Put A Smile On Your Face

As you know, this week the kids are out of school. That just means that I work twice as much and have to come up with ways to keep the kids occupied. Basically, my goal is to 1) Keep them from killing each other, 2) Keep them from burning the house down, and 3) Avoid any trips to the ER--all while trying to stay sane. Trust me, it sounds (and reads) easier than it actually is...

So in an attempt to keep the kids occupied, we did two special things today.

First, we started on our Halloween Pumpkin Pinata. While it may be a bit crazy to have initiated a project involving bowls upon bowls of sticky paste (in which the kids practically swim in), I think the end result will be worth it. (And luckilyhopefully for me, the paste will come out of sweatpants.) The main key (of my plan) is to let them bust the pinata during Halloween weekend... As in, when I am "off the clock" and the parents are in charge of coralling their hypo-hypo activity after they've stuffed there face with the sweeties*.
*Sweeties = what Rahel, Sara, and Ian call candy.

Secondly, we made Apple Smilies after dinner. (In case you don't know, an Apple Smilie is two slices of red apples with peanut butter spread on one side of each. Then there are a handful of marshmallows sandwiched between the apples, glued into place by the peanut butter, thus creating a big "smile".) The Apple Smilies were a good idea for several reasons: 1) It gave the kids incentive to finish their dinner, especially the veggies. 2) It incorporated fruit. 3) There is no chocolate involved, which means no hyper-active kids to put to bed afterwards. And 4) They are just fun and yummy! Apple Smilies were one of my favorite things to make as a kid, and fortunately, they seem to be universal. Rahel, Sara, and Ian loved them just as much as I do!

So all in all, today was a success...

Now what to do tomorrow? Carving pumpkins maybe?