First Day of School

Anna's first day of high school. :)

Finally the first day of school for my youngest, who started high school today! This is the first 'First Day of School' photo in which Anna poses alone. She has had her sister starting school on same day with her for the last nine years! On one hand I think Anna's pretty psyched to have the bathroom to herself.. but on the other hand, I think she misses her sister.

I can't believe I've got one off to college and now my baby is in high school! All these wonderful milestones for my girls which are really super fantastic, yet at the same time kind of suck for mom and dad. I'm not gonna lie.. I cried after dropping Anna off at school today. I know it will get easier with time and probably sooner than later, but in the meantime, I'm trying not think so much about how grown up and independent my girls are getting every day. Even though I know that's really a good thing.

If you've got kids back in school, how's it going for you?

For everyone, whether you have kids at all or not, what's your favorite school or office supply?

I love those little post it tabs. I sometimes use them to mark favorite quotes or passages in books I'm reading or recipes in magazines or cookbooks. So handy.

And have you seen the new white-out pens? They're not so new.. I bought one last year and they are the BEST! Not that anyone writes on paper a whole lot anymore.

My oldest has left for college!

Can you believe it's September 1st?! Aside from the jet lag after our trip to Asia that sort of put us in a sleepy slow motion for a week or so there, the rest of August was a complete blur! From Japan to home, an evening in NYC with some book club friends, a couple of beach days, some bike rides, our 20th wedding anniversary, a weekend getaway for two to Boston, and getting Maria ready for college, it was one awesome month! Well.. the part about Maria going away to college is awesome for her..... not so much for mom and dad. I mean it is.. but you know. Our baby has flown out of the nest.

We helped Maria move into her college dorm yesterday. What a milestone! I'm so proud of her for so many reasons and excited for her as she stands at the cusp of this new life experience that will further shape her into the person she is meant to be. Then there's this other part of me that's crying NOOOoooooo! DON'T GO! Mostly I keep that one to myself, knowing that the time is right for her to go out on her own (more or less) and discover herself and the world around her. I just can't figure out how we got to this chapter in our story so darn fast and I'm trying to not to think that my job is more or less done. I know she'll still need us for quite some time .. both financially and for guidance and emotional support.. but it's kind of different now, you know?

Anyway, here's a fun video I made using the iphone app Flipagram that pretty much shows what August looked like through my eyes, squeezed into one minute and two seconds. Don't blink!

Hope you liked it. : )

How was your August? Any changes in your life this September? 

The Graduates.. wherein I brag about my kids!

The school year FINALLY ended for us yesterday. Phew! And what an eventful end it was. BOTH girls graduated their respective schools in the last two days!

Here is where I exercise my bragging rights to the full extent of my freedom to do so. You have been warned! ;) ...

Our youngest daughter, Anna, graduated from middle school (8th grade) on Monday night and will be starting high school in September. I can't believe my baby is going to high school! She finished her middle school career with a Presidential Award for Educational Excellence having earned high academic achievement measured with GPA of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale (90 or above on a 100 scale) for her entire middle school years (6th-8th) and having also achieved high scores on state and national standard achievement tests. She also earned High Honors in Literature and Process Writing this year. Separate from her academic achievements, Anna earned her Girl Scout Silver Award this year having completed a long term community service project of improving the visitation rooms in a local DYFS [Division of Youth and Family Services] office where children in the foster care program are now able to reconnect with their parents in cheerful, inviting rooms that are uplifting and conducive to healthy interaction and playtime. We're so proud of her!

Our oldest daughter, Maria, graduated from high school last night.. I cannot believe we are the parents of an 18 year old high school graduate! Where did the time go? I didn't think I was going to get emotional at her graduation, but at one point my husband whispered to me that he just saw her yawn and when I looked at her, she did look kind of sleepy (I think the heat was getting to everyone--it was pretty hot sitting out there in the football field wearing those graduation gowns!). I was instantly flooded with memories of her as a baby falling asleep in my arms or sleeping alongside me in bed as a toddler and I couldn't stop the tears from welling in my eyes. I was simultaneously overwhelmed by the quick passage of time and at the same time filled with so much pride in the intelligent, conscientious, responsible, compassionate and beautiful young woman she has become.

Like her younger sister, Maria also graduated with excellent academic standing. She was a member of the high school's University Program since freshman year, a member of the National Honor Society and graduated in the top 10% of her class with a GPA above 4.2. Her senior research project was on the sexual exploitation of women in the media, a suitable subject for her as it combined her passion for photography and other visual arts with an important social issue. She was also active in several clubs, community service projects and a member of the swim team for one year and the girls volleyball team all four years. In September she'll be attending Rutgers University (my Alma Mater), possibly double majoring in photo journalism and women's and gender studies. Naturally, we are very proud of her.

Now for some photos!

Anna and her friends dressed up for the 8th grade semi-formal dance. Anna is in the black and white dress at the bottom right.

8th grade semi-formal

Maria and Nick going to senior prom. Don't they look great? These two have known each other since kindergarten and started dating halfway through their freshman year in high school. He'll be going to an art school in NYC in September where he plans to study graphic design. Interestingly, Maria and Nick were named female and male 'Best Artist' in their high school this year--Maria for her talent in photography and Nick for his talent in all fine arts, painting is forte. He even received 1st place in a private art show in our community last spring. Anyway, they had a really nice time at the prom. Maria said the sweetest part of the night was that Nick willingly danced with her all night even though he doesn't like to dance. Aw.. very sweet.

Maria & Nick
Senior Prom

I don't have any photos of Anna on her 8th grade graduation - my husband has them on his computer. But she wore the same pretty white sundress for her sister's graduation last night, so I figure that works! My best friend from childhood (from when we were 4 years old!), who is also Maria's godmother, came to Maria's graduation last night. Her presence really made the day special. Here are all of us girls walking to the graduation site:

Me, Anna, Maria and her godmother Angela

Here's a photo of my two Class of 2013 graduates.. high school and 8th grade:

Maria and Anna

Finally, the proud parents... 

