The Three Little Pigs, Halloween Style...

Once upon a time there were three little pigs, who wanted to go trick-or-treating to seek out their candy fortunes.

The first little pig lived in a house made out of straw. She was trying to get herself ready to go trick-or-treating, when along came a big, bad wolf who knocked at the door and said, "Little pig, little pig, let me come in and play. I want to gobble up all your candy today." But the pig answered,"Oh no, oh no, you can not come in and play. I need to get ready to go trick-or-treating today."

The wolf said, "Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in." So he huffed, and he puffed, and he blew the house in, and chased the little pig all around the house, but the little pig ran away. And the little pig felt very upset by the wolf's actions, and made sure to tell everyone she came in contact with, just how upset she was!

The second little pig lived in a house made out of sticks that his older sister pig made for him, since he did not know how to do it himself, because he is just a little pig, after all. And then once more came the wolf, and said, "Little pig, little pig, let me come in and play. I want to gobble up all your candy today." But the pig answered "No, no, no, no!" because let's face it, he's only a toddler and that's all he seems to say these days.

The wolf said, "Then I'll puff, and I'll huff, and I'll blow your house in." So he huffed, and he puffed, and he puffed and he huffed, and at last he blew the house in, and he chased the little pig all around the house, but the little pig ran away, found his blankie, and started sucking his thumb. And everything in the world was good again for the little pig.

The third little pig lived in a house made out of bricks. Now this pig had taken the time to do some research online before he started construction of his house, and he found out that bricks would be the best building material to use. But once again the wolf came along, and said, "Little pig, little pig, let me come in and play. I want to gobble up all your candy today." But the pig answered "Oh no, oh no, you can not come in and play. I'm trying to finish my turn on the computer before I have to go trick-or-treating today."

The wolf said, "Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in." So he huffed, and he puffed, and he huffed, and he puffed, and he puffed and huffed; but he could NOT blow the house down. Which, by the way, did not surprise the pig one bit.

Finding that he could not, with all his huffing and puffing, blow the house down, the wolf gave up and went home to take a nap.

Now in this time, the first two pigs found each other, and together they went searching for their big brother pig. And eventually, they found their big brother pig. And because they were all so excited to have found each other, they decided it was a good time to go trick-or-treating.

When they were done trick-or-treating, they all went inside the house made of bricks, and sat around the table eating their candy and talking about what their favorite part of the day was.

And because they were all in such great moods, they came to realize that the big, bad wolf wasn't so bad after all... he just gets grumpy when he's hungry. So, they decided to share their candy with the big, bad wolf, and their mommy pig too, who just happened to drop by for a visit!

The End

Happy Halloween, and an Oink, Oink, Oink!!!

And The Next President Of The United States of America Is...

I voted today. Hector voted yesterday on his lunch break. Voting just doesn't seem to evoke nearly as much excitement from me these days as it did when I was in my 20s. I could barely make myself watch the debates this time around. I guess that's because when I was in my 20s I didn't have children or a mortgage, and I wasn't thinking about taxes, the economy, the price of gas, college funds, the stock market, or retirement. It was fun to vote! But now, I feel a certain obligation to vote. These days, I don't vote because I want to, I vote because I feel like I have to. I feel like it's my responsibility, like I owe it to my children. I don't need to listen to the candidates to figure out what really matters to me. All I need to do is look around me to know what's truly important; my faith, my family, my planet, my home, and my community.

Regardless of where you stand, regardless of who you vote for, the fact is that this election is monumental; either an African American man will become President, or a woman will become Vice President. That's simply amazing to think about, and it's happening in our lifetime... in my kid's lifetime... So, if you haven't already done so, get out there and vote!

