Trunk-or-Treat

Tonight was the ward Trunk-or-Treat. My kids were REALLY looking forward to it! It's no surprise...wouldn't you have loved to have two nights of trick-or-treating instead of one? It started with a potluck dinner, and there were games set up for kids to play. But the real fun came after it got dark, and the kids came out to the parking lot, where families had decorated their cars, and went from trunk to trunk collecting candy.


So this is my Trailer Park Trash Mermaid. Still cute...if slightly inappropriate...

Brigham is a super-strong Power Ranger...

Kaitlyn went as a Rag Doll...

Savannah was an Indian maiden, and her friend Jessica was a cowgirl...

Josephs best friend Adam had a whole Robin Hood thing going on...Kaitlyn and I couldn't help singing: "We're men! We're men in Tights! That's Right!" every time he passed.

Kaitlyn with her two new friends, Sierra and Mike.

Joseph refused to dress up...but hoped in this picture with four SCARY girls...

And this one with his friends, Christopher and Adan, and Mike's little brother, who had the coolest costume of all.

All in all, we had a great time. I thought I had relived myself of BAGS of candy...but when the kids emptied their sacks on the family room floor...I realized that I actually had more than I started with. Darn it.

So I hope to see lots of kids tomorrow night...they'll be making out like bandits at my place!!

Nicolette's Preschool Halloween Parade

I love that picture of Nicolette...

Remember when you were little, and got to walk in the Halloween parade at school?

It was, like, the best day EVER. Parties all day, Halloween crafts instead of spelling tests, and your mom and dad came and took your picture and waved like crazy...and you weren't even embarrassed...you waved back.

The parade was great until the called forward different costume catergories, and Nicolette realized just how many little girls dressed up as Disney Princesses.

See? There were quite a few...

It's okay, baby. You're still special and amazing to me...

This is Ms. Kelly, Nicolette's teacher. I think she's trying to look happy...but instead her smile says: "OMG...just take the picture and then get these sugar strung-out preschoolers home so I can get a massage!!"

It's a big class...I'm sure she needs medication...

Nicolette and Alexa are best friends...and HAD to dress as Snow White TOGETHER. But by time we got home, she decided to do a costume switch for the ward Trunk-or-Treat. She put on a mermaid costume that was AT LEAST two sizes too small.

We called her the Trailer Park Trash Mermaid.

I LOVE Halloween!!

Halloween with Girl Scouts!!

Ahhhh!!! It's scary!! No...it's terrifying!! It's...it's...it's HALLOWEEN!!!!

My Girl Scouts LOVE Halloween, and this year, for the first time, our troop went to Camp Creepy!! Camp Creepy is held every year at Camp Welaka in Jupiter, about an hour and a half away. They transform the entire camp into a frightfully haunted playground, complete with haunted houses, carnival attractions, games and crafts, a dance hall, haunted hayride, and lots and lots of spooky characters.

First thing we did was purchase glowing necklaces and hit the dance hall to move and groove beneath spinning lights, strobes, and black lights...

Ms. Heidi, Ms. Desiree, and all the girls LOVE to dance...

There were also plenty of hula hoops to spin beneath the spooky decorations...

The haunted houses were very well done...in fact, after a couple of houses, some of the girls were too scared to try more, and waited outside while the braver souls went in. The last haunted house included a seance...and it was so incredibly well-done and spooky that the three girls brave enough to go in...Kaliayah, Danya, and Savannah...ran screaming from the house, and Savannah actually burst into tears.

(I tell ya - some of these older Girl Scouts are REALLY good actresses!!)

A much less frightening activity was launching Wish Boats into Lake Akalew (which, incidentally, is "Welaka" spelled backwards).

I'm not sure how the gator felt about all those candles on his water (name that movie)...but having been denied a very plump and tasty redhead last weekend during canoe training, I'm sure it just added insult to injury...

The girls all tried the Bungee Jumping...but it was Kaliayah who really "flipped"...

Danya kept her eyes closed for the Haunted Hayride...(just kidding...just an unfortunate shot. But Heidi and Oriana came out okay!!)

Festivities ended at midnight, and my girls made it ALL THE WAY (I didn't think they would,,,but boy, was I wrong!). We didn't get home until almost 2am.

The next morning, we had a service project at a local nursing home, where the girls got to go and cheer up some of the Grandmas and Grandpas being cared for there.

Savannah, Jessica, and Abi all arrived at about the same time...aren't they adorable?

Savannah instantly made friends with Ethel and Frank, and they helped each other play some rousing games of BINGO.

Katherine and Amanda met us there, and joined in the game!!

My co-leader, Karen and her daughter, Katherine...always look so beautiful...

We made Halloween cards for the residents who couldn't get out of bed to play with us...

All in all...a very fun day serving in our community and cheering those in need...

...now I need a nap.

Iron Chef Miami: October 2009

So, a couple weeks ago, three of my girlfriends and myself were lounging around a pool...

...isn't that a GREAT way to start a story? Don't you wish you were lounging around a pool?

I suppose I shouldn't admit that that was our occupation for the day..."pool loungers". After all...I work very hard to dispel the "housewife" myth of lazy ladies who hang out in yoga pants all day and play on Facebook and have housekeepers and nanny's that do any actual "housewife" stuff. That's why I prefer terms like "homemaker"...

or better yet..."domestic goddess"...

