School Picture Day!

Yesterday was School Picture Day for my third-grader. In my limited experience, for the mother of a girl, this was a huge event. For the mother of a boy, I would imagine that this was just a Tuesday. In preparation for this big event, my girl took a shower last night so that she would be all shiny clean for her picture, but so that we would not have to suffer the agony of blow-drying her hair at the crack of dawn this morning! Then there was the negotiation of an outfit. There was one shirt that we both agreed on, but she came skipping down the stairs wearing that (kind of a melon-pink paisley pattern) with a turquoise blue patterned skirt… I suggested that we find something else because the skirt did not match the shirt – she informed me that that was not a problem, because we wouldn’t see the skirt in the picture! Can’t argue with that logic… (Although I did!) Regardless of what she wore with the shirt, on second thought I decided that it might look a little “’70’s.” And, as a friend recently pointed out about some cute madras plaid Capri pants that I had on my little one, she will look back at the picture and be as irritated about that as we were of some of the things our parents dressed us in when we were young! (No offense Mom & Dad!) Anyway, we found an outfit that we were both happy with. Then we looked through her jewelry box to see if we could find something to go with her outfit. She pointed out the beautiful silver-beaded bracelet that we bought her for her First Communion. I said, “Oh no, you can’t wear that to school!” and she (again, pointing out the obvious…) said, “Well YOU bought it for me!” Sigh. I pulled out her pretty pink watch and a heart necklace that has her name on it, along with 3 of the Disney princesses. I said, “Can you wear this, or are the princesses no longer cool?” And she said, “Hmm, let me look at it.” After a quick inspection, she deemed it acceptable to wear to school! This morning we were up early, she got dressed, had breakfast and came upstairs so that I could curl her hair (something we’ve only done about 5 times in her life so far!). She wanted a side-pony tail, but then decided that she thought it looked weird, so we agreed upon leaving her hair down. There was some discussion between a headband and a hair clip, and I found an acceptable hair clip and put that in on one side. A quick inspection in the mirror and then she was ready to go! WHEW. As is our tradition, before she walked out the door, we had her stand and pose for a picture on our camera – this is sort of my insurance policy for the school picture. Once the child steps one foot out of the door, there is no telling what condition they will be in by the time their school picture is taken! I remember the days of standing in line in elementary school and the teachers, aides or volunteer parents coming up with the black plastic comb and combing my hair – not always helping, in some cases! And then there is the smile – my girl kept practicing and practicing and each time it got worse! Her grandfather was a photographer and she practiced smiling for him last night when he was leaving our house. He said, “Oh, that is a nice one! I can see your dimple!” But she heard, “When your smile is right, you can FEEL your dimple.” So last night she kept smiling and touching her check to see if her dimple was there… I can’t imagine that the photographer will wait for her to feel her face to make sure that her dimple is there! I’m envisioning a picture of her face and her hand… Oh well, it’s not like I don’t have a million pictures of her, or that I won’t take a million more – but, School Picture Day is a big event!

And then there will be this little munchkin… I wonder how SHE will pose for the camera!

Do-It-Yourself Scarecrow

We have been going a mile a minute these days (hence no posts for 2 weeks)!  Last Sunday, for example, we had two different fall festivals that we attended with two different groups of people between the hours of 11am and 4pm!  Both were fun and both offered totally different activities, which worked out perfectly!  The first festival offered face painting and pony rides, and the second offered pumpkin picking and scarecrow making!  We paid $16 at Brown's Berry Patch to make ours ($14 without a hat), but this is something that could easily be done at home with the kids. 

You will need an old pair of pants, an old shirt, a pair of pantyhose, some straw (if you don't have this, you can usually get it at the farm market for $5 or under) and twine, heavy string or even yarn.  We started by stuffing straw into the pants and then the shirt to make the scarecrow's body.  You can stuff it as tight as you want, although from previous experience we left ours a little loose so that we could bend his legs to make him sit on a chair (ok, lean casually...).  Take the twine (string, yarn) and tie the shirt closed at the "wrists" and tie the pants closed down by the "ankles."  This will keep the straw from coming out.  Do you have an old pair of boots or gloves?  Tuck the bottoms of the pant legs in the boots and the arms into the old gloves to give your scarecrow a little more style!