All Good Things Must Come To An End

I took this picture on March 8, the day I planted my summer garden. Back then, I thought that everything would last until July, or maybe August, if I was lucky. But here we are in late October, and my summer garden is still going strong! And while I realize that all good things must come to an end, I was horrified earlier today when I found out that it is supposed to freeze here tonight. I tried to cover up all of the plants in my garden today, but I figured out really fast that my plan wasn't going to work out. The plants are simply way too tall. So, in a panic I called my mom, and with some helpful advice from her I made up my mind to pick all of the tomatoes that were big, even if they were still green, as well as everything else in the garden that looked like it was ready to be picked, and simply take my chances with everything else that I left outside. Did you know that if you put green tomatoes in a ceramic dish, they will eventually turn red? Well, I've tried it once before when Isaac went crazy one day in the garden and started picking all of the tomatoes that were at his eye level. I put all of those tomatoes in a ceramic dish, and sure enough, they all eventually turned red. So, when my mom reminded me of that helpful tip today, I decided to head out to the garden and I started picking everything I thought was worth saving. Maybe I should have just let it all go. I mean, it has been a great summer garden, and it has produced above and beyond what I hoped it would. But I simply could not give up on the fruits of my labor, literally! I could not give up on all of this:

As I was picking everything, I thought that maybe I had around 60 tomatoes. But after I brought it all inside and counted, I actually had 150 tomatoes! You read that right... And there are still around 60 more tomatoes that were too small to pick, that I left on the plants.

I've really enjoyed my summer garden. It's been a wonderful experience for me and the kids. And even though I know that all good things must come to an end, I'm kind-of sad that the time seems to have finally arrived. So, I'd like to share some of my favorite pictures from my summer garden with you now. Enjoy!

So Many Firsts

First time to go on a Cub Scout camping trip.

First time to go on a hike in the woods.

First time to catch a fish!!!

First time to race a soap box car.

She's Making A List, And Checking It Twice.

Avery loves paper. She collects it. She loves writing on it, drawing on it, coloring on it, stapling it together, gluing one piece down on top of another piece, etc. I tried (very foolishly, I might add) to make Avery keep all of her papers in 1 folder. It didn't work. This was the result of that poorly thought-out and executed plan:

Oh well, we tried... And although it would seem to the untrained eye that Avery is not very particular about which types of papers she likes to collect (after all, her most recent stack of papers that I gathered from her room was 6 inches tall - see the picture below), nothing could be further from the truth.

Avery loves collecting fliers. She is also particularly fond of envelopes. She loves writing letters to people and then sealing them away in envelopes. She never mails the letters to anyone. That would defeat her real purpose... saving the envelopes for her collection!

Avery also truly enjoys making books. I mean, come on, what little girl doesn't? Her most recent masterpieces are entitled "Baby Goes To The Zoo" and "Bunny's Birthday Surprise." Both of which I have my own plans for... I intend to take them from her when she decides to move on to bigger and better books, just at precisely the right time so that she won't realize they've gone missing, so that I can keep them in her scrapbook... HA!

But her absolute favorite thing to do with paper is making lists!

No one really knows what the lists say or what purpose they serve, no one except Avery, that is. These are grocery lists, as Avery explained to me yesterday. The numbers tell her how many of each item she needs to buy. Yesterday, Avery told me that she needed to make more lists but we were out of paper, and asked me where she could find more. "What? We're out of paper again!?!? I just bought 2 packs of construction paper and I also found that cute little snowman pad of paper for you to use. What happened to all of that paper?" She used it all, to make lists, of course. See those grocery lists up there? Well, Avery's getting ready for not only a brunch that she needs to attend on Friday, but she's also starting her Thanksgiving dinner preparations (both of which she has undoubtedly heard me talking about over the past few days). That girl has some major plans for Thanksgiving - she's buying 11 pies and 5 turkeys!

