Month: October 2018

Jack is old enough and strong enough now that he carved his pumpkin entirely by himself!  I only helped him to clean out the interior cavity thoroughly.  Sam was disappointed in how difficult it was to use the knife.  But he did design his pumpkin and oversee every detail of my carving his artwork.

Double trunk-or-treating this year for us. First we had a scout party, where our Minecraft themed trunk won second place!  Then, tonight was the church party with more early candy.  The kids really enjoy these parties.  It also gives me good motivation to get our costumes done well in advance of the big day itself.

This year Jack wanted to be Spider-Man.  I didn’t even considering making this one myself.  He wanted a real jumpsuit with a mask and gloves and foot coverings too.  He also did not want “muscles” or the Iron Spider version worn in Infinity War, and thus on all the store shelves this season.  I found this great suit on amazon.  The mask is too small, but that was the case with every suit we tried.  It works well enough for pictures.

Sam had a lot of ideas this year.  I starting working on a Godzilla plan, when he switched and locked onto this one: Zombie Chicken Jockey.  I thought he was making it up, but Ben assured me that it’s a Minecraft character.  His took the most work, but I think I nailed it:

Ben and I couldn’t get excited about any couples costume ideas, so we each went with a favorite movie character.  And then no one knew who we were:

It’s super obvious if you know them, and you have no chance of guessing if you don’t.

Ben is Steve Zissou from The Life Aquatic. I’m Ramona Flowers from Scott Pilgrim vs the World.

The handful of people who recognized us knew it instantly and really enjoyed it. Everyone else was clueless.  I like that we’re representing two of our favorite writer/directors, Wes Anderson and Edgar Wright.  Also, I had a surprising number of women tell me they loved my blue hair and I should seriously considering doing it for real. If colored hair wasn’t such a pain I would.  But even Ramona had to re-do it every week and a half -what a chore!

Here’s more pictures from the two parties. Happy Halloween!

This came home from school. Apparently Jack still thinks wood is terrifying. I hope you aren’t too scared after reading this!

It was only a flurry, but the unmistakable cries of elementary students joyfully pronounced our first snow of the season today.

By tradition, I made leige waffles.  Oooh, so good.

for HALLOWEEN!!!!!!

I take Nimbus to get the kids at school about once or twice a week.  They love seeing her, and the other families at school smile and laugh at the sight of a cat in a backpack.  As long as I know it’s not too hot or cold, and we don’t have extra errands to run after the pick-up, it’s a fun way to expand her horizons.  Over and over, people me ask if she really likes to be in there.

Every day when I stand up at 2:40 she RUNS to the door and meows to come along.  When I get out the backpack and set it on the ground she RUNS over to me, chirping and meowing with excitement.

On the drive she presses up to the porthole to better see the trees and sky.  She waits patiently in the car with me until it’s nearly time for the bell.

Today she started purring, so I whipped out my camera to prove that I have a weirdo cat.

See?  Perfectly contented, with purring and slow-motion-blinking!  While I wait in the school yard, I can feel her flipping around in the backpack, changing position to look out the porthole or the side mesh, wherever the most exciting action can be seen.  Toddlers are especially delighted to see a kitty in the wild, and I can hear parents pointing her out from across the playground.  Jack and Sam run up to me faster than usual, greeting their cat before their mother, and proudly show off Nimbus to their friends.

Ben has nicknamed Nimbus “Rachel’s Shadow.” All day she follows me room to room, either tripping me underfoot and glued to my side when I’m resting.  She really is a little shadow.