins and one perfect pie pumpkin. The Jack-o-lanterns have been kid-carved and made their debut at last weekend's housewarming party, but that pie pumpkin is going to have to wait til after all the party clean-up has been completed (crock pot liners SUCK!!!) before I settle down to prepping it.

So, like, next week? Week after? 

Thanksgiving, maybe?