A Couple of Gardening Experiments

I added a few more herbs to my container garden today . . .

. . . and initiated a little experiment.  I poked holes in a small plastic bottle . . .

. . . then buried all but the top of it.  The theory is that you fill it each time you water, and it will deliver water right to the plants' roots.  I'm hoping it will keep my lettuce plants nice and happy when the weather warms up (after the seeds sprout, of course).

I also planted a few garlic cloves (courtesy of my local grocer).  It's my first time attempting garlic in a container.  We'll see how they do.

Ups and Downs at the Park

The little kids and I spent a pleasant morning at the park today.

Daniel demonstrated his proficiency at climbing . . .

 . . . while Anna kind of sort of contemplated climbing, someday.

What goes up must come down.

The Spirit of Giving (in October)

I can't believe how many Halloween activities we've participated in over the past week.

There was the community Halloween festival at a local park, . . .

. . . our ward's Trunk-or-Treat . . .

. . . where I oversaw the hands-free doughnut eating game, . . .

. . . dinner at my parents' home (Mom made her traditional Skull Island-shaped meatloaf, and my sister made a Lock Ness Monster dessert), . . .

. . . we carved a family jack-o-lantern last night, . . .

. . . and Joy strutted her stuff in the school Halloween parade (all the kindergarteners wore spider hats which they made as part of their science unit on arachnids).

After all that, I was kind of surprised that the big kids still wanted to dress up and go trick-or-treating tonight.  I gamely put their costumes on for the third time, donned some Minnie Mouse ears, and sallied forth into the darkness.  As my kids politely thanked one neighbor after another for the candy they handed out, I was struck by the fact that across America, millions of people were giving away free treats tonight for the sole purpose of making others happy, including countless children they had never even met before.  What a sweet, generous tradition.

Boo!!!  Happy Halloween!

Ghoulish Decor

I must confess, I love decorating for Halloween.

We began with leaf rubbings last month . . .

. . . then added a big pumpkin decorated by Joy and Pink Grandma, . . .

. . . milk jug jack-o-lanterns (thank you, Pinterest) and some of the kids' artwork, . . .

. . . a couple of hidden pumpkins to find each morning . . .

. . . the bat mobile (it's actually rather soothing to watch those little guys flutter around when the fan is on) . . . 

. . . a pumpkin Joy painted at school, some spiders from Red Grandma . . .

. . . and a ghost Joy cut out in kindergarten.  After she brought it home, she added four more ghosts so there would be one for each family member.

I even decorated myself.  It's fun to see that little jack-o-lantern smiling up at me all the time.

Pumpkin Portraits

It's that time of year again, folks.  Time for me to buy each of my children a Halloweenish shirt, hand them each a pumpkin, and try to snap a decent picture before things get too crazy.

"Smiley" 

"Super Smiley" 

"Situation Rapidly Degenerating" (even the faces on the shirts are SO over this)

"It Ain't Over 'Til the Little Lady Sings (Er, Cries)"

Halfway through the photo session, Joy asked why Anna's shirt says "My First Halloween."  Oops--it's her second one.  Sigh . . . my baby isn't really a baby anymore.

Seasonal Art

Daniel made a fun art project about seasons at preschool yesterday.

The teacher traced each child's hand on four paper bags to make trees, then decorated the trees with different colors of tissue paper to indicate which season it was (they used cotton balls to make a snowy winter tree).

Joy felt inspired to make a similar project of her own . . .

. . . while Anna played with the rest of the pom poms.

The seasonal trees were so cute that I decided to hang them in the kids' room.

We'll just ignore the fact that Joy put summer ahead of spring. :)  And no, their room never looks that tidy unless I'm doing a photo shoot . . .

. . . 'cuz kids live there.

Conference Plus Gardening

It's that time of year again, folks.

Time to watch General Conference . . .

. . . and play with Grandma's toys between sessions. 

Anna wanted to play the organ, too.

We watched some of the sessions at Uncle Mark's house, then helped Aunt Connie plant seeds in her garden.

Um, Daniel, you don't need to rake the leaves while they're still on the trees.

Anna was pretty excited to find a chair her size.

Happy Conference Weekend!