Easter

We had a busy Easter weekend but it was a good holiday for us. On Saturday evening, we colored eggs. We didn't make a ton of them because we don't eat hard boiled eggs that much. But Emily likes it so I wanted to do some.

Todd's cousin had given us a no mess egg dying kit. It was a little messy, in part because I didn't drain enough water out of it. Emily just plopped the eggs in, and then I took them out. It wasn't as fun because you really couldn't do more than one color on an egg.

The next morning, Emily woke up a little after six am. I had been awake for a while because I had been listening for her. I wanted to stop her from going into the living room without me because I wanted to tape her reaction of seeing her basket.

We went a little overboard this year with stuff for the basket. We generally give more presents and less candy because a sugared up Emily is not a good thing. She had really wanted a Doc McStuffins lab coat for a long time so that was the big thing I got her. Todd ended up picking up some Infinity figures. He thought she'd ignore the lab coat, but she's played with it every day since Sunday.

After she found all the goodies in her basket it was time to go to church. I love Easter services - lots of singing and it's very festive. My favorite part comes at the end where everyone is invited to join the church in singing the Hallelujah Chorus.

Once we were done with church, we headed out to drive to GA. My aunt and uncle live outside of Atlanta and we often go there for holidays because my cousins all have kids, some around Emily's age. It was nice to see relatives and everyone remarked on how skinnier Todd looks - one of my cousin's wives didn't even recognize him at first!

We had a great meal and Emily had fun playing with her cousins. We were on the road longer than we were at my aunt and uncle's house, but it was worth it to see family for the holiday.

Camp Fire Girls

Emily wearing my Camp Fire vest

A few days ago a high school friend posted that her mom had passed away. I was a little startled and sad to see that I knew her mom. She had been my leader when I was in Camp Fire Girls and it brought back a lot of memories.

I joined Camp Fire Girls in elementary school. I had briefly been a Girl Scout but my parents switched me to Camp Fire for some reason. I really loved everything about Camp Fire. I learned all kinds of crafty things, made friends and got to go on camping trips.

Every summer, I'd go to day camp for a week and have an overnight stay at the end of the week. We'd cook out over fires and make crafts. I remember one year I made a really ugly clown doll that I named Fred. I still have him - he's in Emily's room in her sea of stuffed animals.

Like Girl Scouts sell cookies, we sold chocolate bars. I'm not a great salesperson even back then so I was never a top seller. But one year I really wanted to go to the special weekend camp out for the top sellers. My mom drove me all around town to sell in different neighborhoods. I still remember one of the streets was Elm Street. I got to my goal and got to go on the special camping trip - it was a lot of fun.

I loved Camp Fire so much that I stuck with it until my freshman year of high school. The only reason I stopped was because I wanted to do the school plays which had rehearsals that conflicted with the Camp Fire meetings.

I have a lot of fond memories and I'm a little sad that North Carolina has no Camp Fire councils so Emily will never be a Camp Fire girl herself.

Halloween 2013

Yesterday was my favorite Holiday of the year. We did a lot this year leading up to Halloween from trick or treating with our church to attending a couple of Halloween festivals. On Halloween, things were a little more laid back.

Last year, Emily threw up once the night before Halloween. She seemed fine but we decided caution was the best way to go so we kept her out of school. This year, luckily we didn’t have a repeat and she was able to go to school in costume.

We left for the mall to go trick or treating early so we could run some errands. We got to the mall earlier so Emily could spend the last of her birthday money. She got the Spike she wanted from Build A Bear Workshop. We had a little bit more time to kill so we went into Barnes and Noble to look at books.

Finally the appointed hour arrived and we made our way through the mall. Emily had picked one of the buckets she had gotten from McDonald’s last year and soon it was overflowing with candy. She also got to meet the Chick-Fil-A cow who was dressed as a fairy and get other things like stickers and pencils.

We were all pooped by the time we were done, so we got take out and headed home. Emily picked the Toy Story of Terror cartoon to watch before bed. I haven’t been sleeping well, so Todd and I watched some of the Roseanne Halloween specials instead of something scary.

