Halloweeny

PUNKINHEAD: Long before Annabelle was up this morning, CJ and I were at work. Our project: Turning him into a pumpkin. We'd done the same for Annabelle a couple of days ago. Today's was CJ's turn.

I opened the pumpkin photo file and the mug shot of CJ he posed for for the pumpkin project. I showed him how you copy a layer in Photoshop, and he used the magic wand and delete to get rid of the area around his face in his mug shot, as well as the eraser tool to clean it up.

Next, he dragged his face onto the pumpkin. We flipped layers so the pumpkin was on top of his face and then he had to use the eraser to find his eyes, mouth and nose behind the pumpkin. I could tell he though the end result was both cool and creepy.

CIVIC DUTY: We've spent some time learning about elections and voting as of late. I thought it would be great for the kids to have an opportunity to have a hand in casting a real ballot. I'm on permanent absentee ballot status, so my ballot comes to our home via the mail.

I showed the kids the ballot and CJ's initial reaction was, "Wow, this is a big long list."

He was right - there were a lot of elected officials on the line as well as initiatives and referendums. I told the kids that voting isn't quick and easy - you have to do your homework, just like they do their schoolwork.

They know from our MPA studies that ballots are cast in private. I told them that I was willingly letting them see my ballot and to help with it, and that was OK, because it was my choice. I told them that in our society it is NOT OK to be forced to let other people know how you vote (or to be bullied into voting a certain way).

I had them read the directions for completing the ballot aloud, and let them take turns filling in the balloon marks. I told them why I was voting the way I did on each person or measure.

It bothered me to see how many people were running unopposed. That just strikes me as, well, kind of unAmerican. I told the kids when someone is running unopposed, I often don't even vote for them. It especially bothered me to see certain someones running unopposed. Say, for instance, State Supreme Court Justice Jim Johnson, who running unopposed.

I pulled up some of the recent news articles about his feelings/quotes about minorities and shared them with the kids and told them why I wasn't voting for him, and that I wished I could vote against him, but no other candidate was listed. That's when we decided to use the write-in option. We talked about some names that we might write in.

CJ said, "I want to vote for Barack Obama." I laughed and told him that Mr. Obama is a bit too busy to be a judge in Washington state. Eventually, we all agreed that writing in MLK Jr's name would be fitting in this instance.

After we finished filling everything out, we put the ballot in a security envelope and then the mailing envelope, on which CJ wrote the our return address and affixed a stamp.
HALLOWEEN IN THE AIR: While Halloween's not until Sunday, we are making our favorite holiday stretch out as long as possible!

We put the finishing touches on costumes today, including downsizing Annabelle's long gloves for her transformation into Princess Peach.

TRICK OR TREAT: Though Halloween is officially two days away, we got a jump start on it this afternoon. Magnolia Village (the business district just a few blocks to our west) holds an annual trick or treat event, usually on Halloween. But since that falls on a Sunday this year, they held it on Friday.

The weather was gorgeous! Not just sunny, but downright temperate. We were ready to go at 5 to 4, hoping to beat the crowds.

We ran into all sorts of characters in the Village, including the Devil himself.

We also saw the kids' Musikgarten teacher, who was handing out kazoos (while tooting 'The Addams Family' theme).