Crazy Lady....

• "Memory is a crazy woman that hoards colored rags and throws away food."
  (Austin O'Malley, Keystones of Thought)

I found this quote somewhere and thought it was hysterical and terribly true all at the same time! My memory sure is like that! All the important stuff just flies out - all the crap stays put filling every nook and cranny, not leaving room for the stuff I really want or need to stay put there. Location of car keys, cell phones, purses, children (ok, not the kids ;p), my grocery list

I am certain that I have earned this button! I feel that as a public service, I should be required to wear it when out in public! Now, I must first clarify that I am not the talking to the invisible dragon sidekick kind of crazy, I'm the mom of 3 girls, 3 cats, 2 dogs and a hubby who knows how and when to stay out of my way kind of crazy! Your are not in any specific danger when interacting with me, nor am I a threat to the general public, but my sanity is certainly to be questioned!! Is this just part of the process? Was I forecasting the future when I chose the mom3crazygirls handle for myself over 8 years ago? Perhaps, but isn't a little crazy kinda fun sometimes? The big questions are still on the horizon: am I crazy enough to be an amusement to my kids as they reach puberty, or an embarrassment? I'm not sure which side I want to land on yet - both could be fun, what do you think?

to the pumpkin patch....

Little G's girl scout troop went to the pumpkin patch/corn maze/apple orchard the other day and I thought I'd post a few shot of that beautiful October day in the midwest!!

Little G looking for the perfect pumpkin

Little S on the hunt too - she gave up, her perfect pumpkin just wasn't there that day!

Bid S found her pumpkin but wasn't thrilled with having to lug it back through the apple orchard to the car!!  As one of the 2nd graders said - you picked it, you carry it, if it's too heavy, don't pick it!!  Words from the wise!

Just a little perspective of how tiny Little G is (on the right) her friend is NOT big for her age!!

Some pumpkins waiting for a home....

When good pumpkins go bad....

Sugar Skulls

So, are all of you familiar with the Mexican tradition of celebrating the Day of the Dead on November 1st?  Well,  we first became aware of the celebration because the Hispanic ministries at our parish hold a wonderful celebration and decoration the narthex every year.  Anyway, we are also big fans of the Indianapolis Arts Center (IAC) - all of us have taken classes here over the last several years including ceramics, pottery, photography, glass blowing...  So, the long and short of it is that IAC does this amazing Day of the Dead celebration that last most of the month of October and the first part of November every year!  The inside is decorated with all of these amazing alters and the grounds have shrines - all of which are made by artists and are absolutely amazing (once they're up, I'll post some pictures!)  Below is a modest (and small) example of some of the alters that are on display.

So, yesterday the girls and I went to IAC for the sugar skull making workshop.  We (and by we I mean me) messed up - thinking it was an open house workshop rather that a 3 hour workshop, we showed up late and missed the part of the workshop where you actually make the skulls, but we were still able to each decorate a skull, so here is the final product(s)...

 mine

 Big S and her sugar skull

 Little G and her sugar skull

 Little S and her sugar skull

It was a lot of fun.  They gave us some sugar skulls, brightly colored frosting and a baggie full of glitter, feather and other fun things to decorate our skulls.  It was a creative free-for-all and we had a blast!  We were the last ones to leave - we were having so much fun!  They gave us the receipe (but of course you have to have the molds to make the skulls in) so may be we'll be able to make them on our own one day.  Next year we'll know to get there for the start of the workshop so that we can make the skulls in addition to decorating them!!

my hang up

This may seem trivial to some of you, but to me, this is a real problem.  They do not seem to make junior sized hangers.  

 

What do I mean?  I mean that Big S's clothes are too big to go on the kids' hanger that I have - they slide right off -  but the adult-size hangers are still too big - they go to the elbows in her shirts and jackets!  I have a hard enough time trying to get her to keep her carpet visible, but if her clothes won't stay on the hangers, she sure isn't going to make the extra effort to put them back on after they fall off.  Are there any tweenie moms out there that have a solution I haven't thought of - desperate times call for desperate measure!  Put out the alert!!

finally met all the teachers!!!

So we finally had our last 'meet the teacher' night at school tonight! We have gotten very lucky this year with our teacher assignments! Little G had the teacher that Little S had last year, so we couldn't be happier with that assignment! Little S has 2 teachers who are job sharing the mornings are one teacher who specializes in language arts and the afternoons they have another teacher who is equally strong in other subjects! Big S has the teacher we hoped to get and so far we are very happy with her too! With this being our 6th year at this particular school - I really know a large percentage of the teachers and staff which really makes life so much easier for everyone involved! I will be sad next year when Big S moves up to the middle school and I have to start from scratch all over again, but I'm sure they are all just as nice as the ones we have now, plus a good friend of mine works at the middle school, so hopefully I can get the scoop from her!! Now that we have been in school exactly a week, it's time to get down to business! Backpacks packed and ready to go!!!

first day of school!!!!!!!

Today is the day that parents look forward all summer.... the first day of school!

The girls were all up and ready without any problems - the neighbors even razzed us for be at the bus stop early (mind you it's at the foot of our driveway, but we often have trouble making it out on time) actually, we were out 25 minutes early to take pictures and then the bus was late, so we spent quite a bit of time waiting today!  Hard to believe that big S is in 5th grade already - last night she said that she wanted to stay a little kid (welcome to the club honey) but this morning she was really psyched to be in the highest grade and already talking about going to middle school next year!  

 

Little S is in 3rd and little G is in 2nd, so they still have a few years left in elementary school!  

 

Our bus stop is huge - 9 kids this year and all the ones who aren't mine are boys - the girls find them to be SO ANNOYING!!!
 

What am I going to do with all this time on my hands?  Ha!  I had my 2nd cup of coffee, blogging (of course).  Then I have to deal with real life - groceries, cleaning, laundry....  I want to be a little kid again too!!

A coffee cup toast to all other moms who's kids are finally back to school - and a nod to those of you who still have a couple weeks left of summer vacation!!!