Feast Your Eyes

Some Amity love for you all.

Enjoying a walk along the shore.

Doing her sit-ups.

Being cute.

Taking a snooze in the park.

Petya and Friends

It's fun to see Petya really come into her own now that she's the big kid at home. For a while after Finn and Madie started school, Petya would keep asking if we were going to see our friends, "Logan and Caroline." I kept explaining those were actually more Finn's friends than hers, and that they were in school now too. 

"But," I'd say, "we will see Viv and Emily!" 

Finally talks about her own friends and is excited to see them when I say we're going anywhere. The cutest kiddo to see her with is Emily. These two are wicked sweet together. I came around the corner to get Petya ready to go and found them sharing a bean bag and looking through a book together. 

They are like this all the time. It kills me.

The Blankie

Thanks, Aunt Holly, for blankie #4. They are all well-loved and even Madie and Finn still keep theirs on their beds.

Nell never really got attached to hers though. 

Sugar Cookies

For Family Night last night Madie had the treat. I think every Family Night of the summer that Mike or I weren't in charge of treats we had ice cream. Finally, half-way through October, when Finn said that he wanted ice cream for Family Night and Mike rolled his eyes at me, I realized we had achieved the previously-thought unachievable: Mike had grown tired of ice cream. I mean, he still ate it, but he took to listing all the other treats we were missing out on:

"Pie, short cake, brownies, blondies, pudding, clouds, cheesecake--come on man! You could have anything you want!"

But Finn wanted ice cream, so ice cream we had.

Last night though, Madie finally broke and chose sugar cookies she saw in the Hannaford food magazine. She asked Petya if she wanted to frost them for the activity (which was Petya's choice this week) and she agreed, which was great for me!

Pajama Sale

Every year, starting some time before we moved back to Maine, the town started an annual pajama sale on the second Saturday in November. This year, since we have decided not to do Christmas gifts aside from stockings, I didn't think we'd go. I realized though, when Mike came home Friday night with two grocery bags filled with sausage, eggs, tater tots, and cocoa for hot chocolate, that the pajama sale had reached holiday proportions in his mind. 

"We're going to have a big breakfast--7 am sharp!--then head to the sale in town."

"But, why? We're not buying anything."

"Well, we need a new park pass," (they're discounted during the sale), "and we can get the free fudge and taffy at Acadia Country Store and just window shop!" 

So that's what we did! I think this was my favorite year yet, since Mike and I stayed together instead of trying to avoid each other while we shop for gifts. It is a really fun morning, and I like the festive feeling--a lot of people about buying Christmas gifts, people from other parts of the island running into others they don't see so much, and a lot of the shops have coffee, hot chocolate, and baked goods out. We still have never stayed for the bed races, which I'm told are hilarious. Maybe next year. 

We did hit up Serendipity to stock up on some winter gear--they all found hats they like, so we grabbed those and a pair of brand new pants for Mike. Scores all around.

Chores

Madie broke into tears on Tuesday when I pulled out the pair of snow pants a friend of mine gave us when they moved. They didn't fit last year but this year--like a glove. 

"What is wrong with these?" 

"I want snow bibs!"

"Okay, but that's not something to cry about. These are in great condition, no tears, a cute pattern--patterned snow pants!"

"They're ugly! I hate them!"

"Madie, why are these ugly?" 

"They just are!" 

Oh.

"Listen, we are not going to buy new snow pants just because you don't like the ones we already have. If you want different ones that badly, you need to buy them yourself."

"I can't! They're too much! They were $10 at Marden's and I only have $3." 

"You only have $3 because you never do any money chores. We are literally trying to give you money for things we can just do ourselves and you guys won't take it!" 

"By the time I earn enough they probably won't even be at Marden's." 

"You could earn $7 in a couple hours. Stop whining and do something useful."

And thus ended my pep talk for the week.

Fast forward to Friday. Here we are on a day off from school with a whole afternoon and nothing to do. I suggest after lunch that anyone who doesn't want a traditional quiet time (reading a book, taking a nap, drawing, etc.) can do some money chores. Finn opts for setting up a "desk" and writing out phrases like, "Madie is farty." (Thanks, Ms. P, for teaching my son to write.) Madie decides to pick a task from the money-chore list on the fridge. 

Now my windows are clean, my door knobs and switch panels are disinfected, my heaters and dining chairs are dusted, the garage is swept, and Madie is $7 richer.

We had a high today of 35, in the sun. And the wind was bitter.

But my garage is clean.

Here's hoping Marden's still has $10 snow pants.

Halloween

This year, I told the kids two weeks before Halloween that they needed to nail down their costume ideas THEN. This was mostly a message to Finn. He is one of the least decisive people I've ever met; always flip-flopping between one idea and another until the day before. He struggles to even pin down what he wants for breakfast on a week day when the options rarely vary: toast, bread, oatmeal, or eggs. Holy moly.

This year, Petya wanted to go as Fireman Sam. It is her absolute favorite show. Every day she asks to watch Fireman Sam. Every day she asks for me to sing her the theme song. Every day leading up to Halloween she told people, "I'm going as Fireman Sam." 

And of course, the week before Halloween we completely lost the fireman helmet we have had for three years. The morning of the Halloween party at church (the Wednesday before Halloween this year), we stopped at the fire station dispatch in town and asked if they had any on hand--that's where we had gotten our other one--but they just happened to all be away on a call that came in literally minutes before. So, Petya went as a cow girl and rode the hobby horse Finn made her for her birthday.

Just relaxing between cattle runs.

Of course, I never got back to the fire station--our town being so large and sprawled out--so she went without the hat for trick-or-treating too, but she didn't seem to mind. Here they all are just before we started out--and before it was too dark for a picture:

L-R: Hermione Granger, a tiger, and Fireman Sam.

The Friday before Halloween, there is big party at the Dorr Museum. Apparently this happens every year, but this was our first to hear about it. They had a table of cricket foods--fried crickets, caramel popcorn balls with crickets, chocolate cricket fudge, General Tsao cricket skewers. Aside from the legs getting stuck between your teeth, they weren't bad. Especially the skewers. I would definitely be down with those again. Upstairs they had a dim and quiet room with a man who cares for owls. He held them and talked about them and answered questions. Downstairs they had some crafts and some hands-on activities like holding snakes and scavenging. The scavenging was so clever: they took the hide of an animal--I can't remember which, beaver I think--folded it in half and hid candy in the fold. The kids had to stick their hands in to pull out the candy. 

I told Madie that we might get Petya a snake sometime, since she seemed so taken with  them. She shuddered and protested. I told her they make great pets, and can mouse just as well as any cat, making them useful, but she didn't seem to think that was justification for getting one.