Halloween Snow

Well, we went from this:

To this:

My butterfly bush has been flattened by the heavy, wet snow, but that is all the damage I've seen so far. Thank goodness. Our satellite is down, most likely blocked by snow, but we have heat and electricity, and I'm so thankful for that.

School was cancelled last night, but I didn't tell her until this morning, kind of like a Halloween present. She was so happy. And the kids have candy, comics and craft, thanks to last night's Mall-O-Ween.

So even if Halloween is cancelled, we have enjoyed the season. Now we're hunkering down to comfy couch, a DVD and word that Daddy has safely arrived in Pittsburgh and is on his way home to us!

Preparing for Frankenstorm

So they're calling for a Frankenstorm Monday/Tuesday and it's gonna be big. Big as in over two feet of snow in West Virginia, high winds, heavy rain, flooding--fire and brimstone type stuff. Only frozen. And so we must prepare for Frankenstorm on Halloween.

Bring it on!

Really, though, I put away the outdoor furniture and umbrellas, and the kids toys that might become dangerous projectiles in 50-75 mile per hour winds. But really, look how beautiful it is now. It's hard to imagine it will be suddenly winter, or suddenly cold and miserable in less than 48 hours.

But seriously, I have to prepare for every situation, so I have stacked pellets for the stove, and will lug out the kerosene heater and fill up the kerosene can tomorrow. I've bought batteries for our hurricane lamps and flashlights. I should probably buy canned weiners and other repulsive eat-right-out-of-the-can goods in case I can't cook. I've piled all of our snuggliest blankets and pillows in the gameroom (where we will live like we're in a bomb shelter) in case we need to huddle there to ride out the storm.

I am hoping it's not as bad as they're saying, but I guess it doesn't hurt to be ready.

Spooky Spooky

I love Halloween almost as much as Christmas. There are so many fun things to do, and you can still spend a lot of time outside. There's only 8 days till Halloween!

We've been painting and carving pumpkins. Usually Evie just paints them, and then repaints them when the rain washes off her handiwork.

Maisey draws the face on the pumpkin, and then I carve it out as closely as I can. She creates some very interesting faces.

I tried to cut out irises in the eyes, but the first one cracked, so I went for the easy carve.

Evie's painting looked like a cat, so I tried to carve a kitty cat face with whiskers, but the end result wasn't quite what I wanted. Still they all turned out pretty nice, our spooky trio.

They look spooky enough, but I then had to have a little fun with aperture settings. Spooktacular!

Yep, that's us, the spooky girls.

A Day Off

A Teacher In-Service Day can be the longest day ever for a stay at home mom, but today I decided it wasn't going to get to me. The girls were playing so well together that we almost did nothing but play at home. I actually got some laundry done (oh how glamorous I am) and organized Evie's sock drawer (yay me for being so productive!) but by one o'clock the girls were at each other's throats. So what is my solution? Go to a pumpkin farm!

They opened a new nature park for kids, which was fabulous. I want to do so many of these things in our own back yard!

They had tunnels to climb through and on, nature trails, tree houses, logs and boulders and cut log mazes, and of course slides, swings and monkey bars. Rich Farms got this park just right.

I would love these in my own yard:

A cute storage/play cabin for the girls (I would add doors and windows).

An awesome log maze. I would make this near the pond for our turtles.

After about a half hour here, the hay wagon returned to take us back to the pumpkin farm, and all its glory.

As you know, bouncy houses never get old.

Maisey was King of Hay Mountain.

I can't resist these things. Neither can the girls.

Evie wanted the biggest pumpkin in the patch.

The girls insisted on painting their pumpkins pink.

With such interest in all things pastoral, it makes me think we really should buy a farm.

Worst.Day.Ever.

Yesterday was it. The worst day ever. Or at least in recent memory. I won't bore you with all little things that sent my mood down the proverbial toilet, but by far the worst was Maisey's weekly progress report at school. She dropped in 5 of 9 categories from a "p=progressing" to an "n= needs improvement." What is happening to my child?

Class Behavior

Class Work Effort

Attentiveness

Organization

Handwriting

The only one we have some inkling about is handwriting. Maisey is a lefty. And she broke her left arm last year in kindergarten, just when they started focusing on writing. For a month she tried writing with her right hand, but once the splint was off she went back to her left. Even the teacher recognizes this setback, so we have been practicing more with penmanship.

