Chicken in the Yard!

Malevolence and mirth

Well, another Halloween has come and gone. It's a bitter sweet time of the year. I'm sad to see it go, but very happy with how fun it was this year. Of course, the entire house is still decorated so I guess it hasn't really left. I should probably do something about that... Anyways, we crammed in as much fun as we could and had a great time. And now, the highlights. For starters Belle REALLY loves Halloween now. From watching "The Nightmare Before Christmas" 10 times, to carving her very first Jack-o'-lantern, to making her own spooky decorations, to going to multiple pumpkin patches, to watching "It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" so many times that she's memorized it. If it has something to do with Halloween she was in. Sign her up! This of course made me quite delighted. Since, as you may know, I'm sort of partial to the holiday myself.

And yeah, those are Belle's hand-drawn cutouts of Jack, Sally, Lock, Shock, and Barrel from "The Nightmare Before Christmas." She loves that movie, as do I. We even got to see it at the El Capitan in Hollywood with Katie's parents. They show it every year, but this time in 4D. Yes, FOUR! That meant it was not only in 3D but there was wind, fog, lighting effects, and even SNOW in the theater. It was awesome! We're definitely going again next year. And yes Belle plays with her newly puchased Jack and Sally dolls daily. Oh, and that jack-o'-lantern Belle's posing with (and kissing) was designed and carved by her own little hands. I'm so proud.

Another Halloween of course means another Halloween party! We had tons of fun hanging out with ghosts, goblins, family and friends. This year there was a record number of kidlets in attendance and since it was also Halloween night they all got to go trick or treating together! I stayed home to hold down the fort while they all went but Katie said it was a sprint from house to house. They each wanted to get there first to ring the doorbell and yell: "Trick or Treat!" Somehow they all got along though and their bags gradually filled with goodies. Eventually they tired and came back for more running around and playing. This lasted until they passed out or their parents reached critical mass.

Oh and you may be wondering who this little guy is. That's Isabelle's new cousin Logan! He had his first sleepover and joined us for Halloween weekend. I really wish he would have dressed up for Halloween but Trish and Michael thought he was too young for costumes. So he just wore his regular clothes that day. He's actually a pirate you know.

Also, I have to tip my hat to Katie's family for helping out so much with the party. They really helped make it go smoothly, thanks guys! Also a special thanks to my folks and my nephew Matthew for scaring the dickens out of the trick or treaters as they came to the door. My folks came as toy army men and really did an amazing job on their costumes. For starters my Dad made his own bazooka! I mean, first prize for that alone. Matthew was the grenadier, or the radio man, depending on his mood at the time. My Mom, who looks like an Ewok/Wookie, was a sniper in a ghillie suit. Yes, that's a child's size ghillie suit. And yes, this is the first time I've ever written the word "ghillie" and had to look up how it is spelled. No, I don't know why it's called that.

Anyways, they all posed in the front yard like statues and folks would wonder if they were real. Honestly they rarely noticed my Mom standing by the stairs because she just looked like a short bush. But when she'd say something or move it totally scared them. At one point I had her hold a jack-o'-lantern and slowly move it up and down so it looked like it was floating. That really freaked people out. Overall a very fun night, even more so having my family out there making those trick or treaters earn their treats.

Oh, and you may wonder why Belle is dressed in pirate gear... Well, she wanted to be Goofy this year. Of course, every year she wants to be Goofy, but she was going to be Goofy again right up until the party started at which point she wanted to be like her Mommy and be a pirate. Fortunately we stock pirate costumes in all sizes at our house so one was ready and waiting for her. Ok, she already had the pirate costume she wore on the Disney Cruise. Wait, have I not mentioned the Disney Cruise. Damn, I have a lot of writing to catch up on.

And yes, you saw right. I was dressed in a giant pink bunny suit. I was Ralphie, the pink nightmare from "A Christmas Story." I plan on wearing it Christmas morning too.

It's Halloween!

Ok, I know I haven't been there for you lately and there's no excuse other than that life happens. But now it's Halloween time and I really can't let this special occasion go by without writing about it. I mean, it's my favorite time of the year! The leaves are falling, the skeletons are roaming, the tombstones are rising. And around here things get down right spooky.

