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Welcome back, loyal readers, to this year's Halloween edition of It Happened One Life. This year, we have a bit of a reversal. Usually, MY pumpkin is the most complex and the kids do simpler pumpkins. This year, with how busy we've all been, we literally didn't decide on pumpkin patterns until yesterday, and we carved them today, ON Halloween. The nice part of this was that everything was very fresh when put outside. That's the bonus of Halloween on a Saturday.

Also, this year, the kids did the pumpkins completely on their own, even when they had some trouble. Both of their pumpkins came out very impressive, especially when you consider that the transfer of the patterns to their pumpkins mostly didn't work and they both had to freehand the majority of their pumpkins. They did a great job!

First, my pumpkin, appropriate to the game 3 of the Yankees/Phillies World Series:

Next, Katie's terrific puppy dog:

Finally, Ellen decided to do Edgar Allen Poe, and when we looked at it after she was done, it looked...well, terrible. But, as is the wont of pumpkin carvings, the proof is in the lighting, and I think it came out really well:

All in all, another successful year of pumkining!

Several times over the past few weeks I've seen what looked like a huge hamster with a think brown tail. Guesses as to what the creature was were forthcoming, ranging from a groundhog (my original guess) to a pony (katie's guess) to a badger (ellen's guess). Fortunately for all of us, my guess was correct, and the fuzzy creature you see below has been eating our garden, plants, trees, grass, and anything else he can get his little teeth into:

Having seen it actually scamper across our driveway and under our deck, I was painfully aware that the problem was not going away. Also, I didn't want to end up like Bill Murray, and have to marry the painfully self-righteous Andie MacDowell. So, last night, a trap was purchased and simply set out next to the deck with some apples inside of it (groundhogs are supposed to like apples--don't ask me, I just take the orders). After it was set, we got into a lively debate around the table regarding the configuration of the trap with Ellen, who insisted that it should have the following, additional traits:

1, it have multiple compartments, for catching many bits 'o prey at once.
2, that it have a conveyor belt to escort that prey to its designated compartment after it stumbles into what would be the loudest trap ever.
3, that it have a solar power source to work the conveyor belt.
4, that it have a nuclear power source to send a signal to a receiver that the operator (me) would wear in his pocket.
5, that the receiver would also be nuclear in some way (she called it a "nuclear pulse" that would be sent to my pocket...I said I didn't think so for the painfully obvious reasons...)

So, after we spent a few minutes roundly making fun of her on this any many other scores the way we, as supportive parents, tend to do, we dispersed from dinner and headed to bed. Upon waking this morning, I was informed by Kim that several things had happened regarding the trap that I should be aware of:

1, the trap was full--of Raccoon.
2, the groundhog was sitting happily right outside the trap munching on a leaf, looking at the raccoon, and scampered off when Kim came near.

Thus, we owe Ellen an apology. Clearly her conveyor belt system had some merits. Had we had additional compartments, the Raccoon would not be lonely right now, but instead we would have two wild animals caged in our backyard, attacking each other for the 2 apples I left cut up in the trap.

Oh, and Happy Birthday Katiebug! Way to turn 8!

kim related this story, as told to her by one of the counsellors at MSU camp:

Gary, one of the counsellors, stopped Katie and said that he was heading over to where Ellen was, and did she have any message to pass on to her.

Katie: tell her "me wuv you"

So Gary dutifuly passes on the message and asks Ellen if she had any reply:

Ellen: yes, tell Katie to use proper grammar.

SO Ellen.

We were just watching horseracing on TV as Katie saw it on the guide and wanted to watch the horses. She's under the belief--the unbelievably mistaken belief--that there is some way we will get her a pony. I think she would be fine with it living in her room as far as she's concerned, although she might not think so when it filled her shoes with crap.

Anyway, as we watch the race and are commenting on the horses, Katie says (so we can all clearly hear):

"My heart aches with longing..."

Uh huh.

I'm in the kitchen feeding Katie, Ellen and our neighbor child Claire a nice fresh pizza and I get into this conversation with Ms. Bug:

Katie: Dad, when are you going to have your own pizza parlor?
Me: Not for years, Bug.
K: I have a great name for it. You could call it Paul's Perfect Pizza Parlor.
M: thats a pretty good name, but it's a lot of P's. I try to keep the pee away from the food (lame joke as I'm walking out of the kitchen).
K (to my retreating back): But Dad, alliteration is good in a restaurant name!

I just stopped, turned around, stared and said something like..."uh. right."

She's 7.

We're on the way to our accountant, playing a game at Katie's suggestion where someone says a proper noun (usually a name) and then the next person has to say another name that starts with the letter that the last person's choice ended with, e.g., if I say "Batman", the next person would have to pick a name that starts with "N". So we're going around dozens of times and I say one that ends in an R. Kim's next and says "R2D2". Katie comes next and, not surprisingly, is sort of stuck coming up with a name that begins with the number 2:

Me: How about 2Pac Shakur (which is also spelled "Tupac").
Katie: OK. (mumbles something) Ellen, it's "n" to you now.
Me: wait..N? shouldn't it be R?
Katie: no, chicken ends in N.
Me: um...chicken?
Katie: yeah, didn't you say "2 packs of chicken?"

There's the new king of rap: 2pack of chicken. Word up, wingboy.

Never to be outdone, Bug entered a poetry contest this week at school. Not only did she write a wonderful poem, but she won first place for her whole grade with this very timely and hopeful poem:

Let's hope life imitates art. Great job, Bug!

This is all Ellen. Every week she needs to use her spelling words in some way--a story, a poem, any kind of writing. This week, this is what she came up with, all on her own, in about 15 minutes according to Kim. Note: the spelling words she had to use are in italics.

This is why Ellen is one of a kind.