A long, long time ago, when I was a kid, we used to make applesauce-spice cupcakes for Halloween and (here's the old-timey part) we would hand them out to the trick-or-treaters that we knew. (I didn't live quite so long ago that we could hand out baked goods to the kids we
didn't know). So this year my mom brought the fun on the road: She made them with Helena and Antonia in Seattle; and then she made them with Luke and Zach here in California.
The amazing thing to me is how she was able to engage both kids (well, I'm not that amazed that she could engage Luke but engaging Zach is quite an accomplishment) in decorating the cupcakes. Sure, Zach ate almost all of the chocolate chip noses, and a large number of the jelly bean mouths wound up on the floor, but who's counting? What was fun for me was to see both boys enjoying the same little Halloween activity that I used to love every year.
Yesterday, while Dave and Luke were at their soccer game, my parents and Zach and I engaged in more old-time fun (old time, in this case, referring to the 1960s) with a little social activism. We went down to the beach to join in the local
350 event (350 referring to the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in parts per million) for global climate change. I was kind of hoping we would be asked to form a giant "350" but instead we just formed a really big line that stretched on and on and on along the beach. Then we all did the wave, posed for the cameras, and chanted, "3-5-0! 3-5-0! 3-5-0!" I didn't think it made much of an impression at all on Zach, until he was going to bed last night and I heard him saying to himself, "5-6-0! 5-6-0!" That tells me two things: one, he was paying attention to a certain extent, and two, he definitely knows what numbers are, even if he didn't get them right. He might also be trying to tell us he's advocating for a higher carbon dioxide limit, but I sure hope not.
Today was the day of the annual pumpkin race, and this year Dave had vowed to get into the game and make our own pumpkin. He evaluated hundreds of pumpkins at the pumpkin patch, and finally settled on this one, which is tall and narrow and seems destined for racing when you put it on its side. We entered the "fun race," which meant we could just do unlimited racing, and it turns out we should have possibly entered it in the "serious" race. Pumpkin 51 (as Luke named it) won nearly every heat that it raced in.
I love the pumpkin races because it's fun to run into friends, check out all of the pumpkins, and see the whole town come out for a cause. Today I was especially excited because Zach voluntarily wore the cat costume that I made him (and he even consented to have the hood over his head every now and then). The best part about the costume is the tail, which is made from a super-fluffy feather boa. Zach has been wearing a loose portion of the tail around the house (stuffing one end into the back of his diaper), and so he was a little annoyed to learn that I had actually sewed this piece of tail to his pants. After several attempts to pull it off, he finally just decided to get with the program. If I can get him to stand still for long enough, we might just have a front picture of the cat costume by the time Halloween rolls around. Good times.
A long, long time ago, when I was a kid, we used to make applesauce-spice cupcakes for Halloween and (here's the old-timey part) we would hand them out to the trick-or-treaters that we knew. (I didn't live quite so long ago that we could hand out baked goods to the kids we didn't know). So this year my mom brought the fun on the road: She made them with Helena and Antonia in Seattle; and then she made them with Luke and Zach here in California.
The amazing thing to me is how she was able to engage both kids (well, I'm not that amazed that she could engage Luke but engaging Zach is quite an accomplishment) in decorating the cupcakes. Sure, Zach ate almost all of the chocolate chip noses, and a large number of the jelly bean mouths wound up on the floor, but who's counting? What was fun for me was to see both boys enjoying the same little Halloween activity that I used to love every year.
Yesterday, while Dave and Luke were at their soccer game, my parents and Zach and I engaged in more old-time fun (old time, in this case, referring to the 1960s) with a little social activism. We went down to the beach to join in the local 350 event (350 referring to the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in parts per million) for global climate change. I was kind of hoping we would be asked to form a giant "350" but instead we just formed a really big line that stretched on and on and on along the beach. Then we all did the wave, posed for the cameras, and chanted, "3-5-0! 3-5-0! 3-5-0!" I didn't think it made much of an impression at all on Zach, until he was going to bed last night and I heard him saying to himself, "5-6-0! 5-6-0!" That tells me two things: one, he was paying attention to a certain extent, and two, he definitely knows what numbers are, even if he didn't get them right. He might also be trying to tell us he's advocating for a higher carbon dioxide limit, but I sure hope not.
Today was the day of the annual pumpkin race, and this year Dave had vowed to get into the game and make our own pumpkin. He evaluated hundreds of pumpkins at the pumpkin patch, and finally settled on this one, which is tall and narrow and seems destined for racing when you put it on its side. We entered the "fun race," which meant we could just do unlimited racing, and it turns out we should have possibly entered it in the "serious" race. Pumpkin 51 (as Luke named it) won nearly every heat that it raced in.
I love the pumpkin races because it's fun to run into friends, check out all of the pumpkins, and see the whole town come out for a cause. Today I was especially excited because Zach voluntarily wore the cat costume that I made him (and he even consented to have the hood over his head every now and then). The best part about the costume is the tail, which is made from a super-fluffy feather boa. Zach has been wearing a loose portion of the tail around the house (stuffing one end into the back of his diaper), and so he was a little annoyed to learn that I had actually sewed this piece of tail to his pants. After several attempts to pull it off, he finally just decided to get with the program. If I can get him to stand still for long enough, we might just have a front picture of the cat costume by the time Halloween rolls around. Good times.
1 comment:
The fact-checking department has stepped in. So, to clarify: Mom did not make cupcakes with Sam and Lily (yet) and our pumpkin won most, but not all, of its heats. Not that there's anything wrong with a little exaggeration...
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