Halloween week '07

On Friday night, Carmen was delighted to attend Dylan's party (he's in her class) while the rest of us went to a faculty cookout.
On Saturday, we made a brief appearance at Carmen's soccer game--we were only there long enough to pick Carmen up 15 minutes before the game was over to go to her piano recital.
Paloma liked having her own chair to sit in, but that didn't keep her happy the whole time.
At the recital, Gigi helped P be quiet.
Carmen's costume: soccer player, since she came straight from her game.

On Sunday, we had our annual family night at church where the kids went trick-or-treating from car to car.
But first was dinner, a bounce house and a parade of costumes.
Then David took them from car to car while I passed out candy at my "m" van. (oops, no picture!)
On Wednesday morning, Gabriel dressed as Mr. Wagner, his principal. He was supposed to come as a "community helper".

"Mom?"
"Yes, Gabriel."
"I look kinda churchy," he says, referring to his suit & tie.

Mr. W liked it so much, he had Gabe sit with him on Dolphin TV through the entire morning announcments.
The rest of us got to see him on TV in the library!
Paloma sported her Jasmine costume.
"Cute costume, Paloma," comments someone.
"I'm a mermaid," she says proudly.
No one can convince her otherwise.
Carmen and her friend Tori were the only Native Americans in her class. Everyone else came in western wear.

When I got home from school, I got the kids to pose for me in the backyard.



Then it was time to eat dinner and change into our night costumes (the ones that go together). I did not have my mental health there for a while because I could not find costume parts (one squeaky shoe and the squeaky clown nose) and Carmen's headpiece that we had made did not fit or otherwise would not stay on her head. David convinced me to get over it and we went on to Mom's.
But first the kids wanted to trick-or-treat at a few houses on our block. (Specifically, their school librarian lives a few doors down.) Then it was time to go to Hidy & Gigi's house where they ate a bite of pizza (yes, we'd already had dinner) and got popcorn balls before the paparazzi tried in vain to get a good picture of the youngest 6 grandkids. (Lauren had just run off with her friends.)
Hidy wanted to be in a photo with them since he was in costume, too.
Then Mason invited us to go trick-or-treating in his neighborhood, because they were leaving just as we got there.
First we went by my boss's house
and Carmen's preschool teacher's house since they live in my Mom's neighborhood.
Paloma was a trooper about her costume, especially considering that the hat didn't exactly fit right.
Our last stop of the night was a block from our house. Several of Carmen's classmates live on this street, but more importantly, Uncle Joe & Aunt Susan live there. Gabe was the happiest of the night when he got to sit down at Joe & Susan's to check out all he'd collected.
Paloma loved being held by Meg,
and then Susan called Uncle Joe (in Houston) to tell him Gabe was at their house for his Halloween salad. (Two years ago, Joe offered 3-year-old Gabriel salad when he came trick-or-treating, and Gabe accepted.)
Carmen enjoyed playing with the new cat Meg brought home. Stuart?
At this point, I was wondering why in the world we ever celebrate Halloween on a weeknight. I was so tired that night and all the next day. But we had a good time and the kids got enough candy to last a year!

Kids say the darndest things

We were trying to get Gabe to talk about school. It was his turn to talk at dinner... David came home after we'd already started eating and the kids were getting squirmy at the table.
"Tell Daddy about what you're studying," I suggested, having seen the bats he made that day.
Carmen interrupts,
"He's only learning. Studying is what you do in 4th or 5th grade."
***
"Paloma, it's not okay to talk ugly to Mommy. Where did you learn that?"
"Meadow Creek."
***

The things they remember

"Who gave me this?" asked Paloma, holding the Ariel water baby she got for her birthday.

"Amy gave you that for your birthday. And Mason & Maya," I replied.

"I drank Amy's Coke. It was yummy."

"When?"

"At fwimming. At the birthday." And just to make sure I understand, she sings a bar of "Happy Birthday".

Aggie joke

When Mom came over on my birthday, she brought goodies from Lubbock from their homecoming trip to Tech.

The following Saturday, David & the kids set up a cold drink stand during our neighborhood's garage sale (it's the only day of the year we really get any traffic on our part of the block).

I put the kids in their new duds to take a picture for Mom.

A little while later, David said something like, "In all the years I've known you, this is one of the only Aggie moves I remember you making!"

Why? It was the day of the Tech-A&M game, and my children were decked out in red & black.

Oops!

I don't think the kids even have maroon clothes that fit. Looks like it's time for a trip to Aggieland!

The last time I was there was when I told David we were going to have another baby... and that baby was Gabriel, so it was fall of 2004.

How time flies!

