A Team Weeks 214 and 215 (October 22 through November 4) were full of tricks and treats.
First, some smoke stacks in Racine attempted to play a trick on me by making it look very much like there were twisted sisters swirling in my direction...
Next, we enjoyed the treat of meeting with Asher's teacher for the first conference of the year and while he is still behind in his reading and writing, he is making good progress and his teacher really didn't have anything negative to say about him stating that he was a hard worker, good friend, helpful and more. ...makes a momma's heart happy.
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| ;P |
On Saturday of Week 214 we started the traditions of trick or treating by Trunk or Treating at the Methodist church across the street and then heading downtown to trick or treat at local businesses along 6th Avenue.
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| Since I didn't have a costume to wear when we went out with the boys, Avery decided to decorate me with stickers, declaring me the superhero: "Super Smiley Face". As I tried to get a picture of my unique "costume" Asher wanted in on the photo action. |
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| FB Post: Avery made me a Halloween costume. Apparently I am now “Super Smiley Face” and my superhero power is shooting smiley faces at bad guys “and then their face will get stuck in a smile” ððĪŠððð |
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| Even the trolley downtown was decorated for the Halloween festivities. |
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| At one store downtown (which was also having a Harry Potter event) the boys got to 'plant' Mandrakes. We put them on our windowsill at home by the other plants and the boys didn't understand right away that they were not actually going to grow or change. |
After we got home that evening, the boys really wanted to carve their pumpkins. Since we didn't have much time (or energy) before bed we allowed them to clean out their pumpkins so that they would be ready to carve the next day.
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| Thrilled with their pumpkin seed harvest. |
On Sunday morning of Week 214 we were all awake frighteningly early. So, we headed to Meijer as a family to walk around, get some groceries and of course purchase our Sunday morning donuts...
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| We HAD to walk through the Halloween section and check everything out! |
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| Avery was very excited about the scary "blood-covered" donut that he selected. |
That afternoon (after church and quick naps) we went back to our church to brave the cool raindrops and Trunk or Treat again.
When that was done we finally got around to carving our pumpkins...
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| This year Asher carved his pumpkin almost completely on his own for the first time! |
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| Avery wanted to carve his too, but since I wouldn't let him use the knife he settled to just poke a bunch of tiny holes into his pumpkin. |
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| The Final Result: Eric: Michigan Pumpkin, Tracy: Goofy Face Pumpkin, Asher: Happy Pumpkin, Avery: Scary Pumpkin, Baby: Crying Pumpkin. |
Week 215 started off with the 87th birthday of one of our favorite people, our neighbor Marge. So, instead of getting more treats for ourselves, we brought some treats over to her to show her some birthday love!
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| Flowers, cards, a balloon and some homemade treats for Marge. |
On Tuesday (October 30) I got a little treat of my own as I was able to skip out of the office for a little bit to check out the end result of one of my client's homes. It wasn't a project that I worked on, but it is still fun to check out some architecture and see how differently other people live...and this one (a very modern, minimalist home for a bachelor) is definitely different!
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| The house has NO closets!! Even the Master Bedroom/Bath has no closets or even vanity storage. I realized that the owner stores his toothpaste and toothbrush in a Kitchen drawer! |
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| This is how he stores his fancy (perfectly balanced) silverware. :P |
On Wednesday it was officially Halloween and in addition to trick or treating, Avery and I treated ourselves to the Facebook photo filters for a little Halloween fun.
Not being up for a lot of walking these days I joined the boys for trick or treating down our street and around the block. Then they continued on for another hour or so and I headed back home to pass out candy.
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| Asher & Avery trick or treating on our street. |
While the boys were out and about with Eric they met Santa AND Darth Vader. They also went to a nearby house that always decorates a lot for Halloween (which the boys have deemed 'The Spooky House'). One or two years ago we walked past that house and a motion-activated skeleton dog jumped out at Avery (after not moving at all when Eric and Asher walked past). This TOTALLY freaked him out and ended our trick-or-treating for the night. This year when they went to the house they saw the skeleton dog again but it didn't move at all. When they got their candy at the door they mentioned it to the owner and he told them that it now only moves if someone claps. ....so...of course, Asher being the big brother that he is, without warning, started to clap and again the dog jumped at Avery freaking him out all over again. I'm not sure we will ever be able to go to that house again.
On Friday, Asher did not have school so the boys and I treated ourselves to a lazy morning of snuggles and cartoons in bed.
Later that morning we headed out to put in my early vote and then went over to Alpaca Art to paint some pottery. I had given the boys a few options of things that we could do that day together and that is what they picked. We had a good time there but by the time we paid the art fees and picked out pottery to paint it was a MUCH more costly adventure than I had planned. I would love to go back someday but based on the cost and the boys' attention span I will either be going alone or with them when they are MUCH older!
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| Avery chose a dragon mug to paint. |
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| Asher chose a Lego box. |
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| I chose an owl mug but forgot to take a picture of it while I was there. It didn't look like these owl mugs I found online, but I did use this as inspiration for painting my mug. |
That afternoon, our fun day together continued as the boys and I worked on making a large duplos/vtech racing track.
On Saturday, the treats continued as Eric decided to take the boys to a Carthage University football game and I got to enjoy a few hours of (early) Christmas shopping on my own.
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| Avery LOVED watching the game...AND they cheerleaders (he told Eric he "likes their moves")... |
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| ...Asher on the other hand was bored and whiny most of the time and from the sounds of it really only enjoyed the giant bag of trail mix that Eric had brought for each of them. |
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| Playing on the Carthage baseball field (which Eric worked on) after they left the game. |
Later that afternoon the boys treated themselves to some fun in the leaf pile of 2018.
(3) Videos: Leaf Jumping
That evening, Asher treated me with a little math fun. He isn't crazy about reading and writing (although he is getting much better), but he loves math, which reminds me of myself. :)
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| FB Post: Reading with this kid has been a real challenge (for everyone) but his excitement for math makes this momma proud!! (& reminds me of my nerdy self). Instead of snuggling before bed he asked if he could do some math, so I decided to work on a little algebra ð ...and he shocked me by seeming to understand it a little?! |
Video: Asher Does Math
Finally we closed out our two week event of tricks and treats on Sunday (November 4) with the treat of some home-cooked lasagna...and as an added bonus Avery actually ate it (& loved it)!
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| FB Post: Attempting to make my mom’s famous lasagna tonight and I overhear Avery (aka Mr. Picky) from the basement: “Dada, um dat dinner smells good! I think I might eat tonight!” ð #fingerscrossed |
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