Marketing 101

Rule #1 - Adding a kid-friendly character to any food item box increases the price by 50%. Don't fall for it.

While in the frozen isle at the grocery store yesterday, Nathan and Alex were picking out Popsicles. Alex really, really, really wanted the Spiderman ones. Nathan explained to him that they just put that on there to make him want them, and told him they could make their own Spiderman Popsicles when they got home out of the cheaper, Spiderman-less ones. So when they got home, they printed off a picture of Spiderman and taped it to the box. As far as the kids were concerned, as soon as there was a picture of Spiderman on the box, they really did become Spiderman Popsicles.


Rule #2 - Don't be afraid to take an ordinary something and make it your own.

This lesson is brought you by Mia. We had the Christmas cards spread out, and Mia was going through and signing them all. Next thing I know, she's adding her own special touch because apparently they were missing that little extra something. So the cards now have little hand drawn hearts by Mia.

Thanksgiving

I'm playing catch up on blog posts tonight! I'll start with Thanksgiving -we spent the rainy day with the Klinkhammers...the annual football game was a washout, but we started a new tradition: post-game hot chocolate.

It was a smaller crowd than normal, but the McManus clan joined us and Mia, Alex, Ben & Marina had an absolute blast running around together and playing.

Are you missing something, Ben?
Why, yes! You are!


Here is Alex as a Wampanoag...I was so impressed when he came home from school telling me how the Wampanoags taught people how to plant seeds!
When the turkey was set out on the table, Mia asked "Soooo, is that, like, the same kind of turkey that is out in the woods?" Pretty funny.

How is Alex like a horse?

I'll give you a clue:

Speaking of kids sleeping in funny positions, I was cracking up at my friend Kim's daughter who fell asleep on her bookshelf!

On another note, in preparation for Thanksgiving, I pulled this out to hang up. I was showing it to the kids and reading to them what they had told me they were thankful for last year. When I explained to them that Alex was only 1 1/2 last year and what he said he was thankful for (pizza, Mickey Mouse, pizza, juice, and pizza) they were laughing so hard they had tears in their eyes. They made me tell the story over and over, and each time it got funnier and funnier. I think I'm going to keep adding to this every year - just make some more cards up with what we are thankful for.

Boo!

Halloween is over. After 2 Halloween birthday parties, 2 Halloween school parties, trick-or-treating downtown Friday night and then trick-or-treating around the neighborhood Saturday night, we are ready to move on. Now the real trick is making the candy disappear without any suspicion.

Friday night trick-or-treating - the weather cooperated and it was actually kinda warm:







Saturday night was the best -the kids were so into finding the houses with the lights on, knocking on the door and getting lots of goodies. Nathan and I just stood back on the side walk and watched. It was awesome.


Alex: "I need a little snack break."

Oh yeah - Nathan and I dressed up, too. We actually went to an adult party later on in the night - we haven't dressed up in YEARS so it was pretty fun. I was Betty Draper from Mad Men - since we didn't bring our camera out with us, this is the best picture I could find...
And Nathan went as Mr. MOM complete with MOM Magazine apparel, the Ergo, diaper bag, bra, and skirt. Nice.
These are the creepy finger cookies we made....

Pumpkin Carving: winner and the creative process

It's pretty clear that the winner of the pumpkin carving contest this year is Glow Star. Although the carving was done mostly by Nathan, the design came 110% from the mind of Mia.

Early in the day before our pumpkin carving, we were talking about what we wanted to carve. Alex wanted a really SCARY pumpkin (his was Noss - he named it all by himself). Mia had an idea of what she wanted so she got out a piece of paper and a pen and started trying to sketch it out. She got a little frustrated because it wasn't turning out quite right, so she asked me to try to draw it while she described it: "Make an "A", but don't put a cross line. Now make another and another all next to each other in a circle." I tried for a while, but I couldn't get it quite right either. Here is one paper (of many) with our various attempts: Nathan then took over (and Mia was quite upset at this point - she KNEW she had a winning idea and just couldn't get it out!) and they finally came up with Glow Star - a big smiling star with a sunshine nose.
And yay for daddy for carving it exactly as Mia had envisioned it.

It was interesting to see her so passionate about her idea and what she went through to get the idea out. And it really was a cute, unique idea - certainly not something she had seen elsewhere and was copying. Congrats Mia!

Wake up yawn

I am happy to report that we seem to be past the bulk of the sleep issues with Alex. We had 2 really rough weeks, but now he goes down relatively easily, stays in his bed (for the most part) and sleeps through the night. He sometimes wakes up to go on the potty, but he goes right back to bed. He has been waking up earlier than usual (6 a.m.) but as long as he sleeps through the night, I'm cool with that. The other day, he woke up around 6, then went and found Nathan to say good morning. When Nathan picked him up, he yawned and Nathan said "buddy, you seem a little tired still - are you sure you don't want to go back to sleep?" and Alex said "I'm not sleepy, that was a wake up yawn!"

Pumpkin Carving Contest - VOTE HERE!

The annual Pumpkin Carving Contest happened tonight, so let the voting begin! We'll close the poll on Friday.
There were 7 entries this year...

1) #1

2) Stash
3) Happy Go Lucky

4) Glow Star
5) Slithering Sal
6) Noss
7) Zorro