Happy Halloween from the Kaetzel Family!!

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so i didn't realize that i had a restriction on my comments here. i know that there are like 3 people total who read this blog but hey--now you can type your thoughts out. i know, this is the moment you've been waiting for.

Homemade Halloween

So we've been decorating the house for Halloween, but money's a bit tight for the Kaetzel Household these days, so it's all homemade. I gotta say...there's something great about everyone working together to make things festive. Have a look:

Daddy made this scary garbage-bag spider:

Mommy threw a scrap of fabric over a paper lantern, cut out some felt and -voila!- a ghost:

Max and Mommy painted pages out of the phonebook and tore them up to make a creepy Halloween wreath. Got the idea from The Crafty Crow:

Gus painted a colorful pumpkin picture. Mommy cut a pumpkin shape out of a Cheerios box, let Gus paint it and then pressed it onto paper & outlined it. Good work Gus!

Max painted this pumpkin at his Aunt Olivia's house and Mommy made the witch's broom. Broom idea from Martha Stewart.

Max and Mommy cut out these vampire bats and gave them scary (but cute) faces. They decorate our table:

A few more...

Best. Day. Ever.

This Saturday we went to the Lakeside School Rummage Sale and, while we didn't find many treasures, we had just about the most fun anyone could possibly have on a beautiful fall day. At the school we stumbled upon a big, open courtyard with tons of dry, crisp leaves. We must have spent an hour playing there. Running, chasing, laughing...being a family.

Lesson Learned

The other day we were driving up to the mall & we were on a street that was lined on both sides by trees. The leaves on every tree had turned a really vibrant red so I pointed them out to Max, commenting on how pretty they were. He got so excited and said, 'Wow! I think some people painted those!' Before he could even say anything else, I informed him about Fall and how leaves change color before they fall off the tree. He sort of gave me a dissinterested 'Oh.' and went back to looking out the window. I realized at that moment what a mistake I'd made. He was fascinated by what he'd seen and had probably started to wonder how those people would paint all those leaves. I can only imagine the scene his mind was putting together and I so wished I could peek in there & experience his wonder with him. I tried asking him more about the people who painted the leaves, but he just told me that people didn't paint them. Regret immediately rushed over me as I realized what had happened. I let information trump imagination. Sure, there's a time to teach your kids, but it doesn't have to be so immediate. Why didn't I let him live in that wonderful imaginary world for a little while? What was my rush to "educate"? And it's too bad...I sure would like to know about those leaf-painting people, but I'm afraid they may now be extinct.

Stop.
Listen.
Delight.

A good reminder. Thanks for the lesson, Max.

Pumpkin picking

Family Fun

FINALLY! A successful trip to the ballpark! It wasn't too cold, no fireworks, no leaving early...and the Mariners even managed to win! How could this happen, you ask? Simple...Mom-Mom and Trenton! Between Mom-Mom walking all over the park with Gus and Trenton being crazy silly with Max, we enjoyed a complete game. It was great and we didn't even care that we were watching the worst team in baseball. We cheered like they were the best and it was a blast. Thanks to Grandad for getting the whole family out for such a fun time.

Better Late...

I meant to post these photos from Mark and the boys' visit to PA awhile back, but it slipped my mind. Then a couple days ago, Gus fell asleep in his chair while he was eating lunch and I thought, 'Oh yeah...I should post those.' You'll see why.