Please pray

We've been to Mr. Don's Whistle Stop twice this year for birthday parties. This is what his web site used to look like:


I wanted us to go sometime when we could take their cousins (from California) who LOVE trains. Here is a video that the local news did about his place:


However, in the past three weeks, we've heard rumors and allegations that the man who owns & runs Mr. Don's Whistle Stop in his backyard has been accused of molesting several children during the birthday parties.

We were shocked to hear this, of course. I had recently been back there for another party (this time with Gabe and Paloma because Carmen was at soccer).

My friend Abbey called in tears saying she had a picture of Carmen sitting next to the guy on one of the train rides. At first, I just couldn't imagine the rumors could be true. Abbey was ready to hang the guy by his toenails. She was feeling awful, responsible for endangering her kids and the kids of all of her friends. She's been upset every time she sees anything that reminds her of that party (which was one of the best ever, even for her parties which are always amazing).

So I asked Carmen a few questions. Her first reaction was, "Why in the world are you asking me that!?!?" I felt confident she was not a victim in any way.

Paloma had only ridden on the train once at each party, and each time I had placed her with an older child to keep her safe (Maddie, Abbey's oldest, and Marshall, another friend of ours).

And I didn't worry about Gabriel since the original allegations were about young girls, I think they said aged 2-5.

But other parents may not be so lucky.

It is so shocking to think someone would do such a thing out in the open with parents all around, horrible but I guess a great setup for a pedophile to run such a business--it's so perfect for young children.

Anyway I would appreciate prayers for all of the people touched by this story, but mostly for the children who may have been hurt.

Pre-Halloween costume fun

When Aunt Beverly came to visit last month, she brought some old costumes to Hidy & Gigi's house for the kids to play with.
We got them out and played around a bit on a Sunday afternoon.
As it turns out, Carmen is supposed to dress as a Native American or cowgirl at school on Halloween (it goes with the Core Knowledge curriculum), so we'll really get to use some of this, it looks like!
Thanks, Beverly (and Justin, Blake & Brittany)!

She shoots, she scores!

Today was a great day for soccer!

Carmen showed drive & motivation I'd never seen before AND she scored her first goal! She took the ball away from other kids when playing defense many times and broke away and made it down the sidelines several times. I was so glad we were there and also that Gigi & Hidy finally got to see a good game. They've been coming to most of the games and it has been so disheartening to watch up until today.

The team actually spent half of the game on the opponents' side of the field, and some of the others besides Carmen seemed to know which way to go half of the time. This was by FAR their best performance. Our team scored twice, but they had many shots on goal for the first time ever.


Now there are still a couple of kids that are exasperating to watch, to be sure: one who scratches his head constantly and plays with his shadow in the grass, and another who is better in the goal than on the field, but he's still not as good in the goal as Carmen or one other girl on the team, and while he was in the goal, the other team scored several times. Both of these two spend most of their time on the field walking around, only half aware of where the ball is.

There's a new kid who was just assigned to the team, and he was an asset today. It's the first time they've had a full team all year. That should help a lot with the fatigue since they haven't been able to put subs in much.

Speaking of fatigue, the only nap Paloma got today was the 10-minute drive from home to the soccer fields plus about a half hour in the stroller once we got to Carmen's game! She woke up smiling, though, after a bunch of cheers waked her. It was a beautiful day and she enjoyed Gigi holding her.

To celebrate Carmen's game and goal, David took Carmen to see FC Dallas tonight. He offered to take all of us, but I spent the morning weeding out Carmen's outgrown & summer clothes and we spent the afternoon (after the game) cleaning out the garage (my car is in it for the first time in--IDK--a year or two?!?). So I couldn't imagine another event tonight. Instead, Gabriel, Paloma & I are taking it easy.
Here they are in the shirts they got at the game.

Funky

So Tom Batiuk let Lisa die of cancer in his comic strip Funky Winkerbean. It's made the news, even.

Here, you can read part of Lisa's story, the beginning of the birthmother story line, as well as a later part on the L.A. Daily News Archive, where her son checks his mail every day waiting to hear from her. (I used to do that.)

Treehuggers R Us

Today is Blog Action Day and so I'm posting along with 11,000+ of my fellow bloggers about the environment.

I have blogged about the environment before (here's one post), but I don't have much new to say today, really, except that I am concerned that we're not being very good stewards of the planet.

I worry about what in the world will be safe to eat 5 years from now, how much harder it will be to breathe, how much worse our allergies will be, how little water will be available and how much the cost of gas, water and milk (among other things) will continue to rise as we take our natural resources for granted.

Remember when we were kids, we thought someone would invent a clear bubble to cover the Earth, or that someone would find a way to cause and prevent certain kinds of weather? Instead, we've made the weather even less predictable.

And as "leaders of the free world", I hate how we have exported pollution to the rest of the planet, from tobacco smoke to CO2 emissions as the rest of the world wants to live more like America. Why can't we take a stand, set an example, do the right thing?

