Saturday, October 31, 2009

Trick or Treat?

"This is the best day ever!" says Anika. (Of course, she has been known to say that about many, many days. But always fun ones!) We had a great evening. (In spite of losing a pair of black Sunday shoes. . . Anika was supposed to wear them with her pirate costume but they are no where to be found; perhaps they will show up in time for church tomorrow morning. . . )

We made our way around our court to trick or treat at a few houses which was fun but the highlight of the evening was the "Trunk or Treat" held at a neighboring church parking lot. The kids were delighted with all the decorate "trunks" -- spider webs, jack 'o lanterns, themed decos, etc. Anika loved the aliens who never said a word. They received tons of candy, saw friends all dressed up, and enjoyed a beautiful evening. (I remember trying to figure out how to get snow pants under my costume, not here in Ripon - it was mid to upper 60s!!)

My pirate, giraffe, and 'Venom' (he wanted spiderman but this is what we found. . .)
"Arrrgh, matey!" Anika was so excited with the telescope, sword, and hook that we made today to go with her pirate attire (and brown shoes, grrrrr!)

Andrew only wore his mask for the pictures so some of the evil effect of the costume was mitigated by the cheese grin.



She actually wore the hood the whole night -- I was so surprised!


Treehouse:-)

Just "hanging out" in the backyard:

Making a phone call:

Kathryn is wearing this cute Tweetie bird overall and I just love the back end:-)

Pumpkin Muffins

Kiddos helping me bake choco-chip pumpkin muffins. I used to put helping in quotes, but they really are getting to be great helpers:-)


Rookie Mistake

I'm still getting used to my new home with a different climate. That is my excuse. . . We were traveling over halloween last year so this was the first year here that we carved pumpkins. I was so excited -- as the earlier post showed. However, I was not aware of what 48 hrs. in this temperate climate would do to a pumpkin. Needless to say, I will not be posting any lit pumpkin pictures as I had promised. We certainly weren't going for the scary, eerie, grotesque look, but that is what we ended up with. The pumpkins were shriveling, bug-infested disasters. So they were thrown away on Weds. Mmmm, I guess pumpkin carving will have to happen ON halloween in the future. Lesson learned!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

The Power of the Tongue


At the Wicker household, we've been working on how we use our tongues (Mommy included). So I've been talking to the kids about tone, reacting when angry, etc. As a result, we've had a few poignant moments and a few humorous ones. Andrew in particular has a few Andrewisms that have made me laugh.


Andrewism #1 (as an outlet for his anger and frustration that DOESN'T include crying, yelling, screaming, etc.):

"Oh, rats" (said with passion and usually accompanied by a two-handed thigh slap. Of course, his "r's" are questionable so it usually sounds like "oh, wats!" for further comic effect.) For example:

Mom: Andrew, is it is time to go.

Drew: Oh, rats!


Mom: Pick up your toys, please.

Drew: Oh, rats!


Andrewism #2:

Anika was singing a song about our tongues "Oh, be careful little tongue what you say. . .". She was sharing with Andrew that there are lots of other verses. "Yeah", says Andrew, "I know one."


"Oh, be careful little tongue what you lick. . ."

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Monkey-ing Around

Anika has a new obsession. Ever since school started, she has been enamoured with monkey bars. A few weeks ago, I was greeted at school by an ecstatic Anika when she successfully made it across the monkey bars. Then it was on to bigger and better things. She spends her entire recess on the monkey bars, learning to get across, try it backwards, swing herself up to sit on top, etc. She has now moved on to the higher "blue" bars that curve around. (See picture below). Sadly, her hands haven't fared so well. She had blisters and callouses -- but they don't seem to slow her down:-)

Anika's picture of herself on the "blue bars":

Her hands (of course the pictures don't do it justice. . .):





Saturday, October 24, 2009

Pumpkin Carving Time

Here are more pictures than you need of our fun afternoon carving pumpkins. (No Kat as she was napping!) Andrew quickly lost interest and started riding his bike instead. Anika stuck it out and was delighted with her owl. (Lit pumpkin pictures coming soon -- it was just too bright out!)












Pumpkin Patch revisited

Since Anika got to go to the Pumpkin patch twice (once on a school field trip and once with mom's club), Andrew and Kathryn felt they should get to go twice, too:-) We took Daddy this time and had another fabulous time on a beautiful, upper 70 degree day.






Dishwasher Dolly

Kathryn is learning something new everyday. Unfortunately, they aren't all edifying, delightful things:-) She has become a bit of a handful at times. I've learned not to turn my back:-)

Those who stay at home. . .

Just hanging out at home while Anika is at school. Scout actually wore these silly "bunny ears" for awhile.


Thursday, October 22, 2009

Pumpkin patch, cont'd

I received a few more pictures of the pumpkin patch from some friends: