The Halls are Decked

Luna is one happy cat...that I finally got her favorite toy back out! Her eyes lit up and I'm pretty sure she grinned as I pulled the tree out of the box and began to assemble it. She sat quietly and watched as each piece went into the next and the lights were finally lit. As Jayke and I fluffed each branch she circled the perimeter watching with anticipation. As I strung the garland around the tree I think I saw her begin to quiver with excitement. Once the garland was on I gave The Boy the go ahead to hang the ornaments. Luna could stand it no more. She dove into the tree and started batting at every ornament within her reach. Tugging at garland and even making a run for it with one ornament that Jayke made causing The Boy to darn near have a heart attack. We got the water bottle out and by the time the tree was done Luna looked like she had survived a monsoon.

Nemo is not as mesmerized by the glittery tinkling tower of fun as Luna is. He approached with caution and quickly learned that touching the shiny dangling objects caused an unpleasant shower of water to hit him in the face. He does enjoy hiding under Luna's tree and attacking her as she is trying to dismantle it though and I had to remove him from his perch about three quarters of the way up the tree once last night. About three hours after the tree was finished the cats both were curled up asleep...exhausted from their attempts to take down the tree of toys I provided them with. I'm sure visions of shiny balls and fluffy garland danced through their heads! No doubt they were planning their next assault!

Old and New Traditions

Every year as a child I received and Advent Calendar in the mail around Thanksgiving. The calendars were usually a pretty winter scene with lots of glitter on them and I couldn't wait for December 1st so I could see what was behind the little doors and windows. I've looked for Advent Calendars similar to the ones I remember as a child but I can usually find are the ones that have a chocolate behind each door. They are plain and each chocolate is basically the same. Not much excitement to the chocolate Advent Calendar.

I've been disapointed by the calendars and had all but given up on that tradition then I found this!! A Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar!! How cool is that? Yea, I know it isn't the old fashioned card stock calendar, covered in glitter of my childhood but I think it will elicit the same anticipation and enjoyment that I got from my calendars as a child. Jayke will have this waiting for him when he returns from the weekend with his dad!

Each day he will get to open a little door and remove a small plastic bag filled with the parts needed to create one of the following Star Wars characters or ships...

He is going to LOVE this...highly recommend to anyone who has kids who love Star Wars or LEGOS or both! Also to moms who are big on creating Christmas traditions with their children.

Gobble Gobble

Jayke got to be an Indian at his "Feast" at school the other day. Here he is in in his vest that I had to go out and buy a package of white t-shirts and use half of my coffee to make. Apparently the teachers haven't changed their curriculum due to the economy! They still have us spending money every other week.

Jayke is with his dad for Thanksgiving so it was pretty quiet at Mom's for dinner. Not so much at Dad's. There was a lot of complaining about the fact that it was 6 o'clock and the turkey was STILL cooking! Everyone was starving. I guess it takes longer than one would think for a 22 lb turkey to thaw. It should be ready in a week or two! LOL Good thing they also had an 18lb ham too!

I skipped Black Friday this year. I have all my shopping done so there was no need to go out and spend any more money. We are heading to IKEA Saturday though for my birthday!! Can't wait...first time at IKEA!! Happy Birthday to me!!

Can You Keep a Secret???

Don't tell Jayke...below are two pics of what he is getting for Christmas this year. His is black and will probably be decorated like the one in the top picture...




I really love them both but I think he will like the top one better. He will get a gift certificate to go pick out his fish after the holiday.

Halloween Through the Years

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Digits

Some Things Never Change

Jayke and I went to see Grammy in the hospital Friday. The last few times I have gone to see her she hasn't had much to say so I expected the same thing this time. I was afraid she was going to be in really bad shape too. Boy was I wrong! She was having a breathing treatment when we first got there so she wasn't able to say much but when it was over...someone had opened the flood gates! She talked and talked! She told everyone who came in the room that I have no job, no husband, and need a haircut! It has been a while since I've heard this critique of my life from her so it didn't really bother me this time. It was actually kind of funny to me....I mean, it's all true! Even the haircut part!

