Happy Halloween

When we woke up this morning, we didn't know how we were going to wear Allison out so that she would have an early nap (so that we could go to Brookside for Halloween). We decided that it was better late than never to carve our pumpkin, so I gutted it, then my mom put the face on. Allison was hesitant to touch the orange goo and had to be coaxed to participate.

 

 

 

 I roasted the pumpkin seeds (something I haven't done in decades) and they were amazing! There were so many delicious recipes online for different flavors but I just used a little bit of salt and olive oil for mine.

In January I found a really cute jacket at a thrift store for $3. It was a little big but as soon as I saw it I was inspired for a Halloween costume. It sat in my miscellaneous craft bin until August when I pulled it out and started to build the rest of my outfit.

I found a green floor length skirt for $2 and cut it at the calf (and trimmed it down from a size 16) and used the excess material to make a garrison cap. I found two identical tan shirts at the last big thrift sale I went to, so I bought both, wore one shirt, and made a matching tie with the other. I bought the belt at a garage sale for 50 cents, and I found the leather gloves at the church rummage sale I went to a couple weeks back. I added a war medal style pin that my mom had and my poppy, and I was set!

Once I knew what I wanted to be, it was easy to pick a costume for Allison. When I was a teenager, my mom helped to organize an event at the local hospital to honor the nurses of the past. It was a dedication party for a Nurses Garden. I was only 15 but I was recruited to wear one of the old nurses uniforms (there were three of us in different period looks) and walk around the party. My outfit was very similar to the one I made for Allison. I remember one of the nurses at the party coming up to me and saying that when she needed to study or didn't know much about a procedure, she would hide her notes it the space between her apron and her dress so the doctor couldn't see it. 

 

 For Allison's costume, I used 3 yards of blue broadcloth, 2 yards of white, and felt for the dress, apron and cap (the cap is attached to a headband to make it easier to wear). I used an old navy pillowcase for the cap, then lined it with felt. I made the costume a size too big so that she could wear her sweats/pajamas underneath it.

Nathan was home today (the last three years, Halloween has been during the week and Nathan didn't have the time off) so we were all able to head to the church at 2:30pm to meet up with our friends and prepare to walk around Brookside.

 April's daughter, Greer, was a peacock, and when April told me that she was having a hard time finding inexpensive feathers, I called my Dad. He rents a farm that has peacocks and I asked if he could get some for April. My mom brought them down in her suitcase and it really set Greer apart. Her costume was gorgeous!

 

 

  The Brookside trick or treat is where kids from the surrounding neighborhoods, come to walk through the small shops and get candy from local shopkeepers who stand outside their stores. Allison has never paid much attention to the process of trick or treating before, and I didn't know how she would do, but after she watch Griffin and Levi do it a few times, a light went on. She was so brave and confident. She nearly filled her entire pail with sweet treats. Thankfully the weather was mild an dry so we weren't as cold as we were last year.

Maybe next year we'll convince Nathan to join our costume group! I've already started thinking of a few ideas!

 

Oh Allison!

Allison is always a handful. She is a tornado of trouble and activity. So I am happy to announce that next week she will start preschool! She will go to school one day a week and I cannot wait!

I think she will love it. She has changed so much in the two weeks since my mom has been here. There were three days (last Sunday-Tuesday) where she grew up. We could see it and hear it. She is talking so much more. In fact, up until last Sunday, she couldn't/wouldn't say two words together, and now she just chats away.

We had a cool snap this week (temperatures were in the low teens) and we decided it was time to turn on the heat. We tried, but nothing happened. We had the same issue last year so we talked to our landlord and she was quick to reply that someone would come out today. It was freezing in the house! But we bundled up and it really wasn't so bad - Allison wasn't cold at all, in fact she took off all her clothes (twice) during her nap.

The repair man showed up at 4:30pm and took a look at the furnace. "Seems like the there is no air flow into the furnace" he said. He couldn't see anything wrong inside so he went to the side of the house to check the pipe.

"I think this is the problem," he said, as he tipped the pipe over and little white pebbles, the same pebbles that line the house around the heating and air conditioner units fell out.

Allison loves to play on that side of the house and she has been sneaking rocks into the tube for who knows how long but it was FULL. The repair guy was out the door less than 15 minutes after he arrived so hopefully the cost won't be too high - we'll just add it to Allison's bill.

I managed to snap this pic just as the rain was moving in today! Go Royals!

Pasta

For dinner tonight, I wanted to make fettuccine Alfredo, but I realized half way through food prep that I didn't have the proper pasta. I got out my pasta maker (that I bought so that I could roll easy pierogi dough) and added the pasta attachment for slicing.

The dough fluffs up when it cooks so I should have made it a little thinner (or just paid the 89 cents for a box of it like a normal human being) but it was a fun last minute option.

My mom is helping to run a fundraising event at the hospital she works at in St. Thomas and the event is a 1920's/Gatsby style evening. I offered to make headbands for my mom to sell at the event (I donated my time to make them). They were very time consuming. I had to sew the tulle flowers, arrange the feathers, find the gems or beads, than put it all together....and then attach a clip so that the decoration could attach to the headband...and then I had to cut and connect the bands. My mom asked for 25 in September and I've been working on them most days. I pushed to get them all done before she arrived, but when she arrived, she told me that the planners had upped the request to 50. My mom watch Allison while I worked and although it has been a bit of a time crunch, we got it done.

