The 31st

So the 31st is on a Sunday this year, which meant an overlap with church and costumes.  You can see that I wore my Vision costume once more - it's a super fun costume.  This morning was super fun too.

We had all kinds of games, plus our costume contest too.  The winner was a kid who came dressed as this:

It's a Jentezen Franklin Legacy Bible, one you can open up and read the first chapter of Genesis, or the first chapter of John.  Just to emphasize that it's the Sword of the Spirit, our costumed friend here has a Minecraft sword as well.  It was a perfect costume!

But there were a lot of costumes this morning, and that's what made it a fun day at KidPak.  We gave out a whole lot of candy!  Pastor Lance surprised me when we were out on stage, and all of the kids and volunteers were singing "Happy Birthday" to me, and after that I was getting all kinds of kind wishes the rest of the morning at church.  I got a card, and we had a cupcake party on top of that in the office.  It was a really nice birthday morning at church, the best kind when you're surrounded by friends and loved ones.

We came home, and Mom had chicken marsala for lunch, which she knows is my favorite of course.  And it was really delicious.  There were cupcakes at home, and gifts too, and after that, I carved a few more pumpkins!  We watched a few movies, including "Zootopia," while I got busy finishing up two more pumpkins.  

This first one Josh had designed.  He drew this pumpkin on the birthday card this morning, and I thought why not actually carve that same idea out on an actual pumpkin?  So I did.  It was a quick and easy carving, given that the design was simple and already created.  This other pumpkin below though?  I started carving yesterday, and only finished it this afternoon. 

I like the idea of a Celtic cross on a pumpkin.  I wanted to have this ready for KidPak this morning, but it was just a lot of work, and given all the chaos of the morning, I'm not sure if it would have lasted through the morning anyway.  It looked great on the porch tonight, and it looked great lit up as you can see in the picture above.  

The Wellborn family came over, but so did a few of Maddie's friends from school tonight.  That meant it was time for us all to head out for some trick-or-treating.  Maddie was dressed up as Wanda Maximoff all day long, in church and as she got ready to go out into the neighborhood.

So yes, we had a bit of a theme going on, a bit of WandaVision on the front porch.  I want to add two things here:  I love capes.  I know Edna Mode might not approve, but it was fun having a cape on.  Secondly, that scarecrow that my parents made is pretty amazing.  It's meant to look like the one from the second "Goosebumps" movie, and they did a fantastic job with it.

Mom took up her position at the front porch, and you can see all our pumpkins lined up there, along with the black cauldron filled with candy.  That would be nearly empty by the end of the night, of course.  But we brought back enough candy when we were done for us to refill the thing, so it all evens out!

We were out and about after that, walking the usual path through our neighborhood, and it was so great to see so many people out there.  Once we made the turn off this street above and down Forest Path, the neighborhood was packed with trick-or-treaters of all sizes, and enthusiastic home owners greeting each one with lots of candy and smiles.  The bonfires were out, the decorations all over.  Halloween decorations rival that of Christmas ones in this neighborhood, with new cemeteries popping up in front yards, along with orange and purple lights, dry ice, mysterious and creepy music, skeletons climbing up houses, and all kinds of spooky decor.

Here's the group beforehand, ready to head out.  Maddie and her friends had a wonderful time, and all the kids came back with so much candy.  I even had a little bucket with me, and I had a good bit of candy in there, much of it I brought back for Nana as a treat to enjoy.

It was a fun night.  Maddie enjoyed her time with friends, and although she's getting older, she can still head out and have a good time.  I wasn't needed to watch over the kids so much, so I myself got to take a deep breath.  It was like Vision himself, walking on alone through the neighborhood and looking around at the festivities in that one Halloween-themed episode.  It was just nice getting to stop and look around and take in this rare and wonderful atmosphere.  All around, kids screaming and running from house to house to get candy, lights and music everywhere, full families walking along together in the twilight.  I saw a family of "The Incredibles" that looked amazing.  And then there were three large inflatable pigs - the Three Little Pigs.  Closely followed by the Big Bad Wolf, of course.  We didn't run into anyone terribly gory or scary, and everyone behaved tonight, so that's good as well.  It was just a beautiful night too.  The rain was constant the last few days, and to clear up tonight as special.  There weren't any clouds in the sky - just beautiful stars peeping out early while the sun set slowly.  The weather was cool, but nothing like a few years ago where jackets were covering up some of the costumes.  It was a perfect evening for a stroll, a perfectly enjoyable moment.

