Just what is Halloween?

It is no secret.  I have always loved Halloween.  I love to be scared, I love to do the scaring, I love the candy.  Say it with me, "FREE CANDY"!!  I love to play dress up.  I wish there were more dress up holidays!  I love Halloween.
Yet, it really wasn't until I moved to New Mexico that Halloween was presented with a negative image.  Where my biggest fear used to be healthy treats or bag snatchers, here I was told to watch out for my soul!!
So, when things puzzle me, I research.  Never having been content with a simple answer, and never having been content to follow the norm, I probed.  I found some very interesting stuff.  I would note it all in a nice bibliography complete with foot notes, but I do my reading in and around kid stuff.  That, and I was once told by an English teacher to stamp out all footnotes before they could breed.
Here is what I discovered.  Yes, Halloween is traditionally around the same time as Samhain, a wiccan holiday. Now, here is why. 
Halloween, or All Hallows Even, is a Catholic holiday.  Did you see that coming?  It is before All Saint's Day (all good Catholics must go to mass on Nov 1).  That evening or eve, good Catholics (yes, those early Christians) would light candles and go door to door offering to pray for the dead and those in purgatory.  Those doing the praying would get a "treat", something called a soul cake. I am betting it wasn't chocolate based.
Also, many people would dress up, or act as "mummers" and act out the lives or their favorite saints.  Remember, this was before baseball trading cards and comic books. 
Now, why near the pagan holiday....bear with me.
Early Catholic missionaries ran into problems with the early Celts and Brits.  Even the Norse.  Stubborn, stubborn hide bound people.  So the early monks did a bit of, hmmm, blending.  They wanted people to feel comfortable in this new fangeled religion (tell me again, the guy died for me?) where there was only one God!!  Whoooaaaaa!  So, some early pagan traditions were included in early Christianity.  Fish on Fridays?  Freya the Norse goddess had her holy day on Friday and her symbol was...the fish.  St. Brigid?  She was the Celtic goddess of healing and letters.  It is a fascinating thing to read up one (yes, I am a self confessed nerd).
So, Halloween, All Hallow's Even, was set at Samhain, to give the pagans a sense of continuation.  I bet it also drew in all of those wild young folk who were just jumping at the chance to join those crazy Christians!
Also, the calender that was used then, not so good.  Most people couldn't count past ten, less if they were missing fingers.  Keeping track of anything beyond a lunar calender was rare.  The priest were often not even literate.  The had memorized the Bible.
Let us also consider the time of year.  Harvest is just now over.  People have been working seriously hard hours to prepare for winter.  There was a mini Ice Age in progress, winter was cold, seriously so.  The earth would be tilting her face and the days would have shrunk.  Night had a long hold.  No electric lights.  No modern medicines.  It was likely that a sizable percentage of the community would die.  For reasons that the people really couldn't understand.
So, like any human, they took a fear, and celebrated it.  They brought fear out into the light.  The partied, they laughed, they snacked.
The more you laugh at your fears, the harder it is for those fears to seize you.  I say this as I still have a lingering fear of that stupid clown from "Poltergeist" to grab my ankles from under the bed.

So, in review.  Halloween can be what you make of it.  You can look at it's pagan roots and turn away from it.  Or you can admit that it also has Christian roots.  That it is also a silly Hallmark Holiday, complete with stale TV specials and early merchandising.
But in the end, please, oh pretty please remember: FREE CANDY!

Kids, Kows and More

Caitlyn recently attended a Fourth grade tradition on the High Plains.  She attended Kids, Kows and More, which is an educational agricultural program.  In Third grade they attended Farm Safety Day and that too, was a great experience.  This is the essay, as dictated to me, from Caitlyn, about her day.