I have a little tradition of decking out our house in all sorts of Halloween glory both inside and out. The same stuff gets dragged out every year but I usually try to touch things up or add new items. I'm deeming this year the "Jason and the Argonauts" year. This is mostly due to the large amount of skeletons we have roaming out front. We still have the big scarecrow too of course, which Belle has been calling "The Great Pumpkin" because she's seen that movie too many time to count. Which gets me thinking of doing a Charlie Brown theme out front one year... that would kind of rock.

Anyways, indoors we have most of the same decor except for a few items. First off my kick-ass Aunt made me a giant Jack Skellington stain glassed window that I'm proudly displaying on the fireplace mantel this year. She made me a smaller one before which I loved so she decided to super-size it this time and it's pretty impressive.

Belle and I also made some creepy spider egg sacks to hang from the ceiling. They are truly gross and awesome. I mean, once you say "spider" and "egg sack" in the same sentence you get creeped out, but seeing these in person is just plain freaky.

Speaking of spiders Belle and I went to the Spider exhibit at the Natural History Museum and let me tell you: GAAAAAAAH! You MUST see this if you have nerves of steel because it's amazing. They basically take the butterfly exhibit and then fill it with giant scary jungle spiders which then CONSUME the butterflies. Yes, they eat them... all of them. When you enter the enclosure you don't really notice them, but once you start spotting them you realize they are watching you. It's awesome! But at some point Belle got freaked out and we left. I won't lie, I was wigging a little too.

So, hope you all have a Happy Halloween! And since I can't guarantee I'll be writing again soon I'll just wish you all a Happy Halloween for next year too.

 

No this isn't an abandoned blog, I swear

Ok, I'll admit repainting the dining room while trying to decorate for a giant Halloween party at the same time might not have been the best idea. Especially considering how I'm just starting to feel like I have things under control around here again. BUT, I will say that the room looks amazing and the party went off without a hitch. In fact, now that so much time has elapsed since my last update all the decorations are back in the garage already. It's like a whole month went by since you last heard from me! Well, that's because it has.

You may be wondering what you missed during that time... well, lots. Let me catch you up a bit. For starters we kicked around a few Halloween costume ideas for Belle this year. Katie really wanted her to be a princess this year so we gave Belle the Snow White option. Denied. Then I thought to be hip with a "Go-Green" costume aka "The Trader Joe's Bag Monster." She enjoyed wearing it around the house... other than that, DENIED. In the end Goofy won. Goofy always wins.

While trying to get all this stuff done and having Belle at home with me all the time I had to come up with some creating projects to keep her busy. And what better projects than Halloween projects right? So for starters we worked on some Witch Hats made out of construction paper and felt. They turned out wonderfully and added to the overall spookiness of the house come Halloween. Then we tackled some Spoon Mummies. These are mummies made out of plastic spoons, popsicle sticks, and toilet paper. Who knew toilet paper made good mummies? Me. And lastly she put together some awesome decorations at Preschool including a paper plate spider and a bat made out of hand prints. Both of which she insisted I "hang from the ceiling so they drop down and scare people." So I had to hang them from the lights in the kitchen. Many a person was frightened by them as predicted.

And speaking of Preschool, and since you all have been so patient with me, I shall unveil Isabelle's very first school picture. That's right people, our daughter had her first picture day... it still brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it. The best part is she even sort of smiled for it. Which is a feat in itself.

Stay tuned for regular updates. I'm back! I promise.

Trial, acting, and the cleavage capital of the world

I've been busy. Well, I guess I should say we've been busy. Ok, Katie's been busy, but it has affected the whole family. For the past two weeks Katie's been fighting through her very first trial. She's worked on stuff in the past that was supposed to go to trial but usually the cases settle before they get that far. This time it's the real deal. This means working from early morning until late at night, working weekends, and pretty much any other waking moment. This makes Belle cranky, me cranky, and Katie cranky. We're a happy family at the moment. BUT, there is a silver lining. Firstly, we're going on vacation the instant the trial is over. Secondly, she'll probably win. Thirdly, if she loses it won't matter since we're going on vacation.