At this point, in my house, we cannot afford hybrid cars, but at least my commute each day is only 4.3 miles, where David's is a whopping 6.7 miles.

I used to wonder if I lived in a place like Paducah whether I'd walk to work, but then I realized I carry so much to and from work that this would make it difficult. Not to mention, I'd have to wear tennis shoes every day, which isn't "professional".

I heard recently on NPR a story about how there was a successful campaign in Japan to get men to quit wearing business suits and ties so that companies could raise their thermostats to 82 degrees Farenheit. While 82 sounds a little extreme, I thought that was a GREAT idea! I hate how refrigerated every indoor place is here in Texas from March - October!

But mainly I am concerned about the environment because I love my kids. I want them and my students to have opportunities to live full, healthy, happy & safe lives, and the more we damage the planet, the less likely that possibility seems.

A fairly memorable day

Silly me, I thought my birthday would be the best day to take the kids to the fair. Not that it's the best way I can think of to spend a day; it's definitely not! But I wanted them to get to go.

The student tickets the kids got this year were for a Sunday in September that was not a long weekend, so it wasn't really a good time for us to go. Sundays are busy already and we're not going to miss church or Gigi's house for that.

But I had no idea what we were getting into by deciding to go on Columbus day. I didn't think many people had the day off--turns out 22 local districts had that day for their (free) fair day. And I didn't know who the Jonas Brothers were. Now I do!

And we later learned that only 2 days in fair history had more people in attendance: the day Selena performed, and the day Garth Brooks performed (I was there for that day, too!).

We did not hurry to get ready Monday morning. I wanted to take it easy, blog a little, relax: it was my birthday, after all. David made us heart-shaped pancakes, which delighted Paloma who seemed not to remember ever having them before.

We left home at 11:15, having packed lunches.

The first attraction we were able to get to at the fair began at 2 PM.

It took us 2 hours just to drive the 24.7 miles to Fair Park--at least Paloma & I got a nap--and then we had to park and walk. We ate our lunch once inside the park, then went to the Women's Museum for a kids' science show (something different than we've done in the past).

At least inside it was cool, but outside it was blasted hot.

Next we saw a fairly lame puppet show (there is another puppet show every year that is better--now we know).

Then I got my corny dog. This year it was not worth it. I stood in the corny dog line while David went to the coupon line. It was soooo hot and soooo crowded because the Jonas Brothers concert had just ended at that point.

Next we rode the newly reopened/ rebuilt Skyway across the park,


went to the Birds of the World show (which seems to never change except for the "volunteer" who "falls" into the water) and then headed to the Ferris wheel.



Once we were 10 feet up in the Ferris wheel, we could feel a breeze and the temperature seemed to drop 20 degrees immediately. When we got up a little higher and started to take pictures, we noticed the ominous clouds headed our way.

Even though it was really dinnertime, we were nervous about how much time we had, so we decided to use our remaining tickets for snacks instead of rides so we could leave faster and maybe make it to the car before the sky opened up.

But when we got down, we were right in the middle of the kiddie rides, so I had a Pentimento moment. We quickly discovered that the coolest-looking rides had the longest lines and that the ride we soon picked would not allow Paloma on--she was too small. So David and Paloma went to get the stroller and 8 tickets worth of cotton candy while Carmen and Gabriel rode their last ride.



Before I started this post a few days ago, I asked Carmen if she wanted to write about it for the blog. She said, "No, I already wrote about it at school!" But then today, she told me she was writing about it in her new journal. So here is Carmen's account:


If you're wondering, that last line is about the "curbs" being fun--I asked her, and she said that rounding the corners was the best part.

And yes, I was the only one not in yellow. We normally dress in the same color to make it easy to find each other, but I didn't have any yellow maternity clothes and my main concern was wearing comfortable shoes!


Poor Paloma was all tuckered out. She slept all the way to the car. We had been driving less than 10 minutes when the rain started to fall. We decided to go ahead and eat dinner nearby at Daddy Jack's. (Mmmm, lobster bisque and shrimp stuffed with Ritz, butter & crabmeat stuffing.) When the kids didn't like the stuffed shrimp I gave them to try, I said, okay, how about I eat this and we'll get you a burger when we leave here? They agreed, so I had my fill of the yummy shrimp and they ate Happy Meals on the way home. (They were thrilled because we very rarely let the kids have McD's ever since we saw Supersize Me a couple of years ago.)



My mom came to visit and bring me a card when we got home. She & Amy had the idea to buy me a GC for a professional organizer--"the gift of time". (Exciting and intimidating at the same time.) They got David to have his family contribute too. I'm sure I'll have more to say about that at a later date, but it will no longer be a joke when I say I need professional help! This proves it.

In this picture, Gigi & the kids are checking out the huge spider and web on our back porch.