Oh, The weather Outside is Frightful...

Still no snow and Sunday we awoke to the sounds of thunder.  Can't imagine the snow mounds that would have been created if the roughly three inches of rain would have  been snow.  It appears we will be mowing the lawn rather than shoveling the drive way.  Either way we are staying busy.  Ella had a sleep over Friday night and stayed up way later than Amy and I did. Saturday morning we were back in the gym for Grace and the little dribblers and then Ella's volunteer project came to fruition.  She had a wonderful brainstorm a month ago to make fleece blankets for foster homes.  She rounded up about 8 other girls and filled the floor space in the house with Fleece tie blankets.  With only a short break for pizza and calloused hands from cutting the girls cranked out about 14 beautiful fleece blankets and didn't stop giggling the whole time.  It was really great to see the girls thinking of others in the holiday season.  Sophia had a meet in Fond Du Lac so we headed down there to watch her team take first place by only 0.05 points.  We meet Grandpa and Grandma down there to cheer her on.  Sunday was a rainy day and slow morning, but Packer game slowly turned to holiday music cookie baking.  With peaceful notes carried on sweet smells the house felt like Christmas even if the weather outside was frightfully April.  Grace got a start on the wrapping and now all the gifts are under the tree and ready for the Holidays!  She did exclaim at one point "Oh well, I am screwed" catching Amy and I off guard, as she cut the paper too short.  She was allowed to say it once more before we had a short conversation about crass language and the Latin derivation of vulgar.

Los Ninos in an El Nino

 
Another great month of frenetic action.  The weather has been crazy warm with the El Nino winter so we aren't making many plans that involve snow but that hasn't stopped us from hanging lights on the house and getting the new place into full Christmas decoration mode.  Grace has become the resident expert on lights having spent some time on the ladder in the front of the house with me and then helping Amy in the backyard with the lower trees.  She is Chief Untangler of Lighting Operations...should have called her "CULiO" for short.  We did head out into the 'tree cutting' forest last weekend and cut an 16 foot tree into a 12 foot tree and then into a house sized 8 foot tree.  It was decorate with all the kids ornaments and the wide spaces in the branches and slender shape have it made it our favorite tree of all, it really is beautiful.  There were Christmas singing programs for the younger two, fortunately back to back and we spent a couple of hours singing carols ourselves as we rang the bell at the grocery store for the Red Kettle campaign.  Ella has started jazz band and with Grace continuing on guitar by next year we should have a nice little musical volunteer session.  Saint Nick made his appearance with much argumentation about which day he comes...night of the 5th or the early morning of the 5th...there was warm socks and candy when he did finally arrive along with the Herbie the elf on the shelf.  Each morning becomes a hunting game for where the elf is hidden and what mischief he got into while the kids slept.

Dancin' and Dribblin'

The weather was beautiful, but out activity was actually a little more indoor than expected.  Merrick and Grace headed out to Neon Nights on Friday night for an all school dance.  The danced the Nae Nae and gobbled up hotdogs, pizza, chips and rootbeer floats.  With sweaty heads from running chaotically with their friends the ended the night with a gambling lesson.  The won exactly zero items in the fundraising raffle.  The older two stayed home and backed up some Chocolate chip cookies...because the 34 pounds of candy still left over from last weekend's halloween trick or treating wasn't quite enough sweets in the house.  Saturday morning Grace had "Little Dribblers" with 6,000 other kids all of which had grumpy parents because the floor was just refinished and coffee wasn't allowed in the gym.  We spent a good chunk of time running errands and the general domestic chores helped to turn the afternoon into evening.  Sunday was more house chores and general odds and ends around the garage.  The kids ran in the nice fall weather with the neighbor kids and we added two more bruised up hips to the ever growing list.  Another one for Ella and the ripstick and one for Merrick who crashed into the hockey net while playing baseball with his friend.

