Halloween

I have never been more exhausted than I am right now.
I took pictures.

I will post them tomorrow.

Tomorrow might be a trip to Chinatown, too.

Zzzzzz.

"Is it Friday yet?"

Keith wakes up every morning and asks if it is Friday. I have to remember that Halloween is right on par with Christmas for him, and he's thrilled about the prospect of an all-night candy grab. He's turning into a boy; somewhat devious and just a bit greedy!

Last night I made chicken stew with dumplings and I'd have to call it a success. Keith said the dumplings tasted like sand, but he might not have liked the herbs in them. Patrick said they were perfect. He took the leftovers for his lunch today.

Keith has "Story Store" today. The school sells donated, secondhand books for a few cents to the kids, and the choose what they want. I'm curious to see what he picks out.

Patrick is loading in some show this week... It doesn't sound like something I want to take time out to see.

The Wii should be here tomorrow.... Yipyip!

Reading!

Keith has been promoted from reading level "aa" to reading level "B" in his class. He still has some trouble sounding out some things, but he is trying VERY hard, and he gets better at it every day. He will sometimes stop in stores, pick out a word from a nearby sign, and ask me what it means.

Today's homework was a story about making cookies, and Keith and I bake together quite frequently. So, this was a breeze for him. I had to run to the store to get some staples I missed on Saturday, and while I was there I picked up some "Molli Cools" Ice cream beads for Keith doing so well with his homework. You would imagine that ice cream "beads" would be a cleaner alternative to ice cream, but you would be wrong. The child puts his spoon in the cup, tilts it out like a lever, and then ice cream beads get catapulted all over the kitchen floor. Instead of falling to the floor in one glop, the beads scatter everywhere and under everything. The child then shuffles over all the beads, melting and smearing chocolate everywhere else. The Molli Cools were a failed experiment. Patrick's comment was, "It looks like we have six cats, and all with the same pooping problem." Needless to say, Keith loves them.

We read a few chapters of "Goosebumps; The Haunted School" instead of playing Zelda. Tomorrow we will play Zelda! Patrick is shopping for Wii games, and we're both getting excited about the Wii.

It's getting colder around here. Yesterday we had record winds and even a scattering of sleet in the afternoon. Fortunately it was short-lived, and temperatures should rebound before Halloween. I will be getting off work early to head up the craft project at the class Halloween Party. Mister New drafted me.

Anyhow, time for me to get to bed. Work is work, but at least I have work!

Holidays

I almost forgot -

In the interests of economy, and because I have no idea what kind of toys would be best this year, I have decided that we are getting a Wii for Christmas. I have already ordered one online; found on "gently used" and it includes Wii Sports for about half the price as new. Remember, I bought the Gamecube used, and it has served us very well for the past five years.

It should arrive in the next few days, and when it shows up, Patrick and I will make sure everything works and then rebox it all until Christmas. (that will be hard!)

Keith doesn't know, and it will be hard not telling him. He loves Mario, and now we can play Mario Super Sluggers together!

Everyone I've talked to has told me I've made a great decision.

The Wii is THE BIG GIFT for all of us. Everything else will be candy and trinkets. I think this was the best way to go. I always try to choose things that Keith will be playing with six montsh after Christmas, and I haven't struck out since!

So, there we are!

Busy Saturday

We had a busy day today, starting with grocery shopping. I always plan ahead the meals for the week nd buy accordingly, and I find that it saves us quite a bit of money. I can stick to the list and avoid extraneous purchases. I never knew how much those added up until I stopped the leak in our wallet!

We bought our pumpkin, and Keith was anxious to get carving the moment we got home. BUt he had to wait, as it was housecleaning day and we still had some fun to do.

The apartment was cleaned to shining, and we left the wet floors to dry while we went shopping in Evanston with our Treat Money, graciously provided by Grandma Helms! I had bought Keith a small jar of bubbles earlier in the week, and he wanted to take the Small Train so he could blow his bubbles on the walk to the station. It was blustery out, and the wind could blow some of the bubbles for him!

Our first stop was World Market, where Keith bought a bucket of Gummi Eyeballs. He had seen them last week, but I was holding off for a time closer to Halloween to go nuts like that. They're absolutely vile, and usually I have a strong constitution for that kind of thing.

Anyway. We then went to Border's to get a new Goosebumps Book, as Keith says he likes Scary things. And it's Halloween. Fortunately we wandered in on a story reading time, and so we were treated to a reading of a few Halloween books. I was reading the NYTimes on my Blackberry, so whatever....

After that, we headed home to carve our pumpkin. (oop, and we stopped at the antique bookstore for our last treat; a Snoopy Book!)

Pumpkinhead has a scary face on the front, and a BOO! on the back, which I very nearly botched but saved. I'll get a picture of that when it gets dark.

Tonight Patrick and I are heading out, and the babysitter is due in soon. Hooray!

That was our very busy Saturday. Tomorrow I plan on decking out the apartment for autumn!