What a weekend!

Yes, I realize that it's TUESDAY, but the weekend is finally over for me!

Good Lord, we were busy. Friday night at the Cub Scout Halloween party was AWESOME. The kids had a blast. I ate 3 s'mores, Corinne was the cutest Minnie Mouse, the boys looked adorable in their knight costumes, and I got to watch 30 boys running in the dark woods with swords, light sabers and magic wands. Bad guys and good guys running all over the playground, the air cool but dry and comfortable, and only happy times for everyone. We ended the night with Corinne falling face first in a pile of campground dirt (you know, that fine fine dusty dirt) which stuck from her head down to her toes, including her tongue! It didn't help that she was sticky from marshmallow goo, but she didn't mind. We washed off in the campground's questionable bathroom where I just laughed at her expression from the dirty tongue, and headed home to pass out all curled up in Mommy's bed...

Saturday, as you may remember, was Corinne's birthday party. The boys both had soccer games earlier in the day. Pat took Evan and Corinne to Evan's game and Justin was my incredible helper! We cleaned the house in an hour and he and I got to talk and talk... He's such an awesome kid. He's grown up so much this year... ANYway. The party went on as I noted earlier and I have wonderful memories.

Sunday we went to the pumpkin farm and Civil War reenactment. WOW! What a great day. Unfortunately, no other Cub Scout families showed up, but we had fun as a family instead. We talked about the different types of situations for the Confederacy and Union soldiers and families, what the reasons for the war were, and how life has changed since then. And on, and on. We played in the miniature village the farm has, threw rocks in the creek, climbed on the pirate ship, cuddled a bunny (um, Rinny might have been a BIT too rough...), jumped on hay bales (one of their faves), and had lots of yummy snacks. (whoever though that we'd be having snow cones in October?) The battle was really cool. They presented it in a respectful fashion, stating how they weren't glorifying war, but trying to present a small slice of what it truly sounded and felt like. They talked about the horrific living conditions the soldiers had to live and die in. The kids definitely got some history of our nation that day. When the first cannon went right off next to us, I looked over at Corinne and was tickled to see her laughing at being surprised! What a kid. She LOVES being startled!

Yesterday, I was a chaperone for Evan's school to Bengtson's farm in Illinois. I am only putting their name in this post as I HATE this farm, and wanted to discourage any other Chicagoans that might be considering it from going there. If you want a good name of a farm, email me, I'll give you some. But this is the second time I've been there, and it was just as bad as the first. I'm not sure why so many schools insist on going to this particular farm. CROWDED doesn't do it justice. Paved over, generic farm appeal, wedged in between a couple of subdivisions (nothing screams "farm" more than seeing dozens of backyards with pools and decks, you know?), and highly HIGHLY overpriced. It's lots of fun to take kids on a field trip when more than half of the attractions aren't included in the general admission! Sorry - no pony rides, jumping frog, train ride, haunted house etc. for you guys. Just the lame stuff.

Ok, Corinne's climbing the shelving and my sister just called. Gotta scour those birthday dishes (no, they're not done yet, 3 days later. Wanna make somethin of it??)