Pumpkin Carving

Thursday, October 29th, in the evening just as soon as Matt got home from a late-ish meeting he had that day. we gathered on the back porch to finally carve our pumpkins in to jack-o-lanterns.  It's always tough to find the time to do it when Trick-or-Treat falls on a Friday or a weekend.  I don't know if this is the case other places, but here, even in Central California (where it isn't quite as hot still as San Diego in late-October) you really can only do them 2-3 days ahead of time or they'll be totally NASTY.

Also, we have dance and soccer Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings to with Halloween parties on Friday and Trick or Treat on Saturday, that really didn't leave us a choice.  

Anyway....  I laid out some cardboard to help catch any mess as we scooped out all the pumpkin guts, gathered our tools and the family together, along with all the pumpkins and we got ready to get to work.

Um, kids?  The cardboard was to set the pumpkins on.  Why are you sitting on it?

Why are the dogs all up in there?  Like they're going to help....  

Although, I guess the first year we carved pumpkins with Molly we threw the pumpkin guts out up on the hill in our old back yard that was basically a giant compost pile of grass clippings, leaves and rotten vegetables we forgot to eat in time and she went up there and ate most of the pumpkin guts.  So maybe she is kind of helpful.

Not Brutus though.

He just stands way too close, puts his wet nose on everything and gets in the way.

See what I mean?

Anyway, so eventually Matt got the top off the first pumpkin, (one of A.J.'s) and he set to work with a drill about cleaning it out.  I guess he'd seen a drill with a mixing beater attached used on a TV pumpkin carving show and he decided to try it himself.  (I was really worried Brutus might accidentally lose his nose.)  

But, just like on the TV show Matt had seen, it kind of worked like a charm.

(At least on the medium sized pumpkins.  The big one would prove to a be a problem later because the beater wasn't long enough.)

Anyway, soon enough we had enough pumpkins cleaned out to start letting the kids get their designs going and start carving them.  

Peter and his enormous pumpkin.

It gave Matt some trouble.

The skin was really, really thick,

A.J. got to work drawing faces for her pumpkins

I had Peter take this picture of me (even though I look terrible and
completely FAT) just so there was proof I was there.

Peter and Daddy discussing his design plans

This is what they ended up with.

Busy at work

This was Peter's original sketch.  Matt did a good job transferring it to the actual pumpkin.

Another picture that is supposed to prove I was there too.  Thank you Peter
for cutting most of my head off.  I'm sure Matt appreciates this picture though.  Geesh.

It's kind of hilarious that Peter's design had about 8 dozen spiky
things to cut out through that thick skins.

Lucy scooping out her pumpkin, very very slowly and completely ineffectively..  

A.J. and her first pumpkin.  It was supposed to be a dog or a wolf or something.  (Go figure!)

Still scooping.

Yup.

Peter with his finished pumpkin.  Is it just me or does that giant pumpkin keep getting bigger?

All of them when they were completed.

Mine.  I was going for a ghost.  :)

A.J.'s second pumpkin, also a dog or a cat or something.
If she doesn't go to Vet school some day I'll be shocked.

Lucy's.  She said she wanted Mickey Mouse so I looked up a
carving pattern online and free-hand copied it.  Not half bad, considering.

Oh and not to be left out.... my favorite picture of the evening.

A.J. cleaning up.

Under normal circumstances she never cleans up anything.  Getting her to clean up or pick up is like asking her to saw her own leg off with a butter knife.  I guess maybe they really are getting through to her at that fancy school is more than just expensive tuition and a cute uniform sailor dress.  

AJ's PreK Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

The PreK class's field trip for the month of October was to a pumpkin patch.

It was a short trip, to a small patch, but it was nice to go along with A.J. and her friends anyway, even if it was kind of hot on the bus and I really did forget just how bumpy it is when you get stuck sitting toward the back, squashed between two four year old little girls.  

Boarding the bus

Setting off together to find themselves each a pumpkin

A.J. took a really, really, really long time choosing.  She seemed to need to check every pumpkin in the place before she choose one.  Her buddy had picked one for herself in about 3 seconds and she started to complain a lot about having to lug her own pumpkin around as we both followed behind A.J. while she made her choice.

F-I-N-A-L-L-Y they both picked one.

We took a selfie.  Hahah.

Next there followed about 15 minutes of wandering through the corn maze.  It was a mess.  The children kept picking up corn cobs to carry along and they all ran off down paths that weren't really intended to be paths.  Fun.

Then everybody gathered for snack and a group photo.

Here's A.J. with her pumpkin on the bus before we headed back to school.

St. Francis Blessing of the Animals

Back at the beginning of October sometimes, that children in grades 1-3 invited their parents and their pets to join them in the garden at school one afternoon for a special Tribute to St. Francis and a Blessing of the Animals.

The whole class.  Peter is almost right in the middle, though it might be hard to tell for share since several of the boys all have that same color blondish hair.  I swear that is him in the middle.

The children presented various songs and speeches about St. Francis.  Peter, and the other first graders presented the prayer of St. Francis.  Peter's part was with two other classmates, to act out "where there is despair, hope."  :)  It was very sweet.

Sister Claire, the Head of School said a few words and also prayed for all of the animals we'd gathered with there.

