Halloween 2009

This year Alexia was a dalmatian and Mikayla was going to be 'mustard' but decided to be a fairy instead. Despite the fact that Halloween is probably T's least favorite holiday, she was instrumental in getting Alexia's spots sewn onto her costume and she also make Mikayla's tutu-skirt from scratch. Thanks also to Sue & Andrea for the help, advice, guidance and support.

Me? I just ate candy, drove kids around and took pictures.

Friday night we went to the Fall Harvest Festival at Alexia's school.

Mikayla volunteered at one of the game booths and also at the Carmel Apple booth.


Alexia played a lot of games and participated in the costume contest. She didn't win any prizes, but her BFF Aryana did. Aryana was the 'Kittens 4 sale' next to Alexia.

Tanya and I volunteered at the Halloween Bowling booth. There's nothing qite like 12 year olds hurling bowling ball sized pumpkins at 2-liters of water... or your ankles if you aren't paying attention.

Today, Halloween, started with our final soccer game of the season for Alexia. It was a great first half, but the second half didn't turn out quite so favorable. The kids were more interested in trick or treating... or at least that's the excuse I'll use.

The weather was perfect for trick or treating. It was dry and not cold. The kids both met up with friends for their neighborhood tours and were quite satisfied with their loot.





While the kids were out trick or treating, Tanya was correcting papers, planning for conferences and ready to decorate for Thanksgiving.

~E

What did you say?

Do you ever say something that doesn't make any sense?

Here is an example:

Imagine you are a mother.
You are in a hurry.
You are trying to encourage a child of yours, who might be about 9 years old, to finish getting dressed.
Relatively quickly.
Maybe you intended to say:
"Now go put on your clothes."
but instead you actually say:
"Now go put on your pancakes."

Here is another example:

Imagine you are really mad.
REALLY mad.
You are about 9 years old.
You are in your room.
Maybe your dad is trying to talk to you, really calmly.
Probably you really don't want to listen to his logical nonsense right now and just want him out of your room.
Maybe you intended to say:
"Get Out Of My Room!"
but instead you actually say:
"Get Out Of My Mouth!"

It's hard not to laugh when those things happen.
Even if it makes people more mad.

~E

Pumpkin Patch

After a fun soccer game this morning we loaded into the car and went to the local pumpkin patch.


We were glad that it wasn't raining and a layer of hay helped to keep the mud to a minimum.

The kids posed for pics and then they quickly each located desirable pumpkins. We posed the pets for a couple of pics and Catrina felt it important to protect us from the threatening black cat.




Eventually we escaped back to the safety of the car with only a minor argument about whether the dogs really needed their own pumpkins.

They don't. It doesn't matter what google says.

Now we need to find time to carve pumpkins.

Household Oddities

Sometimes things change gradually and you don't really notice the changes.

Or maybe you do notice the changes, but it's a small change and not really a big deal so you just 'let it be' and move on.  Often times these changes are just meant to be temporary.

I think this probably happens to everybody.

Then... one random day you realize how a lot of small changes, insignificant on their own, can build up into something that might seem peculiar to the casual observer.  Or visitors.  Or Friends.  Or Neighbors.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

Lately I've noticed some unusual things in and around the house.  They're all temporary.  In this situation, "Temporary" is measured in five year increments.

Let me list a few of the oddities for you.

1)  We have a child gate set up to block off the downstairs bathroom.  This is odd because my youngest is nine.  Years, not months.

2)  We have a litter box outside on the porch.  Our cat is an indoor cat.

3)  I have a Rainforest Closet.  Clothes are often hung in that doorway to my closet while they dry.  Every time I have to go in and out of there it feels like I'm ducking under wet tree branches.

4)  All the bedroom and bathroom garbage cans can now be found on the top of furniture, instead of on the ground.  Kind of like we are expecting a 100 year flood and don't want the garbage cans to get damaged.  Actually, it's not a flood we are concerned about... it's Hurricane Katrina (the dog, if you didn't know).

5)  The cat won't eat until you hop the child gate into the bathroom where her food is and 'look' to see if she has food in her bowl.  She won't go eat until after you go into the bathroom first.

6)  The "Industrial Art" (complete with Artist Drawn pencil circle) underneath our bathroom window was originally a towel holder.  Three times.  Now it's just Art, which is better than the holes in the wall which would be the alternative.

7)  Our family room is currently painted with three walls of purple and one wall of brown (oops, I mean "Latte").  We are trying to decide if we like the Latte color or not.  We've been deciding for about two months now.

That's about it I guess.  There must be others that I'm forgetting but that's alright because I'm sure you'll point them out the next time you visit.

~E

7th Grade: Then and Now

So, it seems that 7th Grade in 2009 is a little different than it was back in the olden days (like, 1982).

Then: Lockers!
Now: Monsterous Backpacks

Then:  Textbooks for every class... and you can put them in your locker!
Now:  3 inch binders for 4 inches of papers and maybe a workbook, if you're lucky.

