Halloween 2019

We just love Halloween around here.  Serafina came up with her costume idea a while ago and she had fun bringing it to life.  She started with a black unitard that she sprayed with glitter paint.  We found the space fabric at the fabric store.  She created the headband with foam balls.  And the end result is....Galaxy Girl! 

 The principal took this picture when we got to school in the morning.

 She was so happy at school.  Check out the chicken in the background.

 Here's her class in the school parade.  Her ability to ignore me is impressive.

 This is a mysterious second grader.  I was so intrigued by his costume.  Is he a robot? A box monster? Recycling man?  I don't know but I like it.

Here's Leo dressed for school.  He's wearing my prison scrubs from Halloween 2015. 

For Halloween night, he transformed into Chucky from the Child's Play movie.  

 Specifically he was the Chucky from the Bride of Chucky movie.

And sweet little Halle was Bride of Chucky.  When we were discussing costumes many weeks ago, my friend Lizzy mentioned Halle wanted to be "scary" for Halloween so they were dressing her up as Bride of Chucky.  I told Leo and he asked if he could be Chucky.  We were all for it.  And Halle's dad was pretty relieved because I think he would have had to take on the role of Chucky if Leo hadn't stepped up.  

 Serafina looked great again.

 Here's my costume.  It was a reference to a scene in the movie Mean Girls.  All the preteens and teens understood my costume.  The kids and parents...not so much.

Leo and Sofia in their movie costumes.  Sofia's dad wore her suit on Saturday night.  

 Serafina and Sunny.

 Some of the girls.

 Halle checking out Giraffe Navid.

 Leo headed out with three 7th grade girls and their phones.  The high schoolers disappeared.  And these were all the kids left before they headed out trick-or-treating.

 Here are a couple of pictures from Saturday night taken with Pete's fancy camera.

Jack-o-lanterns

Pumpkin carving happened almost completely without adult help!  It was a pretty wonderful thing. 

Here's Leo hard at work.  

 Serafina creating her design.

 End results.  Serafina's on the left, Leo's on the right.

 And night time.

There is quite a bit of strings and seeds left in these pumpkins.  We'll see if they actually make it to Halloween before starting to rot.

Halloween Creepy Crawl 2019

Last night we held our annual Halloween Creepy Crawl. This is a PTA fundraiser that raises money by selling tickets to the party.  We used to do it as a St. Patrick's Day pub crawl but that time of year wasn't convenient and Irish food isn't very enjoyable to make or eat.  

This year Tom and I decided to do a couple's costume, which turned out to be the trend of the evening.  Here I am as Mother Nature.  

I even had a veil with butterflies left over from Serafina's birthday cake. 

 Tom was Father Time.

 Not everyone got it.  They thought Tom was a wizard or a garden gnome and I was some kind of tropical fairy.

 We were the second stop on the crawl and it was pretty easy because we picked up food from a local Indian restaurant and Tom had the cocktail ready to go.

Here's some costume and party pictures...
Kristi and Ricky as Scoops Ahoy employees - Robin and Steve - from the recent season of Stranger Things.

 Kari and Rob as Kelly McGills and Tom Cruise in Top Gun.  We sang "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" for Kari later in the evening.

 Jen and Joel as Where's Waldo?

 Party scene at Lizzy's house (the third stop).

 Asha, Mary, me and Lizzy.

I made my friend Mary (the fourth stop) this cross stitch.  I made one for myself as well.  I was so pleased to see it so promidently displayed at her house.  It was a really fun pattern to make.  

 Kari, Kristi, Bobby, me and Pete.

 Everyone looks good in a Polaroid picture!  My friend Kelly had a pretty manicure so I had her hold the Polaroid and take a picture for me since I didn't have painted nails last night.

 Bonnie and Kelly as Moira and Alexis Rose from Schitt's Creek.

 Bobby and Aida as "Taco Bell"

Pete and Mary as Beetlejuice and Lydia.  

Living Room Music Practice

 On the weekends, everyone gets their instruments out to practice and learn some new notes.

I should probably get a ukulele or tambourine so I can join in but for now I'll just be an observer.  Someday they'll be good enough to post some video.  They're not there yet.

Happy 12th Birthday, Leo!

Leo turned twelve today.  It's kind of hard to believe he's on the brink of becoming a teenager, yet here we are.  With Tom in India, I knew it would be a mellow birthday but I still wanted it to be a fun one.  That meant starting our day with a Starbucks run before school.  

He had a full day of school but I picked him up a little early from study hall.  We went out to dinner and came home to mini-bundt cakes.  He insisted on lighting the candle himself.  

Since he already received his birthday shoes, Leo wasn't expecting too many gifts.  I got him some small things - a cool beanie, a book, a reusable Starbucks cup...but Tom and I couldn't resist getting him something else special.

Yep, a guitar.  Tom was on FaceTime when he opened it and it was exactly the reaction we were hoping for.  You can also tell from the video that Serafina is a wee bit jealous.

Leo didn't love playing piano but it was a good foundation in music and I think he's going to really like guitar.  I got him a lefty guitar book and I think he'll be able to enjoy messing around with it for a while before we get him formal lessons. 

And no birthday post would be complete without some flashback photos of little Leo.  

Kids on PBS News Hour

Back in April, the kids and I went to Magical Bridge Playground in Palo Alto on our way home from an appointment.  We've been there before and it's an impressive, all-inclusive playgroud.  It was during spring break so it was pretty crowded.  That day they were also filming a segment for PBS News Hour.  PBS aired the episode recently and the video is on YouTube.  You can see us talking to Robbie at minute 3:53.  There was actually a sweet conversation between my kids and Robbie but that didn't make the show.  In minute 6:06, you can see Serafina and I sitting on bench in the background while a woman in a wheelchair rides a spinning apparatus.  

Here's the show...

Auntie Tracy's quick visit

My best friend Tracy came to town for a quick trip to attend a funeral in Santa Cruz.  She stayed with us Friday and Saturday night but headed back home this morning.  Before we left, we hit our favorite vegan donut spot.  

 And then we took some silly pictures.

The sunglasses are not part of the filter.  We both just happen to have the same sunglasses.

After we dropped Tracy off at the San Jose airport, we headed directly to the San Francisco airport to drop Tom off.  He's headed to India for work.  It's a brand new job and they are having an all-hands meeting in India so he'll have his first official day of work in India.  Pretty crazy.  He'll be back next weekend and he'll work out of the Mountain View office day in and day out, though there will be more travel involved in this role.  It's an exciting new chapter for him.