Halloweentown

Marie Antoinette said it was the best Halloween party yet. Darth Vader slept right through it. A ladybug gave me her wink of approval. Babies grew beards. Werewolves (shape shifters?) howled, boys dressed as doggies, dogs dressed as lobsters and the whole lot of them got pelted with candy at the end. The root beer was spooky and delicious, and not a drop spilled in the house. Only one piece of pizza was left from the 336 we started with. Our yard, once covered with candy, is now completely devoid of sweetness. The witch next door went a little crazy, but who wouldn't? It was awesome, thanks to everyone who came!

Speaking of shape shifters, we had several wardrobe changes today. Ari went to the pumpkin patch with Ellison dressed as a ballet dancer and morphed into a bride for the party. Well, sometimes dancers do get married. Ruby experienced a brief stint as Queen Elizabeth before fast-forwarding to the '50's in a poodle skirt to match Bentley's. Freestone surprised nobody by going as his standard Fantastic Four guy. Trick-or-treating tonight, he claimed he was "Fantastic Caveman" so he could justify carrying a giant stick. Xanthe started out as a cute little mouse and ended up 12 hours later as a little girl with mouse pants wild hair. Only Golda stuck with her original plan, sporting a Sally-from-Nightmare-Before-Christmas dress and make-up that she and Coco have been working on for weeks. It turned out perfect. Thanks, Ms. Witch!

Xanthe was so funny trick-or-treating. She quickly cut right to the chase. When the door opened, she'd shout, "Where the candy?!" When the person offered her candy, she'd say, "Is it chocolate?" If it was, she took it. Smart girl. Toward the end, I told her we were going to Ginger's house for a hot dog. At every house after that, when the door opened, she said, "I want a hot dog." At one house, she walked in, snuggled up on the couch with the mom and took her shoes off. She looked like she could have stayed there all night, but we had more doorbells to ring and more chocolate to collect. Halloween will change from year to year as our kids get older, and that will be fun. This year, 5 little kids and twice as many little costumes was just right.

Will Work For Candy

There are no child labor laws in place around here! Retirement doesn't get you off the hook, either. Even babies have to pull their own weight, which in some cases isn't a whole lot of weight! The perks are nice...sneaking candy as you put it in bags, hanging out at the pumpkin patch...

And the payoff is enormous: Standing with a hundred of your closest friends, all of you with open treat bags, candy raining down on your heads and into your already bulging bags. Heaven!

This Is Why I Love Scott

7:00 AM is too early for a conversation, but sometimes it happens. As Scott was leaving this morning, I said, "I'm going to have home made root beer at the Halloween party." See, 7:00 is too early to be coherent. I'm not sure why I blurted out that useless piece of information.

Scott's reply was, "No, no, no, no, no. That would be a big, sticky mess."

"No it wouldn't. It's going to be outside."

"You just want to do it because it would look really cool and spooky, like a witches' brew."

"Exactly. It's a Halloween party."

"The doors will all be wide open, a hundred kids will be running in and out, and they'll all be spilling root beer everywhere."

Dang, Scott is so pragmatic. So in touch with reality. I promised him nobody would spill root beer anywhere, so I think I'll type up a waiver and pass them out to the kids to sign. "I promise I will not get a big cup of spooky, cool root beer and take it directly in the house and spill it because I can't see out of my Darth Vader mask." Or "I promise I will not get my cool, spooky root beer kicked out of my hands by a Zac Efron look-alike doing dance moves."

I'm pretty sure the waiver idea is going to work. If it doesn't, it won't matter because all the frosting on the floor will absorb any cool, spooky root beer that might happen to spill. What? No, of course the kids won't be decorating cookies with candy and frosting in the house.

Better make that two waivers.

Pumpkins Under the Wire

Hey, I suddenly noticed it's the last week of October and I haven't even disemboweled any pumpkins. Yikes! I think we made up for lost time yesterday with three trips to pumpkin patches and an end result of six softly glowing masterpieces sitting on our porch. Pumpkin mission accomplished. Oh, and we had a lot of fun, too!