Then: Computer Lab full of brand new Commodore 64's!
Now: What's a Commodore 64? Technology Lab and every kid carries at least two electronic devices which each hold more information than 100 Commodore 64's.

Now: MySpace
Then: Uh... my locker?

Then: Parachute pants and those 'cool' jackets with the funny flaps on the shoulders. And jeans. Unbelievably, your underwear stayed INSIDE your pants.
Now: Aeropostale anything (or everything) (also, you can't pronounce it properly, no matter how hard you might try).

Then: ET, Tootsie and Rocky III, Star Trek II (The Wrath of Kahn)... for $2,50.
Now: Hannah Montana (the Movie), New Moon, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and Up. Also, surprisingly, Land of the Lost, Star Trek, Fame, another Terminator sequel and Transformers. Cost $9.50. At least.

Then: Dukes of Hazzard
Now: iCarly

Then: **insert picture of me looking like a dufus here, when I find it**
Now: Mikayla (when she's not running a 102 degree fever):

Those are a few of the compare/contrast items that came to mind.

I'm not sure what is being taught in health class these days, but I'm pretty sure it's similar to what I went through.  The usual don't smoke, don't do drugs, take a shower, wear deodorant, yadda yadda yadda.  Seems like that is all pretty much common knowledge to kids these days (it's just that a lot of them don't listen).

It could be that the curriculum needs some new material.

Something fresh.

Something exciting.

After spending this afternoon in the doctor's office, I think I have just the thing.

It turns out there IS a wrong way to cut your toenails.  Whoops.

Why don't nail clippers contain warning labels... or at least instructions (in 15 languages)?
Might I suggest something like:
"Do not use near fingers or toes",
"Do not play on or around"
"Not for children under 40"
"Do not use under the influence of alcohol or while operating heavy machinery"
"Use only in a well ventilated area"

Where's my Vicodin?

~E

Another Date Night

Both the kids have ditched us so they could enjoy sleepovers with their BFF's.

That means it's Date Night!

You might recall our previous two date nights: one involved the Library (here) and the other involved Bingo (here).

Before we get to Date Night, I'm compelled to share with you what we did earlier today.

The day started with an exciting soccer game for Alexia and I. The weather was fantastic and the team showed off some of their newly developed skills. The game was much more exciting this week than the previous one. Even the dogs had a good time, so they tell me.

Afterwards, we came home for lunch (& room cleaning and laundry) and Alexia left for her sleepover at about 12:30. Tanya spent the afternoon scrapbooking at home, Mikayla played with the pets and I took a few hours to visit a couple lakes located in the Chuckanut Mountains (here).

Mikayla, her friend and her dog went for a walk to Haggen's grocery store. On their own. Without an adult. Some people were nervous about this... some people weren't nervous about this. Regardless of all that, Mikayla and her friend were excited for such an adventure since such freedom is hard to come by when you are in 7th grade. They reportedly took turns at the store: one would stay with the dog while the other went in to shop and then they would switch.

I didn't actually get a chance to talk to her about their adventure today, but will report back on it (if there is anything you might be interested in).

Shortly after their return, they were picked up and were off to do their overnight.

Our date night started shortly thereafter.

First stop: Dinner in Burlington. Neither of us felt like grilling burgers, so we went out for burgers.

Second stop: Finish the grocery shopping at Fred Meyer (since the new Super W*lmart doesn't seem to carry the stuff we want).
Mid-way through our shopping trip I convinced Tanya that I needed to buy some underwear. This didn't come as a surprise to her because I've been shopping for these for at least a week... without success.

It never dawned on me that my undergarments might some day go out of style.

No, pictures are not forth coming.

You're welcome.

After confirming that Fred Meyer doesn't have what I was looking for, there was no other choice but to accept the fact that something was about to change. Two packs... into the cart.

Back to the grocery section to get the ice cream and then to the checkout lane.

Tanya chose the "About 12 items" express lane.

When you are a Weigel, 20 items qualifies as 'about 12'.

Tanya kindly plopped down my new garments on the checkout counter first (probably so they wouldn't contaminate her food) and by the time she looked up to see the total cost of our purchases she immediately noticed something wasn't quite right.

For the next three minutes (that felt like three hours) we had to have a discussion with the check out clerk about underwear, the cost of underwear, how long underwear lasts, how long ago did you last buy underwear and whether it's a smart move to bring your spouse along when you are considering an underwear purchase.

I'm positive that if this Fred Meyer Checkout person has their own blog we will probably be featured as the "Customer Of The Day."

We finally get to exit the store to the private confinement of the car.

Third Stop: Michael's Craft Store, so Tanya can use her 40% off coupon on a $5.60 scrapbook.

Fourth Stop: Home... to type up a blog story and Google search for "Customer Of The Day" (which didn't reveal anything useful).

That's it for date night.

Tomorrow we're volunteering at the Skagit County Family Festival of Farms for half the day. Some of us are helping direct cars in the parking lot, some are helping to sell raffle tickets and others get to help in the petting zoo.

Sounds like I'd better charge up the camera battery as this may be interesting.

~E