My husband and me

Certainly an eventful time in our household! May the academic achievements, personal growth and simple enjoyment of life continue for everyone! xo 

With Sadness

It is with sadness that I write this post to tell you that my dear elderly father-in-law, who has been under my and my husband's care for the last six years, has passed away this morning at 87 years old. Having suffered a severe stroke over a decade ago that left him in need of assistance with his daily life, my husband and I took him into our home and under our care when my mother-in-law passed away in late 2006. We expanded our home to include a bedroom and bathroom for him on the first floor [more about my father-in-law in our home here] and then three years later he suffered another minor stroke that left him more dependent than ever where he could no longer be left alone without supervision. My husband and I have been his full time caregiver pretty much every day, around the clock for the last six years. It has been very challenging to provide this kind of around the clock care for an elderly parent-- requiring personal and familial sacrifices and more patience than you can fathom. In that same breath, however, I will say that it has been an honor to have shared the role of care giver to this man who has lived his entire life with immense kindness, generosity and unconditional love towards other people--especially those lucky enough to be counted among his loved ones. He will be greatly missed.

First Day of School

I can't believe it's another new school year again. Didn't we just have one of those? This first day just snuck up on me! We were prepared with some new school clothes and school supplies and all, but I guess our minds just weren't wrapped around the fact that summer is over and school is ON. Okay, perhaps especially mine because as much as I'm trying not to think too much, that bike ride is sitting front and center on my mind these days.

Here is this year's photo of the girls from this morning:

First Day of School
Sept. 6, 2012

Here are the first day of school photos of the girls from just four years ago:

Big difference, huh? Especially with youngest. My babies are getting so grown up!

My oldest [on left] is now a senior in high school. I cannot believe it. She has a pretty full course load again this year and is also already playing Varsity Volleyball. They've been practicing daily since we came home from vacation and they've even had games before school has even started! She's still doing a lot of photography--recreationally and getting paid for some, too! Portraits, Sweet 16 parties, an upcoming Bar Mitzvah, and so on. She'll be photographing for the school during the year, too.

Youngest [on right] is now an 8th grader, at the top of the middle school food chain. ;) She's taking dance again this year--ballet, jazz and contemporary and she's continuing with girl scouts, as well. She's a Cadette girl scout again this year and the girls will be working on and finishing their Silver Award by spring of next year.

I sometimes like to make some New School Year's Resolutions this time of year. Not necessarily for me personally, but resolutions that will help whip me back into shape as domestic goddess supreme. Bah ha ha. That was a joke. Seriously, though, sometimes I need to little kick in the behind to run a smoother household and these are a few of my ideas:

1. Menu plan dinners Sun-Thurs.
I already do this often, and when I do, it's SO helpful. I need to be more consistent about it. Friday and Saturday are wildcard days for take out and or if someone wants to take me out for a nice dinner. :) Or I'll cook, but it'll be on the fly.

2. Do the dishes | Clean the kitchen every night.
In other words, don't leave it piled in the sink for the morning. I may be tired at 8:30 pm and just want to relax and hang around with my husband, but having to deal with a messy kitchen at 6:45 am when everyone's foraging for breakfast and I'm packing lunches is so much WORSE. Seriously, this should be a no-brainer.

3. Enforce Sunday chores with the girls.
This is all my fault. I can't really blame them for not helping more around the house when I don't ask them to, but they really need to pick up a few more chores. Eldest scoops the cat's litter boxes at night and takes out the garbage. Youngest makes a pathetic attempt at setting the table for dinner and then feeds the cats in the evening. Granted my oldest also helps me out by "babysitting" her grandfather if she's home and I need to go out and do an errand, which is a HUGE help. My youngest has done this for me a couple of times last month, too. I'm glad she's finally mature enough for that responsibility. But still, I'd like them to take on a bit more responsibility with other chores. Mostly, I'd like them to pick up after themselves in our living spaces--family room, dining room, etc. Everyone tends to leave their stuff around and not in their storage places. I'd also like them to clean their bathroom! Sometimes I don't go in there for several days and then when I do, I'm so shocked at what two girls can do to a bathroom! Or should I say, not do. I'm declaring Sunday as Clean-Your-Bathroom Day since it's usually the one day of the week I can be assured they're both home for the most hours of the day. It's usually homework day, too. It's going to be their FAVORITE day of the week! I just know it! :)

If you have school-age children, how is school going for yours? 
I think we are among the very last schools in the nation going back to school!

Do you menu plan for the week in advance? 

What chores did you have to do as a teenager?

Hello July! ..What Happened in June?!

Holy smokes it's July 4th already! I hope you had a wonderful holiday and the fireworks were spectacular by you.. whether you saw them at the park or made some of your own at home. ; )

Well, I sure am starting to sound like a broken record, but dang it.. life has been busy, leaving me too few minutes in the day to read or blog and blog hop as much as I'd like. I thought the school year was never going to end there for a while, but it finally did on June 20. I swear we were the last schools in session in the whole country by then. Both girls brought home awesome report cards. My youngest ended 7th grade with all A's and a few B's.. honors in several of her classes, high honors in Language Arts. That's my girl! My oldest finished 11th grade--her junior year with a stellar report card. Also A's and a scarce B, most of her courses being honors and honors AP courses. She did so well, she boosted her overall GPA a smidgen and now has over a 4.0 GPA! YES! My girls are some smart cookies! So proud. ^_^

I imagined summer break was going to be lazy, easy, breezy, but alas it's been quite hectic. All good things, but my time management skills are forever a work in progress so I'm not very methodical about getting stuff done. Everything always seems half finished and I can't seem to carve out a decent block of time for myself to read or blog. I always think I'll get to it in the evening after dinner, but I don't know what happens. Well, I do know. I end up being too tired to be on the computer, so I decide to read instead, which ends up being pitiful anyway because I fall asleep after just a few pages. It's a vicious cycle.

My youngest is away at sleep away camp for the first time ever this week. We were busy getting ready for that last week, including packing, shopping for some supplies and getting a physical, etc. No phone calls to or from camp are allowed unless it's an emergency. It drives me batty not being in touch with my kid, but I'm trying not to worry about the little things and trying instead to picture her having a great time, making new friends, trying new things and basically having a really positive experience. I admit I'm looking forward to picking her up on Saturday.. seeing her face, hugging her and hearing all about her adventures.

My oldest landed a nice nanny/babysitting job three days a week for a family with three young girls... ages 10, 8 and 4, I believe. Even though it's a lot of work caring for and playing with the girls, taking them to the pool and activities, I'm not sure who's having more fun here... the little girls or my teen! She loves it. She's also in Volleyball training three nights a week and on her days off from babysitting she's out and about with her friends or her boyfriend. Never a dull moment.

Before I forget, here's a quick look at what I was up to in June. My memory's already getting fuzzy. :/

In fitness & health: 
My workout schedule has been pretty similar each week lately. Strength training, a weekly kickbox class, running and biking. I've spent most of my workout time on the bike, having ridden 274.6 miles in June! My longest single ride was 70.4 miles which was nearly five hours of cycling. Boy, was I tired that day!