Birthday Blessings

If you want your 37th birthday to look like this, you have to plan waaaaaaaay in advance. It starts before you're even born, when you're a little cherub floating on the clouds. Look down and choose your parents wisely. Choose people who look generous and fun. If they seem to celebrate birthdays and holidays to excess, choose them. (Trust me, when they hire two ponies and a covered wagon for your first birthday and invite 30 kids, you won't be sorry.)

The planning continues before you even enter the public school system and lasts throughout high school. The friends you choose in pre-ballet or in Mrs. Manning's third grade class could be the ones ringing your doorbell on your birthday 30 years later, so make sure you choose friends who are kind and loyal. Once you find them, take very good care of them because they are irreplaceable.

Another very important part of planning your 37th birthday is to choose the right spouse. You have to find someone who is a good shopper, who loves to give gifts, and who has an extremely fun-loving and giving family. If you choose someone who hates parties or doesn't get you a gift because you told him not to, you're doomed.

Then, if you have chosen your friends and family well, all you have to do to have a great birthday is invite them to stuff. They'll come. And they'll bring gifts. I've been opening presents since a couple weeks ago when the Dopp family celebrated the October birthdays at Lagoon and the Kings/Bazails gathered at our house for October birthdays. Thanks, everybody! Wednesday, Emily invited me to yoga, which was a great kick-off to a long birthday weekend. Thursday, a bunch of sisters-in-law and friends met me for a late movie at the best movie theater in the world. Jen paid for my ticket and Audrey bought my treats. Thanks, guys! See, that's why you make new friends, even when the old ones still work fine. More is better when it comes to friends.

Friday, my "real" birthday, (which I share with my nephew, Caden!) I was showered with cellophane-wrapped goodies at lunch with some of my oldest stand-by-me friends, Sarah, Tiffany and Michelle. Boy, did I luck out when I chose them in kindergarten! Thanks, girls. Michelle is one of the few people in my grade in school who are younger than I am, but only by one day. We have always had fun sharing a birthday.

Later, Trajan met Ruby, Free and me for another lunch between guitar lessons. I came home from lessons to find gifts from Tricia and Jim and a delicious tort from Michelle Dopp. Wow! Not to mention a whole pile of carefully shopped-for presents from Scott and my parents. I also scored a big bag of candy from Jennie, whose birthday it is today. Happy birthday!

Tonight, we rocked the ward Fall party, and I still get to go to the opera with my girls tomorrow and continue partying right into Halloween. If you choose the right people to travel the road with, every day is a celebration. And really, why shouldn't every day be a celebration? Which reminds me...Our house, Halloween, 4:00-5:00. Bring candy. You're all invited. Yes, you. You know that, right? Thanks, all of you, for being my blessings.

My Best Friend

Happy Birthday, Circe! I love being married to my best friend. Anyone who knows Circe knows how amazing she is as a friend, mom, sister, daughter and writer. Happily, only I know how wonderful she is as a wife. It took us a long time and many heart wrenching years before we finally got together (Thanks B!) but everything happened for a reason and now look what we have created. Thank you for molding our children into amazing people. Thanks for trying to mold me into a good husband and person. I love you! Happy Birthday!

Sisters

This is what is great about having four girls. Golda, at age 11, can teach Xanthe so much by just having fun with her. Golda has a lot going on, so it's nice to see that she still has time to curl Xanthe's hair and teach her how to glam it up. I hope the sister bond never falls by the wayside as the girls grow up and away. I hope the teenagers see the value in driving the little ones to their lessons and talking to them about grade school, even when that part of their lives is over and seems trivial. I hope they are there at each others' weddings, graduations, baby blessings, heartbreaks and joys, so that someday when their lives are full and rich, there will be someone to share it with who knows the road they travelled to get there. Someone who knows where they came from and where they hope to go. Someone who can help them get there and celebrate when they do. Girls, that is why sisters are important. Treasure each other.

