Spud Day Parade 2011

Spud Day was September 17th this year. The weather had been a bit unpredictable, but this morning was beautiful. It was also cold. We were bad parents, not far enough out from summer weather, to think about how cold the morning might be. OK. It was my fault. Chad had some of the kids getting jackets and I didn't think they would need them.

Anyway, we survived.

The parade is a huge candy parade. Here are the kids. They are not looking at what is coming down the street, except for to see if candy is being thrown from it. The significance of any parade vehicle is completely lost on them.

CANDY! There they go! The are greyhounds chasing the robot rabbit. As you can see, it is not only kids who get caught up in the action.

Sarah gets to enjoy her prized tootsie roll. Her face is splotchy red because she'd tipped a camp chair over backwards...in the street. No worries...candy helps a lot.

Since this is a parade to celebrate potato harvest, there are tractors. There are semi trucks. There are HUGE pieces of farm equipment. Normal parade participants, right? There are also a few "floats" from religious groups, and local businesses. The parade has a theme every year and judges the entries. But I don't think anyone really cares about that. It's really about the candy.

The local grocery store has a gigantic grocery cart in the parade every year. Joseph had seen it in their parking lot a day or two before the parade and couldn't stop wondering over it. So this picture is mostly for him ;) You can see how far I really was from all the action. It was a much safer distance than the wall of candy grabbers (my own children included) that were so close to the traffic that they had to back up to let the larger vehicles make the turn. I think think the city police should be out there and monitor that all a lot better. I think I was a little too far away, though. :)

Happy Halloween 2010!

It really seems important to me to get Halloween finished up and out of the way before December. So I have 2 hours left to get it done.

In case I haven't mentioned, we have six kids. This means that we'd have to live on a secluded mountain peak to avoid Halloween and all the fun/terror it brings. We start talking about our costumes at the beginning of September. But I refuse to do anything about it before October actually arrives. And because I can't bring myself to buy a costume unless under emergency situations, we have a lot of scurrying around to make things right.

Luckily, most costumes survive the first few uses. For example, we had Batman for the 3rd time when Rebekah took on the character.


And it was perfect for Joseph. He really wanted to be Batman, but was only big enough for Boy Robin. That was close enough for him. We went to the school to join Rebekah in her Kindergarten parade. The Dynamic Duo must stay together!


And getting a sucker for his troubles didn't bother him at all. (He was pretty reluctant to join Rebekah at first. That "Collett Coma" keeps us in good manners in most situations, but it doesn't wear off before 10 minutes passes and it almost kept Joseph from participating!)

I was able to use old costumes for everyone, but Daniel and Nathan.

This was Nathan's costume. It is a copy of the costumes Chad and I made for ourselves in 1999 (our first Halloween).

It was plenty big on him. He could wear it again next year if he chooses to. Here is Nathan in the main parade that day. He was looking up at a ghost traveling across the hallway.


Leah was a mummy. This was Daniel's costume 4 years ago. She got to follow her teacher (a.k.a. Dorothy (Wizard of Oz)) which put a pretty big smile on her face.


The next night the school hosted a Halloween carnival (fundraiser) and we enjoyed ourselves as we played some games, won some prizes and visited with friends.

Rebekah is a dangerous bowler.


Sarah joined in the cupcake walk. She seemed so tiny next to those big high school kids. But she was not bothered by the difference. Even after Nathan was done, she remained and walked the circle, making those other kids trip over her. I should have pulled her out sooner, but it was so darn CUTE to watch!


There was a haunted house. The kids waited in line for quite a while. (It's a little tricky to get these 6 into the same shot!)

The three oldest decided that they wanted to go through on a scary run. We sent Rebekah and Joseph through a mild one.


As it turned out, Leah wasn't quite as brave as she thought. She came out a little early in tears and didn't want to talk about it. I thought it was a perfect time to whip out the camera. Mwah, hah, hah!


And there was a spaghetti dinner. Of course, we'd already done the cupcake walk and had dessert, so I had no bargaining chips left to get the kids to eat the food we paid for. Luckily, it was only $3 a plate.


And then the next night (doesn't Halloween usually last 3 days?) was the Trunk-or-Treat at the church. By this time, it was Day 24 of my no candy challenge. Ugh. That was hard.

Skeleton Nathan (A perfect costume for him...he's so skinny!)


Sarah was a stinkin' cute clown.


Here are all the kids at once. Daniel was Sherlock Holmes. That was an interesting costume to figure out. "Thanks" to my mom who gave me some helpful advice.


Trick-or-Treat!


Daniel collected candy and then put it into our bowl to pass out to trick-or-treaters. He resisted the temptations that were all around him! Amazing. We were giving out fist fulls of candy at the end and still ended up with a ton of candy (that I CAN'T eat)!

Our jack-o-lanterns were still doing pretty good a week after being carved.

I made an ice sculpture using a mold and colored water. Then I sat it on a small block of dry ice. It smoked and swirled as the trick-or-treaters came by. It got some fun comments! And then the dry ice gave the jack-o-lantern a 5 o'clock shadow. :)

And that is Halloween this year. Whew! It took me half an hour to type it all up.

December...here we come!

A hard lesson

I've mentioned before that my Daniel is a little impulsive and doesn't seem to think before acting. This is usually at the expense of his siblings. It has been a very frustrating thing for Chad and I to see him float through his life, leaving a trail of tears and turmoil in his wake. We often think he could use an older sibling to show him what it feels like!