I finished June with 133+ fitness challenge miles where 1 fitness mile = 1 mile run = 15 minutes of other cardio or strength training.

I have also been participating in the weekly Reader's Workout Meme hosted by Joy. Check it out over at her blog if you're interested in joining in. It's a low-key, casual thing.. and very welcoming. In the Reader's Workout Meme, some of the participants are tracking their exercise in total minutes spent exercising. I clocked in with 1884 minutes in June or 31 hours and 24 minutes! That averages to about 63 minutes a day. Not bad!

I recently recommitted myself [again, I know] to losing 20-25 lbs. between now and Thanksgiving. I'm working on a few aspects of my diet plus I want to add more strength training to my weekly workout plan. I'll keep you posted.

What did you do to keep moving last month?

In books: 
I read only five books in June.. I guess it's indicative of how busy I was with other things last month. Still, the five books I read were pretty darned good so I'm not complaining!

Romance .............. 4
                  Historical .... 3
                  Paranormal...1
Children's Lit........1

1. The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie by Jennifer Ashley
2. Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage by Jennifer Ashley
3. Odd And The Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman
4. Tangle of Need by Nalini Singh
5. Caine's Reckoning by Sarah McCarty

My favorites are The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie and Tangle of Need--both books get five stars from me.

What noteworthy books did you read in June?

In photography: 
I had fun participating in a photo-a-day challenge hosted by the Fat Mum Slim blog, or @fatmumslim on twitter. The fun daily prompts helped me stay on track taking a picture every day and the best part? I made some new friends on Instagram! Yay! :) I've decided to do the #photoadayJuly challenge too. As well as a fun daily picture challenge for book-mided people hosted by Cassandra at Indie Reader Houston. You can follow this challenge on twitter or instagram using the #dailybookpic hash tag.

Come back later for my favorite photos from my Project 366.. [I'll post them in the morning.]

As always, you can follow my photography challenges on http://web.stagram.com/n/thehappilyeverafter .

In the garden: 
I finally finished the new vegetable garden. For the most part, anyway. You're never going to believe this.. but I'm not so crazy with this location anymore. I think I might be re-re-establishing my vegetable garden to the backyard next year. So indecisive, I know. In the meantime, at least I have some tomato plants in the ground and growing! Finally! I'll edit pictures into this post tomorrow.. I want to post this now before I delay it another day. And it's time for me to get my beauty sleep. Zzzzz...

Thanks for reading about my June adventures. Here's wishing you a jubilant July! ^_^

My May Adventures

If you stopped by looking for my Neverwhere Read Along discussion, I'll be posting that tomorrow.

It's June! June! Three more weeks of school and then summer! This is such a busy time of year around here. I'm sure it's the same for all of you as well.

I posted earlier this month about my youngest daughter's dance recital--such fun! She's also been busy with girl scouts as her Cadette troop is working towards their Silver Award. I am starting to feel tapped out as a leader, so I'll be glad to have a bit of a break from it over the summer.

My oldest has been busy, too. Mostly with schoolwork and a very busy social life. Last week we attended a small Academic Awards ceremony at the high school at which she received an award from Brandeis University for outstanding academic achievement and civic service. She also recently completed a wonderful project for her high school orchestra for which she filmed, photographed and edited a video about the impact of water on our community that accompanied the orchestra's performance of a beautiful piece by Philip Glass. The video was projected on a large screen behind the orchestra. It was quite moving.. especially given the devastating effects Hurricane Irene had on our community last August.

Lots of proud moments in May! While I couldn't possibly top the accomplishments of my kids, I may as well tell you what I've been up to last month. ; )

In fitness: 
I easily met my 100 fitness mile goal for May with a total of 120 miles. Interestingly, I took quite a few rest days this month, but apparently I made up for it on the days that I did workout, especially in cycling. Most of my rides these days are 30-40 miles which is at least 2 hours on the bike. On Memorial Day, my cycling partner and I clocked just under 4 hours to bike 59.4 miles---my new longest distance in a single ride.

I mentioned last month [in April] that I wanted to increase strength training and aside from my Monday powercuts class and maybe 15 minutes of abs, light weights at the end of kickbox class and a bonus TRX class, I haven't been doing any other strength training. I need to work on increasing that. Here's a look at what I did in May:

Run 23.07 miles :     ~241 minutes
Bike 170.54 miles :   ~705 minutes
Kickbox & Abs : 300 minutes
Spin & Abs :       150 minutes
Strength training:        240 minutes
TOTAL:   1636 minutes     or     27 hours 16 minutes

What did you do to keep moving last month?

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In books: 
I read eight books in May and from quite a few different genres, too. I'm pretty happy about that.

Non-fiction ...... 1
     [Health & fitness]

Romance .............. 2
     [Historical]
Crime fiction ....... 1
Young Adult ....;;.. 1
Fiction .................. 1
Fantasy ................ 2

1. Creation in Death by J.D. Robb
2. The Governess Affair by Courtney Milan
3. Saving Grace by Julie Garwood
4. If I Die by Rachel Vincent
5. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
6. Food Rules by Michael Pollan
7. Cold Magic by Kate Elliot
8. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

I have to say that I loved all of these books and would recommend each and every one. If I HAD to pick favorites? Hmm... The Governess Affair by Courtney Milan is a wonderful novella and the first in a new series. I have a review partially written that I hope to finish, but know that I did love it. It's Kindle lendable, too, so let me know if you're interested in borrowing it. I think I can lend it out at least twice.

Saving Grace by Julie Garwood. A timeless medieval romance and a favorite among so many romance readers. You can read my review HERE.

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell is a really solid, engaging read, too. A lot of readers classify it as romance, but it's not exactly. It's more general fiction with romantic elements. Not quite chick-lit either because most of the book is really about the male protagonist, so it's really more dude-lit which is a brand new sub-genre coined by Brie from Romance Around the Corner. You heard it first from her, folks. Remember that when dude-lit goes rampant. ;o)

Gigi likes Cold Magic by Kate Elliot!

