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Monday, October 27, 2008

Fall Festivities

While we were walking home from church last Friday it rained.

Well, it kind of rained. It was cloudy and we felt little drops of water hitting us. Indeed, drops of water were hitting us, so technically it was raining. But it would be more fair to say that it only kind of rained.

With the rain came a sudden drop of temperature that promised of cold, but wasn't actually cold.

We're missing autumn; both Andrew and I like fall. I like the crisp weather before it gets cold. I like the leaves changing color. I like Thanksgiving and (yes, mom) Halloween and Thanksgiving (yes, twice). I like pumpkins and apples and cider and the smell of cinnamon. I like a lot about fall. In fact, I think the only thing I don't like about it is that it leads to winter.

Here we've hit the chilly fall weather. It's in the mid-to-high twenties and people, locals mostly, are already digging out their winter coats.

One of Andrew's teacher's today remarked that she was shocked at how cold it got this early in the year. That it might get a little colder in December, but that this was pretty bad. She, herself, was sporting a winter coat.

I think it's odd that some buildings are still running air conditioners and people wear their coats outside.

But maybe that's just me.

I'm fine with it, though. I can feel the chill in the air. It's enough to make me want to put on a sweater outside at night. Not that I even have a sweater yet. But if I had one and I went outside at night I might want to put it on.

We did buy blankets for our beds, but that's just a joke. Andrew still has the fan on because he can't keep the blankets on unless the fan is also on because he gets too hot.

It's obviously not so cold that the leaves are changing color. I really doubt that will happen here. If it did get that cold I don't think the trees would know what to do, so they'd just stay green anyway.

So, we're missing the leaves changing color and there's really no hint of winter on the air, at least not winter as we know it. We aren't going to have any frosty mornings and we won't be going trick-or-treating, but we're still having a little fall fun.

We bought a pumpkin and it's sitting patiently in our living room, waiting first to be carved and then to be turned into yummy desserts. We bought some sweet potatoes (those have already been turned into yummy desserts). And we've been doing some fun crafts with Rachel. She still has no idea what Halloween is, but I think she's having fun anyway.

A few days ago Rachel and I dressed up in costumes and made a ghost together. We hung it up in her playroom. She thinks it's pretty cool. She points to it whenever we say "ghost" and we're trying to teach her that ghosts say "Ooooo!" She doesn't quite get that yet and makes the same noise that she makes for everything, which is kind of like a cross between a dog and a monkey.


Tonight for our FHE activity we made a family "thumbkin" patch. Rachel had so much fun that she threw a fit about having to go to bed. She wanted to keep making thumbprints and was quite upset when we tried to wash off her hands. Andrew was also pretty upset when it was time to wash off his hands, but for a completely different reason than Rachel. He was perplexed because the ink didn't seem to be coming off...so I had him wash some dishes. That did the trick!


Our family "thumbkin" patch

I'm trying to find other (super-duper easy) crafts for Rachel to do. She would be happy just coloring all day long but she's always so pleased with herself when she does something a little more than just coloring (like making a ghost). We'll see what we come up with since our resources here are so limited.

12 comments:

  1. Wow! Way to get Andrew to wash some dishes! Now you know....put some ink on him and let him get frustrated washing it off.

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  2. How fun. :) And I won't say too much about how LOVELY it is to be back in a part of the world where there is a real autumn...

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  3. You are my hero! Thanks for the great ideas of Halloween crafts. We'll see if I get around to doing them. (poor Emmy!) :)

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  4. What a cute idea!!

    However, I must point out that some of us have lived the majority of our lives in a place where they measure the temperature in Fahrenheit. It took me a good couple of minutes to figure out why it would be in the 20s but only "chilly". :)

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  5. Well, it looks like you all had a fun evening, especially Rachel. She's so cute! I was like Amanda, trying to figure out the temperature thing. I'm thinking, 20s is chilly...hmmm, how does that work out, but I finally clued in.

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  6. 22.5 degrees Celsius is 85 degrees Fahrenheit... if that helps anyone out there... now you can gage just how cold it is there 19.5 is 79.

    I love Rachel's dhost! Adorable, how did you make it? (I'm not that creative I need step by step instructions.)
    Silly Andrew, dishes always makes everything come off your hands - didn't you know?
    I love Halloween too Nancy (sorry mom)
    And Thanksgiving so much we have it twice too.
    WE love you, PS I still need an address, I think mom sent it to me, but I think I accidentally deleted it.

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  7. I think 20 is really more around 70 degrees. They're both room temperature, about.

    As for the ghost, you draw a spiral--like a snail or whatever--and then make a ghost body at the end instead of a snail head. Then you cut it out and the spiral should just open up into a tail.

    Rachel didn't do much other than scribble on it, but she thought that was fun, anyway.

    I will send an address again. :)

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  8. If you want to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit all you have to do is multiply by Celsius by 9; divide by 5 and add 32. 20 x 9 = 180; 180 / 5 = 36; 36 + 32 = 68. Simple (ha, ha). Nancy you and Kelli have to get together and swap ideas for parties. You both have great ones.

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  9. Yeah, simple...I don't know how many times you've told me that and I still can't remember it. Maybe now that I have it in writing. :)

    And thanks, Dad.

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  10. To tell the truth I had to google it. I was told to double the Celsius and add 30 will give the Fahrenheit to within +-5 degrees either way. BTW you'll have to think of another way to get Andrew to do the dishes now he knows the "can't get the ink off" trick. :)

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  11. Oh shoot, You're right
    OKAY 29.5 is 85 degrees F.
    Make more sense
    I was trying to remember from my pool days.
    A year and already I have no idea.
    PAthetic.

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