It was a nice end to the Halloween season. Though I’m not going to take my Halloween decorations down until it’s time for the Christmas ones to go up since I just got them up last week!

The Day of Halloween Events

I love Halloween, I always have. Once my mom passed away, Halloween vaulted over Christmas to become my favorite holiday. Mom loved Christmas so now it’s really bittersweet for me.

When I was not a child but was single, Halloween did become a bit of a drag. I never had any Halloween parties to go to. When we moved into our house, I stayed home and handed out candy. We got maybe three kids each year.

Then I was blessed with my own October baby. She was two weeks old on her first Halloween so we didn’t do much that year. The first few years we would just go trick or treating, but the last few years have been filled with Halloween goodness. Last year, we went trick or treating twice and Emily had a Halloween themed birthday party.

This year we have done a lot more. We went to Disney World for her birthday and I went to the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party by myself. Last week we went trick or treating with our church and last Saturday was two Halloween events.

I worked Saturday morning and then I started to get costumed up. Emily had requested I wear a costume but most of my costumes weren’t going to be warm enough. Todd had suggested I wear my Hogwarts student costume which is pretty warm. Emily was Periwinkle, though I put a layer of long sleeve shirt and pants underneath it.

The first event was the Fletcher Halloween Carnival. They had a bouncy castle, a bouncy slide, games and a costume contest. Emily bounced first then dragged me all over to play the games. When you won a game (which was pretty every time because the people running it let the kids play until they won) you got some candy. I didn’t think to bring a candy bucket, but luckily they were giving out little bags.

Emily also wanted to sign up for the costume contest. There were

lots of kids in costumes, but not a lot of other adults besides me. There was one four year old little girl dressed as what looked to be a Burlesque dancer, right down to the fishnets. I found that to be in poor taste, but the other kids were cute.

We played nearly all the games, Emily got her face painted like a kitty and she did a craft (a spooky necklace). Then it was time for the contest. Once she did her walk through, I didn’t make her stay over there. We did a few more games and then I let her do the bouncy castle one more time. At that point the carnival was over and they were shutting things down.

From there we headed over to Gerber Village in South Asheville. Gerber Village is just a shopping center but Todd had heard that they were doing a pumpkin wall. We weren’t sure what to expect, but when we got there we did see a pumpkin wall. They also had some games, a lady doing hula hooping (with extra hoops for the

kids) and there were snacks (popcorn and cider). We got there a little before five and they were just opening up.

We got a little treat bag when we came in since the games were giving out prizes. Emily played the games right off and then found the hula hoops. She hooped most of the time when we weren’t doing other things and she got pretty good at it.

Once the event really got going, they had a scavenger hunt where each kid got a prize at each station. They had a cake walk, which Emily was one of the winners. She got a prize bag and later a cupcake. Then there was a costume parade and then a costume contest which Emily participated in.

After she showed off her costume, she went back to hooping. Originally she had left her wings in the car, but got them back out for the contest. She was able to still hula hoop pretty well with her wings on. It was getting cold, though Emily kept saying she was fine (and she probably was because she was moving around a lot more than I was).

Finally it was the big moment and the lit up the great pumpkin wall. It was really cool to see, but I was sore, tired and cold at that point so we got out of there and headed home. I’m glad we went to both because Emily had a great time.

Trick or Treating - Church Edition

I’m still recovering from our Disney trip but I’ll be posting about that soon. Now that we are home, we are trying to get back into the groove of things. But with Halloween right around the corner, we have several Halloween activities we are taking part in.

Tonight was the annual trick or treating at the retirement community that is associated with our church. It give all the people who live in the retirement community a chance to see all the kids in their costumes and give a safe place for the kids to trick or treat at.

Emily’s been looking forward to it all day. After dinner, she donned her Cinderella dress and we headed off. The actual trick or treating was first. All the kids looked cute in their costumes and Emily had a great time filling up her bucket.

After everyone finished trick or treating, we all went to the community room so the youth choirs could sing for everyone. Emily didn’t want to sing, just eat her candy and sit in my lap. The songs were lovely.

We headed out after the singing was done, though stopping briefly for punch and a cookie. Emily skipped all the way to the car. It was a lovely way to spend the evening.