Nanette's Day Out

Recently, Nanette had a very exciting day out with her mommy, Araceli. Mommy woke her up early, before it was light outside, and took her to the violin shop to watch a violin lesson. Nanette was a little fussy, so her mommy walked her up and down the hall, showing her pictures of violins. That seemed to make Nanette very happy.










From the shop, Nanette's mommy took her to her cello lesson. Nanette had her own little spot on the couch where she listened to the music and snuggled under her silky new blanket her mommy found at the violin shop. Nanette loves to listen to her mommy play the cello.











After cello, Nanette thought it was fun to go to the store with her mommy. Mommy taught her how to pick out good produce, and how to shop quickly. Nanette was good at the store, and Mommy was able to get all her shopping done.










Mommy thought it would be best if Nanette stayed in the car during Mommy's soccer game because of the cold and the pouring rain. Mommy got drenched playing soccer while Nanette watched from her carseat. She was so warm and cozy wrapped in her velvety blanket.










After the soccer game, Mommy went home and changed into her beautiful dress for cousin Jackson's baptism. Nanette didn't even have to change her clothes, because she already looked so sweet. She was wearing the same outfit her mommy wore the day she was born! The baptism was a really special event. Mommy talked to Nanette about how important this day was for Jackson. Mommy had Nanette's bottle ready in case she got fussy during the baptism, but Nanette was quiet the whole time. She was so worn out from her exciting day, she slept right through Jackson's special luncheon! That's OK, because Nanette is too little to eat real food. Isn't she lucky to have such an attentive and caring mommy? Araceli adopted her from Haiti, and she loves Nanette very much. How ever Araceli builds her future real family, I know she has all the love she needs, right there in her heart.

Ruby's Ten-Year-Old Trip

Ruby's Ten-Year-Old Trip to San Francisco was a smashing success. The Daddy-Daughter duo invited along a third member, me, and we had a great time. We hit the ground running Thursday morning and never stopped. Hotel Kabuki, in the Japanese district, was the perfect home base for our adventures. Its serene lobby and efficient service were perfect. Upon our arrival, they upgraded us to a corner suite on the top floor because Ruby was so adorable. We had shoji screens covering our windows and a Japanese-style soaking tub to relax in.

Ruby's favorite attraction was the Japanese Tea Garden, mostly because she got a perfect close-up of a squirrel eating an M&M. She also loved the new Science museum, where they have a planetarium and an aquarium as well as a rain forest habitat. Ruby got some good pictures of giant butterflies there. We visited the De Young Museum, the SFMOMA, the Legion of Honor and the new Jewish Museum...so new, I don't even know the official name. They had an Andy Warhol exhibit that we deemed the best exhibit we saw. And we saw ALL the art!

Ruby got to try sushi, tikki masala, a mango lassi, tempura, Vietnamese pastries, crepes and a delicious breakfast at Mama's on Washington Square, where we had to be in line early in the morning when they opened their doors. Ruby was an adventurer food-wise. We canvassed Chinatown twice, shopping for souvenirs to bring home to the other kids. We shopped at Macy's for a new outfit for Ruby, then had lunch overlooking the city at the Cheesecake Factory.

Another favorite was the Bay cruise we took, the highlight of which was Pier 39, where Ruby got a kick out of the Sea Lions. She got some great pictures! I'm seeing a theme here...Ruby loves her new camera. She's into gadgets, just like Scott. The two of them researched cameras for weeks before using Ruby's hard-earned trip money to buy her camera. I'll have to post all her favorite pictures later, because there are 247 of them.

