Hamsters, Rocks, and the Turkey Tango

Hola!

Happy Thanksgiving weekend! Lots of activity makes the clock run even faster, it seems. We have had some fun with school activities, and friends we haven't seen in a little while. Here are some highlights (oh--and a low point, too) of the past 2 weeks.

FAREWELL to a PET FRIEND. Kara has had her hamster, Karamel, since last Christmas. Usually hamsters live around 2 years. Strange as it seems, it is not UNcommon for a hamster to develop cancer. This happened to Karamel. She had a tumor under her chin, and then it only took about a week for her to slow down and stop. She passed away last Monday. Here is a farewell photo:

TURKEY TANGO. Kara was picked (literally: ALL the girls wanted to do this dance, so they drew names from a hat!) to do the Turkey Tango during the 5th grade song & dance performance on the day before Thanksgiving. Very cute! It was a song about this Turkey who learned the tango to get out of being cooked for Thanksgiving dinner. About 10 girls and 10 boys did the tango during the song.

PIE NIGHT. Fruit pies, pumpkin pies, lemon pies, chocolate pies! Our friends have an annual "Pie Night" the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so people can eat the best stuff (pies) before they gorge themselves Thursday on the rest of the food. Then they had to cancel at the last minute, so we offered to have it at our house instead. It was fun to socialize and EAT!

MOON PHOTOS. I must draw your attention to the header picture: Frank and Teresa took the tripod out at 11;30 p.m. last night, because the moon was so beautiful. They took about 20 photos, between clouds and adjusting shutter speed and aperture, and came up with a few really neat ones.

GRANDMA. This week I get to go visit my Grandma. She is about 12 days shy of her ONE HUNDREDTH BIRTHDAY! Is that so cool!!!!!!!!! They'll invite some people over on her actual birthday (December 10), but I will fly out a little early (Friday) so I can have some time to visit with her. Here is a photo of her in Belize a couple of years ago...

Have a great week! Kari

TK, Teeth, Tootsie Rolls

Hola--

Another week of November gone! We are flying through the days. Here are a few of our accomplishments for the week.

TERESA's BIRTHDAY. Yes, she's an official teenager now! "TK," as she is known at school, turned 13 on Thursday. It is Veteran's Day, and the kids got the day off of school. Teresa had our 3rd grade neighbor convinced that the school districts cancel school every year just for her birthday.


I was all ready to make a cake or pie for her dessert choice that day, and she chose...fudge! I think I have made fudge ONE time before, in my life. But I did it. Who says kids don't make you stretch?

TOOTSIE ROLL TRUTHS. Both the dentist and the orthodontist tell us regularly that chewy or hard candies are terrible for your teeth and braces. David comes home from school with a "piece" of something..."I was eating a tootsie roll at lunch," he explains, "and this got stuck in the tootsie roll.

Of course my stomach turns over, thinking it's a piece of his tooth. After a quick trip to the dentist, and another quick trip to the orthodontist, we are assured that it is a piece of bonding (glue), not a piece of tooth. Whew! I go home and immediately rifle through all the Halloween candy, and donate all but the candy bars. (Let somebody else pull out their dental work?!?)

Here are the girls with all that candy that Halloween Eve night...

WALLPAPER FUN. Kara's group of girls went to help a lady in the church with her daughter's bedroom this week. The girls sprayed the walls and scraped off the nasty old wallpaper. The girls had a blast. I think it must be more fun when you are helping somebody else...? When I did our bathroom 2 years ago, I don't remember it being all that much fun.

RUBIK. David got a 4X4 Rubik's Cube for his birthday. Did you even know they made those? Well, they do.

And that's the way it is. Monday, November 15, 2010. Kari

Fall and Pumpkins

Hola--

It's November! Time for lots and lots to happen. Daily. Hourly. Halloween. Birthdays. Carpool. Well, mostly it's just me driving, because the kids have nutty, individual schedules. So I wear the chauffeur cap and watch the gas tank needle go down, down, down.

HALLOWEEN. This was an entertaining time: the church had a chili cook-off, then Trunk-or-Treating night on Saturday night. A major, major Candy Exchange! You give my kids candy, I'll give your kids candy, plus someone will buy hundreds of yummy donuts and cider because there's not enough sugar in the air already, right??! Ha! Little kids are SO cute in their tiny costumes. (My kids are not really "cute" in their costumes anymore... "Cute" ends around 5, I think. Maybe 6.)

PUMPKINS. We had a Pumpkin-Carving Family Night, the week before Halloween. Frank has always done the carving before, but this year each child wanted to carve their own. Here are photos of the masterpieces.

Now, use your imagination: Kara is 10. Her pumpkin says "BOO!" inside the mouth. Teresa's (13 this week) says "Boo" in the back, with an owl on the left and a wolf howling at the moon on the right. David's (15) is "Boo," the character in the Mario video games. And it really LOOKS like the character! Very cool.

BIRTHDAY. Anyway, then there was David's birthday last week: my little boy is 15 now! He had some friends over this weekend, to play video games, Apples to Apples, eat spaghetti and watch a movie. I think A Good Time Was Had By All. And I was relieved to have made enough spaghetti. You never know with kids.

RAKING. We are back to Raking Season, oh--I mean Autumn, here in New England! This is the price we pay for gorgeous leaves in September and October. We RAKE! For the most part, we dislike it vigorously, but occasionally they are dry leaves, and the kids can play a little.

(My minutes have disappeared again. If anyone finds them, can you send them back to me? I really meant to do more with my time!)

Have a great week, Kari

Parties, Rocks, Airplanes

Hola!
We just have one week left of October! Can you believe it!

