Not the Answer He Expected

M and I were visiting with one of her MD's yesterday and he asked her, "Is it ever hard for you to concentrate and pay attention in class?" She replied,

"Only if we're talking about something boring like the electoral college. I mean, who cares about the electoral college?! But, if it's something interesting like a really smart person who invented something, then I can pay attention just fine."

Yeah, not exactly what you anticipate from a 9 yr old...

"It's Halloween!"

This one's for you, Gramma!



"Oooooooo
It's Halloween!
Ghosts and goblins can be seen
It's Halloween!

It's scary, it's frightful, it's oh so delightful
It's Halloween!
Time for costumes and trick or treat
Witches and fairies roam the street

Ooooooooooo
Halloween!"

Just for the record, they make these up all by themselves, and usually in about 5 minutes. ;)

"Prettiest" Award!

E came bursting off the school bus (in the POURING rain) this afternoon with a black cauldron-like bucket, "I won! I won! I'm the prettiest cake!"



Yep, her dreams came true and she won "Prettiest Cake" at the school's cake decorating contest held last Friday. All the winners' names were even read aloud over the intercom for the whole entire school to hear! WooHoo!



As if that weren't excitement enough, she was awarded the aforementioned plastic bucket filled with apples and carmels. Apparently, she started out with 5 apples, but made it home with 2 because "everybody in my class wanted my prize so I just gave some people some apples."

Doncha love kindergarten?!

Country Sisters - Take One

Country Sisters - Take Two

You know we aim to please, so Sonnet, this "country" duet is for you! They did one take yesterday, but the sunlight was too bright, which was too bad 'cause I totally dig E's moves in that one. I will post it anyway. They shot another take tonight, and you can see 'em better, but they weren't as into it. Well, put them together in your mind, ok?!

"We're just two little sisters singin'

Hey, diddle day, Hey diddle day

Momma's in the kitchen singin'

Hey, diddle day, hey diddle day

Doggy is a runnin' and he's sniffin' at the

Hay diddle day, diddle day

We're stickin' together like paper and glue

Diddle day, diddle day

Now we're just ridin' home singin

Hey diddle day, hey diddle day, hey diddle day..."

Happy Times Farm

Two great events coincided today: great weather and a Saturday with Daddy at home! What better way to celebrate than by going to a pumpkin patch, right?!

There are many to choose from in our area, but our neighbor works at one and gave us a discount coupon, so of course, we decided that "Happy Times Farm" was the place for us.

(I have to digress a minute here, though. Many of you are familiar with Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series of books, right? It's set in South Africa, and all the businesses seem to have names that describe what the owners hope you'll think about their services/store. Well, this particular "farm" was run by people obviously from Africa who don't really farm the land, but just make it into an October fundraiser. Their accents and personalities were charming, but it really reminded me of those books, as it was called, "Happy Times Farm!")

We've only done kid corn mazes before, and I think it will be awhile before any of us wants to do a "real" one again. It was fun at first, but after 30 (or more) minutes of muddy tromping around, and being able to see the road, but not get to it, we got a little antsy to get out. I already know that I don't like Haunted Houses, and today, I learned that I really don't enjoy corn mazes. I much prefer knowing where I am. I even said, "No one saw us go in here...how do they know when everybody's out?!" Let it be noted that I, as directionally challenged as I am, was the one who eventually got us out of there. A determined mother can do anything, right?!

The girls had some fun sledding down the dirt hill and playing on the swingset. The "petting zoo" wasn't much; just animals in a pen that you couldn't really reach. The advertised ferris wheel wasn't there; someone said it had broken. The brochure and the website really made it sound amazing: but, really, it was a little under-whelming.

Oh well. At least it was sunny and we got to tromp in the mud together! Yahoo!

Next week, we'll go to the grocery store and buy a pumpkin...

They Take The Cake

The girls' school held a Fall Festival on Friday night and had a cake decorating contest as a means to drum up some cakes for the cake walk. Of course, my little bakers (oh wait, I forgot...M kept correcting me, saying they were 'pastry chefs!') were inspired and motivated to participate.

E is hoping that she won the "Prettiest" category for her "Halloween Barbie" creation, while M is hoping that her "Alien Doggy" got some sort of nod for "Most Creative" or "Funniest."

I baked the cakes in the same sized Pyrex bowl - it's such a reflection of their personalities how they took the same shape and decorated it so differently!