Back in the Saddle

NOTEWORTHY: On November 2, the International Space Station reached a milestone. For 15 years now, the ISS has served as an off-planet outpost with a continuous human presence. Fifteen years in space for humankind - pretty cool. Now, if only we humans could boldly go even further again, beyond low Earth orbit.  ...

To read about 15 years on station, check out this NASA link: http://www.nasa.gov/station15 
#15YearsOnStation

HALLOWEENY: It has been a super busy spell for our bunch, and the blog has suffered for it. Frankly, for three days last week, I was up to my elbows in cake batter, buttercream and fondant. That makes using a computer difficult.

Friday afternoon the kids had a meeting with some peers, and they took some snacks along, including these cutely decorated marshmallows.

They were quick and easy to make - just edible ink pens on a kiwi lime marshmallow. And then we put them on sticks because every food is more fun on a stick! They were a big hit with the kids at the meeting.

Later, we went trick or treating in the business district in our neighborhood, Magnolia. 

 They close the main street down, and hundreds of kids mill around from shop to shop. In a quick half hour, CJ and Annabelle got pounds of Mounds, Kit Kats and more.

 They even hit up the liquor store. No, they weren't giving out minis/airplane sized bottles of alcohol. It was just candy.

Saturday night, we had a Halloween costume wedding reception to attend, hosted by Rick and his bride, Rachel.

We got there early and helped set up, including the three-tiered cake we'd made. The top tier was mocha chocolate with cookies and cream filling; the middle was pumpkin spice with brown butter buttercream, and the bottom layer was banana cake with brown sugar frosting filling. 

We'd made gum paste pieces for a haunted village scene on the bottom layer, and attached them at the venue. 

The top layer was hand painted, in swirls. 

THE WRITE STUFF: It's November, and that means it's NaNoWriMo, or national novel writing month! The kids are participating for the first time. They're going to spend at least a half hour every day writing a work of fiction. 

Annabelle is working on a story about dragons and humans. CJ is working on a story about a video game becoming an obsession of a national government, with life or death consequences. It will be fun to see what and how much they have by month's end.