I got kind of artsy with this one.  

Peter specifically requested that I bring Brutus.  I guess he just likes Brutus better than Molly.  That's cray actually since Molly generally behave 10,000% better and Brutus used to detest the very existence of my son.  But these days, they are friends I guess so he wanted Brutus.

I joked that Brutus needed the blessing WAY more than Molly anyway.  

Don't worry, I brought along Molly's collar and had it blessed too, so she wouldn't be left out.

Here's Brutus getting blessed.  At least he behaved.

So that was sweet.  I love these random little family events at school.  It's always nice to get to see Peter in the middle of the day too.

Parent Viewing Week at Dance for A.J.

Let me just be perfectly honest and admit that I have no Earthly idea how much I've talked about A.J.'s dance stuff this year.  I think the last I wrote was something about her acro camp and team audition, but that's about the last I can recall.

So,, to review.....

Everything on the website for this new studio said Team Members needed to be 6.  

All the published information for the multi-studio collaboration Nutcracker production said students needed to be 5 to audition.

Because of this, as we wrapped up our dance year in San Diego before moving up here I told A.J. we would be stepping back with dance a bit.  I signed her up for one tap/ballet combo class and tumbling and that was going to be it.  But then I put her in their acro/circus camp over the summer and I talked a bit about her dance experiences in San Diego and I mentioned competition and Nutcracker and before I knew it A.J. was taking a private with their Team Director as her audition and they were telling me if we wanted we could come to Nutcracker Auditions.  

So at the beginning of August, she began he new dance year classes.  She was put into Jazz 1, Ballet 1 and Mini Team Technique Class on Mondays.  (We decided to stack her classes up as much as possible so she cold still have "free" days too.)  On Tuesday she would have her private lesson to work on her tap solo and Mini Team Rehearsal.  On Wednesdays she would have just Tumbling 1/2.  

That's 5 1/2 hours of dance classes a week.

(Plus Nutcracker rehearsals on weekends, which are usually 2 more hours.)

I'll be 100% honest and admit I was worried.  Especially about those Mondays.  Especially since she was still 4 and most of the other girls in Jazz 1 and Ballet 1 are 6-9 years old.  (Yikes)  

But she did okay.  Her jazz teacher was concerned at first.  Both her jazz and ballet teachers said her biggest problem was getting distracted and not staying focused.  Her dance ability was fine.  So she could just stick with it and hopefully her focus would develop.  

Other than that she has done okay.  She's never complained about the long hours or about being tired or not wanting to go.  She does complain that her solo is hard, but I tell her to suck it up buttercup since she'll be competing with 5 and 6 year olds this year so her solo needs to be more challenging than last year's.  I ask her often if she's okay.  If she still wants to do it.  If she still thinks its fun.  

She does.

Occasionally, if she is being bratty I remind her that all those dance classes are expensive and a privilege.  She begs and begs to continue them.

It's kind of amazing actually.  I'm proud of her.

We parents don't get to watch much.  The classroom doors are kept closed most of the time and we are just left wondering what's going on inside.  It's probably better for the kids, because it reduces distractions, but it is tough as a mom to not know how your kid is doing.

So, when we finally got to the first week of October and parent viewing I was excited.  She's doing fine.  Keeping in mind, of course, that the doors were open and it was loud and there were a dozen people crowding in to watch their classes, she did well enough.  She's smaller than her classmates for sure, but she hangs in there.  She's not the best at anything yet, but she's not the worst, usually, either.  

And I see so much progress in her dancing.  She seems to stand taller.  She physically seems more fit. She's never had much leg flexibilty but she's come a long way.  There's still a ways to go, but it's only been a few months.  It's nice to see progress.

Anyway, here are a few photos I snapped during parent viewing week.

Jazz 1:

Stretching with a partner.  Her very pregnant teacher was her partner.

More stretches

Jazz walking

This picture was kind of an accident.  I was trying to get her walking, but
I accidentally got Peter sitting at the counter on the other side of the wall
doing his homework too.  Hahah.

Ballet 1:

It's interesting because A.J. never much cared for ballet before but now she LOVES it.  Her teacher is really really good I guess to have won A.J. over.  And, I think honestly, it's because even though A.J. is 2-5 years younger than her classmates, her teacher doesn't treat her like the youngest.  She treats A.J. the same as the other girls and rather than like an almost 5 year old and I really think my daughter appreciates that.

Either that or she's just decided to love ballet.

Demi-plie in second position

Demi-plie in first position  :)

Isn't that just the cutest little tendu you've ever seen?  

The whole class that day.

The following day I took a few pictures during Mini Team Rehearsal:

Once again, the other team members are ages 6-10.

You have to admit, she's kind of brave even going in there to dance with those other, older kids.

(But we're so thankful that she gets to.)

(If not also a little broke because of it.  Haha!)

Anyway, more jazz walking and being confident and fabulous.

She was walking with one of the senior team members who has kind of become like a big sister.

Turns....

Cleaning their routine....

It seems crazy to me where she's at in dance.  But she's happy and seems to be doing well and is progressing all the time.  She is more confident and outgoing and I think she likes the challenge.

So, I'm a dance mom. It is what it is.