I came back home earlier than the rest.  Mom wasn't feeling great, so I was able to take her place with porch duty.  She made me a delicious hot chocolate in my favorite mug, it's one that had the Mayor of Halloweentown on it.  Again, I sat there and breathed in the atmosphere of this special night.  It was a blessing.

As Halloween wound down, the returning adventurers came back with vast amounts of candy treasure, diving into the warmth of our house and gloating over this bit of candy or that.  There was enough to share, although truth be told, everyone was eating enough candy along the way.  There were plenty of empty candy wrappers in their trick-or-treat bags and pumpkins, evidence of all the sugar that's been consumed along the way.

We watched our KidPak movie together again, the one we've been filming these past few weeks.  It came out great, a sort of horror movie with Putnam as the star.  Putnam himself was with us at home, watching as well.  The video is so much fun - we watched it earlier today in the service, and then again when we got home this afternoon, and once more with friends tonight at the house.

But soon it was time to get home for the others, and of course tomorrow is a school day, so we did have to get to bed early for that as well.  Everyone was pretty tired from the walking and the extremely full day.  But it was a great day today.  I had hoped I would have the birthday present of a World Series victory for the Braves... but they lost tonight at home.  They are still up three games to two, and all they have to do is win one more game here.  We've been in that situation before, but at the same time, we've won in that same scenario.  And there's this feeling about this team that we can in fact do it.  We'll see what happens as the week goes on, but that's the one thing I asked for with my birthday, and hopefully I'll get that this year!

We said our prayers tonight, and we did our reading too.  And we were asleep fairly quickly after that, given the long, full, wonderful day.

More Pumpkin Carving

We actually had a bit of time to carve some pumpkins today!  Mom, Maddie and I carved some pumpkins at the table - you can see my latest effort above, a version of the character Anger from "Inside Out."  I have been wanting to do this character for years - I just love the effect of the graduation of brightness with the flames.  He's a fun character.

And this is Maddie's pumpkin, a cowboy saying the phrase that Maddie says from time to time, "Yeehaw!"   We had something on the television while we were seated there, working away on our pumpkins.  I started another one that I'll just have to finish up tomorrow, and Mom actually painted a white pumpkin, one that is themed more to Monday's holiday, "Dia de Los Muertos."  

One other thing we did was head out to the playground and pool area to visit with the neighborhood for a fall festival they had set up there.  There was food, games, a costume parade and more there, all set up as we went down to look around and check it out.

The weather was a little iffy, but it wasn't too bad as to send everyone off scurrying.  There were plenty of kids in costumes, and they were ready to have a fun afternoon.

There were inflatables, pumpkin paintings, games, and a big screen television set up to show the Georgia Football game, presumably to get the guys out the door and down at the park as well!

All in all it was a fun little afternoon.  We watched "Girl vs. Monster" right after "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown," rounding off our seasonal movie selection.  Hard to believe by Monday or so we'll be starting up the Christmas season again.  This year has moved by fast!

One thing we did pay attention to tonight was the World Series.  The Braves won their third game and are once again one game away from winning it all.  We've been at this point many times, winning game three. It's exciting and we're all filled with hope and chanting "Go Braves" to one another.

Still... we've all been here before.  So I'm a little antsy.  All of Georgia is.  We're not filled with faith anymore.  I mean, it seems likely we're going to win it all, and unlikely that we could lose three straight.  But Georgia sports teams are famous for being so close to having victory all wrapped up, only to have the other team have a remarkable comeback to win the championship.  But by this time, does it count as a comeback if the other team is playing against us?  It's that bad here in Georgia.  So we'll have to see.  Maybe tomorrow we wrap it up.  Again, it seems likely - really likely - that we're going to win this thing.  But this is a Georgia sports team.

Still, we went to bed in great spirits tonight.  We said our prayers, we read, and we got to bed for a solid night's sleep.  Tomorrow is going to be a super big day!

EdgeFest 2021

Tonight's Edgefest event was a great night for the families, and as you can see above, the theme was a Jurassic Park style adventure.  Several inflatable T-rex costumes showed up for the event, but so did my pet raptor that we've been using at the church lately.  

Mrs. Edge is seen even riding a dinosaur there!  This event is a yearly tradition we've been attending now for  several years.  The first time was back in 2015, and in fact that was the first time Maddie visited Edge ATA studios.  From there, she was familiar enough with the location to give it a try soon after, and see about attending a summer camp.

