Last week I went to the park and wondered where all the girls were.  This week we went to the park and found nobody there.  Yes, it was windy and yes, it was only 50 degrees.  We’re not in Buffalo, but it’s been 30ish the past few days so it was good to get out.  My older three had classes at the rec center so I took the younger two to the park nearby to pass the time.

It worked out very well.  I am not usually the first to go outside in cold or wet weather.  But, it wasn’t too terrible even for me.  The boys did some running and climbing without worrying about bigger kids.  And, neither of them noticed the swings which sat still and empty.  We got in a good 40 minutes of outdoor play before returning to pick up their brothers.

Last Tuesday was election day – no school.  And, the weather was gorgeous.  We got our first snowflakes just after Halloween this year so seasonal weather was a welcome change.  I took all the boys to the park mid-morning.  It was busy, but among the 30ish kids I counted I think 3 were girls, who all seemed to be having a blast.  I know I used to like going to the park as a child.  Admittedly, I was only somewhat surprised as there are often more boys than girls at the park.

The park itself was a welcome change for my guys.  The ground was still quite wet from the rain and associated snow so we had some muddy shoes, pants, and sweatshirts afterwards.  And, we didn’t see anyone we knew.  But, nobody escaped (this park has no fence), everybody had fun, and we burned off a lot of energy.

As my kids are getting bigger I obviously need to feed them more.  Initially this moved us from cooking for two to cooking for the equivalent of four, which is great for many recipes.  However, now we’ve moved to needing food for the equivalent of 5-6 adults, depending on the meal.  So, the current issue I’m struggling with is whether I should make more of the one thing or add more foods to the meal.  I’ve done a bit of both so far.  We’ve doubled the chili recipe – everyone likes it and it makes fine leftovers.  We’re also happy to eat leftover chicken pot pie, but not everyone is as thrilled with this dish.  So, even though it’s a one pot meal, I’ve started to add green sides which appeal to those who’d prefer not to eat pot pie.  I go back and forth.  Making more things is definitely more complicated.  But, variety is nice and it helps to offer something for everyone.

We were remarkably quick getting everyone into their costumes this year.  But, the picture was sadly elusive.  Here is one of the better attempts!  The best few only had four of five in the picture, let alone looking the right way.

As we were leaving preschool last week my preschooler says, “My teacher’s driving away!”  “Yes.  She’s going home”, I said.  “But teachers don’t have homes!”

It’s still a wonder what goes on in their heads, even by the nth child.  He thought they just slept in the building and I think he’s still a bit perturbed that they might have a kitchen/yard/etc that’s not at school.  I’m told this is quite a common misconception, but its still amazing to see/hear things for the first time.

I’m not one who goes all out for Halloween.  But, I do think there are a few things all kids want – a costume, candy, and something to put their loot in.  Mine also care that we do something to decorate our house.  Since I’m not big on decorating in general (there is no Pinterest here), we stick to pumpkins and a few decorations we’ve bought (and kept) over the years.

I’ll talk more about costumes (with pictures) next week.  But today I thought I’d touch briefly on the other Halloween elements.  Namely, I thank Target for their orange pumpkin buckets.  They have other options/colors, but orange pumpkins are what my kids want and they are durable enough that I can keep them year to year (which I do) while cheap enough that I can replace them as needed.  And, the best part is that they never seem to change so as we’ve added more kids/pumpkins there’s little “mine” when they emerge from the closet since they all look the same.  I’m also glad the dollar store has $1 packs of glow sticks/bracelets/necklaces/etc.  At that price I can get one for each kid for when they stray from the flashlight.  And, they stop working promptly that night so there’s no need to save them.

Next year I do need to add a charm or such to each pumpkin so we can keep track of whose candy is whose.  I used to just keep them lined up at their spot on the table.  Amazingly it wasn’t touched.  But, my preschooler has figured out how to eat candy when nobody’s watching so I need a new system.  This year I put a note in each one, but that’s a little hard to deal with.

Considering we’ve had two Halloween storms in recent years (with the resulting school cancellations), we’ve had just incredible weather this week.  This gave us a great opportunity to get out and carve our pumpkins.

This was the first year I wasn’t required to do the whole thing.  I cut the top and did most of the scraping.  But, I got some scraping help, and lots of guts removal help.  Plus, two carved their own pumpkins.  The third I had to carve, but he drew the design.

(I think they look oddly similar.)

The fifth boy does get a lot of hand me downs.  But, here is an outfit that’s all his.  (By kid 5, not all the clothes are salvageable.  He was short pants and fun shirts.)  The shoes are fairly new, but the shirt and pants had the tags off this morning.  How?  Well, all my kids get new everyday shoes.  The pants were an add-on to an order for the older ones.  They were on sale and equaled the shipping that I would have otherwise had to pay.  Better to have new pants.  The shirt was more of a splurge as I went to Old Navy to pick up shirts for my older one, saw this, and bought it.  All were on sale, but I did buy three shirts instead of two.