I'll Give You a Unicorn if You Just Say "Cheese"

This past Sunday, despite colds and other illnesses, we all dressed in our finest for church and headed over to Grampy and Baba's house afterwards to attempt to nail just ONE decent photo for use on a Christmas card.  We did get a few, but I love this series that I tried to squeeze in when the boys had clearly had enough posing:

P looks like he is being tortured.  One of these days they'll say, "Thanks mom, for taking all of those pictures of us growing up".  Until then, I don't lose sleep over it.

A New Way of Looking at Things

Yesterday, Patrick and I made a very special stop-

...to pick up these!  Doesn't he look handsome?

Patrick's school held vision screenings just a week after he started there, and when we were told he needed further screening, we just chalked it up to his timid personality.  Boy was I surprised when the pediatric ophthalmologist he saw wrote us a prescription.  He needs to wear them all the time, and I am so thankful that we caught it now, instead of a year from now.  I guess in a small way, I am thankful for the high school teacher who gave him peanut butter, or he wouldn't be at his current school and would not have been tested until he was 4. 

Unfortunately, I don't think his need for glasses had any bearing on his soccer performance in the outdoor league.  Better luck next year.

Thanksgiving Kid's Table

Can you believe that Pottery Barn actually sold out of these $50 kid's centerpieces?  WHO is buying these things?  Don't get me wrong, it is adorable, but I wouldn't pay more than $20 for it.  Still, I wanted a cute kid's table that would help convey some of the Thanksgiving Day history.  Since Thanksgiving seems to be the forgotten holiday in stores, I couldn't find anything but honeycombed turkeys.  So, I had to come up with my own.

 I googled "DIY Pottery Barn Mayflower Centerpiece" and came up with a couple of tutorials on some blogs, but I decided to wing it.  I wanted my boat to be felt.  I went to Michaels and bought my supplies for $15, plus the package of the kabob wooden skewers I already had at home.  I bought a package of 4 for the floral foam, but really you only need two (one to shape the helm and one to put inside the boat for the sails.

I used a butter knife to cut the helm and glued it using tacky glue (my glue gun is hiding somewhere)

I then cut some felt to cover the helm and glued that on.  I should have splurged and gotten the clear glue that was a $1 more, but I was cheap and you can see some of the glue through the top.

Next, I took my brown embroidery thread and whip stitched the two pieces of felt together that I used on the front of my Mayflower.

I glued two 9x 12 pieces of felt together long wise and placed the boat right on the middle.  The sides tucked neatly in the boat.  I then whip stitched the seams where the sides hit the helm and the back of the boat. 

 

 Because I had 15 minutes to grab my Michael's supplies, I grabbed a $3 package of 15 X 18"cross stitch fabric for my boat and cut it into 3, 6" strips for the sails.  I then cut those down further to suit my preferences for the sail sizes.   I used the kabob sticks which already had a nice tapered point on one end as the masts.  And here she is:

Not heirloom quality, but she should last a few years and the sails just pop out for storage.  The little felt pilgrim heads I got at Michaels too for $3 a bag.

Martha Stewart crafts had a photo on their website of a map tablecloth, which I couldn't find anywhere.  I went to Joann Fabrics and found this piece of fabric for $6.  I wish the colors were a little more muted, but at least it will hide all the stuff my kids spill all over it.

Happy Birthday, Marine Corps!

This November 10th marks the 237th birthday of Tom's beloved Corps.  We decided that this day should be celebrated by all in our household,  so we held the inaugural Pohl Family Marine Corps Birthday Camping Day.  Obviously, this meant clearing out some some inside space.  I think P was more excited about this night than trick-or-treat.  He was smiles all evening.  

Before...

Devil Dog Tommy pitching in to set up camp

Umm, anyone else think this tent is looking a little big for this space?



...and after.
We had to move the toy kitchen and make some other adjustments, but the tent just fit.  The tent was one of P's birthday presents from his uncle, Baba and Grampy, but we ran out of warm weekends this summer and never had a chance to use it in the backyard.

Today the boys made a detour to Dick's Sporting Goods and got an instant camping meal: Lasagna with meat sauce.

Just glad I wasn't eating this!

Tommy went up to his crib around 7:00 and P and Daddy prepped for bed.

A little nightcap

These two watched the first five minutes of the Notre Dame game before calling it a night.  Go Irish!

I left the boys all tucked in, but decided I should conduct an unannounced barracks inspection before I went to sleep at 10:00.  I crept down the stairs and immediately picked up Tom's snoring halfway down.  When I got to the entrance of the tent, one good Marine was still standing duty while the other was out cold.  I asked Patrick why he wasn't sleeping and with the saddest little face, P responded, "Everytime I try to fall asleep, Daddy's snoring wakes me up".  Tell me about it, buddy.


Family Fall Festival

It is always a good time when we get to hang out with Tom's cousins and their kids.  Last weekend we hit up the fall festival at O.C.C.  Tommy ate his body weight in food.  Really.  The horse drawn hayride was cancelled due to rain, and we opted to pass on the "haunted house" portion of the party, but Patrick enjoyed slathering on 10 lbs of paint onto a 3 lb pumpkin.

Kisses. Ahhh.

Trick Or Treat 2012

As you may recall, our trick-or-treat was pushed back to the Saturday following Halloween due to Hurricane Sandy.  We traded a cold, wet, windy evening for a cool, dry night, so no complaints here. The only downside was a much-missed Daddy who headed out for a fire call that lasted far longer than trick-or-treat did.  Luckily, my mom and her boyfriend (who we adore) had been planning on coming over for the big event anyways.  My mom helped me take the boys door to door while Mr. Rich handed out candy. 

After dropping off Tommy at home with grandma, Patrick and I hit a few more houses.  As we were heading home with our loot, P says, "This was so much fun, we should do it again next week".  If your doorbell rings again this Saturday neighbors, it's probably just us.

3rd Annual Neighborhood Halloween Parade

Last year it was snow.  This year it was rain.  Still, our annual neighborhood parade went on as scheduled last weekend just as the first drops of rain (that would last nearly a week solid) began to fall.  The adorable caped crusader to the far right in the blue and green is Patrick.  He is Super Why, a super reader from the PBS show by the same name.  He loves his costume, and did not want to take it off.  We could not believe the turnout despite the steady rain that progressively came down harder by the minute.  Our trick-or-treat is still yet to come tomorrow - it was postponed due to Hurricane Sandy.  No complaints here.   

Don't be shocked, but I did not do a theme with the costumes this year (two of the four super readers are girls, and the last is a pig, so that left Tommy high and dry).  Still, gotta love him as a spider.  The best part is that he seems oblivious to his costume and all the legs when it is on, so he walks around completely natural, like being a spider is second nature.

Every family brought a snack to share, and I plan on copying all these ideas in the future-what incredibly creative neighbors we have.

Apple Monster Mouths and Witch's Hats & Brooms

Taco salad made into a graveyard by cutting tomstones and fence out of a tortilla then baking the pieces for 5 minutes

Rice Crispy Treat Frankenstein (his hair was a fruit roll-up)

Patrick with his friend Ben