Honorable mention goes to Cold Magic by Kate Elliot. I originally shelved this book in young adult, but it really straddles into adult fantasy fiction. The protagonists are not minors at nineteen years old and older and in fact at the marriageable age. The setting is Victorian-England-esque alternate history with a steampunk component. A lot of fascinating people--powerful mages, princes, spiritwalkers and others-- cultures, histories and politics between peoples and three main characters whose fates get personally entangled with each other and those of power. There is a lot of information to digest in this book, but the story premise, setting and characters were so interesting that it was so worth reading. I'm looking forward to reading the second book in this trilogy, Cold Fire. The concluding book in the trilogy, Cold Steel comes out in 2013.

What interesting books did you read in May?

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A bouquet of African Roses

In photography:
My Project 366 is now a Project 362. Yes, I missed another TWO days in May. Ugh. Oh well. I decided to have a little bit of fun this month by participating in the photo a day challenge hosted by blogger fatmumslim who blogs at Fat Mum Slim. There's a daily prompt every day for the month and users post their photos on instagram, twitter, facebook, a blog, flickr or pinterest using the hash tag #photoadayJune. Fun!

As always, you can follow my photography challenges on http://web.stagram.com/n/thehappilyeverafter.

Are you on instagram? Friend me!

In the garden: 
The deer are in my yard almost every night munching on anything and everything green. I know what they're all saying..

"Hey, have you been to that organic salad bar down the street yet? It's amazing! They've got a wide variety of plants to choose from, loaded with tender shoots, plump flower buds, and lush leaves. Not only is it 100% organic but it's all you can eat AND open 24/7!" 

Nice. I woke up one day last week to discover they ate most of the tops off my budding purple coneflower plants last week. This means my coneflowers will be blooming late and won't be so lush this year. Again. I know they have to eat, too, but sheesh, I sure wish they knew how to show a bit of restraint so I could enjoy a few flowers. I have an inkling that the day lilies are on this week's menu. I haven't seen a day lily flower bloom in my yard for a couple of years now. But really, what are you going to do? They're only doing what they're supposed to do, right?

I started converting that section of my perennial flower bed into a new vegetable garden, but I haven't yet finished. In fact, that's on my to-do list for this week. A friend of mine gave me several pots of tomato seedlings that sprouted up in her garden from the seeds of last year's dropped fruit and I've got to get them in the ground soon. I'm already a couple of weeks late. A few of them even have flowers already. Oh how I love the promise of homegrown tomatoes! I'm not sure what else I want to try to grow this year. At this point, I'll be happy just to have a nice harvest of herbs and tomatoes.

Are you growing an edibles in your yard?


Thanks for reading about my month! Wishing you a joyous June! xo

Recital Day! Plus How to Make a Hair Bun

Both of my daughters were lured by pink ballet shoes and tutus at a very young age and started taking ballet classes before they were even in school. Over the years they added tap, jazz, lyrical, hip hop and for my oldest--pointe to their dance repertoires. After spending hours and hours at the dance studio every week for a few years in a row, including most weekends for competition team, they both decided to take a break from dance a couple of years ago. This school year, however, my youngest decided to take up jazz again. So back to the dance studio she went for another year of dance, which culminated with her dance recital last Saturday night. What a fun show! :)

She is a such challenge when it comes to having her picture taken! While she's not too shy to take all those self portraits in the bathroom or bedroom mirror and then post them on facebook or instagram, she avoids getting in front of her parents' camera lenses at practically any cost! This is the best shot I have of her from Saturday night, just after the show was over:

You see what I mean? I felt like the paparazzi chasing down the star of the show! ; )

My husband took a bunch of photos with his fancier camera and lens, too. And luckily I snagged a few shots of her on stage during dress rehearsal earlier in the week. Her group literally lit up the stage during their number:

How could they not with such sparkly costumes, right?

Now for the instructional segment of this post...

How to Make a Perfect Hair Bun: 
After years and years of practice, gallons of hair gel and hundreds of bobby pins . . . I think I've mastered the art of styling the perfect bun for recital day. Or dress rehearsal, dance competition, picture day, first communion or whatever special occasion for which a neat, tight bun is desired. I imagine there are numerous YouTube videos available with similar instructions, so I encourage you to check that out if you need more visuals. In the meantime, here are my instructions:

What you need: 
hair gel, extra hold
            [I buy a big bottle of whatever is cheapest, usually L.A. Looks.]  
two elastic hair bands, one thick and one thin
            [also called pony tail holders]
a hair net
            [find at a well stocked drug store or beauty supply store like Harmon's]
bobby pins
            [the kind you have to sort of pry open] 
hairspray
            [any brand is fine, Aquanet brand is inexpensive and effective]

What you do:
Read through all instructions before starting.

1. If your dancer has short or medium length fine weight hair, go to next step. Otherwise, for dancers with long and or thick hair, it is best to start with very damp hair. Completely wet hair and gently towel dry. Then comb out any knots, if necessary.
2. Once hair is brushed free of any knots, apply a GENEROUS glob of gel to hair, starting at scalp, working it in to the hair. Be sure to get the gel all the way to the hairline around the face, behind the ears and along the back of the neck. Don't be afraid to use A LOT of gel, especially if the bun is for a dancer or gymnast who will be bopping and leaping across a stage or flipping around over the mats. For a special occasion such as communion or flower girl, you can probably get away with less gel.
3. Brush or comb hair using a wide toothed comb until smooth. Work the hair into a pony tail at the height you want the bun, brushing the hair smooth as you go. Secure with a thick, elastic hair band [pony tail holder].
4. Add more gel to the pony tail, if necessary, which it usually is, to make sure the hair is slick enough to hold together without any little "fly aways" sticking out.
5. Braid the pony tail and secure bottom with a thin, elastic hair band [pony tail holder].
6. Now wind the braid around the base of the pony tail and tuck the end in to the base of the bun. Secure with a few bobby pins.
7. Take the hair net and wrap it around the bun. You may need to twist and double or triple wrap the hair net around the bun until it covers the bun neatly. Secure the net to the bun and the bun to the hair on scalp with bobby pins. If your bun is well gelled and covered with the hair net, this may take only 4-5 bobby pins. But to be sure the bun is very secure--especially if the bun is for a dancer or gymnast, go ahead and use more. Have your dancer or gymnast jump and leap around a bit to make sure the bun isn't going anywhere.
8. Have your dancer or gymnast cover her eyes with her hands and spray hair with hairspray. Gently pat or brush hair flat with your hands to tame down any fly away hairs.

Sounds like a lot of steps, but it's really pretty easy to do. Just like the advice you probably give your budding star, practice makes perfect, so keep practicing making hair buns and you'll be a pro in no time.

Good luck!

