Halloween

It was rainy all day. L wore her "inmate" costume to school and briefly stopped by the house after school before going trick-or-treating with her friend, J. It was raining most of the time they were out. She said people were being pretty generous with the candy. We had fewer than 40 trick-or-treaters and usually get a lot more. L said one man yelled at her that she was too old to be out trick-or-treating. Really? Sixth grade is too old? She's finally old enough to go out with her friends and enjoy the night and she should stay home instead? I don't think so. Whatever happened to people minding their own business?

Even B's friend, IR and B, brought masks just in case they decided to take a spin around the block. They opted for Playstation, a warm house and pizza instead. L was nice enough, though, to share some of her candy with them.

Golf party

Both varsity and junior varsity girls before the awards ceremony:

Tonight was E's end-of-the-season golf party. E received a gold bar to put on her varsity letter. Her surprise, though, was her coach's creation of a new award, "Best Celebration," that he awarded to her. E said she was on the ninth hole against one of the Downers Grove teams and she "made a 20-foot putt, five feet off the green, for birdie. It was gorgeous." Coach said E did a double-fist pump to celebrate the putt. He said it's a putt he'll never forget.

Here's E getting her award from coach ...

and a hug.

Here's E with her freshman "little sister," I. E gave her the pillow she made the other night and I gave E a new ball marker.

We were able to talk B into going to the golf party with us and had planned to take L along, but the church was having its Halloween party tonight and although she was offered a ride home, we didn't want her coming home to an empty house. L worked her magic at school today, though, and baked up a plan with D, a friend from school and church, that we'd drive them both to the church and D's mom would keep L at their house until the party was over. It all worked out. L got to go to the church party and even won bingo.

Twin Day & a skull

Today was Twin Day at Julian so L and her friend, J, dressed alike with their Julian pajama pants, their Irving send-off shirts and their UGG boots.

L stayed after school for half an hour today to decorate a sugar skull with kids from her Spanish class. The students made the skulls yesterday, but L came home from school early sick yesterday so her teacher saved her one and let her join in on the decorating today.

Huskie pillow

E has her end-of-the-season golf party Wednesday night and wanted to make her "little sister" a pillow with orange fleece on one side, blue on the other. She both a half yard of each color and start putting it together tonight. However, the half yard wasn't long enough so onto Plan B. We cut each piece in half and she sewed them together on the sewing machine. Now one side is half orange/half blue and the other side is the same, but with the colors flipped. It turned out looking pretty good. She gave a similar pillow (blue paw print on orange fleece on one side/blue on the other side) to her "big sister" when she was a freshman and her "big sister" took it with her to college this year.

Shhhh!

B's sleepover with his two friends Friday night finally caught up with him.

Doughnuts & caskets

Andy got home from his Texas trip at about 11:30 p.m. last night. He immediately got to work making chocolate frosting for the church's last doughnut day of the Farmers Market season. It's been the tradition to make a bag of chocolate batter for the last day, and Andy came up with the idea a couple years ago that they needed frosting. He used 16 pounds of powdered sugar to make enough frosting for 53 dozen doughnuts. Instead of one bag of chocolate mix this year, two bags were ordered, making about 110 dozen chocolate cake doughnuts. Of course, they made the regular doughnuts, too. As you can see in the picture, there are chocolate cake doughnuts, chocolate-frosted chocolate cake doughnuts, powdered sugar doughnuts - both regular and chocolate - and the old standby, cinnamon sugar-coated doughnuts. B and his friends, IR and B, had a lot to choose from when they woke up in morning.

We took the girls to Forest Park this morning for the Second Annual Casket Races. I heard about it last year and thought we should see it this year. Ten teams competed, pushing caskets down the street in a race. Racing caskets may seem odd, but according to the village, "With all the famous folks buried in Forest Park (and the fact that thirty times the living population are interred in Forest Park cemeteries) it's a perfect fit!"

After the race, L went from store to store doing a little trick-or-treating. She had a "Scream" mask to wear while trick-or-treating, but kept taking it off because it was bothering her. I managed to get a picture of the girls by one of the caskets. I think this one came in last.

Cozy cats

B has been leaving his bedroom door open during the days and August can usually be found sleeping on his top bunk. Today, I noticed Muffles in there too. I think that look on August's face means he wants to continue his nap.

Good news for E

E got a great call tonight from her friend, A. Back in summer, they applied to sell their crafts at the Oak Park Women's Exchange. It's a store a few blocks from our house that sells items from crafters throughout the area. They turned in the application and some of their craft examples, such as this soapstone craft she made in June to see if they'd be given a spot. Today, the girls received an email from their "mentor" at the shop, wondering where they've been. A saw the email first and explained to the mentor that the girls had no idea they had been accepted! Then she called E. The girls were ecstatic on the phone. Now they have to meet with the mentor, get some crafts on display in the shop and start working/volunteering at the shop for their eight hours a month. They're so excited!

Rubber band jewelry

L has hopped on the latest tween craze and began making this rubber band necklace yesterday. She finished it in a couple of hours by folding the rubber bands over each other using two pens. It's a process you have to see to believe it works. Tonight we bought a couple more packs of the rubber bands so she can make a few bracelets. The craft stores sell a Rainbow Loom which gives the kids more design options than using pens, but L said she's fine using the pens for now.

