the sleppys

Whatever you want to call it, it’s FUN! We didn’t have a bonfire, but we did carve pumpkins. The kids donned their costumes and rode in the Radio Flyer wagon as I pulled them down our court and into the neighboring lanes and streets. Ty looked really good in his Jack O’Lantern costume, although next time, I have to leave more room in the pants’ backside because both boys were complaining about their underwear showing. One of my piano mom’s convinced me to dress Taylor up for the occassion (I wasn’t going to, focusing Halloween on the boys), so I made her a pair of wings from the last wire hanger in existence and flowery organza fabric that I had left over of previous Halloween costumes. I crocheted a flower crown for her, and she looked so sweet and cherub-like. Awwww.

We started up, the kids in the wagon and Dad’s walking with Isis, our court and found that our next door neighbor was waiting for trick-or-treaters with some Twizzlers and Tootsie Rolls, so I told the boys to get out of the wagon and trick-or-treat, as we had been practicing. Well, practice and real-life trick-or-treating are different, but Ty got the hang of it by the third house. Kyle, on the other hand, didn’t wear his cat mask in public and refused to say “Trick or treat!” He would stand by the folks’ front doors with a scowl, looking like a mad little boy. But everyone thought that he was really cute. “Thank you. Have a Happy Halloween.”

We ended up trick-or-treating a lady who has seven kids (her youngest is the same age as her grandchild), the same lady whom I’ve seen at the library storytime and at the grocery store. Now I know where she lives. And a few houses down was a cashier from the grocery store. Funny, we live in a metropolitan city of millions of people, but it sometimes feels like a small town.

We got home, checked out candy, made and ate dinner, had candy for dessert, and watched “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” on YouTube. After seeing that twice in my life, I think that a more appropriate title would be, “It’s Not the Great Pumpkin, Linus.” I fell asleep on the couch, and Dad woke me up with his video hockey game. And here I am, typing away.

Next year, we’ll have a bonfire, Celtic drums, cornstalks, and a few more Jack O’Lanterns. Maybe Kyle will get the hang of trick-or-treating by then, too.

I finished the doll. It looks something like a mummy due to combination of using white/tan yarn and the garter stitch. It’s about a foot tall and needs more stuffing in the abdominal area. Other than that, it’s a pretty good-looking doll. I gave it to Taylor, but she kind of ignored it. Kyle has taken to it well, playing with Isis. I found it in the dirt a few days ago. I guess the kids are still too young to be giving them family heirlooms, but I was glad to see that it was being played with and not ignored.

Taylor has been attempting to take steps on her own. Hasn’t walked yet, but we can see it in her face: She wants to move her legs the way everyone else moves there legs around here. Yesterday, she took ONE step forward with her right leg toward Isis’ crate. She had done that a couple of other times before, id est, from the loveseat to the couch. I’m waiting for BOTH legs to move to call them real “Steps.”

The cold front came last week. We welcomed autumn with open arms and a picnic lunch of peanut butter, apples, and bananas. It got warmer as the days went by, though. The mosquitoes are inviting themselves into the house, and they are being quite the pests. Then the rain came, and we turned the air back on due to the mugginess. But we shut it off at sundown, and I even got cold around the time change.
And because of the time change, the kids were up at 5:30!! This one wanted water then changed his mind. That one wanted his flashlight that we couldn’t find until we turned on the light. And the other one needed a diaper change and some breastmilk before going down for the rest of her beauty sleep.

I almost have the kids’ Halloween costumes done. Ty is going to be a pumkpin, well, Jack O’Lantern. Kyle agreed to be a black cat. I thought those were traditional, wholesome costumes. We thought that we could pull off home-made costumes at the cheap. And it looks like we did! But, jeez, that was a lot of work. It took me three days of focusing on nothing but comstume-making. I mean, I hogged up the dining table to sew, so the kids ate their meals in the backyard and in the living room. Ty didn’t like the change. Anyway, all I have left it to get the green stem of the pumpkin attached to the hat and get some elastic or cord to attach to the cat’s mask.

So, okay, the computer was down for a while. Dad got it up and running again. Took a few days off from blogging – or weeks. And blam, here I am.

Mainly, because the weather has been cooling down, we have been spending more time outdoors. On Sunday, the 15th, I came back from work and found the house opened up to the wind. We’ve been talking about turning the air off, but I guess Dad finally did something about it. The kids brought their animals and playthings whatnot outside to the slide and the grass. I did some knitting and watched Taylor amuse herself by climbing up and down the slide (it’s a small, plastic slide). The highlight was having our snacks of apples and peanut butter on the lawn. Ty really enjoyed that.

One of my piano moms gave me a bunch of hair ties and clips for Taylor. Taylor’s hair is still a little too thin for all that, but the boys liked having their hair in ponytails and braids. They look much older when they have their hair tied back. Of course, the boys pull them out and leave them lying around for Taylor to find and put in her mouth. Fortunately for her, I keep tabs on what I’ve taken out of the bag.

I think we’ll have out snacks outside today. It’s Friday, a day when I’m usually in the house during the afternoons and not working. So the house’s shadow helps make a great picnic (our house faces west).

I’m knitting a doll. It’s being sewn together right now. I’ll need to stuff it and make the last stitches… I hope it comes out good. It’s my first doll.