My April Adventures

"Time flies when you're having fun." That explains why it's May already! 

What a month. It's been joyous, but also a bit bittersweet, when my baby.. whom I birthed, nursed, nurtured and protected all these years.. turned 17 years old this month and is now driving a car. This is way harder than the first day of school, first time away at camp, first period, first boyfriend... seeing your child get in car and drive away from home is SO SCARY. I am proud and happy to see that she has become a strong, capable, independent young woman so anxious to get out there in the world, who by the way, learned first hand how to jump start a dead battery about 60 hours after getting her license, but at the same time I miss the little girl who is no more. Never has childhood seemed more fleeting to me than it has this month. Did I mention she's smart, too? She was inducted into the National Honor Society in April. :)

In fitness: 
My workout pattern has been pretty predictable this month. I've been running twice a week outdoors and biking on at least one weekend day. At the gym, I'm either in spin or kickbox class. I haven't been keeping up with strength training this month and I can feel it! I'm making a point to get weights, planks, push ups and ab work back into my weekly workout plan--even if I have to do it on my own at home. Here are my running and cycling stats:

Run 21.0 miles [33.8km]
Bike 191.5 miles [308.2km] <-- A new monthly record for me!

I know there are many, many cyclists out there who bike way more than this in any given month, but for a weekend cyclist like me, I think 191.5 miles rocks! I'll probably end up breaking this record before the summer ends, but for now.. I'm pretty happy with this mileage. I also made some new personal records with distances in April. One is for the most miles in two consecutive days, which was 68.4 miles [110km] (42.5 on Saturday and 25.9 on Sunday). The other record was for my longest ride yet at 52.2 miles [84km]. This route was mostly easy rolling hills, with one climb at the very beginning (4 mile mark) and one at the very end (48 mile mark). Most of our rides have several climbs interspersed with rolling hills. Did I mention we're signed up to ride a Gran Fondo [103 mile (165.8km) cycling event] in September?

What did you do to keep moving in April? 

In books: 
April was yet another productive reading month for me! I read twelve books! Well, three of them were re-reads of a graphic novel and a fourth was another graphic novel, but since Lover Reborn was over 500 pages, it kind of evens out, right?

Non-fiction...... 2
   Health & fitness... 1
   Memoir ..................... 1

Romance ............ 6
     Paranormal ...........3
     Contemporary...... 2
     Historical ..............1

Graphic Novel .....4

1. Crazy, Sexy Diet by Kris Carr
2. The Warlord Wants Forever by Kresley Cole
3. Rainshadow Road by Lisa Kleypas
4. A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole RE-READ
5. Lover Reborn by J.R. Ward
6. A Dangerous Beauty by Sophia Nash
7. The Sweetest Thing by Jill Shalvis
8. Amulet: Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi RE-READ
9. Amulet: Stonekeeper's Curse by Kazu Kibuishi RE-READ
10. Amulet: The Cloud Searchers by Kazu Kibuishi RE-READ
11. Amulet: The Last Council by Kazu Kibuishi 
12. Paris in Love by Eloisa James

I plan to review Paris in Love by Eloisa James, so stay tuned for that.

Do you read memoirs? If so, what compels you to chose the memoirs you read?

A girl and her cat

In photography: 
I missed another day in my Project 366, but I decided against starting over from the beginning. I'm just going to continue doing the best that I can and if I miss a few days in a year, so be it. I'm not perfect and the project is still fun.



In the garden: 
I haven't done a thing! I'll be so annoyed with myself if I fail to get my vegetable garden re-established again this year..



Thanks for taking the time to read about my April adventures!


Here's wishing you a marvelous May! :) 

Seventeen!

Happy 17th Birthday! xo

Seventeen years ago today I gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl. What a wonderful young woman she is now!

Happy 17th Birthday to my beautiful, smart, caring daughter.

I love you. xo

Spritz Cookies!

Baking an assortment of homemade Christmas cookies has been a tradition in my family for at least three generations now. My maternal grandmother immigrated to the United States from Germany as a teenager, following her sweetheart from her hometown, already skilled in cooking and baking, including traditional German recipes for a variety of holiday breads and cookies such as stollen, lebkuchen, linzer cookies, and spritz cookies. My mother continued the tradition of baking tins full of Christmas cookies for the holidays--some of my grandmother's traditional recipes and some new ones she found here and there in her own cookbooks or passed to her from friends. We would eat more than our share of cookies the week between Christmas, but my mother would also package several cookies of each variety into decorative tins to give to friends and family during the holidays. I have joyfully continued this Christmas cookie tradition in my own home, establishing a repertoire of Christmas cookies I bake every year. My husband even has two cookies he makes every Christmastime, too. *loves*

I have baked a lot of different Christmas cookie recipes over the years,  recipes I found primarily in cooking magazines that I have accrued over the years--many of the magazines special issues dedicated entirely to Christmas cookies. I also own Joy of Cooking Christmas Cookies by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker and Ethan Becker, which is a must for anyone who loves classic, tried and true Christmas cookie recipes.

Every year I'm on the lookout for new Christmas cookie recipes to try, because you never know what's destined to be the next family favorite. Favorites may come and go over the years, but one cookie that has a permanent spot on the family favorites list--and one I enjoyed from my grandmother's and my mother's kitchens is Spritz cookies! My daughters especially have come to love and expect spritz cookies every year at Christmas and I'd like to share my recipe with you.

Spritz cookies are a traditional German butter cookie also known as Spritzgebäck, that are made from a very basic butter cookie dough that is pressed or 'squirted' [spritzen is the German verb for squirt!] through a cylindrical cookie press that is fitted at the opened end with discs with patterned holes that form special shapes. So technically you will need a cookie press to make traditional spritz cookies. They are inexpensive and fairly easy to find at specialty food shops, department stores and possibly even grocery stores during the holiday season.

What if you don't have a cookie press or don't want to invest in one just to make Spritz cookies?

Do not despair! You can still make spritz cookies using a pastry bag fitted with an open star tip. Simply fill the pastry bag with the cookie dough and pipe the cookie dough directly onto cookie sheets. You can pipe the dough into 2" sticks,  circles for wreaths or shape the piped dough into hearts.

Spritz Cookies


1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.

2. Place butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. This will take about 5 minutes. Set your kitchen timer for 5 minutes because these cookies really do turn out best when you beat the butter and sugar for the full 5 minutes.

3. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until well blended.

