Kids R Kids Fall Festival

Today we took Cleo and Sidney to the Annual Kids R Kids Fall Festival.  Halloween costumes are optional but we learned from last year that both kids were sad when they saw other kids in costumes and ours were not.

Here is Cleo doing pin the nose on the pumpkin.

Here is Sidney doing a bag toss attempting to knock down a tower of plastic "cans."

Cleo reunited for the afternoon with her pal Zariyah.  Zariyah no longer attends Kids R Kids because she and her family moved but her mom, Ain, is still in touch with the administration there.

Cleo and Zariyah dancing cuties!

Cleo and Zariyah on the train.

Sidney and his pal Shane on the train.

Sidney showing off his goldfish. Shane has one too but did not want to hold it up.

Cleo getting her nails done.

Action shots of the kids dancing.

Cleo at the Bobbing For A Worm game.

Cleo has a heart painted onto her face. It looks like a cherry in this picture.  That is me holding Cleo's hair back so she doesn't get her braids in the whipped cream.

Ms. Sheree, the teacher manning the booth, said that Sidney was the only boy all day willing to play the game. He even ate the worm.  Cleo did not eat the worm.

Yes, that is a witch face painted onto Sidney's face. Shane got one so Sidney wanted one too.

Sidney enjoying a bite of his hot dog.  He ate the whole thing.  Cleo had two rolls of cotton candy for lunch - I forgot to get a picture.  She LOVES festival and stadium food.

The many expressions of Sidney Wynn.

Sidney sharing his hot dog with Roger.

Cleo won two goldfish and Sidney won one. Cleo named her white one Chloe and later changed the name to Goldie - at my dad's suggestion.  Cleo named her orange one Sally.  We temporarily named Sidney's "Hulk" because Sidney was napping when we got home from the Fall Festival.  The two orange ones have very distinct back fins. Cleo's fish's back fins stand very upright like a shark and Sidney's fish's back fins are shorter and not as upright. I was concerned that we would not be able to tell the two orange ones apart.  During the festival, Cleo would come up to me and ask me to check to see if the fish were still alive - the fish were in ziploc bags which I carried around in a tote bag I brought to the festival.

We put the fish in a vase and Cleo fed them a large pinch of goldfish food that we got at the Walgreen's near Kids R Kids.  I know they may die by the morning or soon thereafter and we warned Cleo about that. She said she understands. If these fish die, we will get some more from Pet Smart near our house. Cleo and I watched the fish for around an hour while Sidney napped. Now that the fish are home, he's not interested in them yet.  At the fair, Sidney wanted to carry his around (in the ziploc in water) and he kept trying to squish the fish. I kept telling him to leave his poor fish alone.

When Sidney got up from his nap he didn't want to name his.  I am sure he will be interested in them when it's his turn to feed them. The big pinch was too much fish food and the fish are still nibbling on it.  They seem quite lively. I hope they don't die.

During the kids' bath I noted aloud that I forgot to watch Blue Bloods last night.  I really like that show. Cleo thought I was talking about True Blood. (Regarding True Blood, she's fascinated by the fact that I watch a show that is only for adults.  This one show has come up in the past because I will share with them that I am excited that it's on.)  She asked what Blue Bloods is about and I told her police officers and attorneys.  She knows what police officers are.  But she asked what an attorney was.  I explained poorly that attorneys know laws and help other people learn about laws. She said that she is an attorney. I asked her why and she said because she knows laws and rules and helps others understand them.

We know it is true that Cleo knows school rules because she had an issue with two kids last month at school. She instructed a little girl not to share her lunch with a little boy. Cleo's view was that they were breaking the school rules but the boy's feelings were hurt. Cleo also delivered her point of view in a very bossy manner - waggling her finger and being somewhat aggressive.  The boy was very upset by it. Also, Cleo compounded it all by lying to her teacher and attempting to deny the whole thing. She admitted the truth and all was eventually fine but we talked a lot about it later with her (bossiness, truth telling, and treating others how she wants to be treated). We also explained that it is not her job to get everyone to follow the rules. If someone's rule breaking affects her then she needs to tell an adult. It is not her job to enforce the school rules.

Back to my original story.  So I attempt to explain that her knowledge of school rules does not make her an attorney. I tell her I went to school to become an attorney. Cleo says she goes to school and is an attorney.  Roger explains that an attorney is a grown-up job and that clears it up sufficiently for Cleo.