...of course, there isn't another activity that is more "goddess-like" than lounging around a pool with your girlfriends, sipping lemonade and eating fresh-cut fruit...

...but still...

ANYWAY...we were lounging and chatting and LAUGHING (which is my favorite part)...and talking about how we needed more stuff to do (yah right)...and we came up with this GREAT idea to host our own Iron Chef competition...

...we'd invite a few other choice ladies and have a monthly mini cook-off on the second Monday of every month, and choose a secret ingredient to "star" ...something easy and accessible to make great...

So today was our FIRST EVER Iron Chef Miami competition...and the secret ingredient was "tomatoes". We had GREAT entries...and after tasting some delicious entries, we voted, and crowned Tina Fabiano as our Iron Chef for October!! She won with her Capellini Caprese!! It was AWESOME!!

Here are some pictures of our AWESOME afternoon...just so you know, from now on, I'll post all the recipes from Iron Chef on the Jungle Food Chain part of my blog...the recipes from today are on there now!!

Doesn't everything look delicious?

This is Crock pot Chicken Tortilla Soup by Melodee Cooper. We topped it with tortilla strips, fresh cilantro, and pepper jack cheese. Best of all...it was a Weight Watchers recipe!!

This is Tina Fabiano's entry, Capellini Caprese. She puts capers in it...which makes it amazing.

Heidi Tyler made Fresh Herb-Tomato Crostini. So good...I ate four...

These are the Grilled Cheese Croutons for MY entry...Roasted Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons...which I got from a recipe I found in Family Fun magazine a few months ago. It is WAY delish!!

After we ate, we graded each entry on Taste, Presentation, and Originality. The points were tallied, and the winner was...drum roll, please...TINA FABIANO!!! Hurray!!!

Next month, I play hostess and hold Iron Chef at my house...

The next secret ingredient is "pumpkin"...and I can't WAIT to see what these ladies turn out...

I love being a goddess...

Ouch...

So...I went to a training class for Girl Scouts entitled "Small Craft and Water Safety". It is essentially a class designed to train you to be able to take of your girls in an emergency situation around water and canoes.

I don't know how to canoe...I still have to take a basic canoeing fundamentals class...but I thought I should start with the safety aspect first.

So, I'm a great swimmer, and the water safety was fine.

I'm really, really strong, so I had no problem lifting, hauling, and dumping canoes...even hauling them from the water on top of my own canoe was not that difficult.

However - hauling my own voluptuous @$$ from the water back into my canoe proved to be WAY MORE DIFFICULT than I could've imagined.

Even with the added incentive of an incredibly territorial 10-foot gator that did not like us anywhere near his bank of the lake.

So I came home limping and bruised and very sunburned, and my hubby said: "Oh stop being a baby...how bad could it be?"

So I pulled off my clothes...and he shut up.

I can't , nor do I want, to psychologically scar you with pictures of bruises that COVER my body in places that I didn't even know could BRUISE...

...but I can show you this...

Just my arm.

Now imagine that...everywhere...

...ouch...

I must REALLY love my Scouts...

My Garden

There are some amazing things in Florida...things I've never seen anywhere else...and one of those things is "Air Plants". Air Plants just grow on the sides of trees...with no dirt or pot...they just attach and flourish. They usually have these red spiky leaves and look like giant sea urchins sprouting from the branches. Although not technically an "air plant"...orchids do the same thing. They attach to trees and grow and bloom...dripping amazing color and shape from lofty heights.

I mean...just LOOK at this attachment...there is NOTHING holding this plant here except it's will to survive. The roots just snake out and grasp the tree like an octopus and hold on!!!

And look at the beautiful results...gorgeous sunny yellow orchids clinging to my tree...

I know most of the country is well into the throes of Autumn...it IS mid-October, after all. But here in the Jungle, while the rest of the country is harvesting, we're just starting our growing season. It's still almost 90 degrees here, but starting to cool...and the humidity is starting to dissipate...and the torrential rains have calmed...and that means that it is the perfect weather for stuff to start really blooming and growing.

While out in my garden taking these pictures of my sunny orchids, I decided to take pictures of other unique plants in my little flowery space.

I don't know what this is...but it grows all over my garden. Looking straight done...this is what you see.

From the side...it's a tad more elegant...

And then there is this leafy thing...I normally don't care for bushes and hedges...but I like the way the leaves ruffle on this, and the red color makes me think of Autumn...even though it never changes color and stays red all year...

I think these flowery clusters are everywhere...but they are still pretty...

And this is me...au natural...with my little photography helper, as we sit in our backyard and get lost in the lake...

...she's one of the prettiest little flowers in my garden...

A Good Start in Scouting...

We went to the Last Pack Meeting we'll ever attend with Palm Springs Ward on the last Wednesday in September. Joseph had earned two merit badges over the summer, and I wanted him to receive them with his old troop.

So Joseph was awarded his Scout badge and his merit badge for Rifle Shooting (which he earned with Papa over the summer), and Pottery merit badge.

Now it's on to earning his Tenderfoot rank, and to an Orienteering Merit Badge Clinic.

It's a good start to a new year as an official Boy Scout!!