Usually, the Girl’s have picked out the costumes in the summer and I spend months collecting items or buying fabric for their elaborate Halloween ideas. Not this year though! This year, HBear knew right away that she wanted to be Hermione Granger! She has been really into Harry Potter lately so it was a natural fit. HBear was Hermione a couple years ago so we have everything in the dress-up closet, bonus!
The Girls went into panic mode! They whined, “where are we going to get costumes from with a week to go?”
Wait a second! Costumes? I spend hundreds of dollars every year on dance costumes. We keep them hanging nicely on our rack in the crawlspace. You want costumes? Let’s use some of those beautifully expensive dance costumes from across the years! Both the Girls thought this was a great idea! HBear decided to use her stunning ballet dress from last year to go as a… Ballerina! She is even more excited because her middle school is throwing a Halloween dance and this will be her first dance! Her elementary school had family dances but this one will be a real dance without Mom and Dad there 😳😊. She thinks wearing her ballet dress will be perfect so she can, you know, do ballet dancing at the dance 😂. SBean decided to wear her favourite costume, her hip-hop costume! It is purple and pink and is the perfect starting point to make her the cutest little living LOL Doll! She took different attributes from all of her favourite LOL dolls and she is going to be… Rocker Girl!
I think it was because we were so laid-back about costumes this year that Halloween raced up on us. Also, it’s cold. Like, we are breaking records of how cold it is here! Usually, we spend weekends at pumpkin patches and basking in the warm autumn sun. We take our time decorating the yard and geocaching in the warm autumn days. Not this year! This year it was so cold that we waited until this weekend to go select our pumpkins and even then, we did it quickly to get out of the gusting wind!
Also, the stores already have Christmas decorations out! Hallmark is already doing the countdown to Christmas movies! It’s like we bypassed autumn and Halloween altogether! The other day it occurred to me that I hadn’t even picked out a Halloween treat for SBean’s classmates! HBear knew that grade 5 would be her last year of doing classmate treats for all the holidays but SBean was excited to bring treats to all of her new friends at her new school. I thought this would be a perfect time to reuse some of our ideas from the past! New friends don’t know what we handed out last year 😜. SBean agreed and we decided to do Ghost Tootsie Pops again! She wanted to use different tags though just in case anybody ever saw the Ghosts we handed out a few years ago LOL I printed up these cute tags from Press Print Party and we made 20 of the cutest Tootsie Pop Ghosts that I have ever seen!
Episode 140: Construction Porn We’re chatting renos, cold weather, brothers, UPS, being mom shamed, walking to school, Mom cancer, being home alone, our street.
Episode 142: Sliding By We discuss the recent election as well as: life in transition, voting day, ugly politics, kid’s vote, Indian cuisine, peeing & Sloan.
Italian Turkey Burger Soup
Adapted from Art and the Kitchen
1 lb ground turkey breast
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
2 tablespoons oil
1 1/2 cups celery, sliced
1 can diced tomatoes not drained 28 oz
3 cups beef broth
4 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon thyme
1/4 cup fresh parsley
2 cups frozen mixed veggies
Heat olive oil in large skillet.
Add ground turkey, onion and garlic to soup pot and season with salt and pepper. Sauté until turkey is browned.
Add celery and sauté just until slightly tender.
Add beef broth, diced tomatoes, tomato paste and all the herbs (except parsley) and bring to a boil.
Stir to combine all ingredients and then simmer on low heat for 30- 40 minutes.
Add frozen veggies and parsley last 5 minutes of cooking.
As I said above, fall came so fast that it flew by and before I could truly appreciate the colourful leaves, the rain ripped them off their tree branches. I didn’t even have time to watch them as they hurled by me in 70 km an hour gusting winds. The few times there has been sunshine, we have tried to enjoy it even if it’s just on the walk to school.
My YBesty invited our family over for an amazing dinner in September! We had homemade beef dips and a home baked pie for dessert! It was wonderful to catch up ❤️
The House is coming along. A lot of the construction has been on the inside so it’s hard to see what exactly is going on but I promise, it’s a lot!
