a festival of witches

 

I look at this picture of my hair, styled by Maddy, and think, wow, she's pretty good and also, Holy cow it was long! I've cut it since and I miss it terribly. But that is not the point. Maddy is pretty darn good at hair styling these days.

 

So, September came and went, I turned another year older, we missed the state fair this year, but I vowed to be better at taking care of my family. One day I came home from work so looking forward to the wonderful aromatic smell that would surely emanate from our house because I had put a roast in to cook that morning. Much to my dismay, I came in to find that I had never turned on the crockpot. Ah the sadness and wailing that ensued (well, really I probably swore and then took a picture to document my idiocy). The best of intentions, and we ate out that night.

 



a family drawing from maddy

 I've always wanted to go the Witch Festival at Gardner Village so this year we decided to make it happen. Maddy and I took a day off of day care and work, respectively, and headed to see what all the fuss was about. Since it's October, Maddy wore her Snow White costume. Not sure if that is a normal thing - to dress up for the Witch Festival - but I figured, hey why not!

 

The Witch-a-polooza that Gardner Village does it pretty incredible. There are witches around all through the grounds and the shops and the kids are given a paper with a list of witches to find. If they can find them all, they can get a cookie from the bakery. Some were pretty easy to find and others quite difficult. All were very clever. There were real witches wandering around - one pare on a scooter- and lots of activities. Stations to paint, play games, have your face painted. It was pretty amazing what they do there and lots of fun.

No fun day is fully satisfying in the eyes of Maddy unless it involves a "paint face" so, since this was a day of YES, I figured hey, why not.

After a small-ish melt down because it was hot and she was hungry. We drove to the mall to have Hot Dog on a Stick. Then when asked what she wanted to do next she said that we should probably go golfing. And, since it was a day of yes (you're getting this) I figured hey, why not.

Driving past the temple on the way home we got out to do somersaults on the grass and take a photo at the fountain.



Maddy and Ruby, two witches in training on their broom

Peace out! Happy October

Happy Halloween 2015

Happy Halloween

 For halloween this year Maddy was a cute little devil and I was Talia al Ghul. Maddy was so, so excited to wear make-up to school. She would have worn the wig if I would have let her. It was a bit much I thought.

What a fun thing it is for both her and me to be there. I have memories of being her age and of doing the parade around the school. At Vista elementary, one class started the parade. They would parade through the classroom next door and then as they left that room, the class they just paraded past would join the end of the line. The starting class would go through each room, picking up as they went along, and then when they get back to their room, they would sit down and have others parade through their room so everyone could see each other.

The two best parts were (1) between the younger and older halls, you would go through the lunchroom/gym where the parents waited to see all the kids, and (2) the party afterwards! Generally the roommothers would have some activities and treats planned and it was such a fun day.

Maddy's school always has their parade outside and the only negative with that is the kids then sometimes have to cover up costumes if the weather is too cold. But it does allow the parents to string around the school and get a good unimpeded view of their children.

Maddy's elementary school had their halloween party a day early, which meant that she could spend Halloween with me at work. I'm part of the committee for parties so she helped us set up and take care of things and I didn't worry about her keeping me from work since I wouldn't have worked much that day anyhow. She's a pretty good helper.



Brett Steinaker/Joker, Lauren Beams/Harlequin, Myrna/Poison Ivy, Bree Beckstead/Canwoman, me/Talia

Since our theme for the company this year was comics, the accountants decided to dress up as Batman villans. I was assigned Talia al Ghul and apparently if you read the comics or are just current on your Batman lore you might know who she is. I didn't. But, with a borrowed samurai sword, black wig and clothes, I figure I was passable.

I was surprised and touched when the founders, after awarding prizes for costumes, brought Maddy up on the stage and said nice things about me and her (proud mama moment) and gave her $20 as her prize. She was so cute in front of the whole company and so, so pleased to have won a prize and have her picture taken with Aaron and Kent. It was really sweet.

Aaron, Melissa, TJ, Leslie, Dave, Patrick

Baldies



Billy McCleary/Two face missed the group picture Love that his face lines up with the wall

 Ms. America was vising at work also and Maddy was enthralled with her. It was a super fun day and after the trick-or-treating around the office she of course insisted we go straight to Toys R Us to spend her prize money before then trick or treating with the neighbors. Scott took her around with the neighbors. They stayed out terribly late having visited not just our Kamas drive neighbors but also the ward members across the canal.