And after some creative packing, they will make it home safe on Sunday.

Zoo Fun

My friend, April, has a Zoo pass and I'm lucky that she often invites Allison and I to share it with her. The pass is for two adults and several kids, but since her husband works full time, I've been to the zoo a half dozen times at her invitation.

Last night she called to see if my mom and I wanted to go to the zoo. Even though April had an engagement for the day, she came and got us in (so only one of us had to pay). There are wooden cutouts all over the zoo and Allison needed to put her head in EVERY one.

The morning was very cool but we stuck it out until the afternoon sun came out. Several animals decided it was too cold to show themselves, but we had a great time walking around the grounds.

Allison decided an hour into our four hour trip that she didn't want to walk. I carried her nearly the entire time but at least it kept her moving at a good pace.

After a long morning at the zoo, then a long nap at home, my mom and I went to Ikea to wander (since Nathan had a work function). Allison and I watched Cinderella and played cars in the kid zone while my mom browsed. She also loved playing pretend in all the kitchens and she made herself at home in most of the living rooms.

Branson, MO

My mom mentioned last week that she's always wanted to see what Branson is about. She's had friends go and say it was fun so I suggested we go. Nathan had the weekend off so that he could watch Allison and we could have a mother/daughter adventure. My  mom and I have never been on a trip before so we were really excited.

We left after dinner on Friday night. I got a call from Nathan two hours into our trip that I had forgotten my insulin. I was so upset with myself! I told Nathan that I would just buy some at the Walmart in Branson but he said he was already on his way to meet us. We met at the Sugar Foot BBQ stand in Osceola. Allison was asleep in the backseat and he had game 6 on the radio. It was a very romantic and generous gesture.

After I quit beating myself up over my mistake and once I recovered after we were nearly run off the road by a truck carrying an ATV on a trailer (that he clearly didn't account for in his merge into my lane) we were back on the road. We made it to the Days Inn just after 11pm.

After an uninterrupted night's rest, we headed to the lobby for breakfast. We were the youngest people by 20 years - and I'm accounting for my mom's age - not mine! One man was wearing jeans (with a belt) and neon orange suspenders. He was getting some comments from the other diners when his wife said, "Laugh all you want! It'll be easy to spot him in a crowd at Silver Dollar City!"

We didn't have any plans for the day so we decided to explore. My mom was surprised to see that it is very touristy and that you have to drive everywhere. It's not a quaint little town where you can explore one of a kind shops. It's wax museums, outlet malls, souvenir shops, and shows. We didn't want to spend money at any of the shops so we decided to explore the area. The town is so small and to help tourists, the four main roads are coded with colors (red, blue, yellow, and green). So if you know your hotel is on the red street, you just follow the red signs. It's really easy to get around but with one lane traffic in each direction - you can quickly get caught up in bumper to bumper traffic.

 We decided to head off the main drag and stopped when we saw a sign for a fish hatchery. We have a hatchery close to our house but this one was huge. We were hesitate to join a group and sit for a introductory video, but it was great and ended up being one of the highlights of our trip!

 

When we were leaving, we noticed quite a few trucks pulling into a parking lot beside the hatchery. We decided to check it out and found a group of fly fishers. We went down to the river and watched them fish. It was relaxing.

 

 

After our outdoor tour, we were driving back towards the strip when we saw a sign that read Spring Hill Winery free tours! We stopped in and immediately started a tour. The location was a satellite store (the main winery is elsewhere) but we had a great tour that involved a video, watching a bottling demonstration, and of course - tasting! We sampled 12 different wines with our tour group. It was fun to try wines right after each other because I finally understood some of the differences.

 After our tour we went to the Olive Garden for lunch. After a delicious meal we cruised the strip then headed to the outlet mall.

The mall was had about 50 stores and it was packed with people (there really isn't much to do in Branson). I bought a couple of pairs of boots, and my mom bought a toy for each grand-kid, but we weren't in a shopping mood so we headed back to our hotel to rest and get ready for the show we had booked.

We went through all the shows and decided that we would go on the Branson Belle. It's a two hour cruise on the lake with dinner and a show for $60 per person. Most shows are at least $50 so we thought that for food and entertainment, this was a great deal.

 

We arrived at the dock an hour and a half before we set sail, but the boat took an hour to load the 550+ people that it was carrying. We wandered the gift shops (we had assigned seats on the boat) until the line ended. While the boat was loading, the sun began to set. It was gorgeous!

Once we got on the boat, we had a three course meal while 5 musicians played classic songs. There was a comedian/magician who acted as the M.C. for the night and he was cheesy but very entertaining.

After the three course meal and a short intermission where we could go out on the deck, we watched a variety show that included a boy band, cloggers, and a female singer. The groups each performed three numbers and alternated after each number. The numbers were medleys like: Disney songs, Motown, the Beatles, and famous movie songs. At the end there was a big gospel/ we love America number that was very patriotic.

We got back to our hotel at 11pm and crashed after a long day.

On Sunday morning we realized we had already seen most of Branson, so we spent some time at Walmart and Kmart on the strip (because the traffic to get out of town was backed up for miles) until the road was clear and then we headed home.

We arrived home at 5:30pm to see Nathan and Allison. It was a sweet reunion.