Ninja’s radio gig came to a completion. It was a wonderful experience for him and he has taken on a volunteer position at the station! His program had a wrapup party that we all attended to celebrate their accomplishment!
Did I mention we are doing House renovations? 😂
HBear had her first grade 6 field trip! I volunteered and we walked from the middle school to the community centre for some swimming fun! Afterwords, we walked back and had a pizza lunch together! It’s amazing seeing how these kids have come so far since my first field trip with them way back in kindergarten.
Both the Girls wore orange shirts for Orange Shirt Day in remembrance of all the lives that were brutally forced into residential schools throughout Canadian history. This was a picture HBear’s teacher sent home 🧡.
Oh and more… House.
We celebrated J’s birthday with spaghetti and meatballs (recipe to come) And then the next week, celebrated Dad’s birthday with dinner at Earls and presents!
We celebrated Thanksgiving with my in-laws. My MIL makes the best turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes! She tops it off with homemade pumpkin pie that is to die for! I am truly thankful.
Last week Ninja and I took a craft cocktail class that featured, Tequila. Each cocktail was designed to bring out the flavour of each type of tequila. Each cocktail was paired with an amazing culinary bite that enhances the flavour is even more! We always have a amazing time at the Nest and Nectar.
HBear began her Solo practices. She is doing a contemporary solo to an acoustic version of the song, Yellow. This year, her dance instructor asked her if there was any song she had an emotional connection to and after some thought she said, Yellow by Coldplay. That was the song that my Mom dedicated to us at her celebration of life. My Bro and Ninja plugged in their guitars and serenaded us at the service. I was shocked that that song came to HBear’s mind. Watching her practice it is bittersweet. She told me that her goal is to dance so beautifully that Nana will be able to see her from wherever she is and cheer her on ❤️.
Both of the Girls had their annual Eye Dr appointments this past week. A few weeks ago I noticed a black spot in SBean’s white of her eye. I took a picture of it and went into the local eyeglass store and showed a picture to one of the technicians. He told me, “you should get that looked at right away that looks like blastoma.” 😱 I almost vomited. My nephew passed away at 10 years old of neuroblastoma 6 years ago. I called and made an appointment right away. Around the same time, I found two lumps on the back of SBean’s neck. I took her into the doctor and they ran bloodwork. A few days later Ninja and I were out doing some house shopping when the doctor called. My heart almost stopped beating. Why was he calling during lunch? Why did his secretary put him through to personally talk to us? When he came on the phone and told me that he wanted to let me know personally that all the results came back fine and she was a healthy little Bean I was so relieved. When the eye doctor looked into her eyes and then reassured me that it wasn’t common but just a shadow of a popped blood vessel in her eye I couldn’t help the silent tears from streaming down my face in relief 💛.
To celebrate healthy children LOL I went out for a much-needed dinner with the Ladies.
Oh and… More house!
SBean’s school does a fantastic fundraiser that allows families to go up to the Summerland Ornamental Gardens and take an 8×10 family photo for $20 with all proceeds going back to the school! He also sends all the other photos for you to go gaga over and spend money on. We did it a few years ago and took the opportunity to get family photos for a good cause again.
The Girls were so excited that one of their biggest items on their wish list happened last week, the house got their bathtub!
HBear added more choreography to her solo dance, SBean worked hard on her Halloween craft, the Ghost Tootsie pops, and for the first time, she tried figure skates! She was a bit cautious at first, took a few spills, but loved them! She went for a play date this weekend at her KBesty’s house while HBear went to see Maleficent with her friends. Just her friends. I dropped her off at the movie theatre for the first time! My baby is growing up!
On Sunday we tried to fit in all the Halloween festivities we could into the one day of sunshine and blue skies. We went to the pumpkin stand and picked out our pumpkins, started the carving process, and decorated the yard!
I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Halloween!
