Scene of the Crime

Cora Madison Emonts has not yet come to a full understanding of the rules of the house. She feels that any activities which are permissible outdoors must also be allowed indoors.

Example One
At Oma's house the number one activity is fishing. Fishing consists of tossing floating objects into Oma's pond and fishing them out with sticks or other items found in the proximity. At home, Cora seems to feel that this activity is easily duplicated by putting one's arms into the aquarium and tossing things inside. She often ends up quite wet this way.

Example Two
Digging in the sandbox is so much fun. Why not also dig in the potted plant in the living room? Below you can see a picture of the crime and the perpetrator. Gillian did not notice this event taking place until one side of the room and Cora were covered in potting soil.


The Crime


The Perpetrator
doesn't she just look guilty

Halloween

Halloween night has never been so much fun!!

The kids were all dressed up and ready to go at 6:30, just like we planned. They were all excited about getting their costumes on, which is a new thing for us. We usually have one or two that don't have any desire to get into their costumes.

Cora was great fun to watch. She quickly figured out trick or treat and her cute little 'thanks' as she walked off was sweet. She often trailed behind the other two and began to walk of with them before receiving her candy. One home on our street received a long visit from Cora, as she walked straight inside to see the dog in the next room. Luckily, the couple who lived there found her adorable. Most of the people we saw seemed to be in agreement.

Liam was really freaked out by the scary sounds playing outside one of the houses. He talked about it the rest of the evening. Gillian was very brave and walked through a scary maze with me, that luckily the teenage boys didn't jump out at her and scare her. I was quite thankful for their charity.

We trick or treated together for and hour and a half and I think the parents were more tired than the kids. At the end Cora couldn't hardly hold her pumpkin anymore, but she wasn't about to let go either. At the last house she couldn't raise it up for the candy to be put inside. It was so sweet. She also started chit chatting with people towards the end, like she thought it was more important to socialize. This saying only trick or treat thing just wasn't cutting it.

They all got to eat a few pieces when we got home and didn't make it into bed until 9:30, at which time they were angels and didn't complain one bit about it being time for bed.

Morning Sunshine

Cora was so precious this morning when she woke up, 9:30am. She could smell the waffles that Patrick was so sweet to make me for breakfast. She calls them wapulls as I'm not sure she's mastered the f sound completely. She's such a joy to us and so readily embraces everything. Just a few minutes ago she was out trying to catch honeybees. She has no fear.



We've discovered that she really enjoys being home alone. She almost seems to do better without any siblings around. She seems to play longer and more imaginatively. She's our sweet ray of sunshine! My favorite part of the day are my morning cuddles with Cora. And she's such a cuddle bug.

Live and Learn

I am nervous even to type these words. I'm scared to make the committment of doing this again. I fear to fail. I want to use this blog as an outlet for me. I look around and see so many well written blogs and feel the competitive drive in myself gear up and then I want to quit. I do not know why I would rather not try then try and fail, but that's honest. That's me. That's where I am. I can acknowledge that and I can go from there.

So here's to posting about our life through a blog for personal history purposes. My goal is to make a small update every day for one week.

Peter Pan Returns

I have always wanted to do a group theme Halloween and never have gotten to do so. This year, about two weeks ago I had an idea that we could do Peter Pan. We all love the story and it's got enough characters that we could make it work.

I had to sell it to my picky 4 year old and the 7 year old who had said she wanted to be a witch. At first the 4 year old resisted and then he embraced it. Now he just wants to know where his costume is.

So, I've never made costumes before and now I have several to make in only a month. Eek!

We're going as:

DH: Captain Hook
Me: Wendy
DD: Tigerlily
DS: Peter Pan
DD: Tinkerbell (bought)

So now I have four costumes to make and another one that needs a little embellishment. I figured at $25 that I could use the less stress of one bought costume. Hers was the only one readily available in stores.