She was particularly funny when her poor male nurse came in for the first time. She demanded to know who he was and WHAT HE THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO DO IN THERE! I'm glad these nurses are used to dealing with this. He just laughed and answered all her questions...and believe me, there were a lot! I thought he was going to make it out unscathed but she nailed him in the end...it came out in their conversation that he was married and she immediately asked him, "Do you think that is going to last?" That was my cue to leave because I knew where this conversation was heading. She was about to try to fix this poor man up with me. We had to get while the gettin was good! Fortunately, they were going to take her down for some test so there was a subject change and an exit strategy. I think before I go up this week I will call ahead and make sure all the nurses on duty are female!


On the way home I whipped into a parking lot and had The Boy get out so I could get some pics to play with later. A left over drainage tile was the perfect spot! It's hard to come with interesting subject matter in MUNCIE!

Apples and Indians

We went on a field trip last Thursday with Jayke's class. They are studying Indians and Johnny Appleseed right now since Thanksgiving is approaching so we went to Minnetrista which provides a tour and lecture on both subjects.

First up...apples! We went into their mini orchard to inspect some apple trees and taste some different kinds of apples. Their orchard leaves a lot to be desired and it was probably a little late in the season for this particular lesson. There weren't any apples left to investigate...basically they turned the class loose to look at leafless trees. Something second graders couldn't care less about. They did enjoy the eating part at least.

Next up...cider! This was a much more interesting lesson since the kids got to juice the apples themselves. Below is Jayke taking his turn...

They got to drink the cider once made. I think eating the apples and drinking the cider was the highlight of this outing for sure!

If you are sensing a lack of enthusiasm on my part regarding this field trip you are correct. Not only did I feel like it was a very dull experience but it was also FREEZING! It may have been the coldest day we have had so far this fall. I thouht this was an indoor field trip so Jayke and I were not dressed appropriately for the weather either. Since no note came home regarding wearing outdoor clothing I assumed it was indoors. Found out later that Jayke was supposed to tell me they were to dress warm and wear old shoes...neither of which we did. Luckily I had some gloves and a hat in the car for him. Many of the kids were underdressed so this must have been a common assumption.

We had lunch inside and were able to get warm before heading back out. I noticed one little girl who sat at our lunch table paid an extra amount of attention to Jaykeb. Her name is Katie and I've heard him talk about her before. he seemed fine with the attention from her too. Maybe he has a little crush..I'm pretty sure she does! LOL


The Indian part of the trip was the part I found the dullest. The kids seemed like they liked it somewhat. This was also the part that was the coldest. I was never so happy for a field trip to end! I checked my phone while we were out there and the temp was 41 degrees with a wind chill of 32 degrees. I know they don't allow them to go out for recess if it is below 40 so I was a little disappointed that they didn't reschedule or find a different location on a different day for their field trip. All of the moms were in agreement.

While out there I took the opportunity to take some pictures to edit. If it weren't so darn cold I would have stayed after the kids got back on the bus and taken some more!

SCORE!!

All this Martha Stewart Halloween loot for less than $20! There are really nice garlands, coasters, treat bags and boxes, cupcake picks, and a large window cling that is a crow in a tree for the back door window. Originally $80 worth of stuff...and actually stuff I like! I never find clearance stuff I like. Usually there is just junk left over. Not this time! I can't wait for Halloween! I'm going to celebrate it the entire month of October next year!

Trash Talkin

Jayke got a new basketball from my dad the other day. He was thrilled and immediately had to drag Dad out to the driveway to show him his skizzles (skills, Mom...skizzles are skills). There isn't even a basketball goal in the drive anymore so it was more a dribbling demonstration.

I was watching as The Boy put on an impressive trash talking display. Some of my favorites were..."COME ON OLD MAN!" directly followed by, "HOW YOU LIKE ME NOW,OLD MAN?" after doing absolutely nothing to elicit this exclamation/question. He also informed us he has "HOPS". He has about as much "HOP" as a gofer. After those got old he preceded to remark on Dad's attire, calling out his footwear in particular. I didn't blame him for this one...just look at those shoes! At least he hasn't duct taped them...yet. I was waiting for them to disintegrate right in front of me. They are his favorites, by the way and he is quite proud of their advanced state of decay.