Like everyone I blame myself. What am I not instilling in her that she should be doing? She's so easily distracted, so easy to follow the nearest animated child (and often the child with the worst influence!) You tell her a simple request, and she cannot repeat it back to you. It's as if she doesn't listen, or doesn't want to. I've always encouraged her creativity, but my worst nightmare is creativity that works against her. I've said to her before that I don't want to change who she is, I just want to instill some structure, some rules and guidelines so that she can more easily be who she is within society. I've also said that what you must do always comes before what you want to do. In other words, schoolwork first. She says she wants to cancel school. I need to get to the bottom of this before learning becomes anathema to her.

It's frustrating not knowing the right path, the right course of action. Clint and I both talked to her about how disappointed we were in her behavior, especially after setting up a reward plan for when she brings home an "e=excellent." She seemed disappointed in herself, but cried that she just can't do it and she wants to cancel school. I am beside myself with worry.

I told her earlier that day that if her scores don't improve next week (the last week of the 9 week period), she will not be permitted any extra-curricular activities (Girl Scouts, birthday parties, and especially TV.) In the tub she wailed about wanting to get back to E's, (even though she has yet to attain an "e" in any area) and I told her I knew she could do it.

After a lot of thought, and a couple of Guinness after the girls were in bed, I managed to see that in every thing, this girl will need lots of motivating. I'm always told positive motivation is better, but I also have to make use of consequences. I suppose I need to get motivated to motivate her.

Fall Farm and Festival Fun: Weekend 1

I take the girls to every fall festival and farm that offers activities in October. It's my favorite time of year, and I want to get the most out of my favorite season.

This weekend, we braved the rain to go to the 31st Annual OglebayFest in Wheeling WV. Thank goodness too, because the moment we got out of Morgantown, the sun came out and showed us what a glorious day it was everywhere but here.

If you've never been, this festival is huge! The entire resort is chock full of tents and activities, and there was so much to do. We met our friends at the bouncy house area by Schenk Lake, where I was reminded once again that bouncing never gets old.

Next up, face painting and balloon animals.

Evie was much too impatient to stand in line to have her face painted, so we got a lemonade while we waited for the others.Juni was a tiger, Maisey was a butterfly, and Lavani had a shooting star. Not sure if those are clear in this photo. The lady also made the girls a balloon hummingbird.

Then, the long walk to the Good Zoo.

At the zoo, there were lots of spooky things to see. Like snakes.

The best part was visiting the zoo's graveyard

And of course Dracula's grave.

And the girls didn't seem to care that the apples were poisoned!

And they were thrilled to be invited to zombie tea.

Of course we did take time for the park and to play with the Lorakeets.

Thanks, not into nectar.

As if we weren't exhausted from the festivities on Saturday, we braved the dreary rainy weather to head to Simmons Farm in McMurray PA for another fall filled fun day.

Ready for fun, we stopped to check out the jack-o-lanterns for inspiration.

On the hayride to the pumpkin patch.

First stop, pony rides

Fun in the field

And then there was the Corn Maze Incident

We three went into the corn maze together, but Maisey took off with two kids slightly older than her. At first I wasn't worried, thinking I could keep up, but that thought faded instantly at the first turn.

I alternated carrying and dragging Evie around the maze as the rain began to fall, calling Maisey, and asking everyone we encountered if they'd seen a girl in a pink and white polka-dotted rain jacket.

No one had.

This is the moment every mother fears, the moment we never think will happen to us. You never feel so helpless as you do with a lost child. Just as I was about to cut my own path through the corn, to the entrance and the nearest help, calling Maisey's name with a note of fear I thought unmistakable, a man called out to me that she was there with him, just ahead.

"She's been following us," he said.

I thanked him and stood staring at Maisey as they wandered off. I didn't even have words. After taking a moment to compose myself I told her how dangerous it was to run off with strangers. I told her that she didn't know anyone here, and that not everyone was nice.

"They were nice," she said,"

"Yes, and you're lucky they were. But what if they didn't want to let you come back to me?" I asked.

She thought about this a minute and finally I saw something like understanding flash across her face. After that she held my hand and we finished the corn maze together. Actually, she was a model listener after that. She stayed close, and listened when I asked her to do anything. It really did have an impact, I think.

We picked our pumpkins from the nearest field and rode the hay wagon back to the greenhouse, as the rain was coming down more heavily now.

At the greenhouse we had hot cocoa, played in the corn box and met up with another Morgantown mom who just arrived with her girl scout troop. We chatted, shared a snack, and wandered through the butterfly house before heading home.