But for tonight, Maddie and I were off and running as Wanda and Vision, the first time we actually wore these costumes out to an event.  We were ready to be heroes and hang with the dinosaurs.

The weather was a little drizzly to start out with, and on top of that cold.  But that didn't dampen the enthusiasm that families had, showing up to visit all the different trunks, hang out with friends, and get free candy. 

Maddie's friend Ginger showed up, invited by Maddie just recently.  The two were hanging out once Ginger arrived, although before that, Maddie was hanging around with some of her fellow students.

They went from trunk to trunk, joining with the activities and getting free candy at each stop too.  There were other things to get as well, including a stop with a mad scientist, who created snow for everyone.  And there were photo ops with my dinosaur too.  The kids loved it when he came out!

Alongside the building, to go along with the theme, they had "Jurassic Park:  The Lost World" playing on the wall, projected there in the dark.

The themes of the trunks were creative and fun.  Some were themed to the Addams Family, others themed to mad scientists and creations, and there was also one themed to "Nightmare Before Christmas."

I love the Oogie Boogie pumpkin, the Zero pumpkin, and of course the Jack Skellington one.  The theme song was playing as well.  Maddie got candy from all of these, and from another location, she even got free pictures.  There was a photo booth set up at one location - you can see the pictures she got there below, ones I just recently scanned:

It was a fun night.  The dinosaur theme made it extra special, with our dinosaur stepping out from time to time to visit with everyone.  None of the kids were really scared.

Oh yeah, and look here below - I brought this in, and they put it at the DJ table prominently displayed!

My "Lost World" pumpkin came out really well this year.  They put a really bright flashlight inside it, and the thing really glowed at night.  It looked pretty cool!  They're keeping it until tomorrow, but everyone appreciated this one.

Maddie had a great time hanging out, and of course half the candy was probably eaten before she got in the car to get home.  The rain was a nuisance, but it didn't deter everyone from running around and having a good time.  There were plenty even on the inflatables, jumping and sliding around. 

And I'm so glad our dinosaur got another night of usefulness.  It really was a hit tonight, as the families swarmed over to get a picture with it, along with the super cool KidPak backdrop behind it.

Maddie took this picture of her friend, who is Snoopy.  Maddie is Wanda Maximoff, of course.  A wet version.  

It was a great night.  We left from there to go to the Dominican restaurant a few storefronts down, and after that, home.  It was a full night, and we were still cold and a little wet. But it was super fun.  We got changed, read from our book, said our prayers, and got to sleep pretty quickly tonight.  That is, as soon as we finished watching the Braves win another World Series game...!

Jurassic Pumpkin II

Tonight I wanted to get this pumpkin done for Edgefest tomorrow night, for our friends the Edges as they prepare for their dinosaur-themed event at the martial arts studio.  I did this design idea last year, so this didn't take as long as I thought it would.  We were watching "Freaky Friday" as I was chiseling away at this pumpkin, and then afterwards, I got to do something I didn't do yet this season:  listen to my Nightmare Before Christmas vinyl record!  I got this one year for my birthday, and I just love the soundtrack so much.  I hear it elsewhere, but I love the idea of playing it on vinyl.  In the end, the pumpkin turned out just fine.

Our big news of the day was the sudden decision to go with a new Christmas production... in six weeks.  There's going to be a flurry of activity now, with choreography, dancers, live animals, musical numbers and so on.

Other than that, the day was spent preparing for Sunday's service.  Obviously, there's the movie we've been filming and editing.  Also we're working on the details of games, one of them being an apple bobbing contest, which just seems like it's tradition, right?  It'll be a great time.

We read tonight before bed, and we prayed, and then I got back down there to the kitchen to finish up my pumpkin!

Down

It was a rather depressing day today, but that just might be my medication.  Or it could be the fact that the Braves lost Game Two of the World Series.  Or it could be that Maddie's last piano class was today.  She doesn't want to play piano anymore.  This was obviously disappointing to her teacher, who told her to not lose what she learned, which means practice from time to time.  But that doesn't seem terribly likely.  We've got a big piano there in the room now, and it's essentially a great big decoration now.  Maybe I'll learn to play it or something!  

Maddie started out piano at a camp in June of 2010, at this very same location, and back then it was a lot of fun for her.  We've been coming to this small building for eleven years now, and so there was some sadness at leaving the parking lot for the last time.  There's also sadness remembering the piano recitals of the past. She did very well, but the last two years or so have been a struggle to get her to practice at all.  She just doesn't want to do it anymore, and there's not much that can be done about that.