As I was watching the dribbling exhibition, I was taken back to when I was Jayke's age out in the same drive playing basketball with Dad. I laughed to myself as I realized that he has the exact same moves that he had when I was a kid. Those moves worked the same on Jayke as they did me too. Funny to watch. I'm glad The Boy is enjoying his new basketball. The more he enjoys it the more he will practice and actually develop some skills other than trash talking...he seems to have that one down!

Editing Process

I become more and more obsessed with my photography apps every day. So many ways to edit one photo and come up with different end results. Thought I would post the process this photo went through. This first picture is the final edit. I usually don't do more than one filter on a photo. I do end up cropping more than once on some pics. I may let this picture stand like this for a while then eventually I may end up trying a different filter on it just to see what else I can come up with.

The next picture was the first crop I did. I like being able to see the steps leading up to the door but I didn't like how narrow it ended up being. Also, Instagram doesn't let you post a vertical photo. The final edit, above, was the crop that had to be done to post to instagram.

And finally...the orginal untouched photo as I took it. Beechgrove Cemetery has several of these huge mausoleums. I took this photo not even knowing if I would be able to do anything with it. Now that I see the results I want to go back and photograph some of the others! Jayke was with me and he had his Nintendo DS which has a camera. He now thinks he is a mini photographer. He took as many pictures, if not more, as I did. I should take a look at them and see what he came up with.

Just A Photo

I love when I'm going through my camera roll and find something I missed before. I found this picture I took a few weeks ago. Just an old abandoned building on the south side of town.

You've Got Mail!

Jayke doesn't use his lap top very often but every once in a while he gets it out and checks his email. Note: If you email him it may be a while before you get a response! A couple of nights ago he must have been in the mood to do a little emailing. I was sitting on the couch on MY lap top when he yelled at me to check my email. The following is our correspondence...

FROM JAYKE: What are you doing?How much $ are you giving me tomorrow?I hope it will be $ 1000`000!When do you think we are going to go over to Bob,s?Do you like Nemo?I really like him.


FROM WENDY: I'm not giving you any money tomorrow! You got more than you should have today. I have no idea when we will go to Bob's. I suppose whenever he invites us. Yes, I LOVE Nemo!!! And Luna too! You need to clean your room! It is a disaster and you told me you cleaned it!
Love,
Mommy
P.S. If you want to see the blog just click down below this where it says Wendy Howell blogspot.

FROM JAYKE: Why aren't you giving me more MONEY!I didn;t get enough MONEY!Well we better go to Bob;s soon.Iwish he would invite us soon!I LOVE Nemo and Luna too!!!!I don't need to clean my room!t isn't aDiSASTER and I did not say I would clean my room.

FROM WENDY: If you want MORE MONEY YOU BETTER CLEAN YOUR ROOM!!! It is a disaster, I can barely see the floor!! I'm not sure you understand how this chore business works. I tell you what to do and you do it...THEN you get money. You do not get paid to do your homework, but nice try. You should be cleaning the house for free considering I buy your food, let you live here, do your laundry, drive you around, let your friends come over, take care of your pets, cook your meals, pay to keep the cable on so you can watch tv, help you with your homework, and MUCH MUCH more!! In fact, you should probably be paying ME!! :) I have no idea when we will be going to BOB'S again. I keep telling you we have to be invited. I'm glad you love the cats...what about the dogs though?

Love,

Mommy

I'm still waiting for my response. Maybe he doesn't have one. I can hardly wait until he gets a phone and starts texting me from his room!

Haven't taken any new pictures lately. We had soccer tryouts Saturday. He will be playing on the travel team in the spring. That means I will be out of town almost every weekend! Basketball tryouts are on the 15th and we have a field trip on Thursday, which I am going on with the kiddos.

Oma has gotten a job! Yea, you read that right! She got a job working at an antique store. The Boy drove me nuts Sunday to take him to see "her store". He thinks it is hers. We stopped by on our way to see Puss and Boots at the theatre. Now Jayke just cannot figure out why she is working there instead of me! He also thinks she is selling our stuff in there because we saw some items that people bought from us at our rummage sale and now are selling in the antique store. This bothers him greatly. He brings it up several times a day. I think he wants me to change the locks so she can't come in and get anymore of our things. After her first day of work he asked her if any one tried to buy her since "SHE IS AN ANTIQUE!" Gotta love that boy!