Tomorrow we are going food shopping and doing homework with Cleo.  I need to rehearse a presentation that I have to give to a visiting executive from Japan on Oct. 31.  I am working very hard not to be crazy nervous.  I have given similar presentations and the only way I can overcome my nerves is by knowing my presentation inside and out. I did a practice run on Friday for my boss and my college who I have been working with on the matter. It did not go smoothly but they both helped me work out some uneven parts of the presentation. My boss is super cool and patient.  He knows that the first time we do it that it's not always great.  He has seen in the past that I pull things together and do a good job.

I must share that I have discovered books on tape for my commutes to/from work and my occasional trip to Macon, GA and Dublin, GA for work. My company's subsidiaries have manufacturing facilities in those cities and I sometimes have to go to meetings there. Macon is 1.5 hours from our house and Dublin is 2 hours.  Listening to books on tape is so much more enjoyable than listening to music or the news!  The drives seem to go so much faster. I used to dread getting in the car and dealing with driving but now I look forward to it.  I borrow books on tape from the library and I also had some that Ahnya gave me years ago when she was working at Time Warner Books in NYC.

Oct. 29-30 I will be in Macon, GA. I will be visiting one of my company's subsidiaries for a two-day project.  Oct. 29 I will be staying at a Marriott Hotel.  I will drive down Monday and return Tuesday evening.  I am using a company car - a grey Buick Lucerne. Sidney keeps asking if he and Cleo can go in it. Maybe I will let them both climb in tomorrow - but not drive since we don't have carseats in it.

Have a great week!

Halloween Costumes!

Cleo and Sidney were so excited to put on their Halloween costumes today. Cleo is Spider Girl and Sidney is the Incredible Hulk.

Pumpkin Decorating

Cleo and Sidney decorated their pumpkins last weekend.  Roger finished Sidney's this week because it was more involved than Cleo's.

The completed Hulk Pumpkin!

The completed Princess Pumpkin!

Tofu and Hats

I fear I was a little chintzy on the pictures in my last post so I added some more to tide over the Cleo and Sidney fan club members.  Here is Cleo helping me with making our baked tofu.  The tofu is from Trader Joe's and it's a little too firm for my taste. I will stick with the store brand at Whole Foods.

She is standing on a little stool in case you noticed how high she appears compared to the counter.

Here are pics of Sidney in his new bobby hat playing ball with Roger.  Cleo is in the background dutifully working on her homework. She and I got a lot of homework done today so that she will have a little more time during the week to relax after school.

Here is a silly picture of Sidney in Roger's Thor wig and a St. Patrick's Day hat. We did not buy the hat.  That is me on the left holding Cleo's pink cowgirl hat. I will snap a picture of her this week in it and post it this weekend.  We didn't have her wear it because we didn't want her braids to get messed up.

Have a good week!

Candy and Pumpkins

This week Cleo has been fighting off a virus. She's not too symptomatic, just a fever and lethargy. She's overall very cheerful and her normal self. It started on Tuesday, Oct. 16.  We started giving her children's liquid bubblegum flavored ibuprofen.  She was not doing so well on Thursday and she missed her school's big kindergarten trip to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, TN. She was very disappointed and we promised her we would take her and Sidney.  Cleo was at school on Friday.

Chattanooga is also home to a famous train museum so it could be a nice family trip to take in the near future. There are decent priced packages indicated on the Aquarium's website.  Friday around 6pm, her temperature rose above 103 degrees so I called the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta nurse's hotline. We have called there over the years when the kids are sick and we are not sure if we need to take them to the hospital, local urgent care center or we can wait to make a sick child appointment at the kids' pediatrician's office.  The nurse we spoke to said that based on Cleo's symptoms she had a virus that had to run its course.  She's been okay today but when I put her down for a nap, her forehead felt warm. We will see how she feels when she gets up from her nap.

