The Halloween House

Halloween in Cinderella's favorite holiday. Hands down. All year round she checks out library books about Halloween. She is constantly telling me what she wants to be for Halloween. Even on November 1st. She just loves that holiday, and I'm not sure why.

Anyway, towards the end of August, when it was a week or so before Cinderella's preschool started, the preschool had an open house. We walked over to it, in part to see how long it would take us to walk to know if walking would be an option on preschool mornings. As we were walking we passed a house that had skeletons and pumpkins out in the front yard, so I pointed it out to Cinderella, because I knew she would love it. And she did. She then started to refer to this house as the Halloween House. She would always ask me on the first few days of preschool if we were getting close to the Halloween house yet.

I don't remember when I realized it, it might have been that first day on the way home, or on the first day of school. But I realized that it wasn't really a house, but a house that had been converted into a business. And they didn't always have their Halloween stuff out, just during business hours. This was a disappointment the first few days because the time of morning that we walk there, is before it opens for the day, and we don't usually walk home.

Still sometimes they would have started to put their displays out before we walked past, and Cinderella is still excited to pass it. One day we noticed that we could see some of their decorations through the windows. Then one day last week we noticed that the decorations inside were no longer Halloween but Christmas.

Then this morning on the way to preschool Cinderella said, "Let's look at the Halloween house and see if it still has Christmas stuff inside." I thought it was pretty funny that even though it has Christmas stuff, it is still the Halloween House. I wonder if it will still be the Halloween House at Easter.

Because it's cold.

So we had a cold week this week. It froze. On Wednesday it was rainy, wet and cold, so we didn't walk to preschool, we drove. Well on Friday, it was cold again. It was in the 30's. So I figured we would drive again.

Shortly before 9, when we leave if we are walking, Cinderella asked if we were walking. I told her I thought we would drive today. She asked me why. I told her because it was cold.

Then she asked, "We are driving because it is COLD?" The tone of her voice seemed to mock me. So I broke out the coats and we walked. It really wasn't that bad. And yes I was just being a wimp. I'm glad my kids keep me active. I really need it.

Walking

So as for my goal to walk every weekday,I started off doing pretty good.

I put the kids in the stroller on Monday morning, and we took a walk through a senior citizen trailer park, that is near us.

On Tuesday it was a torrential downpour, and so a friend of mine, and I loaded up our kids in the car and headed for the mall. Which worked OK.

On Wednesday, I met a different friend at a different mall, and we walked there. So those days I did great. The kids really liked it when I went walking in the mall, because when I was done walking, we would find the mall playground and let them play for a while. Which they seemed to really enjoy.

Then I started to realize that if I walked every morning, there were other things that I wouldn't get done. Like going to the Library, something we didn't do this week. That, and one of the women I walked with informed me that my neighborhood, isn't a safe place for me to take the kids walking without at least one other woman going with me. So that kind of put a damper on the walking thing, especially with the current gas prices, and weather. So I didn't walk on Thursday or Friday. I need to figure out a better arrangement, so that I can still get some exercise and not use so much gas, or time.

An invite...

I used to have a really high metabolism, it didn't really matter how much I ate, I didn't put on much weight. Having kids changed that. I'm not fat, but my weight keeps going up, up, up instead of going down or staying the same.
I have tried a few different ideas, and while some of them have helped tone my muscles a little bit, I have a hard time keeping it a habit long enough for it to help me lose weight.
So here's my latest idea. I am going to put my kids in the stroller every day, and go walking. If the weather is such that I need to go to the mall, that is what I am going to do, but at least every week day, I am going for a walk.

Now here is my request. If any of you who live in the same vicinity as me, would like to join me in walking, you don't have to do it everyday, but even on occasion, you are more than welcome. In fact, I think if I had someone I was walking with, it would help me keep at it more. So let me know if you are up for a walk, and we will go. But even if no one wants to go with me, I plan to go on my own.
I'll have to let you know how I do.

He's Walking

Guy is walking. Can you believe it. OK so I may be exaggerating a little, but not much. It is a common sight to look up and see him tottering around, with a great big grin on his face, cause he knows he is doing something really cool.
One day I had the camera out, and as is his normal form, when he saw the camera, he thought he had to have it, so he made a bee line for the camera. The catch was, this time he was walking.
So I started taking pictures, then I remembered the video setting.
The only problem was, as you can see, it is sideways. I forgot how I was holding the camera, and that I can't rotate video.

After I realized what I had done, I tried to get him to repeat his performance, but he realized what I was up to and refused.
I did get it a few days later, with the aid of my husband.

I also got his game that he plays when he gets tired of walking and thinks, "I can do this crawling", and gets going really fast. This time my husband and I were far apart, but you can imagine how funny this was to watch when we were a lot closer together.