Everything's Pointing to HALLOWEEN

Halloween's only a day away. And MOST of what we've been doing for the last few weeks has been leading up to it. But there are some good stories in between all the fall activities.

On the science front, in the last three weeks: (1) we've seen a lunar eclipse that turned the supermoon red, (2) we chased the sunset across the field across the street and projected a partial eclipse of the sun through a pinhole in a shoe box, and (c) we watched the International Space Station orbit above us. Oh, and Caroline found these nasty-looking bugs which Cole identified as ladybug nymphs (!), so we're now raising ladybugs.

Continuing in the education vein, last Wednesday Caroline woke up far too snotty to go to school (literally, not figuratively, although she certainly has her moments, as you're about to see). When I told her she couldn't go to school, she stuck her little chin out and said, "Oh, I'm going." She got dressed, packed a lunch, prepared her snack, filled her water bottle, loaded up her backpack and followed her brothers out the door. It took me and another adult to hold her down when the bus pulled up. Seriously, she was like those women who get superhuman strength and lift cars off their children. The bus finally pulled away, with forty neighbors gaping as they watched me hold down a girl in the throes of a full-throttle fit. "I WANNA GO TO SCHOOL!" The ladies at the school office are still teasing me about it, because - yes - they heard about it. So the next day, when Caroline was cleared to go back to class, she went sprinting for the bus stop with a backpack full of library books. And tripped. And skidded to a stop with her face. I stared in horror as blood dripped from her nose and mouth and chin. She cried for a minute, and then said between sniffles, "Hurry, we're going to miss the bus." I took her back to the house, washed her face, lubed her up with Neosporin and walked her back out to the sidewalk. At 1:00 that day, I stopped by her classroom to check on her. Mrs. Sung (who also had Cole three years ago) brought her out to the hall. "Um. Mrs. Seevers, when she eats anything, she starts bleeding from her mouth." I said, "Caroline, why don't you come home with Mommy?" NO. So I looked up at Mrs. Sung, and we both shrugged, and Caroline went back into the classroom. Mrs. Sung said, "Wow, if that had been Cole, he wouldn't have even come to school." I said, "Yeah. She's a woman."

Needless to say, it hasn't slowed us down. We've visited Cox Farms. Made our annual monster cupcakes, built a creepy neighborhood, attended the Vienna Halloween parade (with a stopover at church first for hot dogs), and played outside every possible moment. Caught some soccer games. Had the fam over for a spooky brunch (see my scary nephews below). And we went to Boo at the Zoo. It's a great time to be a mom.