What I learned at Kids, Kows and More
At Kids, Kows and More, we had lots of fun.  I’ve learned the six types of cows: Ayrshire, Brown Swiss, Holstein, Jersey, Gurnsey and Milking Shorthorn.  The milking was so cool and I liked Grace, the cow. 
We learned that you should cook your hamburger at 160 degrees or 180 degrees.  We also learned how to properly wash our hands.  Step one: wet your hands with warm water.  Step two: apply soap.  Step three: sing the ABC’s two times or twenty seconds while scrubbing your hands, top to bottom, between fingers and finger nails.  Step four: rinse away germs.  Step five: dry your hands with a clean towel or a paper towel.
 In Ranching, she should have talked about more than her cowboy boots.
We all loved Food Safety, it taught us how to be food smart.  We think there should be something on horses.  We learned it is not right to stick a food thermometer in not properly cooked meat and then stick it in a nice clean piece of meat
We learned that cotton is a plant.  It was funny when the cotton man showed us very huge underpants.  You should have taught something about peanuts.  We are peanut country!
Next year the third graders will love it when they go in Fourth Grade, like we did.  There should be more animals, besides one cow.  The burgers we ate don’t count.  There should also be something on emergencies. 
We all loved South West Cheese.   I totally wish I had more cheese!
We learned that we should have three servings of milk a day.  We learned about how, if you put too much cheese in the box you will have a blown up cheese box.  We are proud that we are the number one best selling cheese factory in the world. 
Thanks to the emergency booklet you gave me, I know that we need: a radio, a flashlight, extra batteries, a dust mask, food your family would eat, a floatation device in case of floods, pens, books, coloring books, etc.  Also, to keep your pets with you.
For your pets, you need: a bunch of dog toys, food, special medicines, lidocaine,  bandages and water.  All of that was because of the book you gave me.  I read the book. 
We all loved the trip!  You guys did a good job on the food.  All of the kids in my class liked the food, even me! 
The way they rotated was very cool, how they put on the music and we rotated left.  All of the city kids learned lots about the country.  .
We learned so much I can’t say it all.  We got to try some grain and wheat. Learning about the ancestors of wheat was awesome. 
We had a break after the wheat and we took pictures by the statues.  The Dora Coyote’s Fourth Grade had lots of fun.  We like the popcorn at the end.
We learned a lot at Kids, Kows and More.

Twin bonds

I was talking on Facebook the other day about how my kids fuss and fight with each other in the mornings.
Later that afternoon, the twins' teacher replied to my post:

Ah Julie, you should have seen your boys gravitate to each other this afternoon when William wasn't feeling good. Jimmy was feeling of his head and looking in his eyes. It was very sweet!!!!

I love it when the twin bond sets in and they are so caring and gentle of each other.
It reminded me of when they were two and I would take them, one at a time, to an indoor pool.  Once, I had James and through the entire swim session, he kept saying, "Nunum" .  For the life of me, I couldn't figure it out.  We got home and James squirmed down from me, ran to William and yelled, "Nunum," and hugged him.  It was "William" in twinspeak.  James wanted him brother.  *happy sigh* 

Dressing Fancy and Parent Conference

William likes clothes.  He doesn't go for trends or flash.  He doesn't insist on bling and sometimes his sense of style is...unique.
We are fortunate enough to get some hand me down clothes from a friend of ours. Going through that bag of clothes is a lot like Christmas for all my boys, but mostly for William.  Irregardless of the weather or season or even occasion, if he finds something that really strikes his fancy, he wears it.
This morning he came down dressed in jeans (hand me down or HMD), and a sweatshirt (HMD).  I could also see the edge of a plaid button down shirt (HMD) peeking over his sweatshirt.  Since he wasn't in danger of either having heat stroke, or frostbite, I ignored the color combination and sent him off on the morning carpool with a kiss and a wave.
I did hear back from my morning mom, Tawna.  The following is a partial transcript:

William: Mrs. Tawna, do you see my tie, I am wearing a tie.
Tawna: That's great, very fancy.
William: When I am older I am always going to dress fancy.  I am going to work.
Conner: Are you going to work for ABC's?
William: No, I am going to work for money.

