Happy Halloween!

Well, I have had a very fun Halloween. Yesterday I left work early and went to Logan's school to volunteer in his classroom for an hour. I went with the kids to two other rooms to assist them and the teachers with Fall/Halloween themed activities. The kids were a lot of fun...for two hours. I can't imagine how those teachers do it every day all day. A room full of five year olds is a loud, energetic bunch. Kudos to all kindergarten teachers out there.

After I left his school I went to Grace's daycare for her Halloween party. All the kids got to dress up, have a party with lots of yummy snacks, and go trunk or treating in the parking lot (thanks to parents and their creativity). Gracie wasn't so sure about it when she first saw all the cars with crazy decorations, but once she realized they were putting candy and cookies in her bag, she was all for it.

This is a picture of the awesome hat her teacher, Miss Anna, made for her. She made a different one for each kid in the class, and they were all very beautiful and incredibly creative. Of course, yesterday was Graces last day in that class, but a good note to end on.

After that we came home, picked Logan up, and went to my friend Sidonie's house to help her make Halloween cupcakes for her son's kindergartener class.

Aren't they cute? We used crushed oreos to make dirt and 100 calorie snack pack peanut butter cookies for the mummies. Logan and Jaden ran around the entire time, but Gracie wasn't sure what to do with Sidonie's 17 month old daughter, Cheyenne. In the end, Gracie realized that she was more like a real life baby doll than an actual playmate, and spent the last part of the evening holding her hand and walking her around the house, trying to pick her up to put her in her high chair, and rocking her in her swing. Even though it was a late night for all of us, we had a great time.

And of course, the grand finale was trick or treating tonight. Here are my two cuties:

Dr. Logan and monkey Rowe had a fun time and got tons of candy just walking around the block in our neighborhood. Example A - the loot.

Two full buckets of candy, candy, candy just waiting
to rot their little teeth (and mine and Joey's ;-).

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Michelle Needs and Wants

So I was reading one of the blogs I like and she had a post where you Google your first name followed by "needs" and see what comes up. Here's the top ten:

1. Michelle needs your help. - always
2. Michelle needs a family that will be patient, consistent, kind, loving. - already got that
3. Michelle needs every advantage possible to attain this goal. - I should probably figure out some goals - potty training two kids comes to mind
4. Michelle needs to excercise her right to shut the f*** up. - always, again
5. Michelle needs to take an extended break from golf after this weekend. - hmmm, this is doable since I've never played golf
6. Michelle needs to pee. - always (damn mommy bladder)
7. Michelle needs help translating. - I do work in a German firm
8. Michelle needs a nickname. - please be nice about this
9. Michelle needs change. - of the Obama variety?
10. Michelle needs to be back in school. - one day

I decided to take this fun experiment a step further and Googled my name followed by "wants." Here you go:

1. Michelle wants to show you a cool trick. - I guess I need to learn a cool trick.
2. Michelle wants to earn money to buy a teeshirt. - Well our budget isn't that tight.
3. Michelle wants a guy she can take home to meet the family. - I've already got one.
4. Michelle wants a little action. - Joey will be so excited.
5. Michelle wants to make a space for community use on a rental basis. - Not really.
6. Michelle wants to be home when they get home from camp. - I don't know anyone who's gone to camp.
7. Michelle wants to be Queen of Kenya. - My, I'm ambitious.
8. Michelle wants to make sure we know she's an elitist. - And uppity.
9. Michelle wants to learn how to think on her feet. - I could improve on this.
10. Michelle wants to be more like her big sisters. - I am the big sister, but this is excellent advice for my younger sisters.

Winget Park Fall Festival

Yesterday was the Fall Festival at Logan's school. It was basically a bunch of inflatable bouncy things and a train you could ride on in a circle. Joey wasn't feeling well enough to go with us, so my sweet friend Jessica went with us. Thanks to the generosity of our family and friends who bought things for Logan's fundraiser, he got a bracelet that allowed him to do all the activities for free. We had a good time, but for all the overpriced fun, I think we enjoyed playing on the playground the most. Enjoy some pictures!

Little Miss Bossy

Do you remember this book series from your childhood? I do. And now I'm reliving it through my sweet daughter.

Everyday she comes home from daycare with a sheet telling me how she ate and slept and what activities they did. At the bottom they write something specific she enjoyed doing that day. Yesterday, it said, "Grace enjoyed looking for bugs and bossing her friends around." Oookay. Since her teacher didn't mention it to me, Joey and I decided that she meant "chasing" her friends around, since they were outside looking for bugs and all.

Today I pick up her up and she has orange paint in her hair - it was paint day. Her sheet says, "Grace enjoyed painting and telling her friends how to paint." Awesome. I have never pretended that Gracie was an easygoing child who didn't care what was going on. She is an alpha and does not appreciate being told no, or what to do. She screams and cries (literally, screams - it's lovely), will try to hit, and throws herself on the floor. She loves telling her brother what to do, however. She'll tell him to come on if he's slow coming upstairs for his bath, she'll repeat me if I tell him to stop doing something, and she'll tell him to "Come on, Woaney" (that's how she says his name - I don't know why) when she wants him to play with her. However, I thought she reserved these lovely behavior traits for our house and her lucky family. Not so much. Apparently she is now also bossing her friends around. I haven't been able to talk to her teacher about it yet, but I'll let you know when I do. In the meantime, I'll be trying to tie some reigns on my own "Little Miss Bossy."

Television Addicts Anonymous

Is this a real group? It should be. Of course, I would only attend if it met over the internet, to which I also suffer a mild addiction. Over the summer I really enjoyed not feeling tethered to the TV. I kept up with my magazines (I have 1 weekly subscription and 4 monthlies) and read a ton of books. I slept more and kept a better home. But premier week draws me back like Meredith to McDreamy. My addiction isn't quite so severe, though, this year. I begin my week with Desperate Housewives on Sunday, and while I enjoyed it's return I also found it mildly annoying. Susan causing her marriage to collapse over something beyond her control that wasn't her fault is ridiculous. Gabby wearing those nasty, frumpy clothes just because she has two kids is insulting. Brush your hair and put on some makeup. It's not that difficult. And the kid is 4 and a half, it's not a newborn. But anyway...

Monday night is Heroes which I am thrilled is back. It has been gone since the writer's strike began so long ago. They picked it back up with a lot of story lines that are very different from where they last left off. The first two episodes have been great.

Wednesday night is Project Runway which, sadly, is almost over. It began over the summer so it had a head start. The chick who used to be my favorite is now an annoying bitch, so that sucks. But it's still a very interesting show to watch. The next season will be on Lifetime which will be hard for me to accept. In general, I refuse to watch that channel based on the number of stupid made for TV movies. I'll probably cave quickly, though.

Thursday night is Grey's Anatomy. The first show was good, but it didn't feel very different from last season. If that's a good thing or a bad thing, I'm not sure. It didn't affect my loyaltly one way or the other. I also love The Office on Thursday nights. However, both of these shows are on at 9 and it isn't possible to watch one show and record the other with my DVR, so I've chosen Grey's over The Office. I still keep up with it online, though, and watch reruns when I have the opportunity.

Hmmm, that's all there is. I thought there were more. I could also throw in Lost, which doesn't come back until next year and I also love. But that's really it. It's much improved from previous years, but it still feels like I feel compelled to sit in front of the TV quite a bit. Ah well. If you want to know when and where our first meeting is, you can find me sitting in the recliner eating some popcorn and watching TV.