James was invited to Johnathans Birthday Party which was held at the Zap, sort of an inside carnival with huge inflatables, bumper car rides, laser tag, and plenty of games. James had a blast with his friends who he has not seen since school let out before Christmas.

James favorite game was the “Smelly Feet” game where you shoot a stream of water at smelly feet and if you do it right, the shower comes on at the end. You also receive tickets when you play the games that you can redeem for prizes at the end. 50 tickets get you a sucker. If you get hundreds of thousands of tickets you can get a Wii game so I am betting they hand out more suckers than Wii’s.

Continue reading “Johnathans Birthday Party 2012” →

James welcomes in the New Year

How quickly the year went by this year. James has been counting down for Christmas since, well, last Christmas and finally it came. James certainly was not disappointed as Santa, Relatives, and Friends really went all out for James (and a big thanks to you all). Mary made lots of fudge this year and everyone enjoyed it, although the calories were a little high but what the heck, its Christmas.

Again, we watched our “Traditional” Holiday movies – Dead End, Holiday Inn, The Ghosts who stole Christmas, and the Post Modern Promethius.

This year James does not have to go back to school until January 9th so its a good thing he has lots to do during this time. He will be attending a Birthday party after Jan 1 for his friend Jonathon and we are all looking forward to that.

Continue reading “Christmas 2011” →

James worked hard on Dads cake and placed a candle in the center. James is becoming a pretty good cook as he has had a cooking class at school. Things like spreading icing on a cake must have been taught there because he did a pretty good job with Dads cake.

Dad always complains that his birthday is so close to December that he does not get a fair shake on gifts and people would say “this is your birthday AND Christmas gift” when he was a child. Because of that most of Dads gifts are give November 1st which is the day after Halloween when Mom (and James if he is not in school that day) go out and get a bunch of Halloween stuff at discounted rates.

Yes its true, no one was more stunned than us, but it appears James turned it up at school and really did well this marking period, making the Honor roll and getting several awards including an award for improvement in reading. His behavior has been much better as well, although in a recent parent/teacher meeting the teachers said James gets a little anxious the last half hour of school and if he causes them trouble thats usually the time.

We are all proud of James and when we got the news from school took James out to Walmart and bought him a video game he had wanted (we were going to get it for him for Christmas anyhow). Hopefully he can continue winning awards at school and making his family proud.

All the Halloween decorations are put away and the Christmas stuff is out and will be put on during the Thanksgiving holiday. We took some pictures of the Living Room returned to normal (with Mary posing as Frankenstein in one of the pictures). Taking down the scene setters was pretty easy, as long as it was on a standard dry wall or plaster wall surface. If it got into caulk (for instance around a door) it was more difficult to remove. It was also very difficult to remove from the basement which has concrete covered by Dry-Loc. Fortunately we did not have much in the basement. The scene setters when removed took up almost no space, so if you want a great Halloween look but do not want to spend much cash or store much away I would suggest going to Halloween City or Spirit Halloween and picking up a roll of scene setters.

Speaking of saving money Mary came home with an animated tombstone Saturday while I was taking down decorations. The cost – $2. Mary keeps her eye opened for things like this after Halloween and it has served us well the last couple years. Even if the prop is broken, odds are its an easy repair like this tombstone was.

Continue reading “The People Under The Stairs – Halloween Cleanup 2011” →

Once again Mom got Dads birthday and Christmas gift the day after Halloween. With 50% sales on Halloween items at Walmart and Spirit, Mary made out like a bandit, especially at Walmart where she got a ton of cool stuff half off their already low price!

We stocked up on Halloween garland and the stone dungeon scene setters that we used in the living room. Mary got a cup cake server (which has a small pirate skull on it in the picture) that she really wanted, especially since cupcakes went over well at the party. James got some shirts and a couple pirate props (James really liked Pirates of the Caribbean), and dad got his Christmas and Birthday gifts early again with several Halloween props and animated figures.

Continue reading “After Halloween Sale 2011” →

The pics start with the outside decorations at our home, then go into James Trick or Treating and the fun he had. James met up with some of his friends on the street, and we did all of Vassar and Tulane from Annapolis to Dartmouth. Missing this year was Mrs Kerchen who is recovering from an accident and hopes to be back soon. Mrs Steel on the corner went out of her way to see James (as did most our neighbors). Allen next door had some great pumpkins and most of the homes were very well decorated. This might have been the best year yet as I would guess 1 out of every 2 or 3 homes had some Halloween decorations up, so I would have to say that it is closing in on Christmas as far as outside decorations.

The trick or treater turnout seemed light, really don’t know why since it was a nice evening. James was the only kid out on one block and it was around 7pm which should have been prime trick or treating. Tons of candy left at the house as well.

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For the second year in a row James and his classmates participated in the Hoover Elementary Halloween Parade. The entire school marched around the front of the school in their halloween costumes, led by their principle Mrs Springer, who wore the purple jester costume. The costumes seemed to be much more elaborate than last years, with Darth Vader and Batman seeming to be the favorites among boys, and witches and angels the favorites among girls.

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Wow, it seems each year James brings more and more home from school for Halloween treats. This year he got so much it looked like Trick or Treat time. James got a flash light, vampire pen, pez, marshmallow Halloween meal, finger candy, candy corn, and even a pop corn hand with candy corn fingernails.

Special thanks to all who contributed to Jame’s loot and if he does this well at Trick or Treat he will be doing great. Also a special thanks to Mrs Jent and all of Hoover elementary who always go out of their way to make holidays special for the students.

Continue reading “Halloween Treats from Hoover Elementary 2011” →