Main Street Treats

For the past five Halloweens I have handed out the treats (this year: toys!) in front of one of our Curves clubs for the Forest Grove "Trick or Treat the Merchants" activity. Gary brought Madelyn and Sayaka down to join the fun, and one of my wonderful employees took over for a few minutes so I could walk around downtown with them.

As you can see, we returned to the Jin-bei for the second round of trick-or-treat.

One place let the kids choose between candy or an apple! Awesome! Madelyn loved her apple, it was from a local tree too. I love the beautiful autumn leaves!

Walking down Forest Grove's Main Street

Getting another Tootsie Roll or Dum-Dum (the quality of candy is low when the businesses have to provide enough for 1500 kids).

We ran into a Curves member and her Princess dog. The dog's owner is holding her arms to keep her upright, and Madelyn's parent is holding her arm to keep her from bolting into the street (we were at a major intersection here).

Thank you!

Delighting in another sucker back at Curves.

Care Center Treats

Continued from previous post...

Halloween morning we went to an elderly persons rehabilitation center for Trick or Treating(The same place we did the Easter egg hunt in spring).

It was a cold, rainy morning. So to the insisted-upon swimsuit "costume" we added leg warmers and a velour jacket to stay relatively warm. With the pigtails, I think she could pass for a gymnast. So that works.

She's got her treat bucket, purse, and keys...ready to go!

She's just one of the big kids!

"Why do these people keep giving me candy?"

Cousins Jack and Madelyn enjoying Tootsie Pops.

I love the way Jack's looking at her sideways in that one. Ha!

Yummy suckers!

It didn't take Madelyn too long to get the idea that she could take candy from the strangers. She didn't want them to drop it in her basket, she would either take it from their hands, or reach into their bowls herself. But she always said "thank you!"

And she kept going back to this one woman for some reason.

"What else do you have in there?"

Halloween "Costume"

Madelyn is too young to understand the fun of dressing up in a costume for Halloween. But she is now too old to allow me to dress her up in any silly thing I want. The mistake I made this Halloween was taking too long to select and purchase something she could wear. Beginning in late September I spent some time browsing eBay and craigslist, perused the costume aisles in Target and Fred Meyer, making mental notes of things that might work. Then all of a sudden it was the week before Halloween and we had a little Moms Club costume event to attend--but no costume. It was too late to order one online. I did not have the energy to drive across town to buy one from a craigslist posting, enduring the risk that it might not have been well-represented in the tiny photo. I ran in to Target and decided it just was not worth 30 dollars to buy a horribly cheap-looking costume to wear once. At Playgroup, I asked my friend Margie if she still had the costume her daughter had worn last year. Not only did Margie have it, she had even thought to bring it with her to let me borrow. How did she know? The costume was an adorable plush monkey. Madelyn loves monkeys, so I thought it would be perfect. She did love seeing the monkey costume, and going, "ooh ooh ah ah!" when she saw it. But when I tried to put it on her, she repealed and whined. I tried not to make any big deal of it, and over the next 2.5 days would nonchalantly try to put on the monkey "coat" every so often. She loves wearing coats. But apparently not an empty monkey carcass. I knew I should have gone with a witch costume, which she would have thought was simply a pretty dress. Too late, the party is today. So we improvised. To the Moms Club costume party, Madelyn wore her Japanese Jin-bei. But since it was cold, she also had polka-dotted leg warmers, and we threw on her beaded necklace for good measure, so I'm sure no one knew what the heck she was supposed to "be." (One friend assumed she was a tourist. In retrospect I should have just said "yep" instead of explaining why her "costume" was so lame.) I didn't take any photos that day for some reason.

Then on Halloween morning it was time to put on a costume again, and she was not interested in wearing her Jin-bei. But she was VERY interested in wearing her swimsuit. Well...why not?

Welcome Sayaka

Madelyn is all ready to go with purse, blankie, and kitty! And her hair is actually out of her face!

Tonight we met Sayaka, a 13-year-old Japanese student who came to stay with us for a few days. This is part of Forest Grove's Sister City Delegation. About a dozen eight graders come from Nyuzen for 5 days. They speak very little English, which was a challenge. But a few dinners together and one day of sightseeing was nothing compared to having a foreign exchange student for 10 months, even if Yuka spoke English quite well.

We had a bit of trouble keeping Madelyn quiet and seated during the little welcome reception the next night. She loves to run around and scream with delight! That can be cute, if the rest of the room is not trying to listen to awkward Jr. High Japanese students singing John Denver a capella.

This is a new thing for Madelyn too: Miss Accessorized. She loves wearing the bead necklace she got from a midget in Orlando, and now carrying her own purse. When she kept wanting to get into mine, I had the idea to give her this little pink one I have. She puts her "stuff" in there and carries it like a big girl. And I love it because when we're coming in from the car I can throw in all the extraneous items that wind up all over the backseat to bring inside: shoes and socks--which Madelyn always takes off in the car, garbage, toys, escaped snack bits, etc.) So it's a win-win, plus she looks so CUTE!

Shoes! Shoes!

Madelyn is learning to put on her own shoes, and she wants to do it ALL THE TIME.

And she is particular about WHICH shoes she wants to put on as well.

Partly she loves going outside, and shoes usually mean she gets to do that. But she'll still put them on anytime it strikes her fancy, even without pants or socks, as you can see.

Sometimes it's hard though!

She loves to shout, "Shoes! Shoes!" And then once hers are on, she runs to the entryway closet saying, "Mommy Shoe!" so we can both go outside.

Pumpkin Patch 08

A few flashbacks from this time last year:

2007 2008

2007 2008

2007 2008

2007

2008

This year Madelyn had fun peeking through all the face holes. I don't think she had a clue about the animal-head concept, more of a peek-a-boo game.

2007 2008

She sure has grown and changed!

On the hayride, driven by Grandpa Dale, at Baggenstos Farms (owned by Gary's step-sister's husband's family...so we were like celebrities.)

Grandma Bonnie and Madelyn. I think this is a very darling photo.

We're not quite grasping the whole 'picking out a pumpkin' thing yet, so we found other ways to be entertained.
If I had a suggestion for the Baggenstos family, it would be to provide a variety of pumpkin sizes in the patch. Not everyone wants a basketball-sized jack-o-lantern, and although they had smaller pumpkins for sale up at the store, it would have been fun to have picked out one that Madelyn could carry. Also, part of the "pumpkin patch" appeal is scavenging for the one that is the right color, size, and shape that you want. When they are all large and round, the selection process is not quite as exciting. Just my two cents.

And a quick wagon ride to finish off this lovely day.

Goofball

While I tried to work on my computer, Madelyn put HAPPY stickers all over her feet, and one on her nose.

She's so silly!

In the Woods

My mom had a friend from church come take the big "Christmas Card" family photo. She also photographed our individual families, but I still haven't seen those pictures to determine whether they'll be adequate. I took a few candids while we were finding the "perfect spot."

Gary dragging Madelyn and Jack inside for dinnertime.