The week of Halloween, sans binky for Riley: THE HORROR

Holiday season is upon us and I'm already sputtering, "Whoa, whoa, whoa - let's scale back some and free up the schedules - I need a nap!" Haha - I'm not the party animal I like to think I am. Well, I do enjoy the festivities though. And I die for the looks on the kids faces when we are doing something amazing. Like when we got Joe's dragon costume on for the first time and he caught his reflection in the mirror. Grinning from ear to ear, he then immediately chasing after his sister, growling, "Imma get you, pwincess," Riley, squealing, lifting her sparkly pink gown with one hand and steadied her tiara with the other as she dashed away. Priceless. Absolutely will never forget it.

But I'm not going to show you their costumes yet - have to leave something to post for the big all-hallows day! But I have plenty of other material that needs covering.

First: Riley is binky-less (in case you missed the title). It was a problem because she wanted it day and night and would talk with it in, not helping her lisp at all. So one night while she wasn't looking, Dave clipped off the tip, making it unsuckable. She was none too pleased when she found out. She initially blamed Joe, but has since been persuaded that binkies get old and break and that's ok because she is too old for binky too.

Anyways, between missing bink and having colds that cause coughing at night, it has been a rough couple weeks sleep-wise, tantrum-wise, etc. Last night we finally got a night of unbroken sleep and it cheers you right up! Makes me want to blog, apparently!

Ok, so next: we went on a farm excursion with our student housing co-op. It was awesome! We went to the farm that supplies the co-op with weekly, organic, local produce orders - how cool is that - and we got to ride a genuine school bus! Those things are a lot smaller than I recall. I distinctly remember sharing a seat comfortably with two or three other people, and now my knees barely fit in! And I am not long-legged! The kids cheered when it pulled up, as if it were Santa's sleigh pulled by reindeer, and not a retired, faded old school bus. Whenever a bus passes us, Riley asks when can she go to school, so it was kind of a dream come true.

 Once there we split up to either pick apples or try the corn maze. We got on the hayride to the corn maze.

 Joe's preschool friend who is smiling so nicely taught him how to make faces and Joe thought that was the best ever. Kept at it long after pictures were over.

We were stuck in that maze for over an hour! It was fun to get to know our neighbors though - there are some cool people living in student housing.

And Joe ended up getting a free ride.

 The old farmer in charge of driving us back with his tractor eventually came in after us. We were almost done!

Then we finished off at the apple orchards and petting zoos, picking and munching really delicious apples, just out of reach of the poor, poor little goats..

Fun group, fun day. And cold enough that when we got home we had our first hot cocoa of the season and watched "Elf" while huddling under a flannel quilted blanket.

Saturday we went to Sever's Corn Maze with the MBA peoples. It is gigantic and intricate, or so I hear - we didn't actually take the kids in there. Because we aren't insane. Luckily, there is more than enough to keep you occupied and we spent a very pleasant afternoon with friends, petting animals, listening to jazzy musicians who actually sounded more blue-grassy than jazzy, in a good way, rolling around in forty million tons of corn in the corn pit (my professional estimate, that. It was a lot of corn), playing on playgrounds and running through a mini-maze made from bales of hay. We brought a picnic but Riley and Joe were way to distracted by the goings-on and didn't actually eat till we got back in the car at four o' clock! I tried, heaven knows. I tried so hard that they have started playing a game where Riley is me and Joe is Joe and Riley says over and over again, "You wanna sandwich/apple/chip?" and Joe says, "Nah!" over and over. And then they laugh. It's endearing, really.

 The jazzy/bluegrassy band were really fun to listen to. Kids kept walking up and putting bills in their tip jar too, and afterwards the singer did a public "thank you" to their grandchildren for the generous tips! Haha!

I should mention that I did abandon the men and children for a time to visit the mouth-watering food vendor line. I finally got my roasted sweet corn on the cob mmm.....dripping with butter, sprinkled with sea salt, pipping hot off the grill. I went back to the corn pit to share with Dave and babies but...well, I didn't look too hard. I gave up after a minute and went and sat at the jazz band stage, and it was a real pleasant moment.

Then I found them here:

Our big Carlson School group.

 If only there'd been more time to do it all! We didn't do the actual maze, pumpkin blaster, magic show, pig race, camel rides, or partake in lots of other deep fried things I would have liked to try. But after three hours, our kids were like the living dead - staring, drolling, and trying to bite me. Riley scarfed her lunch in the car and fell asleep with a sandwich crust half-way to her lips. She woke, incidentally, half a mile from home, sicking up down her shirt and car seat. Too much party will do that to a kid! I worked a summer at a girls scout camp, so I have known for a long time how often kids can puke, without warning or provocation, but it always seems to shock me in the moment. I threw off my seatbelt and lunged toward the back, catching a handful of puke that I then kind of whipped toward the (closed) window. It was a mess. The good news is she felt fine after and tucked into pizza for dinner, never missing a beat.

Lets end on a nicer note. Here's a sweet little dragon to take us out:

Lots more to follow!