Set the top and bottom of your scarecrow aside and take the pantyhose and stuff the top part of the pantyhose with straw -- this is his (her) head -- leaving the long legs empty.  Tie a know in the waistband of the pantyhose to keep the straw from coming out of the head.  To put the body together, set the head on top of the shirt collar.  Take one of the empty pantyhose legs and tuck it into the back of the shirt (between the inside of the shirt and the straw) and pull it down as tight as possible and tie it to the back of the pants (belt loop works best!).  Now do the same with the other leg, pulling down in the same manner through the front of the shirt and tie this leg to the front of the pants (again, use a belt loop if your pants have them!).  You may need to tuck some more straw into the "belly" of your scarecrow and tuck his (her) shirt into the pants to complete the body.

Top your scarecrow off with an old hat if you have one, and let the kids take some acrylic paint and paint a face to really give your scarecrow some personality!  This whole process (minus the painting) took us no more than 20 minutes at Brown's -- my 8-year-old and I did a lot of the stuffing, she and I chose the clothes, and we decided to bring it home to paint the face (to save the interior of the van from getting a fresh coat of paint!).  The last time we made one of these my girl was about 4 years old -- it was well before her little sister was born -- and she painted the face all on her own and did a great job!

This is a great way to recycle some old clothes that might otherwise end up in the trash.  The other day I was throwing away an old, ripped pair of my daughter's jeans and I thought, "Hey, we could use these to make our own scarecrow!"  This is really so easy to do and my kids just loved it -- I'm sure yours will too!  It's great to add to the outdoor fall decorations!  (My girl is taking after me with the decorating flair -- she arranged the pumpkins, including the one lying on it's side, and she added some fall leaves as a finishing touch!)

Caught in the Act!

Last night, I was in the kitchen getting dinner ready, and I knew that my older daughter was in the living room, and I was certain that my youngest (3) was in the family room playing.  I called to her, "Kenzie" and she immediately yelled, "Nothing, Mom!"  So, naturally, that sounded a little guilt-ridden, I said, "What are you doing?" and she yelled again, "Nothing, Mom!"  (Same "innocent" tone...)  I asked her to come into the kitchen because we were going to have dinner and she came right in, no harm, no foul as my husband would say.  Later on when we were putting the kids to bed, I opened the linen closet outside of the bathroom and ALL of the clean towels were kind of wadded up and on the next shelf down from where they normally are stored.  They were RIGHT in front of the laundry chute (which is curiously, inside the closet, in the back -- limits the amount of things one can store on the shelf -- but love the laundry chute, none the less -- side note, told my friend at work this story today, she said, "Yeah, my laundry chute is the open basement door -- I shoot laundry down there as I walk by!").  My girl LOVES to take the clean towels and toss them down the laundry -- Daddy just loves that!  So, I'm pretty sure that I caught her in the act!  Look at that sweet face though -- I have a feeling that will help to get her out of hot water with Mom and Dad a LOT in the future! ;)

Fall Favorites

Fall is by far my favorite time of year. I love all of the seasons, and love living in NY where we see the change of seasons, but there is something special about the fall! This time of year I feel very cozy in my home with my family -- whether it's the slight chill in the air outside, or the spicy scent of my cinnamon-scented votive candles burning inside the house -- autumn definitely signifies the warmth of home and family to me. My girls are both in school (3rd grade and preschool) and we have school pictures coming up, book fairs, school dinners, Girl Scout cookie sales! There are fall festivals and pumpkin and apple picking, cider and donuts, crock-pot dinners, Halloween decorations... This year we are going to visit out-of-town family for Halloween, which will be a fun treat! And soon after that, my favorite holiday -- Thanksgiving! Best wishes for a happy and cozy fall spent with your loved ones!

Speak VERY Clearly...

My friend Christine posted this funny (because no one was injured...) story on her blog about the need for being really clear and concise when speaking to your children! What parent can't relate to a situation like this? Just yesterday, my 8-year-old got off the afternoon school bus and came up to the already open door that I was standing in. She yelled, "Mommy!!" apparently excited to see me, and I put my finger up to my lips and said, "Shh... Your sister is napping." So my girl whispers, "Ok" and proceeds to stick her finger out and ring the doorbell!!! REALLY? Why would you do that? And she says, "I'm sorry, I just wanted to make sure that my bus driver knew that you were here!" What? Does the doorbell ring on the bus? I'm not even sure what that meant... I must always try to remember to speak very clearly and to anticipate any and all possible responses when I am speaking to my girls. "Shh... Your sister is napping upstairs -- please do not yell, ring the doorbell, play a trumpet, bang a bass drum..." Really specific!