Halloween Candy Economy

It took some time to get the hair and make-up just right but in the end the Zombie Bride and Vampire Girl were ready to tackle to 'mean' wet streets of our new neighboorhood.  Grace's hair was tangled and teased to great heights, but unbeknownst to her the rain knocked it down pretty quick.  Not a heavy rain, just enough to become annoyingly damp. The kids had been off school for the third day so they were plenty rested and little rain wasn't going to slow them down.  We headed out to pound the doors and avoid the crowds.  There were so many people in the roads that it was unsafe to drive, although a few tried.  We were back in the house with socks and shoes so wet that they wouldn't dry before the week begins, but it was minor compared to the pounds of candy that the girls scored.  Somewhere along the line Grace even scored a full sized Three Musketters bar...like the holy grail of treating.  Sadly she doesnt like three musketters bars and gladly traded Ella for a small package of gummy bears..all are happy in the great economy of Halloween candy trading.  Now the task is to get it all eaten before the Christmas candy starts to appear.

Apples, grapes, strawberries oh my!!

Friday night had great intentions for fire, but the temperatures dipped and the wind picked up and after a long week our ambitions were spent.  Saturday was Merrick's last football game and his team racked up a solid win, and I was pumped to get an autograph from my favorite player.  The morning was cool but all in all a beautiful fall day.  The afternoon found us enroute to Baird's creek for a hike but we stopped on the way to test the slab of newly laid asphalt close to the house.  The girls packed thier ripsticks and attakced the smooth ribbon until it attacked back.  Ella caugth a rock and hit hard, bruising her thigh.  It impacted our hike a little too and given her soreness she opted to cut the hike short.  Until we found a great off trail bridge across the creek that just had to be crossed.  All four of us made it safely across with a chorus of giggles .  We were awarded with a vine of wild grapes.  It is a outing that we don't find something to forage on while we wander through the woods.  The smells were the wonderful moist cool smells of fall and the leaves were approaching peak colors.  The olefactory overload continued as Amy spent time on Sunday making another batch of applesauce, from the apples that were picked a couple weeks back, this time with strawberries added from a spring harvest.  It was excellent with some granola added!!

Walk to School Day

Ella walked to school with the neighbor girl and by sheer coincidence I was working in town and was able to walk with the other three kids on walk to school day.  We parked about half way between the middle school and elementary school and the car was barely stopped before Sophia was fifteen feet ahead and ignoring me the way only a middle schooler can.  She headed right and we headed left.  Merrick and Grace and I giggled and chatted in the crisp morning sun and I didn't embarass them until we were on the school grounds and with the music bumping I started a little dance move.  It wasn't a stanky leg or nae nae just a good old fanshioned rump shaker.  They quickly told me to stop.  We walked all of three blocks but our arrival was similiar to the end of a marathon.  Loud music, banannas, granola bars and even bottled water.  It was wonderful and over the top all at the same time.

Picture Perfect Time-travlers

We started our weekend off with a bang...or at least an excellent pizza.  The venue was small and the booth was a tight fight for our tribe of six, but birthday pizza is what we needed and GNP had been on our radar for a while.  Only five of us made home, having left Sophia at the Y for an overnight lock in.  The early morning found us packed up and on the road heading north.  We hit a Culvers on the way for lunch and I was given my first senior citizen discount..the cashier actually added it because he felt bad our bill was so high and was trying to help out...just the cost of traveling with a tribe of six.  Our destination was Pictured rocks.  Luckily Amy had everyone pack their winter jackets because with a wind on the lake, enough to create3-4' waves, it was plenty cool as we enjoyed the perpetual beauty of the National lake shore and the beginnings of autumnal colors.  We had an early dinner (and poor at that) before heading to the hotel for some bone warming hot tub time and cool dips in the pool.  The pool deck was almost entirely ours and made a perfect place for Amy's birthday cake and gifts.  We slept hard and eat a filling breakfast before hitting some of the local antique and gifts shops and then doing a short hike to Wagner falls and then a longer hike towards Chapel rock.  The crisp air was perfect for a walk in the woods.  We played a couple of rounds of trivia each sharing tid-bits they had learned on the boat or interesting points they remembered from the trip thus far, like we made four wrong turns before time traveling back home late sunday afternoon.  The kids were getting a kick out of the changing time zones and we laughed that we were time travelers.  The leaves change, the time changes but out adventuring fun together is quite constant.