E's golf stash

E had to turn in her OPRF golf bag and varsity jacket after school today. Andy cleaned out her bag this morning before he left for a four-day business trip to Texas. He was gone before E woke up and said I should tell her to carry fewer balls in her bag so it wouldn't be so heavy. I was amazed at the amount of things she had stuffed in that bag:

2 sleeves of OPRF-printed golf balls
1 golf towel
3 golf gloves
1 range finder
1 valuables bag
4 scorecards
1 player's card for the Chicago Park District
6 ball markers
52 golf tees
1 golf pencil
1 golf divot repair tool
and 49 golf balls.

I've heard the saying, "It takes a lot of balls to play golf the way I do," but no one needs to be carrying 49 balls in their bag. And she carried this bag with a full set of clubs in it too. Yikes.

A second read

E's English paper about "The Scarlet Letter" is to be filed electronically by midnight. She had me read through it at 8:30 p.m. I write in a journalistic style that is easy to understand. The way she's being taught to write for English class is not easy to understand. It's quite confusing, actually. After I read through the paper and gave her some ideas on how to change it, Andy gave it a go.

Garfield Park Conservatory

After the youth service at church this morning, L enjoyed a pizza lunch with the Middle School Youth Group. They then headed in a few cars and went to the Garfield Park Conservatory. She took along my old camera and got quite a few interesting pictures. Of everything, she said she liked this giant flower best:

I don't think it looks real, but she claims it was. Here are some of her other shots of the things she saw:

... and some cool wind chimes:

Offertory music

L volunteered to play her flute during church today for the youth service. She played a song, accompanied by our pianist Joan, during the offering. Afterward, everyone clapped for her and then her friend, R, played a piano solo for the remainder of the offering. She got a round of applause too. It was fun to hear the kids, who were all sitting in the front row, cheer for their friends' performances.

My Whovians

L's friend, J, came over this afternoon and we took them to the River Forest Library for its Dr. Who Mini Con. L said they watched a Dr. Who episode and played some games. She bought her hat this morning at a costume shop (it's Dr. Who's tardis) and she came home with a button for a second-place finish in the Mini Con's costume contest!

Tp-ing

The varsity golf girls met tonight to throw some toilet paper on teammate EY's front lawn. EY is headed to the state tournament tomorrow!

Belated anniversary dinner

Andy and I went out Saturday night to Frontera Grill for our belated anniversary dinner. L was at camp and E and B can manage at home by themselves just fine. We did go downtown for pizza on our anniversary, but E and L tagged along so it wasn't the anniversary date we had been planning. The advantage to that, though, was that E was able to get a nice picture of the two of us.

Frontera Grill changes its menu depending on the time of year and what's in season. I had the Saturday night special: Chipotle-glazed Gunthorp Farm pork back ribs. Tangy cabbage, black beans. The cabbage was so spicy I let Andy eat it. And instead of beans, it came with cheesy grits which were very tasty. Andy had the Carne Asada "Brava": spicy habanero-marinated, wood-grilled Creekstone Natural ribeye, spicy salsa huevona (hand-crushed, grill-roasted tomatoes, jalapeños). Grilled knob onions, sweet corn tamal (topped with homemade sour cream & fresh cheese).

And it's over

Here's E before the Sectional Tournament today. She had to be at school by 7:15 a.m. for the drive to Coyote Run golf course. At least she was smiling before the match. Afterward, it was all tears. She scored a 102, not scoring for her team and her team came in fourth place. She was crying because they lost, the season was over, the seniors won't be back next year, she didn't play well, she has to give back her varsity golf jacket she adores and she'll lose her athletic study hall at the end of the week. I predict she'll be a hot mess at the end of next season when she's a senior. On a positive note, one of the two seniors on the team qualified for the state meet this week. It's the second time an OPRF girl has made it to the state tournament! The firs time was before E was even in high school.

Since L was home for Columbus Day, we spent the day searching for an appropriate Halloween costume - something she can wear to church and school and that can accommodate warmer clothing for trick-or-treating if it's cold outside. I was favoring a witch or pirate, but L chose this one. The picture gives you a sneak peek. She'll save the unveiling for closer to Halloween.

Tower Hill

L came back this morning from Tower Hill Camp with lots of stories. She had a good time!

Singing songs they learned at church camp this summer:

At the orchard:

In the mess hall:

Karaoke time. Singing "This Girl is On Fire" with the girls:

Down at the beach this morning. Obviously, it was a little bright out!

Project of the day

Andy and I went to Lowe's this morning to buy new blinds for the living room. Some of the ones we had, which we bought in 2006, had holes in them (darn cats!) and just last week the strings on the middle one broke and couldn't be fixed. It looked OK, but we couldn't raise the blind. The new ones are cordless so there's no cord hanging out; it's all inside the blinds. Here's to hoping they last as long as the previous ones did.

And, of course, the minute the old blinds are down, Muffles jumps up on the sofa to look out the side window which we rarely open for him. It's a whole new world looking out that window, I guess.

Off to camp

L packed her things and went to a friend's house to get a ride to Tower Hill Church Camp in Sawyer, Mich. She's driving there with one family and rooming with them tonight, then staying in a hotel with another family Saturday night who will drive her home Sunday morning. This is the first time since L was born that we haven't gone as a family. We figured E's golf schedule would interfere, forcing us to miss Friday night and taking a good chunk out of our Saturday activities. And we were right. She has to be at the school at 7:15 a.m. tomorrow for a golf practice ot prepare for the Sectional Tournament next week.