Golden Glow

This is one of my favorite pictures that I have taken this fall. This is a big old tree in the cemetery where I took the Werewolf/grave pictures. It had gotten really windy and Jayke was ready to go but I saw this tree and had to take a picture. Unfortunately the sun had gone behind a cloud and it wouldn't work the way I wanted to take it without the sun. I made Jayke hide behind a huge headstone from the wind until the sun came back out so I could get this shot. I'm glad I waited!

Two Ghouls

Mason the Zombi and Jaykeb the Werewolf. While we were trick-or-treating one lady saw them coming and said, "Oh look! It's Edward and Jacob!" (From the Twilight movie) Edward is really a vampire but Mason could be a vampire if he just had the teeth! I didn't think of this before the lady mentioned it but as soon as she did I looked at them and totally saw it! So cute! I wish I had thought of it myself. Jaykeb told the lady his name really was Jacob! She may have given them extra candy too...I don't know.

We didn't last very long trick-or-treating. Jaykeb started saying he was tired and his legs hurt. I think he just wanted to play basketball and wait for Matthew to get home. Matthew and Alec had basketball tryouts so they weren't able to go with us. Jayke was more than bummed.

After our shortened outing we headed to Oma's to show them what a scary Werewolf Jayke was. He barely had any makeup left on his face though. Jackson didn't mind...he was only interested in Jayke's furry head and hands. I think he thought they were a cat! Oma gave Jayke a Scooby Doo DS game which he immediatley started playing. He says it is his favorite game and hasn't stopped playing it since. We couldn't stay long because The Boy had to get home, shower, do homework, and position himself on the couch in preparation for watching Sammy Terry. I decided to let him stay up late and sleep on the couch so he could see Sammy. We usually don't do this on school nights but since it was Halloween and Sammy is only on once a year (if that) I was making an exception. He made it to 9:30 and then he was out. 30 minutes short of Sammy! I expected this so I set the DVR to record it.

I, on the other hand, thouroughly enjoyed Sammy and the old movie he was hosting. I checked the Facebook page for the tv network later and saw that hundreds of people had posted requests to bring Sammy Terry back every Friday night to host Nightmare Theatre. We will see if they listen!

Happy Halloween!!!

And Happy Blog Anniversary to me!! 5 years ago today I wrote my first blog post. It doesn't seem like I've been doing this for that long and I'm kinda surprised I kept up with it. Now that The Boy is able to read it himself, I am glad I did. He loves to get the printed version out and read it now and then.

We carved a couple more pumpkins today. I don't know who had more fun putting the holes in the middle one above, Jayke or me. We had Oma bring Opa's drill over...I'm surprised he allowed us to use his power tools on something like carving a pumpkin! I did make the mistake of drilling the first hole in the kitchen. Pumpkin bits went flying every where! The cats liked that. Cats love pumpkin. It's weird. I've always had cats who have eaten pumpkin. We moved it out to the front yard after that and made a huge mess. Easiest pumpkin I ever carved and it looks cool too! On the little one (the one we grew in our front flower bed) I carved the eyes and mouth then scraped just the outer layer off around the eyes to make them bigger. Next year I'm going to try carving a couple like this. Not going all the way through the pumpkin. The problem will be finding a pumpkin that isn't too thick so the light will shine through. The smaller ones are better for this, I think.

Tonight I put the pumpkins randomly through out the flower bed after I lit them. They looked really good but now I wish I had more. I don't know why...we won't even be here tonight for trick or treaters. We are going over to Ang's house for trick or treating. I hate that it is on a school night. When we get home we are going to stay up and watch a scary movie hosted by Sammy Terry!! Sammy Terry was the host of Nightmare Theatre when I was a kid. Every Saturday night on the local tv station this guy dressed up as a goul would host a scary movie...providing commentary on commercial breaks. I used to stay up and watch him with my dad when it was his weekend. The original Sammy Terry is in his 80s now but his son has taken over. They bring him back on Halloween some years and this is one of them. I want Jayke to watch him and see if he loves him and his sidekick, George the spider, as much as I did when I was a kid. We love all things SCARY! Too bad Halloween only comes around once a year!