And speaking of Thanksgiving (by the way, do you know it's only 36 days away?), I'd like to make 2 early "What I'm Thankful For This Year" declarations. I'm thankful for my very creative, happy-go-lucky, spunky, talkative, inquisitive, fun-loving, not-afraid-to-speak-her-mind, and sometimes challenging (but in a good way!) daughter. I'm also thankful to all of you who take the time to indulge me by reading my stories, notes, letters and lists on this website, and then take the time to leave your wonderfully thoughtful and encouraging comments. Why, just think about all that paper we're saving!!! I may not be very good at writing, and I know that sometimes I have a tendency to let my words run on and on, but I simply can't help myself. I love writing about almost anything. And apparently, Avery does too!

“I love writing about nothing. It is the only thing I truly know anything about.” ~Oscar Wilde

Big Cub Scout Fun!

This past Saturday, Samuel and Hector went on a 1 day retreat, along with Samuel's entire Cub Scout group. Cub Fun Day was a blast, or so I was told. The boys spent an entire day playing team building games like this one:
All of the boys stood on those pieces of wood, and had to move their feet and legs together at the same time. They had to figure out how to communicate with the other boys in their group, and how to work it all out so that they could get to the other side of the field. They also ran an obstacle course and played a racing game where one boy had to put on a jacket, hat and pants, run down to the other side of the field, take off the clothes and let the next boy put them all on, and then he would run down to the other side of the field, and so on.



They were also given lessons on how to shoot bee bee guns:

Several shots later, Samuel finally hit his target. Woo Hoo!

Samuel also learned how to shoot a bow and arrow:
He hit the target within a few tries. It was the target for the boy next to him and not his own target, but still, he hit the target! Way to go, big guy!

Hector and Samuel came home exhausted, dirty and stinky. But they had tons of fun together.

At Samuel's last meeting, he helped build a soap box car. At first, he didn't want to take a turn using the drill. The noise scared him. But once he got over the sound it made, he decided to give it a try. And then, of course, he didn't want to stop drilling. He wanted to drill everything, and got upset when Hector insisted he give another boy a turn:
His entire pack is going camping this coming weekend, where they are going to race their car against other packs. Hector and I were noticing that every time Samuel needs to go to a meeting or to a scheduled event, he always seems to put up a fight at first and claim that he doesn't want to go. But once he gets there, he always has so much fun! We've decided that he is just a home-body, just like his Dad... content to stay at home, but really enjoys getting out every now and then to spend some quality time with his friends too. Which, by the way, is completely the opposite from his social butterfly sister, who asks me every single day if we can go somewhere or at least plan a play date with her friends. Honestly, I don't know who Avery gets that from! :-)

Book wish lists for the kids...

...are on their http://www.amazon.com/ wish lists. I decided to make things easy by not creating completely new wish lists for the kids, and instead adding the books that their teachers recommended onto their already existing wish lists. There are links to their wish lists on the right side of this page. I know that the kids would really enjoy and appreciate some new books for Christmas.
Avery had her first official Daisy Meeting last night (Girl Scouts). She had fun! I think she's enjoying getting to know the other girls in her troop. And I'm enjoying getting to know the other mothers. Their first project was to make name tags to wear during the meetings. Avery wrote her name in the middle of a big daisy flower, which I thought was by far the most clever and creative girl's name tag. :-) I drew a picture of myself on my name tag, with a bubble coming out of my mouth that said "Hello, my name is Patty." And then I realized that I was the only mother who was coloring on her name tag. Oh well! Avery thought my name tag was by far the most clever and creative mommy name tag...

And finally, Samuel had his first awards ceremony of the school year. He earned 2 awards: perfect attendance, and super citizen (follows rules, listens to the teacher, helps others, etc.). His teacher is the one at the podium wearing the red shirt.

See the little girl standing to Samuel's left, with the blue sweater and white t-shirt? Samuel came home from school one day last week and asked me if I thought the name Clint is a boy's name or a girl's name. And I told him that the name Clint is a boy's name. "Nu uh!!! There's a girl in Ms. Cutler's class, and guess what her name is? CLINT!" And there she is... Clint is, in fact, a girl's name...