We were filming today at KidPak, continuing with our Putnam movie, where this little guy is taking out one KidPak volunteer after another with cream pies.  It's been so much fun filming this thing, and we can't wait to see the end product on October 31st.  There is a bit of a race against time to get it completed though.  Still, in the end, Putnam will be a big star at KidPak again.  He was all over the place at least a decade ago, constantly used in skits.  Maddie got hold of him a few years ago, and he's been in our household since then.  Each night, he sits with the groundhog Chuck, and a poop emoji too, to listen with Maddie as I read the next chapter of our latest book.  We're still doing Kingdom Keepers, still at the beginning of Book Seven.  This one features short passages written by younger guest writers, and that might be something Maddie is inspired by.  She writes a lot, although she doesn't want us to read any of it.  Anyway, tonight we said our prayers and got to sleep at a more reasonable time.  It's been a long day. 

Evil Queen Grimhilde

The Braves won the first game of the World Series tonight, and although the score may have seem somewhat lopsided in their favor, you never know with either of these teams' offenses which way things might go.  We lost a starting pitcher tonight due to a line drive that actually fractured his fibula.  Adrenaline is a powerful thing - he was still pitching for the next three outs.  He got those guys out, and then he had to go, doing an incredible job keeping the other team scoreless through three innings.  It's a tough loss, because he was our starting pitcher for game one, and certainly one beyond that.  Now it's going to be tough.  I remember our 1999 World Series team having significant team injuries too, not playing at full power.  At this point, even though we took game one, we're still the underdogs.  That's how big of a deal it is.

Moving on, well, that's what I did this morning at least: I moved on a treadmill for a bit.  There are some fall foliage videos, POV walks along nature trails in Montana, and I was happy to have something to watch as I marched along.  My blood pressure is slightly up, ever so slightly.  But it's still way below anything to be concerned about at all.  I'm on this medication that helps with that  I stopped taking one pill per doctor's orders, and that I believe is the one that was driving my blood pressure down even further.  But I'm doing well now, at least most of the time.  I have episodes here and there, but on the whole, I'm okay.  The problem with these medications are the side effects.

We have to watch something every night with Nana, whether we want to or not, and tonight that was okay.  Because Mom and I watched Scooby Doo with Nana.  Because it's a great movie, and by gum, that's the one I chose.  Maddie doesn't watch movies with us that much anymore.  She sits and looks at her books, watching videos on her lap top and texting on her phone.  Until it's time to go to bed, at which point she heads upstairs, gets ready and calls out, "Ready!"

I leave to go read - we're starting on this darker start to book seven of the Kingdom Keepers.  Tia Dalma is for some reason a completely wicked character in this series, quite a different character from what we see in the pirate movies.  She's spending quite a bit of time rescuing Chernabog and the Evil Queen, who let's be honest, needs a name.  Early material suggests her name was Grimhilde, and another recent book series gives her the name Ingrid.  I suppose this was made so because the author didn't want to keep having these sorts of conversations in the book:

HUNTSMAN:  "Evil Queen!  I have come back with Snow White's Heart as you said."

EVIL QUEEN:  "Very well, Huntsman.  Or whatever your name is."

HUNTSMAN:  "Evil Queen, I don't have a name either.  But I put the heart in this ornate box you handed me, Evil Queen.  But Evil Queen, there is one thing."

EVIL QUEEN:  (opening box to inspect heart) "Oh, what's that, Huntsman?" 

HUNTSMAN:  "Well, Evil Queen, the first thing is this:  do not pay attention to the left azygous vein on that heart,  which appears as if it would drain directly into a coronary sinus." 

EVIL QUEEN:  "I was about to say something about that very matter, Huntsman.  And also perhaps something about the peculiar narrow tubular appearance of the right auricle in this heart, Huntsman."

HUNTSMAN:  "Ah, yes. Evil Queen, I know that a human right auricle is typically triangular in shape."

EVIL QUEEN:  "Indeed, as this is not.  Which suggests to me that this is in fact not a human heart at all, Huntsman.  Perhaps it is another creature's heart?"

HUNTSMAN:  "One might be tempted to think that, Evil Queen."

EVIL QUEEN:  "Oh, Huntsman?  I couldn't help but notice, Huntsman, that there used to be three little pigs in the forest glade, and now there are but two."

HUNTSMAN:  "Perhaps he just didn't have the heart to live there anymore, Evil Queen."

EVIL QUEEN:  "Well played, Huntsman."