Where the Wild Thing Is

And here he is...Wolfman Jayke!! Pretty scary stuff huh? Well, he thought he was scary and that's what counts! I thought it turned out pretty good! I ordered the hood and gloves and pulled all the rest together out of his closet. A pair of jeans that were too small so they would be short and I cut gashes in them to look like claw marks. An old white t-shirt I could put rips in, a plaid shirt, and I rubbed his brown makeup on the shirt and jeans to make it look dirty. I should have had some red makeup to make him look like he had blood on him too but I didn't think about that.

Applying the makeup was quite the ordeal! He was not pleased at all with my first attempt. He wanted MORE! After I put more on, it was too itchy and making his eyes water. I told him to suck it up...Werewolves don't complain!! There was some complaining about the teeth too. They are vampire teeth and that was not appropriate, according to The Boy. Teeth are teeth, I told him and once he looked in the mirror he decided they would do. I don't know where he gets this anal behavior from.

We don't trick-or-treat until Monday. I was giving the costume a test run by taking him over to trick-or-treat at my dad's house. On the way we made a quick stop for a photo shoot.

The following pics are of my Abercrombie Wolf...

Did a little editing on them and posted them to Instagram to share. I got a ton of "likes" on them and one guy posted a comment saying, "These pics should be in a children's book...that is definitely where a wild one is!" Once I read that comment I agreed. They do remind me of that book some.

I was really happy with the graveyard photos. Jayke was pretty cooperative. I had built this up all week, telling him we were going to do this. He needs to work on his posing and facial expressions for his future phot shoots though. He looks a little constipated in some of them. That was his "serious...I'm thinking of eating you" look. I particularly like the contemplative Werewolf sitting on the grave. I think he was still thinking about our earlier fight over the rip in his shirt and whether or not it showed his belly button. He doesn't like to show too much skin. Less is more! When I told him I was going to rip his shirt the entire costume almost got vetoed! He takes his modesty seriously!!

While looking through these I began to think that maybe the serious facial expression was partly due to the fact that I am a crazed photographer. To take the corn field shot I all of a sudden whipped off to the side of the road, checked the mirrors to make sure we were alone, and yelled "GET OUT AND GO IN THAT CORN FIELD!" He went without question but now that I see these photos I half wonder if he thought I was leaving him there. I see he forgot to put his gloves on before exiting the vehicle in a flash.

We visited my dad for a while and then headed back home. Now we get to do it all over again on Monday. I just hope hair and makeup goes smoother on Monday than it did today! Werewolves are so cantankerous!

Through The Years

Goo Flinging

This was a BAD idea!! 3 boys in the front yard carving pumpkins...the carving never got done. Right after I took this picture a goo flinging war broke out! There was orange slime flying all over. I'm pretty sure I will have a pumpkin patch instead of a front yard next year because of all the seeds left out there. We never got to the carving because of the goo war and the wrestling match that it tuned into. Jayke and I did manage to carve one a few nights ago though. As always, Jayke stood next to me with the phone in his hand ready to dial 911 IF I sliced off a digit...or three. Pumpkin carving is dangerous business. I survived with only one minor cut. No trips to the er...didn't even require a bandaid.

How Much Can we Fit...

....into one fall break? I'd say not much!! We started off by going to Jayke's parent teacher conference. The Boy got a stellar report, as usual. He is being recommended for the challenge program and he is above average in reading. He has straight A's. The only thing she could come up with to say is that he could stand to slow down a little when doing his math papers and tests. I've talked to him about this before. Then she gave me math sheats for him to do at home that I am supposed to time. Huh? Slow down...speed up. Confusing.

