Halloween

I can't believe it's STILL Halloween. We skipped a bunch of parties thanks to a nasty bug that's going around, but Halloween within the American community is big. One more party and trunk-or-treating tonight, and then it'll be over. On Friday the kids had a parade and party at their school. I took lots of photos, but I try not to put other people's children on here without consent, so here are a couple of shots from before school.

In their first ever "couples" Halloween costume, the girls went as Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter.  Mitch even made Fimo radish earrings for Grace, because it turns out he's super crafty at making jewelry.  He's also super crafty at surprising his wife with an espresso machine for her birthday next month.  Shhh. It's supposed to be a secret from me.  After the school party, there was trick-or-treating and a party at the embassy. As you can see, Henry began to feel a little of the bug that kept Grace home most of last week (don't worry, Nana, the doctor assures us that bleeding from your eyes and nose is perfectly normal in Brazil):

The kids had a blast tearing through the embassy and riding on the Spooky Shuttle:

Most sections in the embassy decorated their doors, but some pooled their cubicles and turned them into full-on haunted houses.  I had a little snafu when I was decorating Mitch's office door. My theme was 'The Ghoulggenheim Museum' and I photoshopped a bunch of famous paintings to look like zombies and whatnot. I had only gotten one photo up and it was this one:

Note: I respect my president. I picked this one because it's an iconic painting, not as a social commentary.

I turned around and there was the Ambassador.  Um. Whoops.  The picture was mysteriously gone when Mitch got to the office later.  Did you know in the olden days they used to base foreign service officers' evaluations not only on their performance, but on their spouses' performances as well?  All I can say is, thank Gah those days are over.  Here is a lame glare-y photo of the door after I was done (post Obamazombie removal):

Anyhoodle, today I found out who won the door decorating contest, and believe it or not, it was yours truly, although I'm pretty sure we only won because we gave out Reese's Peanutbutter Cups, and you can't find those in Brasilia.

Ten

Henry celebrated his birthday by getting the day off from school.  Usually on the kids' birthdays, we take them out for lunch if they have to go to school, but  our school district was super nice and gave the kids Monday and Tuesday off for conferences.  So, on Monday the kids sat around in their pjs eating nothing but Halloween candy all day.  I know!  I'm an excellent mother.  Who didn't have to prepare meals that day.  They still had huge bags full of the stuff left when they woke up on Tuesday, so I bought all their candy from them (five bucks each) and dumped it in the trash bin, pouring all the leftover crap from the refrigerator on top of it so I wouldn't be tempted to sneak some.  In that way we were able to enjoy Henry's dark chocolate coconut almond pecan four layer cake with chocolate almond ganache without guilt.  Sort of.

The coma was just starting to set in. 

I think my little bug had a pretty good birthday, considering that he didn't have his usual buddies here, but he got the present he'd been hoping for since forever  (guilt over moving had nothing to do with it.  No, really.) and was able to play it all day while his siblings waited on him hand and foot.  Grace even cleaned his bedroom!

The conferences with their teachers were great.  Mitch was able to take part of the day off to go with me and we were pleasantly surprised to learn that the kids are rising to the academic challenge.  Well, three of them are.  One of them is doing just slightly better than average, but tends to not turn in her homework because she doesn't care one way or another.  We're just happy she hasn't punched anyone she thinks is a "jewk" (jerk). Both the twins' teachers and the recess teacher have stopped me recently to tell me that the girls are like magnets whenever they pass each other in school or at recess, and hug each other every time they see each other and when they part from each other.  Aw. 

And friends, that cake is in the refrigerator right now, calling to me.  I'm only human.  And the jeans I'm wearing do have 5% spandex.

Tricks and treats

I've had some emails and calls and Facebook messages regarding my decision to take the kids to the Rally to Restore Sanity.  More to the point, am I sane?  Well, the quick answer to that is no.  Obviously.  Friends and family are aware of my anxiety in crowds.  Specifically, crowds which also include my children.  And yes, I may or may not have needed a little pharmaceutical boost when I was trapped in a crush at the metro, but honestly, I am so glad we went.  The energy was so mellow and, I don't know the word, maybe cooperative? 

The other reason we wanted to go was because it was Halloween.  Back home we would have had a week's worth of celebrating, beginning with a huge scary bash at home, and a smaller one before trick-or-treating at our good friends' house, plus a parade through the town and a carnival at the elementary school.  We were all painfully aware that this year would be nothing like that, so we decided to go to the rally to take our minds off it, and so our kids could experience something they never would have on the island.   So that's that.  We did it.  We're glad.

That left us one day to get ready for the throng of trick-or-treaters that would be gracing our door.  We set up the cemetery, got the strobes going, and carved pumpkins.  We got exactly three trick-or-treaters, which means the size of my ass will be suffering.  Why didn't I buy something gross, like Baby Ruths?

Our teenager actually took part in the pumpkin carving.  I won't show you what he carved, though.



Miss Pippi Longstocking




Little Red Riding Hood




Ninja costume which was thought up/assembled 15 minutes before this photo



I am lucky enough to be married to a guy who's not afraid
to look like an ass just to make his daughter happy.

We took the kids to the townhouse development right behind our house, and they hit the motherlode.  Minimal work, tons of candy.  And someone gave them a handful of loose pretzels (?).  There were tons of kids (several who our kids knew from school), and a very celebratory atmosphere. 

Un-pumpkin patch

We have a tradition every year of going to pick out our pumpkins from a real farm (and usually, the pumpkins are covered in mud, considering we've lived in the Pacific NW all our lives).  So, we asked around and consulted Google, and decided on Cox Farms, not too far from our house (really, the name had nothing to do with it!).  Jack had homework, and by homework, I mean he was too cool to go to a pumpkin patch with the hideous creatures known as his family.  And so, we set out on a bazillion degree day.  Seriously, it was in the 90s, which has traditionally not been part of our pumpking picking experience, but hey, no mud!

There was a line of cars about 2 miles long to get in, but we finally were able to park and pay our $15 per person (including pumpkin!).  Only.  There was no pumpkin patch.  Just a bunch of bins from which to pick out a small pumpkin on your way out.  We quickly realized we were at more of an amusement park than a pumpking patch.  There were many, many slides with long lines of hot, sweaty kids.  A bumpy hayride (by far my kids' favorite thing), baby pigs, goats, turkeys, chickens, and cows.  And a pretty terrible live band.  I think the kids had a fairly good time, and we're getting so used to not having our traditions 'just so' with this new lifestyle, we were fine with it.  Mitch was able to buy a giant pumpkin on the way out.  I picked out some butternut squash instead of a little pumpkin, to make squash risotto. Or soup.  Or maybe, so I can forget about it and throw it out next month.  Whatever.


Mitch refused to take my picture under this sign. 



Practicing milking a fake cow, although they soon were squirting each other in the face with the udders.

One of the many slides around the farm

You can buy a cone full of goat food to feed the goats with.  Genius!

Hayride