Whassup?

To all you Northwesterners that are now suffering from cold, bitter, October winds; to those of you that have already had to don jackets, sweaters and windbreakers; to the unfortunate that have already found their boots, tennis shoes, socks and umbrellas...you have my deepest sympathy.  Our weather today was 80 with a light breeze.  No need for an air conditioner or fans or heaters.  Just the natural, warmth that happens on a lovely, fall day in Texas.  I am constantly amazed that the girls are still running around in tank tops and shorts, though sometimes I make them put on a t-shirt so that they don't get too cold.  The nights do cool down, all the way to the upper 50's, so we make sure that the girls have blankets and warm night clothes.  But other than that, I haven't had to make any winter preparations.

Well, one of the problems that we knew we would encounter with Kate going to school was the dreaded mention of the jack-o-latern.  She came home on Friday with a painted pumpkin and the news that everyone at school already had jack-o-lanterns at their houses.  We have been debating about this for some time, and so on Sunday, we took Kate to the pumpkin patch and let her pick out a pumpkin.  She was so funny because she didn't want the ugly, orange pumpkins, she wanted a white pumpkin.  Reagan was only interested in the little tiny pumkins that had "handles" on them.  So, we brought them home, and today we decorated them.  Yup.  I bought a big tub of sparkly jewels and glitter paint and we glued and colored our pumpkins.  Kate made a curly haired lady with big red lips and blue eyes and long eyelashes.  Reagan just stuck stuff all over the place, and mommy made something a little arabesque.  Then we got out all of the Thanksgiving decorations and decorated the house for fall.  Whew...another successful season navigated...now, if I only knew what to do about a costume for the costume party.

Oh...update on figure skating class.  We are now skating on one foot with our legs extended behind us.  It's called a spiral because our legs are suppose to make a 180, but most of us only manage 90 at best.  We're doing one footed spins, and lunging as we move across the ice.  You should have seen that lesson.  The whole line of us started out with strong pushes, moved our right foot forward, dropped the back leg into the lunge position and tumbled into a heap like a row of unsightly dominoes.  We were all laughing, including the teacher.  Up we got and did it all over again.  Not to worry, we did manage to finally do a couple of lunges, but the backs of my legs are sore.  If you think that lunges, with hands behind your head, while walking are hard, just try the same thing while balancing on a skinny little blade that is sliding across ice.  On the plus side, I'm becoming a rink rat.  Last week I was at the rink every day except for Tuesday.  This week, I think I'll be there every day including Tuesday.  I've decided to be proud of my accomplishments.  I've only been taking lessons for six weeks, and I can already skate around in a Chuck E. Cheese-like costume.  I think I'm kind of impressed...hehehe...of course, Tanner looks so much better on the ice.  He has no fear.  I've seen him fall maybe half a dozen times, and three of those happened during the lunge class.  He does a lovely two footed spin, and only has to practice half as hard as I do.  Sounds like what we use to go through in high school.  That's okay with me, just as long as I can catch up eventually.