Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Day 2

Ta da! Will's quilt!


For those of you keeping score at home, this is Day 2 of my month-long daily blogging experiment. If you haven't read yesterday's entry, please do so now, especially if you're Angela, who may have no idea that she's supposed to send me sausages at the end of the month.

It's a beautiful autumn day here in lovely North Carolina. Sometimes I'm torn between Spring and Fall: which is my favorite? It occurred to me today that we tend to get longer stretches of loveliness in the fall. Our springs are gorgeous, but they heat up quickly.

Did I mention that I organized Will's classroom Halloween party this year? Yep, I did. Will's teacher is new to Our Fine School and has been a little taken aback by our party atmosphere. We will party at the drop of a dime at Our Fine School, and Halloween is the biggest party of them all. When I asked Mr. B what his druthers were, he begged me to keep the sugar to a minimum, which I thought was an excellent idea, and so we did. One of our activities was donut races, it's true, but that was the big sugar event of the party.

Other than that, we had mummy races, where the kids wrapped each other up in toilet paper--a huge hit, by the way--and pumpkin decorating, and Halloween story writing (my idea, and less of a big hit, but pedagogically speaking, quite sound), and a spider making activity. It was all good fun, and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves.

Here's the trick to having a good classroom Halloween party: Get dads on your party committee. First of all, it's good to have a male presence in the classroom; it keeps kids on their toes. Second of all, the dads totally lack that Martha Stewart impulse which makes some folks use the annual Halloween party as a way to exorcise all their decorating demons. So we had tablecloths and balloons, but that was it for decorations, and it was great. Other classrooms were the Taj Mahals of Halloween. They were glorious, sumptuous, absolutely aflutter with Halloween spirit. But, you know, who has the time? Or the money? And if you're decorating on this level for the third grade Halloween party, what's the Sweet Sixteen going to be like? Outrageous. And silly.

So it was a good party. And later that day, at pick-up, Mr. B pulled me aside and said that the other third grade teachers spent the lunch hour moaning and groaning about how wild their kids had been, how out of control. His was the only classroom where the kids had had a rollicking good time, but didn't self-destruct. So the party was a success, all is well, and Halloween is done until next year. Thank goodness.

Okay, tune in tomorrow to read more scintillating tales! I'll be here--will you?

12 comments:

Angela said...

Please define 'druthers' for me - I am not sure how to use it correctly in a sentence.

I LOVE the quilt.
I applaud your party-organsitaion skills

Am I ALLOWED to send you sausages? I thought it was against some sort of USA federal health and safety laws or something. My BIL nearly got arrested at the airport, because he had inadvertently carried a british APPLE into the states in his hand luggage [it was detected by drug sniffer dogs!]

British sausages are nothing like Bratwurst.

I find that British post to the states can be rather slow- I think a 3 week old pork sausage would drive sniffer dogsat the airport INSANE!

I shall have to work on this one further...

blessings [and well done on day 2/30]

Pom Pom said...

Woo hoo! That's hilarious, the "Martha Stewart impulse" comment!
Sounds like a fantastic party!
The quilt is beautiful, Frances! Well done!
Guess what? I got a snow day! I'm doing the happy dance, clothed in my jammies, cowboy boots (have to shovel the drive because Bill's in Belarus), and drinking real coffee!

Susan said...

I'm still thinking of what to send you if you make your goal. It needs to be something that screams "Ohio," can be shipped, and has the potential to make you giggle or say, "hmmm...that Susan is a bit odd." So put me down for an midwestern surprise.

The requirement for a Thanksgiving Day post may give me an escape from really having to do the heavy thinking involved with a challenge like this. Nevertheless, I shall enjoy reading the fruits of your effort to complete this month long challenge.

Gumbo Lily said...

Lucky and blessed Will to have a mother who makes him lovely quilts. And lucky and blessed Jack to have smartly planned Halloween parties, again, instigated and designed by dear Mother. You really ought to have a medal. Isn't Debbie getting that for you? You deserve it.

I'm reading!

magsmcc said...

Yes, YES, YES! Loving this- go Frances! Must express severe disappointment in today's post, however. I thought it would be daily train train mumbo domestic jumbo to encourage the rest of dull us in our montonous existences. But no, daily train train mumbo obviously equates as Seriously Impressive Life in the Left Handed World. I should have foreseen this. OK. I'm ready. Bring on tomorrow- also need translation of druthers, please?

Mise said...

I am here because I heard about the sausages.

Tracy said...

Angela - druthers='woulD RATHER'

Will's quilt looks amazing. Today, being my first day off with nothing to do since Uni finished, I plan to sew. I say plan. Who knows if it will happen?

Ooohhh I'm thinking I'm glad I live on this side of the Pacific and Halloween is not our 'thing'. My eyes are starting to roll at the thought of Year 4-5's and their student-planned social on Friday night. I was asked if I was coming. I'm thinking no. I'm a party-phobe.

I'm thinking I need to reconsider 'undying admiration' as my prize to you for blogging every day. I know I'm going to be laughing all month long and I need those laughs at the moment!

Leslie said...

What a beautiful quilt! Blue and white together just looks so crisp and clean.

A donut race sounds like an activity I could really enjoy! =D

Danielle said...

gorgeous quilt! My comment to your post on the 1st is behind.

GretchenJoanna said...

If I know that *you* are blogging every day, it will make me want to check my Dashboard every day!

Good news about the Halloween party, and wise tips you give: Dads and doughnuts. I must file these away, though I hope my party-planning days are long over.

The dB family said...

Your son's teacher must have been thrilled by the party success -- especially kids not all hopped up on sugar. A HUGE bonus in my eyes!

Blessings!
Deborah

The dB family said...

P.S. Love the quilt!