Heroween Halloween

Apparently we not only celebrate Halloween over here, but Heroween as well.

Heroween?  It's our school's attempt at educationalizing (is that a word?) Halloween.  The kids are supposed to dress up as a real life hero (think: nurse, firefighter, etc.) or a historical character (think: Betsy Ross, Abe Lincoln, last year there was an Obama).  Since I'm not a big fan of Halloween anyway (too much sugar, spookiness, and walking around in the cold), Heroween gets minimal attention from me.  I actually contemplated an early dismissal from school.

Then some fun ideas came.  I lobbied heavily for Mozart, the angel Gabriel, Martha Graham.  I waved velvet capes, feathery wings, and flowy dresses.  The children would have none of it.

Instead, they found suit coats and boxy handbags at the secondhand store.

They are lawyers.

Fine.

And we did manage to carve pumpkins before SuperStorm Sandy and the squirrels took the faces off of them.

This year, one perk is that I'm doing a small part to increase awareness about trash-free events by donating a class set of reusable cups and the offer to wash them before and after the party.

Pretty festive, huh?

Happy Fall, everyone!

Nine is fine, a book-lover's party

What does this child like to do more than anything else?

Read.

Her favorite series lately is the Warriors series by Erin Hunter.

We decided to broaden the theme to "books in general" for this birthday party.

The birthday girl made cat cut-outs for many of the Warrior characters, hid them all around, and encouraged party-goers to find them upon arrival.



We made garland from book pages.

 

And cupcake decorations, as well.

 

"Why stop there?" we thought, and used more pages for the craft.

 
 

My favorite was the Name That Book game in which we matched book passages with the titles.



She and some friends graciously posed for a photograph, or two.

How's the nine-year-old?  Fine, indeed!

Fall is fabulous at the farmer's market

Just because there is now a bit of frost on the ground each morning, doesn't mean the farmer's markets are sorry and bare.

Oh, just the opposite.

They are colorful, vibrant, and still inspiring.  These were taken just yesterday at the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market at Kerrytown, where the gourds are everywhere, the peppers are eager, the mums are cheerful, the apples are wholesome, and the kale is comical.

See what I mean?

Music Fun Night

Live music is always wonderful.  And we had a house full of it last Saturday evening.

Classical flute, Egyptian piano, beginning violin, guitar, and voice.

 And a nourishing potluck.

Thanks to all who contributed to make it a sweet, fall evening.