Zombie, Zombie, Zombiee...eee...eeee....

Halloween this year was all about the gross and the gore. Gross Boo's. Gorey costumes. Haunted houses. Thriller. The theme song ... a resounding Zombie.

It was fun. But I'm over it. 

Next year I'm looking forward to bringing shiny, happy people back. I want to feel the love. Kumbaya, my Lord, Kumbaya. Maybe a little Love Shack. You get my drift.

Yup. I'm ready for a new soundtrack. Anyone with me?

REM - Shiny happy people by val6210

A Haunting We Will Go...

Tonight's the night. They are so excited. They've been planning it for months.  They even learned the Monster Mash and Thriller in class. Crossing our fingers it doesn't rain on their zombie parade.

Happy Halloween!

Ten on Ten: October 2011

Oh, Ten on Ten. How I love thee. I'm always pleasantly surprised at the end of the day when I look back over my photos. My Ten on Ten days are usually very routine. Very ordinary. But this challenge forces me to pay attention to the little details. Something I wish I was more in tune with every day.

Typical Monday here. With the exception of a sick visit to the doctor. Luckily, it was just a virus. And the doctor said it's A-OK to send your kid to school with a fever. Just so long as it's under 100.5. Whoohooo!

Ten on Ten. Ten pictures. Over ten hours. On the tenth of the month.

Boo-Ya! 2011...

We were a little late getting our Boo on this October. But it's done. And it was fun. Mostly for the Big Ballerina. Cake decorating is really her thing. Me not so much.

She has so much patience for this. Me? One cake pop falls over and I'm ready to throw the whole project in the trash. But BB could do it all day. Who cares if she knows the difference between a Pueblo, a Sioux or an Iroquois? I don't think Cake Boss uses that info on a daily basis.

The Little Ballerina, on the other hand, is more like me. She gets excited by the idea of the project. Starts off strong.

Starts eating more of the ingredients than using them. Watches for a while.

And then moves on to more interesting activities.

Finally, after three rounds of Eddie Veder's Ukulele Songs, the eyeballs...

and the ear wax was finally done.

We were worried it would be too gross to eat. So we asked LB to test one out for us. She took one bite.

And before we could finish asking her how it was. Poof!

I just hope the recipients are as fearless as she is.

What about you? Do you Boo? Want to start? Check out more ideas here.

What Am I Going to be When I Grow Up?

17. Cake Decorator

Slide Show Sunday: Halloween

Yes, I know it's Monday. Sunday was just too busy to get some blog lovin' from me. Halloween is a big day around these parts. Not only is it one of our favoritest holidays, it also happens to be my birthday.

And, since I am so loved, our whole neighborhood throws me a giant party. Complete with a Tiki Bar, dogs and burgers on the grill, and all night merry-making. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the special bar they built in my honor. Or the giant crowd in attendance. Or the jello shooters.

But I have an excuse. You see, my costume had a very key accessory. A heavy accessory that had to be worn around my neck. The same neck that would have had a heavy camera around it. And since I don't have two necks. And I didn't want people to think I was just some skanky mom in a rubber jumpsuit. I had to forgo the camera in place of the binoculars.

Next year I will be a little more careful to choose a costume that does not require binoculars. Or any other heavy object to be worn around my neck. That may interfere with the documentation of my huge birthday bash.

Slide Show Sunday: Fall

NOTE: It's weird because this collage is a 4 picture x 4 picture grid. It shows up that way on my desktop, but on my laptop it's only 3x3. If you click on the collage, you can see it properly.

Up went the Halloween trimmings.

Down came a bunch of chard still growing in the garden.

Out came the big red pot.

Off to the pumpkin patch we went.

On went the hoodies. 

In we welcomed Fall.

Do You Boo?

We started this tradition in our neighborhood a good five or six years ago. One of my friends told me about it, and I knew we lived in the perfect neighborhood for this to take off. And it has.

If you don't know what "Boo'ing" is, simply put it's like a chain letter version of "Ding Dong Ditch." Only you leave a little Halloween treat for the family on the doorstep before you run off into the night giggling like fools. In turn, the recipient must "Boo" three other neighbors within 48 hours to keep the Boo going until Halloween.

The Ballerinas LOVE the "ding dong ditch" part. We take off on our bikes under the cover of darkness, riding super slowly so our carefully packed baskets don't topple over. The Big Ballerina is the one who usually walks the basket up to the doorstep while the rest of us hide behind a tree to watch. The nervous anticipation of getting caught is half the fun. Choosing what and who to Boo, and then keeping it a secret all month is the other half.  

Getting Boo'ed in return is also a big part of it. You hope that you'll get something good. After a few years of getting less than a stellar stash (and one year nothing at all :(), we finally hit the mother lode last year. We were Boo'ed by our neighbor who is an artist. She knew I'd been drooling over her Halloween driftwood sculptures so when we found THIS on our doorstep, I was doing the Monster Mash. The ballerinas, on the other hand, were a wee bit disappointed that we didn't get a basketful of sugar.