Anyway, I happen to think the Evil Queen would have a much higher impact on the Disney Villain scale if she actually had a name that everyone called her.  I'm not saying it needs to be Grimhilde or Ingrid, but at least something.  Because there are other queens that some consider evil, right?  This will help with awkward confusion in the future.  So let's all write Disney and tell them the Evil Queen needs a proper name.  

And let's give the Huntsman one too while we're at it.

Mushroom Fest

So Josh's family has all these mushrooms to deliver, and given that his dad has been recovering from a certain virus of late, Josh himself has had the mushrooms to haul around, and he's had extras to unload as bonus mushrooms, so the end result is a mushroom-a-palooza at our house.  We have about ten portobellos, a huge box of white mushrooms, cremeni mushrooms, and shiitake mushrooms too.  Mom had these stuffed mushrooms tonight for dinner with a mushroom cream sauce over them, and we're planning on grilling those massive portobellos, although Shobie has some of them too and had an idea about making some sort of mushroom pizza out of them, using the portobello as the crust, and piling the ingredients on the top.  It was a mushroom kind of day.  A few of us at the office are dreaming up countless variations of mushroom dishes, or sharing mushroom recipes and images.  I'm not sure how long we can eat mushrooms, actually, before we get tired of them.  But it's a fun change of pace.

Maddie had taekwondo tonight, which went well of course.  She's helping train a few other new students, going light on some of the sparring with some of the rookies.  Soon this will be the only thing she does after school, as tomorrow is her last piano class.  We went straight home after that, and lately Nana takes a bath after that, and after that we have to watch a movie or something, at least I need to set something up for her to watch, but she'll only watch that with Mom, so the two of them are on the couch with me until Maddie calls down from her room to announce she's ready for bed, so whatever it is I'm watching I don't expect to watch anyway.  Maddie was studying a little bit, but she was laughing a lot tonight, texting on and off on the cellphone.  When it was time to read, I had to wait for the texting to stop long enough to get a word in edgewise - but when we started, we began reading a new book, "Kingdom Keepers VII."  It's advertised as the last in the series, and maybe that was the plan at the time, but we all know there are at least three more books plus another novella.  I only the first chapter read - Tia Dalma is back, and is Maleficent really dead?  Sure she's not, right?  

We're getting ready for the winter today somewhat.  I picked up a LOT of firewood, enough for fire pits and fireplaces.  We'll have a good bit of fuel there should we need it.  We're starting to stock up on other items too, gradually increasing our supply of items that we might need in any emergency.  Before 2020, that sort of talk was somewhat crazy sounding.  But you never know.  I remember before 2006 when the hurricane hit New Orleans, and remembering the shortages back then.  It doesn't take much, and so rather than being paranoid about it all, it's just a healthy idea to keep a little more of those necessary items in your house for back up.  Mom is sort of organizing some of that now.

I did my walking today, listening to that new TMBG release as I marched along to the beat.  It's always great to hear from these guys.  I'm really enjoying "BOOK," and so glad the band is still releasing new material.  The Instant Fan Club has been a great thing, one perk being that I get this new release weeks before everyone else.  To quote one song title, "Super Cool."

Well, it's been an okay day today.  I'm tired.  So goodnight.

A Wedding! A Wedding!

So today was a wedding, but it wasn't the kind of wedding you see above.  Nevertheless, a few of us were singing this song from "The Corpse Bride" all day long, with that same kind of enthusiasm about the upcoming evening.  It's a wedding!  A wedding!

Tonight we were honored to be invited to the wedding of Isaac and Josie, and it was just a beautiful day.  It was at a farm up in northern White County, in an area I myself don't even know much about.  But it was a perfect location, and the evening itself was just as nice.  I've got some pictures below of the special evening, just some candids.  I did not take any of the ceremony itself, as there are photographers there and it would be somewhat redundant.  But I did take some candids and other shots just while I was up there - I like taking some of these photos with the goal of sharing them on the one-year anniversary, long after the couple thinks they've seen all the pictures from their event.  Isaac might find these here, perhaps, but if not, this will be a nice little surprise to discover next year.  

Of course, today was also the start of a new series at KidPak, as if we didn't have enough going on lately.  We started "Neverland" this morning, and it was a good start, with Captain Hook, Wendy, and of course Peter Pan.  Maddie and her friend Jordyn played some of the Lost Boys, acting out a mad-lib we wrote up for the morning.

It was a super busy day, but all was well.  Church went well this morning, and the wedding was really nice.  It was a very full day, and as you can imagine, we were heading to bed not long after we got home.