Cleo's teacher wants all of the kids to get their own library card.  We went to the library yesterday after art and acting class but when we got there we learned that from Oct. 19 - 27 the computer system is being updated and the libraries cannot issue new library cards. We finally found the time to get her to the library and this is the one week that cards cannot be issued!  Agh.  I had reserved a Sandra Boynton book and we picked that up. Sandra Boynton is best known for writing & illustrating silly books with hippos, rhinos, cows, and other animals as the central characters. I also picked up Fifty Shades Darker by EL James. The writing is so terrible but I am so curious about how the book series will end.  Also, since the series is fan fiction loosely based on the Twilight series, I like trying to make the connections between the two trilogies.

After the library, we took Sidney and Cleo to McDonald's. Part of Cleo's disappointment about missing the trip to TN on Thursday was that all of the kids were going to have lunch at McDonald's. So we told Cleo that we would take her on Saturday since she missed it on Thursday.

Sidney had half a cheeseburger and Cleo ate all of her chicken McNuggets.

I was having some technical difficulty last week and was unable to upload the below two pictures of the cupcake ATM at one of the cupcake stores I went to in Chicago during my cupcake tour:

On an episode of Two Broke Girls, the two main characters encounter this type of ATM in the lobby of a building in NYC.  I thought it was farfetched when I saw the show but a week later I encountered one on my own.

Today we took the kids to a Halloween auction liquidation store. Roger's looking for pieces to his Thor costume.  I have my Wonder Woman costume. Roger reminded me I need cuffs. I forgot that Wonder Woman used the cuffs to fend off bullets. So, this week I will check a Beauty Master type store. They should have gold cuffs for $1 each.  The Halloween store did not have much that met Roger's needs but we got Cleo a pink cowgirl hat - she has needed one in the past, a straw hula skirt - you never know when her school may have Hawaii day, and some costume jewelry.  We got Sidney a blue bobby hat (a British police officer).  Sidney selected the hat. We also got a short black wig for Sidney's school pumpkin.  Roger is going to design him a Hulk pumpkin.

After the Halloween store we went to Trader Joe's and got organic chicken wings, freeze dried raspberries - you know the essentials. :-) The raspberries were a request by Cleo; both Cleo and Sidney had some with their lunch (BLT chips and pb&j for Sidney, BBQ chips & pb&j for Cleo) and they liked them.  I got a 99 cent organic avocado at Trader Joe's because the regular one was $1.19.  It's crazy that some things are cheaper there than at Walmart. The thing about Walmart is that their avocados may be 98 cents but they're super tiny so per ounce the avocados are pricier there.

After Trader Joe's we went to Walmart. We got candy for trick or treaters but I fear it's not enough. I will have to buy a few more bags. Roger says we have enough but I like to be sure we have enough. We never have a lot left over. We always get a lot of trick or treaters.  Sidney selected a new green jack o lantern candy collector for Halloween. Cleo is going to use her Disney Princess one that she's used for the past 2 years. We looked for an Avengers one for Sidney but were not successful.

We got two big pumpkins for our porch steps. We also got the kids a smaller pumpkin to decorate and keep in the house.   Roger will help Sidney decorate his and Cleo can decorate hers with this princess pumpkin decorating set we got her a few years ago.

The kids are napping now.  When they get up Cleo has to do some homework.  Sidney will load his plastic sharks onto the hopper cars of his trains and entertain himself for a while with that. We will hopefully have an early dinner and put the kids to bed by 8pm.

Last night, Roger and I had dinner with Kevin and Keisha Duck. They have a son, Bryce, who is 5 and two twin girls who are 3 years old. Their names are Olivia and Lauren. We ate at Cinco, Mexican food with an attitude is their claim to fame. The food was okay. The margarita I had was good. The freshly made guacamole was really good. I forgot to have Ms. Angie, the kids' babysitter, take a picture of us.  We will be going out again on Nov. 10 for Keisha's 40th birthday. I will be sure to have picture taken of me and Roger.  Ms. Angie braided Cleo's hair and it looks really pretty.  She loves having it braided. This morning at breakfast Cleo informed me that I am really lucky because now I don't have to do her hair. She's funny.

Cleo's two bottom front teeth are loose. The one on the left is a lot looser. She has to avoid using it to bite. She's very excited.

Sidney knows all of the continents and can sing the lyrics to "America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)."  He sings a little song with the continents. He's been singing it for some time and always left out Australia. We didn't realize he omitted Australia until one week he added it. One day he was doing a theatrical rendition of "America" and ran over to Roger to sing the "land where my father died" and gestured at Roger.  Pretty funny.