Have I mentioned I've been taking acting classes? I haven't?  Oh... well I am. I figured acting is an easy thing to break into so why the hell not right? You know, hi diddly dee and all that. Ok, that's not entirely true. But I'm not necessarily interested in being an actor, just a voice actor. This would entail all the hard work of becoming an actor only harder since breaking into voice acting is even more clickish. But it's something I'm seriously interested in, something I've wanted to do as a kid, and something I sort of have time for while staying home with Belle. That is until Katie got on trial and made it a bit stressful to get off to class on time, rehearse scenes, and be sane. Thankfully that's where the family comes in to save the day. Thanks Dad and Katie's Mom for coming out to watch Belle while I snuck off to class those nights. Speaking of which... this Wednesday... any takers? Anyways, it's going well, it's fun, the semester is almost over, and I need vacation.

But life hasn't been all work and no play. The other weekend my sister invited Belle and I to join her at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire since she had an extra ticket. I had never been to one and always wondered what went on there. Well, cleavage. There's cleavage there. Cleavage and swords. It's like the girls have the cleavage and the guys have the swords. Freud would have a field day at one of these faires. That being said, it was pretty darn fun. Sure it was hot, dusty, and fairly uncomfortable, but that all went with the ambiance. For the most part the place is dolled up to look like a vintage faire, old wooden stalls with vintage dressed shopkeepers hawking their wares. There were vintage rides, horses, games, food, you name it. Most folks were very into it carrying their own pewter mugs and wooden bowls to drink and eat from.

In fact, almost everyone is in some sort of period dress, ranging from commoners, to royalty, to pirates. Lot of pirates. Which brings me to my main gripe about the whole thing. One of my major goals in going to this thing was to purchase a pirate sword. I'm slowly but surely putting together a solid pirate costume, just so I have one when the need arises, and I wanted to get a cutlass. What better place than The Renaissance Faire right? WRONG. I mean, MOST guys at this faire were carrying swords. Granted, they arrived with them while in costume. But wouldn't a faire like this sell swords. I mean tons of swords. You have a captive audience of folks who would buy swords. SELL SWORDS DAMMIT! Well, they didn't. Ok, they did have like one or two stalls that sold swords, but it was like one sword, not six, not a dozen, not a hundred, just one. Lame. I mean, the Irish Faire has booths that sell hundreds of swords why the hell wouldn't The Renaissance Faire. I mean they may as well name it The Pirate Faire based on all the sword laden scallywags I saw throughout the day. And to not sell swords... BAH! Anyways, I'm not bitter or anything.

So I went home and ordered a sword online. Not just any sword, a very nice sword. One that any pirate would love to plunder. I also got a blunderbuss flintlock pistol as backup. I mean, every good pirate needs a pistol stuck in his belt right? Soon my pirate wardrobe will be complete and together we will rule the high seas. Or at least look really good at Renaissance Faires and Halloween. Avast!

I think I just blasted them

I just wanted to post a few photos of our Halloween party this year. Overall we had a great time, always good to see everyone and we really got a kick out of all the kids. Our neighbor's came with their kids, our friends came with their kids, and of course Belle was there as well. At one point there were three boys running to see the ghost I hung in the office and then ran out of the house screaming. It was fabulous. Eventually the kids started dwindling as their parents carted them back home for bedtime. We also put Belle to bed at a decent hour and kept on partying with the friends. Overall I'll say that the beer was good, the desserts were plenty, and Dan had the best costume. That is the biggest photo-strip I've ever seen. Michelle's tornado costume rocked too, sadly I didn't get a good picture of it though.

Luckily the weather was superb that night, not too cold or damp. This was good since the kids were able to run around out there and burn off some energy. I was worried during the day since it was raining off and on. But once the sun went down it was perfect.

As you can see the dessert table came out pretty well. The pumpkin cheesecakes weren't out yet when I took this picture but you can see my fondant cupcake topper creations. I liked the ghosts and tombstones the most. The bats were ok. I could have done without them, but I can see myself doing this sort of thing again in the future. Maybe some Christmas cupcakes? You can also see the berry scary pie with eyeballs peeking out and some spooky cookies in the background. Some folks also brought yummy run cake and some spider cookies. Yum! There was also food to go along with all this so it wasn't just a sugar rush.

Here's a selection of photos from the night. Sadly, I didn't get a shot of everyone in their costumes, but it's at least a nice sampling.

Ok, so the Isabelle cauldron head photo was from the next day, but I had to throw that one in there. I think she was disturbed that all the candy was gone and just wanted to make sure there wasn't some stuck in there somewhere. Anyways, thus ends Halloween 2008. Now I need to get back to undecorating my house. I should be done by next October.