Last night, we were at a local corn maze (for the 2nd time this week) and Daniel and Nathan and Leah wouldn't stop teasing each other. We were getting tired of it since they were blatantly ignoring our warnings. We finally told them anyone who didn't stop wouldn't be going to the Spud Day Parade in the morning.

Daniel hid around the next corner and jumped out and scared Nathan, who then screamed like a baby (which is how he always screams). Daniel took off running away from Nathan, then tripped in an uneven patch of ground and started crying like a baby (which how he always cries). I was just thinking to myself that his ankle had better not be twisted or his foot broken, because I was SO not carrying him out of that maze! And then I said that I would stay home from the parade with him.

Daniel didn't even respond. Of course, that's annoying to me as a parent because I want to know that he at least cares he's getting in trouble. Nothing was said about it until bedtime. We had to remind Daniel that he wasn't going to the parade unless he did something to make up for the problem he'd created.

And this is how we are ineffective parents. We tell them we're going to punish them, but don't want them to feel left out and miss the fun with the family, so we find a way for them to get out of it.

And that is exactly what Daniel assumed would happen. Chad told him this morning that he'd better do "x", "y" and "z" if he wanted to go. He instead chose to do "a", "b" and "c". And we were frustrated!

So, while I had continued to get ready as if I really was going to get to go to the parade with everyone else, we did indeed keep Daniel home. He was MAD and crying and pleading and I wanted to give in; make a deal with him. But Chad pulled out of the driveway without us and Daniel went racing around to the backyard.

I checked up on him and saw him letting the dogs comfort him. Then he climbed onto the hood of Chad's truck and sat there for a little while. I hoped he was thinking. And realizing that it was his choices that caused him to be left behind, not mean parents.

I was disappointed that Daniel made the choices he did to end up home from the parade. And I was disappointed to miss the parade myself (it's such a beautiful morning)! But even in my frustration and disappointment, I had to remind myself that a small-town parade is a very insignificant thing and it's more important for Daniel to learn this hard lesson. I only hope he does learn something!

It rained on our parade

Today was Spud Day. Idaho would cease to be Idaho if we didn't celebrate potatoes! I think this was the 80th annual Spud Day (or something like that). There is always a parade, complete with 10 (at least) fire trucks of various ages and models, but all with loud sirens. There are even floats and anyone cool (or not in a marching band) throws candy.

It has been a rather dry summer here in Eastern Idaho. Until today. Two days left of summer and it dumped on us. It was a cold rain. It was a thorough rain. I was thoroughly wet. But at least I wasn't riding on an open float, singing songs and trying to look excited. That was Daniel and Leah's lot. I just sat trying to get some pictures and video while keeping the cameras dry. We had one umbrella. Since I had the jacket, Chad got the baby (and accompanying blanket) and the umbrella. Eventually, I got Rebekah to sit on my lap and help shield me from the rain. (She was wrapped in a big blanket with Nathan. I'm not completely heartless!)

We made it through the end of the parade, but skipped the free potatoes, expensive rides, commercial booths and food vendors with $4 hot dogs. I'm assuming the mashed potato tug-of-war still happened. At least the losers would have been able to shower immediately after getting out of the gooey potatoes!

Here are some soggy pictures. Gotta love the expressions! See if you can find Daniel and Leah on the TaVaci trailer. (Pretend we're playing hide and seek or Where's Waldo.)

We came home and had hot chocolate with our lunch. And since it didn't rain continuously, Chad and I went out to set more fence posts. This is a never ending job! At least it was cooler weather to work in and it even came with mandatory rest periods. When the rain would come down too hard, we'd take a rest. Period. We (he) got 8 posts set today.

I counted the holes left outside. It looks like we have 18 fence posts to go. Then Chad has to brace certain posts and then stretch the wire. After that he gets to hang 4 gates. He wanted to be done before the next weekend is over. I think he'll be lucky to be done before the snow starts stickin'. And I can't help but wonder where the $$ for the wire and gates is coming from. Maybe we'll rent out the kids.

Sad, sad

I took 5 cats to the animal shelter today. We felt bad about taking in the two kittens we've had for over 4 months. They have been such sweet and well-behaved kitties. Now they'll be separated from each other and I feel so guilty about it.

I don't feel too bad about passing Jingle on. He's so cranky.

The two little wild kittens have been a lot of work. They're still not quite 2 months old, and very cute, so I'm sure they'll be adopted easily.

On the bright side, no more smelly litter box or meowing for food. Hopefully, Daniel will have a marked improvement with his allergies. Now that summer is ending, the outside irritants should soon be no trouble, also.

In a new topic, Rebekah has really started talking more lately. She's even trying! It's pretty cute. She's become VERY independent. Everything is , "ME!" She's getting too grown up for her high chair. She often refuses to sit in it. She gets very mad if someone else shuts a door (including cabinet doors). Somehow, she got it into her head that she's the only one who can do that job. She doesn't like me to help her get her clothes on or off. It would be so much easier for her to pull her pants up if she didn't have such a bulky diaper on. Unfortunately, potty training is the one thing that she doesn't feel the need to do (on her own or otherwise).

I have some pictures of the kids and the Spud Day parade. Too bad they're still on the camera which is upstairs in the kitchen. I'm too tired to go get it, so you'll have to wait until next time.