Counting the days till Halloween!

One of my favorite memories was going to Conner Prairie for the "Haunted Hayride"...creepy noises, well placed Halloween spookiness as you ride through the woods at dusk. Would the Headless Horseman make an appearance? I prepped the kids with Disney's Ichabod Crane and really built up the whole experience. When we got to Conner Prairie, the kids made bats and, um, acquired balloons to "scare" the Headless horseman away. Fortunately, out wagon crossed the bridge just in the nick of time...and we all kept our heads:)
Ava chillin with the "scare-pros"
Eli, with his bat, is ready to check out the rest of conner prairie!
Ava prepares to scare off any "headless horses" that come her way!
Yummy s'mores after the hayride
Kettle corn for the little man
Tonight we did our annual pumpkin carving. The kids let me off easy this year, requesting only "scary faces". We dabbled in pumpkin cannabolism and appendages. I mean, they have to expect me to take some creative liberties....
Thank you Papaw for assisting with the gutting. This nurse can deal with all kinds of gross, but pumpkin guts are just so icky...

Autumn antics

Last weekend I was a little more than a little sleep deprived due to some hectic night shifts/kid shifts. At one point the kids had emptied the freezer of ALL of the ice cubes. They then stuffed them in Eli's socks and hung them all over the house....something about an ice age...and i was so tired that it almost made sense. Even the wooden sword and large stuffed monkey...
Tree full of goofballs!
Last night the kids and I decorated the front yard for Halloween, complete with "cobwebs" and pumpkins from the pumpkin patch.

So, yesterday, we visited Stoneycreek Farm to find the perfect pumpkin. We took a hayride down to the punkin patch where my own little punkins found the LARGEST pumpkins they could for their mama to drag back to the wagon. But look how happy they are!
Kiddos jumping on the giant bouncy pillow at the pumpkin patch. I still couldn't get em to sleep before 9!
Such a beautiful fall day!
Ava with her perfect pumpkin!
Me and my favorite people on the pumpkin hayride! Afterwards we went to pick out Halloween costumes. My dragon and sugar plum fairy are counting the days until Halloween!

So, never mind that the day started rough (I was forced to return our kitty to my parents house after she destroyed one too many curtains, nibbled my toes while I slept, and made my house smell like the devil's armpit. I loaded both kids and cat into the car, running late as usual, and headed to Ava's school. The cat felt that the best place for her to ride was right in front of the steering wheel like an evil little hood ornament. I kept pushing her aside so that I could see and she would go sliding down the dashboard, then wobble back down right in front of the steering wheel. Amazingly we made it to the school in one piece. Cat had attached herself to Ava's backpack, which I had accidentally buckled into Eli's seat belt. Foot hooked under the dashboard as I tried to twist myself into the backseat in a move that would make a Pilate's instructor cringe, I tried to detach the backpack, cat, and Ava from each other. Eli sneezed...and it was a "good" one. He screams for a tissue which, of course, I don't have. In a moment of pure desperation, I ripped off his shoe, pulled off his sock and hand it to him. Wipe. Holding down cat and encouraging Ava to bolt out of the car while further contorting into the backseat to keep cat at bay. Car behind me is honking. Cat has claws set into Ava's backpack. She jumps out of the car. There is a brief tug of war between her an the cat over the backpack which she wins. On the drive to my parent's house, the cat resumes her "hood ornament" position. I dropped her off, left a "Dear Oscar" note, and tried not to squeal my tires and laugh maniacally as I drove away. Our next pet will most likely be a sea monkey or imaginary unicorn. Can't decide.)...the day ended great...except for Eli overflowing the toilet in the carpeted bathroom. Why anyone would put carpet in a bathroom is beyond me...

Some Things Come ... and Some Things Go

Well ... life goes on and these two have two new friends. Yes, Circe renewed her relationship with a solid black cat in England before we moved home. Then one day she took off and was missing for two days. Then I saw her running home from across the street where there was a sizeable forest. And so I turned to Ava and said, "Let's go kitten hunting!" And that's where we found momma and babies doing well under a tree root.
There were three but one didn't make it (sadly) by the time we discovered their home under that tree. And so Ava learned all about the realities of death ... and of course Kitty Heaven. But the other two are very healthy. They look almost identical - one has a tiny white circle on his lower lip and that's really about the only difference (because that all black tomcat back in England wouldn't let ANYONE near Circe).
The boy was named Toto by Eli and the girl was named Miss Rosie by Ava. Where Eli got his name I have no idea, but those who have spent substantial time with Ava should know immediately where her name came from! And so things come into the lives of these two ...
... and some things go! (For those curious, the going rate for one tooth from the fairy is one dollar and two chocolate coins.)

Ausfahrt to America

Ok, ok, so we weren't stationed in Germany, but Ausfahrt is a way better word than exit, escape, flee...etc. Due to some misplaced electronics and sanity, I'm a little behind the power curve with my posts. So, if you don't mind a quick trip back in time as the Conderman kids have one last hoorah at destroying the ambiance of European cities...the date was 11July.... and I fed the kids doughnuts for breakfast...because...i....never...learn....
So, on July 11th, the kids and I wake up to catch a cab to the bus to take us to a Hotel near Heathrow. I watched my daughter lapse into a perfect cockney British accent while speaking with the cab driver only to turn around and yell at Eli in perfect Midwestern American Drawl. My sweet little bilingual angel...so we arrive at the hotel, spend the day swimming, and then we decided to dress up fancy and go have one last meal in a British hotel before flying home the next morning. Eli has had enough fancy at this point....
My kid after way too much chocolate!
Yummy....some days I really hate my 30 year old metabolism! The fruit salad just wasn't as...um...fancy.
Ava channels Grandpa Conderman for this picture...
So, (out of order as usual), here we were waiting for the bus before the yummy chocolate meal. The kids entertained themselves by putting together puzzles at the bus stop!
Yes, it took a few tears of the damsel in distress variety, but I got all you see in this picture home to Indiana by myself...ok, maybe more than a few tears;)
We actually did really well on the flight home right up until the last hour. Eli hadn't had a nap so, he decided to take off his shoe and fling it at the people across the aisle, who were eating. While I was giving Eli "what for" in the airplane bathroom , 30 thousand feet in the air, the kid looks at me deviously, and licks (yes licks) the toilet seat...of the airplane bathroom. Eli also got to taste airplane bathroom soap for dessert...poor kid. No more international flights until they are safely addicted to some kind of handheld video game. More to come on tooth fairies, dinosaurs, and tree climbing:)

A Story of a Little Boy ...

Every day one walks into this educational center there is something to read. You can see what it says! And so Elijah is going to the Mother Goose Pre-school and Daycare Center. And he seems to be loving it. Miss Donna is a certified Early Childhood Development Teacher and already has them on a vigorous program of education. Today the letter "a", tomorrow nuclear physics!
Excellent work from Little Man! He seems to be really loving it too. He has numerous friends and a huge play area to enjoy after school is over (9-11:30). And he is doing the Pledge of Allegience just like Ava. (Not so accurately I might add - Ava has something about a "public" on which "Richard stands".)
Here is the classroom. Don't bother looking for Eli. He was ready to leave to go see Ava who was studiously doing her homework back at the house. For as much as he loves going to school, it pales in comparison to his love for being with his sibling (with whom he can't seem to stop fighting - I don't get it!!!)
And so as you can see Eli is transitioning nicely from England. (If there is one thing I am sure about these two, it's that they should grow up able to adapt to new situations.) So rest assured, he is happy and VERY 3 with all the joys that come with it!