Scott and I loved having this time with Ruby, to see her personality and get to know her better. For me, it was fun to be friends with Ruby, to laugh with her and relax with her, rather than being the person in her life who makes her get up early to practice and go to ballet when she's tired. Being on vacation is a chance to experience someone you see every day in a completely different light. When we started this tradition, I don't think we imagined the importance it would take on, or the meaning it would have. It's a rite of passage now, another way to shore up our ties to each kid as they reach those tumultuous years ahead of them. Ruby received so many compliments, and conducted herself so gracefully. I have no fear that when she goes out into the world, to school or church or somewhere with friends, she is a girl Scott and I can be proud of. Proud of her we are, and happy to have witnessed her expand her world view in such a diverse and beautiful city.

Easy Instructions for a Messy House

Using my step-by-step process, you too can have a messy house in no time at all.
Step 1: Have kids.

Actually, there's only one step. That's how easy it is. Kids shed clothing, exude crumbs and seem to have something sticky on their fingers at all times, just in case a couch looks too clean. If you're an overachiever and would like additional ideas about how to have a messy house, read on for great tips about things you can do with your kids...

Let them create. Glitter is probably the most efficient and quickest way to go from clean to disaster, but glue, paper, crayons and markers work, too, especially if you teach the children that walls are good canvasses.
Tell the kids that yes, they can go play in the snow. They may not stay outside long enough for you to sort through last year's outgrown snow clothes, but they will spend a good hour thoroughly destroying your mudroom.
Send the kids to school and/or let them have friends or hobbies. Nothing piles up like school projects, goal sheets and invitations. This kind of stuff can easily make a mess of countless backpacks, bulletin boards, countertops and bedrooms. Very effective. This one is easy because it happens automatically unless you meet all incoming kids at the door with a big garbage bag.

Celebrate holidays. There's nothing like festive decor to quickly turn a house from spotless to gaudy. Without kids to move stuff around, break it and leave it where it doesn't go, holiday items are merely decorative. With kids, however, a simple strand of lights can make an entire entryway look like a Wal-Mart clearance bin. As an added bonus, each kid brings home an average of twelve projects from school per holiday, which you are absolutely required to display.

And lastly, feed the kids. There is no better way to ensure that your house gets messy three times a day or more than to pull out a meal and serve it to kids. This will take care of the floor, the counter, the table and the sink in one fell swoop.

I know, I know, I should teach my kids to clean up after themselves. Yeah, I was really good at that...until I actually went through with Step 1. If you don't feel that your house is quite messy enough, get a husband. He'll be happy to reassure you otherwise. :) Now, I have to go feed some kids; My countertop is looking unnervingly clean.

Surprise!

Surprise! Xanthe has a cracked collarbone! She hurt it falling off a trampoline a week ago, and she's been complaining a little sometimes when I pick her up. I might be crazy, but I thought a cracked bone would hurt enough to warrant more than an occasional whimper. Today after her violin lesson, I finally got smart and took her in to the same doctor who looked at Ruby's broken arm. I wonder how often he gets two kids from the same family within a month? It was slightly embarrassing.

Xanthe was adorable. When the X-ray woman came in, Xanthe said, "You going hurt me? You not going hurt me?" Xanthe is terrified of doctors, so I was surprised at her conversational tone! She did great in the X-ray and hardly flinched when the doctor examined her. She was pleased as could be with her sling, but even more excited when they switched it out for a smaller and more colorful one. On the way out, Xanthe the little starlet shouted, "See you tomorrow, doctor! See you tomorrow!"

Oh, I hope not! After showing her sling to every person at McKay Dee between the doctor's office and our car, the poor little invalid was exhausted. One minute she was mumbling, "I was brave!" and the next minute, she was snoring in her carseat. It makes me sad that Xanthe has such a high tolerance for pain, that she would barely complain of a fractured collarbone, even with holding her violin right on the broken bone. It makes me wonder about her first year, and exactly how much she cried to no avail, and at what point in her tiny mind she decided it wasn't worth it to cry because there was nobody to comfort her. Xanthe has been with us for two years, and apparently she is still much braver than she should be. Hopefully her strength will serve her well in life, but for now, I just want to hug away all her bravery.