4. Add the flour in three additions, adding the salt with the first addition, mixing well with each addition.

5. Assemble and fill your cookie press according to the manufacturer's instructions.

6. Press cookies onto ungreased, cool cookie sheets. If you are reusing the same cookie sheet for separate batches, make sure the cookie sheet cool completely before using again.

7. Decorate with colored sprinkles, if desired. This is a must in my house. :)

8. Bake for 6-9 minutes or until the cookies are just lightly brown at the edges. Watch carefully to avoid over baking. They tend to go from perfectly baked to burned in just a few seconds.

9. Cook the cookies on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack or large platter.

Enjoy!

Yield: 4-5 dozen.

Weekend Cooking, a weekly blog event hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food related post to share--a food related book review (fiction or nonfiction), cookbook review, movie review, a recipe, random thoughts, gadgets, food quotations, photographs, etc. Please visit Beth's blog for more information and join the fun!

First Day of School ... finally!

Another summer has flown by and it's time to go back to school. Today was finally the first day of school for my girls. They were originally scheduled to start last week, but due to the extensive damage to homes and schools in our community due to hurricane Irene, we had a delayed opening until today.

Here's this year's first day of school photo:

My youngest [pictured on the left] is now in 7th grade and my eldest [pictured on the right] is in 11th --a junior in high school! I can barely believe how grown up they are already.

This school year will be another busy one for us, just as it is for most families these days. My youngest is taking dance, continuing with girl scouts and maybe picking up art classes again, too. My eldest is on the high school volleyball team again this year and plans to join swim team in the winter season again, too. She's also doing a lot of photography for the school newspaper and yearbook, which she loves. When she's not studying, doing sports or photography--she's either asleep or with her boyfriend and or friends. Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but only slight. She sometimes eats at home, too.

I usually like make some new "school year" resolutions for myself around now because it just feels like a good time for new beginnings. Except this August was such a whirlwind between vacation, the hurricane and the triathlon that I haven't even had the chance to think about it! I might just skip that tradition this year.

Here's wishing everyone in your world a great school year! : )

What's your favorite part of the 'back to school' time of year?

My favorite part is having all new school supplies--especially a plentiful stash of pens so I don't have to always hunt for one and for fun, a new box of colored pencils! :) 

A Mom Meme

I'm a day late, but I wish all of the moms out there a very Happy Mother's Day ... I hope you all had a wonderful day yesterday and were spoiled with hugs, kisses and favors from your families. I was! I went camping over the weekend with my younger daughter and her girl scout troop which was really fun, even though the sleeping was kind of rough. We got home just before 2 pm yesterday at which time I was showered with flowers and gifts, followed by a nice long nap and Thai for dinner! :)

A few years ago, I saw this Mom Meme on someone's blog--I'm pretty sure it was at Amy's-- and thought it was such a fun idea for a Mother's Day post. Well, I finally remembered to do it this year. I asked my girls the questions over weekend and expected to be humored with a bunch of short one or two word answers. Which for the most part, I did get from my youngest, but both girls surprised me at how much they really pay attention to me. The answers from my teenager were thoughtful and well... touching. I didn't expect such thorough and insightful answers and I honestly hadn't realized how well she really knew me. Not just as her mom, but as a woman.

So here are the questions I asked my daughters A (age 12) and M (age 16) about me.

1. What is something your mom always says to you:
A: "Don't leave your hairbrush on the table!"
M: A lot of things I guess! She says she loves me, that I look pretty, "good job sweetie!" when I do well on a test or accomplish something.

2. What makes your mom happy?
A: When everyone's nice to her.
M: Spending time with Daddy, spending time with A and me (when we're not fighting or when A is being a pita). Reading, cooking (sometimes), good food, traveling, talking to friends across the world, exercising.

3. What makes your mom sad?
A: Funerals.
M: Various movies, TV shows, books, short videos, thinking about life before she was married to Daddy, random things (PMS), etc.

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
A: When she dances.

M: She dances. And some things she says make me laugh, especially when she thinks she knows what's going on with my modern day high school life (she actually usually does).

5. What was your mom like as a child?
A: She was blond.
M: Shy, insecure, emotionally unstable (cried a lot). But really cute, and most likely very bright.

6. How old is your mom?
A: 42
M: 42... or 43. Uhh...

7. How tall is your mom?
A: 5' something. Taller than me.
M: 5'6"

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
A: Read.
M: See number 2.

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
A: She goes to the gym.
M: How would I know? Uh, probably read, computer surf, watch Lolo {my elderly father-in-law} , bond with Gigi {one of our cats}, I don't know what else. Be naked.

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
A: Writing a cookbook.
M: Doing something good for someone else. Or writing an autobiography.

11. What is your mom really good at?
A: Cooking.
M: Making me better, making me happy, taking care of other people, being healthy, exercising, setting goals, meeting goals, writing, drawing cute people, cooking, baking, socializing, navigating, being pretty, knowing what's best for herself, picking out things for a house (e.g. paint colors, cabinets, floors, tile, appliances, light fixtures, doorknobs, windows, doors, molding, furniture, decorations), running, biking, math, teaching math, driving, cuddling, hugging, raising kids, camping, keeping the family in a good place literally and figuratively.

12. What is your mom NOT very good at?
A: Singing. And dancing.
M: Being bad at things.

13. What does your mom do for her job?
A: Takes care of my family.
M: Takes amazing care of everyone in the house, especially [Lolo].

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
A: Ice cream.
M: Ice cream.

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
A: How well she takes care of our family.
M: Everything. There isn't one thing about her that doesn't make me proud. I am proud of how brave and strong she is, how she is so healthy and lively. I am proud of how I can talk to her about anything (not many people can do that).

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
A: Ruby from "Max and Ruby."
M: Mrs. Incredible.

17. What do you and your mom do together?
A: Talk.
M: Talk, shop, take pictures, cuddle (sometimes), watch movies, play video games (sometimes).

18. How are you and your mom the same?
A: We both like to read.
M: We both like to do a lot of the same things. I think we're both pretty brave. We think similarly and have a similar voice. I think that our views on parenting are the same (even though I'm not a parent). We generally have the same taste in music, movies, books, clothes (kind of), and aesthetic things. Oh yeah we cry a lot. And procrastinate.

19. How are you and your mom different?
A: I don't know!!!
M: I don't exercise as much as she does. :) I can't cook or bake. We're actually not that different at all.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
A: She tells me.
M: I just know. The little everyday things tell me that she loves me (e.g. packing lunch, giving me freedom, hugging me, telling me she loves me, surprising me). And also some extraordinary things.