Tawna managed to get the kids to school without wrecking due to laughter. I had no idea he had a clip on tie (HMD) under the other layers.  He liked it, so he wore it, just like when he used to wear the belt and suspenders "just to be sure". Comfort is important, because he had it clipped below the top button (left open).

I might add that we wore a red and navy striped tie with an orange and mid blue plaid shirt, but, he was decent, clean and very fancy.

On another note, we have been seeing the dentist, one at a time.  Michelle, our hygienist is a gift of patience.  She engages the kids and has them all firming believing that the dentist is the coolest place to go and the "Me first!" rule should be used.  To avoid the "Me First" woes, I simply announced we would all go, in birth order.  That usually heads off all arguments except when James complains about the one measly minute separating him and William.
Our first appointment was on a day when the kids had off from school due to parent teacher conferences.  We went in the morning and Caitlyn got a clean bill of dental health and a new toothbrush.  We learned that Michelle's son was attending school at Dora.
Two days later I take William in.  Does he say "Hi", "Hello" or "Good Morning"?  Nope.  He sits in the chair and as soon as Michelle comes in he says, "So, how was parent conference?"
Michelle was only startled for a micro second before giving William a  run down of the conference.  I told her later he could have given her the lecture on the start and end times of the Civil War (1861-1865) and that while slavery was involved, you just can't decide to leave the nation if you are a state.
It could have been far worse, seeing as his Reading Rocks group is reading a book on Mountain Gorillas (which are big "like Dad").

And how was your day?

Autumn Apples

It is apple season again.  It sends my kids into a frenzy of picking at my parent's house.  They have two young trees that compete to over produce.  The kids have no limits on picking and bring me every apple they pick. 
We discovered that instead of sending the horses into colic by overfeeding them, we make apple betty.  If you click on the link, it takes you to a standard recipe for it.  I substitute the sugar and make half white, half brown.  I also double the batch.  Just a tip, when slicing up that many apples, put them in a bowl of water with some lemon juice to prevent browning while you cut and peel.
The kids enjoy this tasty treat and I don't mind making it.  It is so much easier and faster than a standard apple pie, and can be made in a large casserole dish.

Today marks the third batch I have made in the past month.  The first batch went to Caitlyn's class, where her school mates sang her praises and loved it.  We have to be careful in that class, as one girl has chocolate allergies.  Bummer, since chocolate is my bestie.

Speaking of friends, the kids are having quite the social year.  James and Conner (and sometimes Caitlyn) spend Friday mornings with their friends (Grant, Eli and Sawyer) and then we also have our Ms. Andrea come over, often with Emma and Caden.

Caitlyn certainly enjoys the girl time with Emma and Caden and the boys just roll along. On Mondays, after school, we have Allie and Alex stay for a bit.  My house is filled with squeals, laughter and running little feet.  We have moved well beyond the pitter patter, seeing as how all the boys take after their daddy!

The dogs think this arrangement is fabulous.  They also score extra time with Andrea and Caden on school mornings when we all meet to walk at the Walking Trails, other wise know as Prairie Dog Town.  Every school day, after ms. Tawna picks up the kiddos (God bless you) the dogs know it is walk time.  The whine and fuss, waiting for me to leash them up and go to the car.  We enjoy a one and a quarter mile brisk walk, with time out for "business", watching prairie dogs or the occasional detour from a sunbathing snake.
(Which, honestly Mom, doesn't happen that often, you should join us.)

So now, as the temperature slowly sinks more each week, I await the crisp autumn mornings.  I await the time where I will walk faster to stay warm, and get more exercise.
  So I can eat more apple betty.


So, how was your day?

A moment to reflect....

If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped transform for the better. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better."
— J.K. Rowling

Imagine a better world, and make it so!

Roosevelt County Fair!

I will take some photos but I am too excited to wait!
One of my sewing entries won BEST OF SHOW!!  I won a bunch of firsts and seconds.
Then, my ducks took Grand Champion and Reserve!
Caitlyn won best female chicken, Best of Youth Barn!!!  Wow! what fun!