Psycho-Mom Stalks Child (And Brent & Kristen Come Visit)

"Oh no! It's cold outside!"

Emma made sure to tuck these two little jack-o'lanterns (which Uncle Brent helped her carve) indoors for the night. Good thing, too-- last night we had our first frost of the year here in Colfax.

We also had a light dusting of SNOW, shown by the white on our roof tops this morning...

Jon surprised us Thursday night by coming home a day early. They let the guys leave early this weekend, if any wanted to, because in a couple of weeks his crew will be heading over to North Dakota, for a short-term job.

Once that starts, of course, Jon won't make it home at all on weekends. But his time in North Dakota should only be for 2-3 weeks, so we can handle that.

Friday morning my youngest brother, Bill, stopped by on his way to Rhinelander. Emma and Michael missed seeing him because they had school, but Jon, Leila, and I were around and enjoyed the visit. We had coffee and talked for a couple of hours.

Later that day, when the school bus pulled up to the house to drop the kids off, only one got off-- just Emma.

Fortunately, we had planned it that way. Michael and three other boys were dropped off-- overnight bags and Halloween costumes in tow-- at their friend Alex's house, for an overnight Halloween party.

This was Michael's first "overnight" experience at a friend's, and he was excited. The rest of us decided to go for Chinese dinner at a restaurant in nearby Bloomer that night. Since Michael doesn't care for Chinese food and usually vetoes that as an option when we talk about places to eat, it seemed like an opportune time to reach for the chopsticks.

Anyway, on our way home from dinner, I confess I drove us a little out of our way so that I could drive past the house Michael was staying at. Let's call it motherly concern. As I turned around in their driveway and peered, best I could, into their brightly lit windows (I don't think anyone in the house had time to notice me in full Psycho-Mom mode, stalking my child from their driveway), Jon sighed and shook his head. But alas: their house is in a valley and a thick pocket of fog prevented me from seeing anything. Still, I was somewhat reassured that Michael was not sitting outside on their doorstep weeping or wandering along the side of the road, rejected and looking for the way home.

They dropped him off the next morning, and he was none the worse for wear-- though he did admit that the bed full of squirmy boys didn't actually get to sleep until two in the morning. But they watched a couple of seasonal movies and played some fun games. Michael brought home a pumpkin he had decorated, ghost cookies on sticks, and a jar of candy corn that he had won by making the most accurate guess for how many were in the jar. (He didn't really guess, by the way... he estimated by counting rows and columns of visible candies, and doing a little math. He was only off by 5!).

Emma was glad to have him back. As much as they bicker, they are usually good companions for each other.

Here's Emma, busy painting.

Last week Leila and I helped out Emma's art teacher at school, while Emma's class had art. They were working on their own versions of "The Scream" (the famous painting by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, with a white face screaming against an abstracted background).

Emma would like it if I came to her art class every week, but I'm thinking I'll pop in more occasionally than that.


Saturday afternoon Jon's oldest brother Brent and fiance Kristen came over. They'd stopped at Klinger's on the way over and picked up pumpkins for the kids to carve. This was Brent's idea, and I thought it was very sweet... he did all the "work" and got down on hands and knees to scoop out the seeds and pulp.


The kids drew their designs on the pumpkins with marker; Michael decided he wanted to leave his like that, and spare his little pumpkin faces the knife. But Brent was permitted to help Emma carve out her jack-o'lantern faces.

Everyone was real pleased with the results... including me, who now considers this particular Halloween tradition officially accomplished for the year, with no plans to stick my hand inside any additional sticky pumpkins, now that Uncle Brent did the job. Thanks, Brent!!

We had a bonfire outside and concluded the evening with supper and games of chess by the fireplace (between Kristen, Emma and Michael). Despite not playing since she was little, Kristen held her own against Michael.

Kids learn so much from board games! Taking turns and learning to play by the rules are just a tiny part of it. What better way is there to try to teach your child not to gloat and praise themselves when they're doing well (or cry and pout when someone else succeeds instead).

Emma and Kristen made necklaces together, and a wary Leila decided to let Kristen hold her while I got things ready and did some clean up (very helpful, since lately Leila is shy of visitors and wants to be Mommy's girl the whole time).

In case anyone is interested, here's the recipe for wild rice crockpot dish we had that night:

Wild Rice Casserole

1 cup uncooked wild rice

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped carrots

2 cans mushrooms, drained

1 large onion, chopped

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 cup slivered almonds (I substituted 1 tsp almond extract for the actual nuts)

3 beef boullion cubes

2 tsp seasoned salt

2 pounds beef, cut into 1 inch cubes

3 cups water

Place ingredients in order listed in slow cooker (do not stir). Cover and cook on low for 6 - 8 hours (don't open the lid during the cooking process!). Stir before serving. The rice really expands during cooking, so 1 cup is plenty.

Also, in case anyone is interested, we tried a couple of different recipes for toasting the pumpkin seeds we ended up with after Brent and Kristen's visit. Emma and I agreed this one was the best:

Sweet & Spicy Pumpkin Seeds

1 egg white

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp salt

1 cup fresh pumpkin seeds

Preheat oven to 375. In medium bowl, whisk egg white, sugar, cayenne, and salt. Add the pumpkin seeds and toss well. Drain off the excess egg white (using a strainer) and place seeds in a single layer across a baking sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes or until seeds are golden. Sprinkle with a bit more sugar and cayenne pepper when they come out of the oven. Taste and season with more salt if needed.

Thought I'd close with more of Laurie's pictures, from our visit to Rhinelander a couple of weekends ago.

I think if Emma's art teacher saw this picture by Uncle Jo Jo, she'd want him to volunteer in her classroom, too. That's how I was "discovered"! Emma had shown her playful pictures that her and I had done together at home (silly pumpkins and ghosts made with chalk on black paper). She saw the art in that and sent me a note. So I think she'd be loving the pumpkin above.

We're still not sure what we're doing for Halloween this year... maybe just trick or treat around Colfax. For the life of me I cannot find that bumble bee costume I was going to have Leila wear (Michael and Emma wore it for their first Halloweens, as well).

Have a safe and frightful Halloween!