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
A: The gym.
M: She wants to go to Paris and Hawaii. She wants to go places with her husband. And family (maybe). Her current favorite place is probably anywhere with Daddy or the Y. Or outside somewhere.


In conclusion, she's the best mum ever.


Tears in my eyes.

My daughters are more aware of the things I do for myself, for our family and for others than I thought .... they listen to my dreams... and apparently, I look ridiculous when I dance. ;)

I am reminded how thankful I am for my daughters who would not be half as amazing as they are without their dad. We're a great parenting team and it shows in our children. xo

Sweet 16

Once upon a time I gave birth to a sweet baby girl.

We blinked a couple of times and then PoOf!

Sixteen years later, she's a beautiful young woman.

Happy Sweet 16 to my beautiful girl.

She chose this Old-Fashioned Caramel Layer Cake for her birthday cake this year. The recipe is from the December 1999 issue of Cooking Light magazine that I've made a couple of times over the years. It's a simple, but delicious vanilla cake coated with an oh so sweet caramel frosting. You can find the recipe online HERE.

Prepare yourself for a sugar rush!

Christmas in New York City

There's nothing quite like Christmas in New York City. It really is just as festive, sparkling and dynamic as it looks in all those holiday movies that feature Christmas time in New York City-- if not more so.

Last Monday, my eldest daughter and I skipped out of town for a few hours and drove into New York for the evening. With my new car that I had only had for less than 48 hours. I'm so brave.

A few years ago, my eldest daughter befriended another teenage girl in Austria while doing some creative writing with a Twilight role playing group on myspace, essentially becoming modern day 'pen pals' of sorts. They would instant message each other--under parental supervision, of course, and then eventually maintained their friendship via facebook and occasionally video chatting when they could align their respective free time with each other, all around the time difference between them. So her friend was recently visiting New York City for a few days and Monday was the only day she was free. So of course, being the awesome mom that I am, I took her into the city to meet her 'pen pal' in person for the first time. This couldn't have worked out with my husband being the awesome dad he is, having come home early from work that day to mind the others in the castle (his dad and our youngest daughter).

Seeing the girls meet for the first time was like something right out of a movie. Her friend was waiting by the fountain outside the famous toy store, FAO Schwarz searching the faces of the passersby for my daughter. My daughter spotted her right away and could barely wait for the light to turn in our favor so she could cross the street to her friend. Just as she gets to her, she calls out her name. Her friend turns around, their faces light up with smiles, eyes glassy with tears of joy and they hug each other as if they were long lost friends who haven't seen each other in ages. It was very, very sweet. Here is a photo I took of them within minutes of having met in person for the first time:

Vicky and Maria

Aren't they adorable? After a few moments of "Wow, you're here!" and more hugs and laughter, the girls proceeded to go shop and I was to meet them outside The Plaza hotel in two and a half hours. I don't think I would have had the strength to let them go off on their own like that if it weren't for cell phones and GPS tracking. And the fact that they promised to stay on 5th Avenue between FAO Schwarz and Rockefeller Center... which is pretty much where I was going to be, one or two blocks behind them. LOL. Well, not exactly, but pretty much.

So how did I spend those two and a half hours on my own? First I spent an hour or so with Dru Ann who blogs at notes from me. I knew Dru Ann worked in the city, so I sent her an email earlier in the day hoping she had the time to meet me for a little bit and sure enough, it worked out perfectly. Dru Ann and I strolled along 5th Avenue, chatting about all kinds of things like New York things, our mutual friend Brandy and how much we would have loved to have her there with us, too, a little about family, and whatever else came to mind. All the while, we savored the amazing lights and creative sights of the windows of Saks and other stores. She even brought me into Tiffany & Co. where we stood in awe of the Tiffany Diamond. That's 128.54 carats. Whoa baby.

The Tiffany Diamond

I wasn't such the photographer this evening as I didn't even bring my camera! I don't know what I was thinking... or not thinking. So these first few are taken with my iPhone.

Dru Ann and I 

I had such a nice time meeting Dru Ann and walking around with her. She is truly a lovely person. Thanks for making time in your day for me, Dru Ann! :)

Soon it was time for Dru Ann to head home and I was on my own for a while. After walking around the city for two and a half hours in the freezing cold (literally), I decided I needed to go sit someplace warm until it was time to meet my daughter again. I headed to the Time Warner building at Columbus Circle where I knew there was a Borders. I figured I'd sit and flip through some Christmas cookie magazines. Well, I forgot there was a Williams-Sonoma store on the first level, so I hit there first. What a smart idea, let me tell you. I wasn't even inside Williams-Sonoma for two seconds and I was being offered a sample of hot mulled cider. I'm sure I looked like I needed it, too! I started to thaw while admiring really expensive French skillets. I wandered some more and came across some candy samples and tried a champagne gum drop. Yum. I wandered further into the store where a salesperson was serving brownies with peppermint bark baked on top. Right next to the test kitchen was the section of Williams-Sonoma signature dish soaps and hand moisturizers where I sampled the "Winter Forest" lotion and my dry, chapped hands were very happy and it smelled just lovely, too. Now that I had some drink, food and spa treatment-- boy, do they know how to treat their costumers, or what? Thanks Williams-Sonoma!-- I headed upstairs to Borders where I flipped through some magazines before finally meeting daughter.

At this time, I met up with my daughter, her friend and her family and friends with whom she was traveling outside The Plaza Hotel. We then found a local pub and had some dinner. All too soon, I had to give my daughter the sad news that we needed to head home. I felt badly about having to make the girls say good bye after only four hours together, but it was already after 8 pm on a Monday night and we needed to call it a night.

My daughter and I started heading back to the car, but took a few minutes to admire the window displays at Bergdorf Goodman. Wow. I thought the displays at Saks were impressive--these were even more amazing! Interestingly, I found both the displays at Saks and at Bergdorf Goodman to have some "steampunk" elements to them.

One of the window displays at Bergdorf Goodman. 

I recommend you click on it and zoom in to see some of the detail of this display. The photo really doesn't do it justice.

This is a sample of one little detail at the floor of the display. Or rather, not so little. Get a load of the size of the stone on that ring!

Of course, we paused at Rockefeller Center for a few quick photos.

I and my daughter

We noticed a band playing there, and much to my teen's excitement, it was My Chemical Romance. We were actually along the street that went behind the stage, but we were so close, nonetheless. To their backs, anyway. LOL. She was patient, though, and eventually got a few pictures of the band with the lead singer dude actually facing us. Ah, the things that rock a 15 year old's world...

