Bubbles and Balloons

While at the grandparents in SC, we visited a small farmer's market in Port Royal. Aside from the $2 whole watermelon and she-crab soup, we bought artisan bread and a killer herbed cheese. The girls' favorite part: a woman singing with her accoustic guitar, accompanied by a man intermittently playing steel drum and tambourine. My favoite part: watching them in their balloon swan headdresses, blowing bubbles and dancing "like no one's watching" (even though everyone was).

Another special feature of the farmer's market that really upped the charm factor was that it was surrounded by a grove of Live Oak trees draped in Spanish moss. Made for a wonderful warm, sunny fall afternoon.

Other Things to do with Halloween Candy

Even though I LOVE candy myself, I am doing my best to teach the girls that you can have control over the massive loot and limit yourself to one piece a day. This, unfortunately, makes the enormous stash of candy seem to sit on the sidelines for weeks and weeks.


To use up the candy in different ways, I propose a "Taste Test". See if your kids can identify each candy by divvying them up into little bowls or a deconstructed egg carton. We conducted our own tasted test a couple months back and the girls made me re-enact the test for their friends over the days that followed.


Of course you can do this "Taste Test" with any sorts of food (this picture show a selection of salty, fruity and sweet items), but I'm sure that doing it with nibbles of snickers, sweet-tarts and skittles would be a lot more fun.


Blindfolds are optional. ;)




Another unorthodox use for Halloween candy I read about in Family Fun magazine is to conduct science experiments (which will melt fastest in water or in the microwave, etc.). I couldn't locate that exact article online, but they had some other cool ideas (like 'reverse trick-or-treating' and setting aside some leftovers to decorate a gingerbread house in December!):
http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/halloween-candy-overload-793376/


And lastly, my own sweet moment of the day:

Waiting in carpool line can be a balance of wait, wait, wait then rush, rush, rush. So this morning, just to be on the safe side, I asked B for a kiss "before you run out." Her response: "I'll never run out of those kisses." I sure hope not!!

Halloween aftershock.

M woke up, climbed into our bed for 10 minutes or so, until we were ready to get moving. She began to make her plea. "Can we go downstairs now? I want to see my candy."

And B was in on the candy oggling and sorting through the smorgasbord:

"I got two "essy S's" (that's what they call the the fruity counterpart of "emmy m's"). Oh my gosh - lollipop! Emmy m's. My favorite. Every candy is my favorite. I just love candy."

And boy, does she ever. About halfway through church today, I hear a candy wrapper crinkling, followed by a sighting of one of Bailey's cheeks mysteriously bulging. Wish I had my camera then!