Pumpkin Carving to the Extreme

Chris and I went to our friends, Francois and Stacey's house to eat Chili and carve pumpkins. In my head I was imagining these pumpkins with scary faces or cats or something. But no... the boys created some pretty disturbing pumpkins. If you have small children in the room, do not proceed. Just kidding... kinda. 

Francois (my physical trainer), Stacey (his wife), Oliver (his brother)

Me carving my NICE beach scene pumpkin

Yes, Chris was making this face on purpose

My surfer girl and sun

     My sandcastle and palm tree. Everyone kept calling my sandcastle an Aztec pyramid :(

Oliver and Francois proudly smiling. Oliver's was a scene from the movie, "Tropic Thunder." Didn't see the movie, but I guess there was a guy shooting two guns in it. (Far left). Francois' is the big center one. Can you guess what it is? Probably not. It is a baby being eaten by a crazy dude. The baby's leg is being held by the arm, and it is sticking out of the mouth. Disturbing, I know. 

Stacey's is the spider one

Chris's is the one in the front of a pumpkin being shot and his brains coming out the side of his head. Yep, another disturbing one. He was pretty proud of it though. His first wish was to have a carrot sticking out of it, but we only had baby carrots. Why a carrot you ask? No idea!

Close up

It actually got down to 60 degrees tonight! We were *gasp* cold in Florida!

Finger-Lickin' Good

For our Young Women in Excellence night we had a really fun program for the girls. We made it like a Hollywood awards night complete with a red carpet, trophies, lots of good food, and none other than Joan Rivers. We kept it fun and light (and short) and I think the girls really enjoyed it! I did not take pictures of the actual event because we had a guy in our ward taking photos, so I'll have to get those posted later. What I do have pictures of though may not be so flattering for me, but is kind of funny. I brought our chocolate fountain for the occasion (a QVC purchase by my husband), which was a hit until the end when I had to take it apart and clean it. It is impossible to keep clean when doing this and it made me feel like a little kid, having my hands completely covered in chocolate. I couldn't resist taking a few licks, and got it captured on camera. All I can say is Mmmmm... oh, and my disclaimer is that my arms look really huge in the pictures, but I swear they aren't really that big! 

"I believe"

There are some conversations I have with my students that just can't end with me. Here is one of the strangest conversations I have had with a student to date. (You know that you know who it was with...yep, little creep.) 

Set up: I am doing a one on one reading test with him at the reading table. We are about halfway through the test. Oh... and this is soooooo much funnier if you have been to Sea World.

L. Creep: (stops reading mid sentence) Hey Mrs. Harris, can I tell you something?

Me: Sure, why not?

L. Creep: You know what I believe?

An Intrigued Me: No, what do you believe?

L. Creep: In killer whales.

Me: What?

L. Creep: You know, like the killer whales at Sea World. I believe, just like the kid on the         Shamu show.

Me: Well, that's neat, but I think in the show they meant that you should believe that anything can happen if you believe. We already know killer whales exist, so we don't really have to believe in them. 

L. Creep: Yeah, I know. That's what I meant. But Mrs. Harris, I really, really believe. I even have the whale necklace like the kid on the show. Well, I didn't like get to get it on the show, but you know, I got it in the shop.

Me: That's great honey, but we need to finish reading now.

L. Creep: Okay. Hey, Mrs. Harris? Someday I'm going to get the necklace in gold or silver instead of wood.  Cause, you know, I really believe in killer whales.

Me: (trying to hold back a huge sigh): Okay, please read.

L. Creep: I believe so much that I don't think any animals should be in cages like at the zoo or Sea World. It isn't fair. My dad said we can go back to Sea World soon.

Me: Hmmm, I thought you didn't think animals should be in cages. What about all the animals at Sea World? (You know I couldn't resist!)

L. Creep: Well, they're the only ones that like it there.

Me: Okay, honey, you really need to read now!

L. Creep: Okay, but Mrs. Harris? I believe so much that I can like control stuff. (Shrugs his shoulders matter of factly.) You know, like fire and stuff. I really can. 

Me: (ring bell for students to change centers and reading groups and pray I don't catch on fire.) 1 Hour later: 

L. Creep: Hey Mrs. Harris! (Just starts waving his arms up and down in the shape of a whale's tail like they teach you to do at the Shamu show.)

The next morning: L. Creep leaves a hand-drawn picture on my desk of a killer whale with a caption under it that says, "I believe in killer whales." Why do I even try?

Unfortunately, this is not exaggerated or embellished and this is a pretty typical conversation with this child. Oh, and if you haven't seen the Shamu show, it is the cheesiest thing I have ever seen, but apparently it strikes a chord with kids! 

The Tiny Seed

At school this week our story was, The Tiny Seed, by Eric Carle. It is a really cute story about the difficulties a seed goes through before it turns into a flower and then eventually dies and lets more seeds out of its pod and the cycle starts all over again. My students were really into it, so I decided to have them plant seeds today and decorate the cup in a similar way that Eric Carle does all his pictures. 

They turned out really cute and my students had a blast! The funny thing is, we did this right before PE and when my students came back into the room, they all ran to the window and were shocked and dismayed that the plants had not grown a stem yet! I patiently reminded them that in the story it does say that it takes more than 30 mins. to grow... like try weeks and usually longer. Oh well, I just hope they grow at all after the way the kids handled and dropped the poor little things! I just hope this doesn't get me in trouble like the gloop did!

If they had extra time, they got to decorate an animal picture like Eric Carle does, well...sort of.

Catch Up

Okay, so it has been a long time since I have posted because I have been crazy busy. I know... no different than any of the rest of you. Luckily, amid the annoying obligations were some really fun busy things to do too. Unfortunately, I took no pictures! My camera always seemed to be somewhere else.

I got to bowl in a private room at The Alley for a birthday party. It was really cool with black lights, music videos above the pins, lounge chair benches to sit on, food and drinks, and of course, lots of great friends. 

I also have had a couple fun girl's nights. I joined a book club with some friends where we ate (surprise) and decided what book to read. We decided to go with my sister's favorite pick from last year, Peace like a River. So I guess we can blame her if it isn't good. :) 

With the girls, I also had a fondue party while the guys went to priesthood meeting for church. I admit I am not a huge fan of meat cooked in the fondue method, but luckily we did two cheese sauces and two dessert sauces instead. They were ridiculously scrumptious! We had one cheese sauce with pico de guyo (no idea how to spell that!) mixed in it and we used bread, carrots, celery and other yummy things to dip in it. Then we had chocolate and caramel sauces with cheesecake, brownies, marshmallows, strawberries, and shortbread to dip in it. Don't worry, I worked out really, really hard after this! It was so worth it!

I don't feel like remembering all the other things that were not fun that kept me so busy, so I won't recount those! Luckily I have a good husband who did not complain about my messy house, lack of prepared meals, and absence these past two weeks. Hopefully things will slow down, but with the holidays coming, I don't think I have a chance!