I hope you enjoyed my little glimpse of 5th Avenue decked out for Christmas! :)

New Wheels!

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. I've been off on too many adventures. I haven't even picked up a book in five days, which is totally crazy.

One of my recent adventures was getting me some new wheels and I'm so excited about it, so I just had to share. We tend to keep our cars for a long time--I drove my minivan for the last 11 years! --so this is big news!

My Toyota Prius! :) 

I have officially retired from my minivan-mom days {Hallelujah!} and am now driving a fun and stylish, fully loaded Toyota Prius! It's a hybrid, so I'm saying hello to burning less fossil fuel and an economical gas mileage! I've only had the car since Saturday night, and so far I'm getting more than double the gas mileage I was averaging with my minivan. Plus it has a ton of safety features and it's fun to drive! :)

Now I just need to sit in the driveway for an hour or two with the owner's manual and figure out how to use all the fancy audio and navigation toys. Um. Tools.

Here's to many safe and happy miles on the road! 

Vrroooooooomm! 

I had a really fun adventure yesterday involving a trip into NYC with my teen that I'll share soon. I promise it's way more interesting than this one.


Do people even say wheels anymore??

At Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Happy Thanksgiving! :)

We woke up this morning at the crack of dawn... not to put the turkey in the oven, but to drive into New York City for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!!! Yay!

Wearing hats, scarves and gloves, we packed our cameras, a thermos of hot chocolate and a step ladder, then headed into the city. This is the second time we've gone to watch the Thanksgiving Day parade in person. Several years ago we went with friends of ours who go every year and at that time, we arrived to our viewing spot along Central Park West over an hour before the parade started. We had stood about in the cold for awhile that time, but we were practically right at the curb with a fantastic view of everything. This year, we got into the city closer to 9 am, which is when the parade starts, so we had a difficult time getting close to curb of the parade route due to the crowds. We ended up on 59th St. near the parade route along 7th Ave. and it was packed with people. This is where the step ladder came in. We propped the step ladder on the sidewalk and had the girls take turns standing on it so they could see over the crowd for a better view of the parade. We could still see the balloons when standing on the sidewalk, but from the step ladder, the girls could see the marching bands and floats, too.

My husband with our girls standing on the step ladder..

A head above the rest!
Oldest on step ladder--see how high she is?
 I and youngest in front of her.

Hello Kitty! ^_^

Mickey Mouse 

Kung Fu Panda

Horton from "Horton Hears a Who" by Dr. Seuss

Me and my youngest 

My husband and me

What a fun time! If you ever have the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving in the New York area, I highly recommend that you make the effort to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in person. There's something so special about it from the sounds of the marching bands and the occasional siren in the background, the smells of roasting nuts and pretzels from food carts and of course the amazing sights of the parade itself. Watching those over sized balloons float down the city streets between skyscrapers is truly a sight to behold. The traffic afterwards not so much. But hey... more family time, right? ;)

When we got home we had som pie. Before our Thanksgiving dinner! That was fun.

Wishing you and your loved ones a wonderful Thanksgiving!

My Halloween weekend

I had intentions of sharing a few Halloween themed posts here last week for the days leading up to and including Halloween, but life happens and I had some wicked busy days that kept me from blogging. Now it's days after the fact and I sat here debating whether or not to follow through with them at this point. For example, I had a post nearly prepared titled, "How to sew a Powerpuff girl costume without a pattern." I did that last week. Three times, actually, because you can't have Blossom without Bubbles and Buttercup, right? I even have some of the instructions typed up already and have photos to go with the instructions, too. But who wants to know how to sew a Powerpuff girl costume in November? No one, right? So that post isn't gonna happen.

Instead, I'm just going to share a few photos from Halloween weekend.

As I've shared before, my teenage daughter has developed a passion and creative talent for photography this year. Over the weekend, I took her up to the reservation for some fall foliage photo opportunities. She brought along a friend which I should have known instantly changed my role in this trip from companion photographer to mere chauffeur. I drove them to the head of a trail that goes around a lake and we weren't even ten feet from the car and my daughter's asking, "You're not really going to go with us, are you?" I looked down at my camera hanging around my neck ... "Well, actually... " and before I said anything else, I realized that even though this was my idea to come up here together, it's not the mother-daughter outing that I thought it was going to be. So when we get to the part of the trail that goes around the lake... I went one way and daughter and her friend went the other way. :(

Here are some photos I took on my solitary walk around the lake...

I took the photo above from the end of the lake.  The lake is above that stone wall, the water level of which is low at this time of year, but during heavy rain and snow melt, the river would overflow at this point into the stream bed in which I'm standing to take this picture.

Most years, we try to make a family event out of driving to a farm, going on a hayride to the pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins, displaying them on our stoop for a week or so before carving them for Halloween. This year found us at the farm stand down the street ten minutes before closing time on the night before Halloween, picking a pumpkin from a selection of pumpkins laid out on wooden pallets. We didn't even get to carve it that night, but on Halloween afternoon. Talk about last minute! At least it was finished by nightfall.

Concentrating on pumpkin guts

Photo credit to my husband

Canon EOS 40 D

Li'l Monster Pumpkin

Photo credit to my husband

taken on his iPhone

I later escorted the Powerpuff girls--Buttercup, Blossom and Bubbles trick-or-treating. I barely got them to stand still for a picture as they were on an important mission... get as much candy as they could before they froze. It was a very chilly Halloween this year, but they managed to trick-or-treat for over two hours. ^_^

The Powerpuff girls... 

Buttercup, Blossom and Bubbles :)

Pretty Kitty   :)   

Photo credit to my husband
Canon EOS 40D

My eldest daughter left for trick or treating while I was out with the Powerpuff girls, so I didn't even get to see her before she went out. Fortunately, my husband snapped a photo of her with his phone before she left.

I guess two hours was the chill factor threshold for trick-or-treating this year, because my eldest and her friends lasted about the same amount of time before they called it quits, too.

I don't know how it is where you live, but in our area a lot of teens in high school still go trick-or-treating. When I was a kid, most of us stopped in middle school! I used to think that teenagers were too old to be trick or treating, but now I think it's kind of nice that they're still interested in having some wholesome fun. But I still expect to hear "Trick-or-Treat" and "Thank you" when they ring the doorbell!

How old were you when you stopped trick-or-treating? 


If you live somewhere other than the US, do kids trick-or-treat in your country?