The treat you leave can be whatever you like. We usually try to bake a Halloween goodie (although last year I was lazy and just baked chocolate chip cookies) and add some other fun Halloween decorations. Since we'll be bombarded with candy on the 31st, I try not to add much candy at all. Last year, I started adding a little adult beverage to the basket. A little Firefly vodka and some lemonade.

 This year, I found some fun Magic Hat "Hex" beers that fit the theme perfectly.

We made some pretzel pops. Hard to tell from the photo, but the brown one is a Witch's Finger.  

Threw in a little black crow, a mini pumpkin and some gummy pirate's teeth, and...

We're ready for nightfall. 

Hopefully, we won't get caught. And LB won't blab our secret at the bus stop on Monday morning. If you're interested in starting this in your neighborhood, leave a comment and drop me an email at kimgrowsup@yahoo.com. I'll email you the Boo letter and instructions to get you going.

Just One More Halloween Post, I Promise

I have a love/hate relationship with Halloween. I love creating the costumes and getting the whole family involved. I hate making 10 different costumes because the ballerinas change their minds every other week. (Erin, you are not alone.) I love going door to door hearing the ballerinas say, "Trick-Or-Treat." I hate the mountain of candy they drag through the door at the end of the night.

I know everyone is way over Halloween by now. I thought I was too. (I did finally take down the decorations. I swear.) But, this morning the Big Ballerina sing-songed to me from upstairs, "Maaa mmmeee, come up heeeeeerreeeee." I know when I hear that song it's not going to be pretty.

I brace myself, count to 10, promise myself I won't yell, and head to the playroom.

"Where are you?" I ask.

"Over here. Behind the couch," replies the Big Ballerina. "Look!"

Cautiously, I walk over to the couch. My heart is pounding. With my eyes shut tight, I open one to barely a squint and find it...

The Little Ballerina's Halloween stash.

"That's it?!?" I exclaimed. "You dragged me up here because she spilled her Halloween candy? Big deal!"

"No, Mama. Look closer!" cried the Big Ballerina.

I bent down to pick up the candy, still irritated that she summoned me upstairs for this silly incident. And, that's when I figured it out.

That's not Halloween candy. It's Halloween candy WRAPPERS! The only things left were the lollipops and some random Skittles that she had licked once and abandoned for more sugary confections. Skittles that were now stuck to the playroom carpet.

Yes, I am definitely over Halloween. And, I promise not to post about it anymore. Until next year.

It's Time

Taking down the Christmas trimmings is always a chore. I'm starting to feel the same way about the Halloween decorations. Yes, it's a chore to put them away, but more so, I like having them up.

Maybe it's because I was born on Halloween, but looking at them everyday just makes me smile. I don't put up anything really scary. In fact, my giant spider is more friendly than frightening. The crows are more cute than creepy. For whatever reason though,  I feel cozy and content among these creatures.

BSD and I were just discussing when we should tackle this project...

Me: We should probably start thinking about taking down the Halloween decorations.

BSD: Yeah, that's a good idea. When do you want to do it?

Me: When we get the Christmas tree...

But, it's already November 5th, and the Jack-O-Lantern is starting to shrivel and mold. I guess we better get packing. We don't want to be THOSE PEOPLE who keep their Christmas lights up all year long.

 

  

No, that would just be batty!

Just ask the Little Ballerina.

The Power of a Good Story

I spent the morning in the Little Ballerina's Kindergarten class helping out with the Fall Frolic which is secret code for Halloween party minus the costumes. Halloween is strictly taboo these days in the public school sector lest we all be branded heathens and witches.

The party celebration consisted of fun learning centers all with a Halloween theme. Taking full advantage of the fact that I've "been there done that" with my Big Ballerina, I scoped out the centers and raced for the one that most interested me....the picture books.

I recognized a few of the books, one being a great read aloud, but decided to try the ones I didn't know. I tried out 3 different titles on 3 separate groups, but they just couldn't compete with the other centers. The stories were sweet, but they were lacking that extra something, that "IT" factor, that makes them stand out from the rest. Even with my Little Ballerina's endorsement when her group arrived (That's my mom. She's a REALLY great reader!), these books weren't cutting it. After the first few pages I found myself reading to the backs of heads looking longingly over at the next center where they would drop ghosts and sort spiders.

Refusing to give up my belief that a good story is just as captivating as floating or sinking pumpkins, I picked up the tried and true picture book, The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything, and began to read. Sure enough, it wasn't long before I had my young charges clomping, clapping and wiggling along with me. We were having a ball and now the other groups were peering over at our table to see what fun they were missing. 


The timer rang signaling it was time to move on to the next center. My group looked over at their teacher with sad faces. "Can't we stayyyyy?" they begged. Mrs. Rose turned to me and said, "They're mesmerized!"

YES! Sweet victory! 

My chest puffed out a bit and visions of being crowned the next StoryQueen danced in my head. When I came back down to earth, I knew it wasn't ME that had captured their attention. It was the power of a good story.