Kara had her very well-planned-out Halloween party/sleepover last Friday. She invited 5 girls to come after school in costume, and had decorations, craft projects, snack food, dinner, and movies all planned out. Here are the girls in costume, with smileys since I didn't ask if I could post their photos...









Mini-Pumpkin faces...


and the cool Halloween tree decoration Kara made (OK, it's "supposed" to be a Christmas star tree. But why not use orange frosting for a Halloween tree?).


IN OTHER NEWS...

ROCKS. Teresa's new passion is (drumroll, please...) rocks. Her biology teacher grandmother will appreciate this. She collects, examines, and reads about all kinds of rocks. They have been spread out all over her floor for the past weeks and months. Major milestone: Today she organized them into drawers. (Can you hear that? It's her mom cheering!!) Here she is next to the drawers.

Here is a close-up of her favorite drawer: it has some geode samples.




F-15 SHOW. David got to go with the scouts on Saturday, to an Air Force Base where they got a tour and get inside the F-15 planes. Here is the link to some photos on Facebook. Frank and David are in a couple of them. They watched/listened to/FELT the RUMBLE as they took off. It was really cool.

Well, I better boogie. Have a great week! Kari

Autumn is Upon Us

Hello!

I find myself just blinking, and days and then weeks are gone. We are living (read: Kari has one hand clutching the back corner of the calendar, and it is galloping away at breakneck speed) the months of fall, and the days just fly by. Here are a few highlights:

SOCCER. Kara's team won their game yesterday! She always plays a part of the game in goal.

TURKEYS. I always see this group of 6 or 8 wild turkeys as I drive around, but of course I never have my camera. One morning they were just across the street from our house, so I could take a picture of them.

CROSS COUNTRY. Both David and Teresa are running this year for their respective schools: the high school and the middle school.

They are building a new high school, however, and with all the construction mess, they will not be hosting any home meets this season! (Hence, no photo ops of David running...) At any rate, you can believe that he runs, and he's also pretty good at it. Here is Teresa at one of her home meets.

WOMEN's RETREAT. Our women's group at church (Relief Society) got to spend a night at the awesome camp the church owns in New Hampshire. It is just beautiful, with cabins by a lake and a great dining hall facility. And I must say, we have some talented cooks in our group! Ribs for dinner, then homemade jellies and syrups on the pancakes the next morning. The girls go there for Young Women's Camp each year. Now I know where Teresa has had all her great activities for camp the last 2 summers!

It is such a scramble to get everyone situated at home, before Mom leaves for 24 hours. But well, well worth it. It poured on us for the first few hours, then Saturday it cleared and was beautiful for us to take our hike around the lake.

(My allotted 20 minutes for this is up.)

Have a great week! Love, Kari

Hamster with a Soccer Ball

Sunday again! If I blink just one more time, September may disappear.

SOCCER. Yesterday was filled with soccer and more soccer. Here is a Kara photo.

XC MEETS. Last week, Teresa and David both had cross-country meets, but they were "away" and I did not go to take pictures. Maybe next time will be "home."

DO-IT-YOURSELF. And of course, let's not forget house projects. Mowing, raking, painting a patch downstairs. Frank and Teresa removed the rest of the stump in the backyard, our poor tree taken over by carpenter ants and beetles.

RODENT ANTICS. Kara's hamster is the most tame creature I have ever seen. She lets any of Kara's friends hold her, and doesn't nip or complain about anything. Kara builds scenarios for her to participate in, then takes pictures of her. She takes her out all the time, lets her run in the ball around the house, and even puts doll clothes on her. Here is our soccer-playing hamster:

And the hamster on her way to getting married. (Thanks, Grammie D--this is actually the dress you made for Mia, her American Girl doll! Modified slightly, it can also be used to have a hamster get married.)

Here we go, jumping into the next week! Here's hoping you can find ways to enjoy yours to the fullest--:)

Kari

P.S. Just experimenting: here's my nephew Craig with his Homecoming date!

Autumn Arrives

Hola!

Another week gone by...all I have to do is blink, and the days keep zooming!

FOND FAREWELL. This is partly a "farewell" blog to one of my favorite pairs of shoes. Funny how if you wear shoes every day for a few seasons, they...wear out. I would have kept wearing them anyway, but then I noticed a crack in the bottom of the sole of one. In this wet region, that would spell out w-e-t-f-e-e-t-f-o-r-m-e a few times a week, I'm afraid. :(

So I skeptically went shopping and I tried the brand my mom swears by: Naturalizer. I always wonder just a little when she says it's the "only kind I buy," plus they are a tad more expensive. But I tried these on, and ----- my feet gave a very relieved and satisfied, "Aaaahhh!" They fit wonderfully and are SO comfortable. I can walk the halls at school all day on the 3 days a week I tutor at the elementary school, and my feet will be happy.

BIGGER IN TEXAS. I also tried a new grocery store this week, and my neighbor talked about "Texas donuts" from this store, only during the month of September.

So HERE are photos of a "Texas Donut!" (One will feed your whole family.) We got a good chuckle out of them.

I left out Teresa in the last blog since she was still deciding on a sport at school, and other activities. She settled on cross-country, so those practices started this week. (I don't know where my kids get that running gene; Frank and I are very much NOT runners!) In the music area, she is doing chorus this year instead of band. She also wants to audition next week for 'Select Chorus.' That's a special chorus that practices separately from regular chorus.

CLEAN STOVE. Now, the last piece of amazing news is that I cleaned the stove on Saturday...I mean, I really cleaned the outside, scrubbing those dumb burner covers, etc. for about 2 hours (Kara helped). Go ahead, "Ooohh" and "Aaahh," it won't be done again for months!

Have a fabulous week! Kari