Captain Hook's costume will be based on a discontinued pattern:




Wendy's will be based on a McCall's pattern 4948 that I scored for $.99 yesterday and I'm thinking that the bottom of the dress is too full. I'm not sure if I should modify it or not. I can't see the worth in using that much fabric to do this costume.




I'm going for Disney's Wendy. Here's a picture that someone else took at Disneyland Paris, I think.




Question: Is this pattern going to look like Wendy even though it is somewhat different? Does it matter?


For Tigerlily I bought some microsuede yesterday for half price that will be embellished with some native indian looking ribbon. I went ahead and purchased the simple McCall's pattern for a basis. I like the triangle bottom look I've seen on some pre-made costumes and I like it longer like a dress. Probably with something tied around the waist to give it shape and form.




My son's Peter Pan costume will be based on Disneyland cast picture above. I'm trying to decide how to do it. He's picking about fabrics so I wanted something soft, which seems to also mean expensive. So I bought a misses t-shirt from Goodwill yesterday, v-neck and green and I'm hoping that we can modify it to be his shirt. I'm not really sure how to do it, as I'm a complete novice, but hopefully my mil can help me make all my dreams come true.

I think he will be wearing pants and not tights, as I do not think my picky little 4yo will agree to wear them. He has a thing for clothing be done the "right" way. I'm pretty sure he will not agree that tights are something that little boys wear.

Tinkerbell I bought, she just needs a little bit of wire for her wings so they'll stand up and I'm hoping to cover a pair of her shoes with lime green fabric or something. Maybe a fluffy ball for the end of her shoes.

"I am a Turkey" ??

I found this while putting away laundry this morning and it really made me laugh. This was Monday nights art project and I'm curious if it was Gillian or Samantha who added the 'a'. At any rate it's a beautiful turkey. The back is fun to read as well. I might scan it too.

I love Jane Austen!

I have always been such a fan of Jane Austen. I remember the first lengthy report I got to do on an author and book of my choice was on Pride & Prejudice. I love that book. I've read it many times. So, when I saw this quiz, I just had to take it. I was pleasingly surprised at the result. For those who know me you'll be amused as well.



Take the Quiz here!

You are Marianne Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are impulsive, romantic, impatient, and perhaps a little to vocal in your honesty. You enjoy romantic poetry and novels, and play the pianoforte beautifully. To boot, your singing voice is captivating. You feel deeply, and love passionately.

What a day!

My rose decided to have one last bloom before it gets cold. It is the most beautiful it has looked since I planted it this summer. It never had this many blooms all at once until now. I think I'll be in for quite a treat next summer. The pity is that they really fade fast. The blooms on the left of the plant really only opened yesterday. By tomorrow they will have lost all of their petals, but they sure are gorgeous while they're there.



Yesterday I spent my birthday gift card to IKEA on a new sideboard for my dining room. It was tough to choose something from there. It's where I do all of my furniture dream building. In the end the number of drawers on this bad boy won me over. Nine new drawers have now been added to my kitchen! I'm so excited!! Now my table linens, trivets, and other goodies for setting the table and serving will have real homes. And that nasty free shelf will be gone from my dining room.

The only thing left to do is to put up chair rails, paint, and change the chandelier out. Oh, and move the larger table over. It'll be splendiferous!

Patrick and I spent almost all day getting this put together. Neither one of us realized the amount of work that would be needed to finish. I think I counted 14 different things that had to be done to each of those nine drawers before they were completed. The drawers alone made us rethink our policy on having someone else assemble our furniture.



Last, but definitely not least ... The best behaved children in the world! I'm biased, I know. They were all so wonderful today! And Oma told us that last night not a single one of them complained about going to bed. They were all even more delicious today than usual, listening, cooperating, cuddling. I don't think we could have gotten through the six hours of labor on that shelf without these three to keep us smiling. Thank you Gillian, Liam, and Cora for making each day so very special. It's an honor being your parents.