After the conference we were off to lunch with Ang, Bob, and Mason. Bob ended up taking the boys home while Ang and I ran some errands. We are getting ready for our 31 party this week. Jayke was supposed to be spending the night with Matthew (A BIG BIG deal) that night while Ang and I took Maci to the midnight showing of Paranormal Activity 3. Instead, it turned into a sleep over at Bob's with Mason, Matt, Alec, Mo, and Jayke. Bob was busy making nachos for the "fellas" when we headed out to the movie. I was preparing myself all day for the beating I was going to take at the movie. Ang doesn't do well with scary. Last time at Paranormal 2 she beat the crap out of me and tried to sit on my lap. I considered taking a helmet and a taser. I made it out with only one bruise. Seriously...she bruised my arm!! She is no longer allowed to sit next to me in scary movies.

Friday was another jam packed day for the kiddo. After picking him up from the sleep over we went to Oma's to see Aunt Dona. Jayke took a brief nap then he was off to Escapades (indoor playground) for a birthday party. As I was heading back to pick him up from the party, I got a text from Bob...he was taking the "fellas" bowling. Did Jayke want to go? Silly question. Of course he did! I picked him up from the party and took him bowling. Bob had picked up an extra boy since the night before so now there were 6 of them. Jayke did pretty well bowling but by the second game he was exhausted. He actually asked to go home.

Good thing The Boy went home and got a good night's sleep because Saturday Bob was calling again. This time they were going to the Ball State football game. Bob lives to haul the "fellas" around! After the game they went back to his house and I joined them later for dinner. We hung out there for several hours until we went home to bed.

On Sunday Jayke and I went to see the movie Real Steal. He loved it!! It was a pretty cute movie. I think we are going to start going to movies more often using my coke rewards points and stubs card. Can't beat free movies especially when you have to take a loan out to get the popcorn and coke!

Monday we did nothing. And it was great!!

After all that running around I was ready to just lay around. We did carve our pumpkin in there some where but I can't remember what day that was. We still have 3 more pumpkins to carve. I was just too tired to mess with the others after our busy weekend. I am glad fall break was only 5 days...one more might have killed me!

Instagram Profile

This is a screen print of my Instagram profile. There are many many more pictures but you can only print what fits on the screen of your phone. I may start posting these regularly as I get more pics taken and edited. Just my latest obsession...er hobby.

Making Progress...

The Boy may have a future as a painter...at least as my new painter. We fired the old painter, Oma. Got half of the room painted today before we pooped out. The color looks blue here but it is really a VERY teal color. The color name is "Day at the Jewelers" and it is fab!! With a name like that it has to be!

We did have some assistance from Oma. She is permitted to paint at my house as long as she is supervised. If she isn't things tend to go horribly wrong! We also had some help from the cats. Luna was particularly interested in what was going on. She thought the ladder was placed there for her personal use and tried to sit on it the entire time. When I took it away she leaped up into the window, putting her hind paws in the paint then tracking kitty prints on the window sill. When I finally removed her from the room for good she left with a teal tail. Jayke wrote a story about it tonight...The Cat With the Teal Tail. It was a short story.

I can't wait for the room to be completely painted and get the furniture in there. It's going to look really good! I may have a hard time letting Jayke and his friends play in it!

Another Park Another Walk

Jayke is confused with my new found obsession with taking pictures. He doesn't remember living in South Carolina when I used to do this every day. Today when I wheeled into Minnestrista on the way to soccer he was a little miffed. Just sure we were going to be late for practice! He wanted to know why I was taking so many pictures of things other than him. When I handed him my phone and showed him my camera roll he got it. I had to pry it out of his hands to be able to take these shots of Oakhurst Gardens and Children's Garden. I've put pictures of this garden on here before but not pics taken in the fall so here are a few I took on our walk.

There really isn't that much to photograph in there and we didn't have as much time as I would have like. The lighting was bad too...cloudy overcast day. At least I got a couple of shots to play with on the iPhone later and post to Instagram.

I Say "WE" Like I had Something to do With This...

Here is the table Jim built for my mom! I must say I was impressed. I mean I know he can build houses... but tables??? LOL I just wanna know why we aren't in the furniture building business? We could totally sell these...and I know this because I posted it on Facebook and got approval from my minions.

I hope my mom is happy with it! Having a kitchen that is too big is such a PROBLEM!!