High Five for Friday (11.4.22)

 

This week's HFFF post encompasses a couple of weeks, since I went Halloween-themed with last week's HFFF post. So much to cover!

One

All things Encore...

1a - The amazingly talented Ari Jones took these photos of Hallie and her entire ballet company at this year's Encore photo shoot.

1b - Hallie was honored to have been chosen to participate in one of the dances Encore showcased in its audition video for Regional Dance America. After multiple incredibly difficult rehearsals and one very long day of filming, the audition videos were submitted...and a week later we found out that Encore was accepted!

1c - Encore's first ever fall show - Encore En Motion - went so well!

Yes, it's blurry, but I love this pic of
Hallie and her friend Abby mid-jump.

Two

Another year of photos at the pumpkin patch (in dance attire) for these three!

Three

I voted (early), and it felt incredibly good to check some of those boxes. I did my research this year, more so than ever before, and I HIGHLY encourage those of you who live in College Station to do the same.  (I'm happy to chat elections and candidates and proposals in real life if anyone is interested in learning about what I and others unearthed during this research...feel free to send me an email at erinlferris@yahoo.com.)

Four

My girl just picked up her fourth pair of pointe shoes! While her third pair isn't dead yet, she doesn't love them so they'll be retired a little earlier than we expected. 

She'd want me to ask that you please excuse the
pajama pants and old-tights-turned-socks - she was up
sewing her elastics and ribbons late into the night!

Five

All things Halloween...

5a. On Saturday night, after a full day of Nutcracker and Christmas at the Lake rehearsals, we went to the middle school haunted house. The wait to get in was almost an hour and a half (see the pics below of us passing the time), but it was worth it to see the girls' bestie Kara as Samara from The Ring and a few other friends in equally creepy roles. We had lots of fun, and I was impressed with how scary they made the entire experience!

Waiting...

Still waiting...

We started to go a little crazy...

And then we went a lot crazy.

We grabbed Kara - on her way in, pre-Samara wig - for a photo.

There's was no turning back
once we reached the scary clown! 

5b. On Halloween we had friends over for pizza, cupcakes, trick-or-treating (the candy canon made its third annual appearance), and candy sorting and trading. Though our numbers continue to decline as our older kids have started making plans that don't involve trick-or-treating with their parents and younger siblings, we still have lots of fun!

Popeye loves all people, and all people love him.

Popeye also loves costumes.

Plie, not so much.

Another year, another four dozen cupcakes!

This is Will running away from me trying to take
a picture of him as he left for a friend's house.

We actually reached 175 - five more kids came up the driveway
in search of candy after we had retired the Candy Canon.

Happy belated Halloween!

Monthly Medley: October 2022

Writing

I have one article - about my beloved Ballet Brazos' production of The Nutcracker Ballet - in the November/December issue of Insite Brazos Valley Magazine, and one article about Nobel Prize winners with Texas connections in the November/December issue of Texas Living. These are my last two magazine contributions for this calendar year, and while I'll get back to article writing in December ahead of a couple of January deadlines, I'm taking a bit of a break from magazines and working on something different this month!

Reading

I tend toward mysteries, but as I'm trying to push myself (a little) outside of my reading comfort zone, I picked up Wish You Were Here - Jodi Picoult's pandemic-inspired novel about a woman who finds herself stranded on the Galapagos Islands - at the library midway through the month. It wasn't at all what I expected - it actually had a bit of a mysterious feel and a pretty epic twist two-thirds of the way through - and I loved it. 

Watching

As a family we watched The Adam Project, about a time traveler who accidentally ends up in the wrong time/place and has to team up with his 12-year-old self to save the future of humankind. It wasn't my favorite movie of all-time, but it went over reasonably well with two grandparents, two parents, and two teenagers, so I call that a win!

Hallie and I started watching The Healing Powers of Dude, about an 11-year-old boy struggling with social anxiety and his (endearing yet poorly behaved) emotional support dog. The show is both funny and sweet, and I greatly appreciate its honesty and inclusivity when it comes to mental, emotional, and physical disabilities.  

Listening To

Late last month I pulled up next to a friend's car and noticed that she was laughing - like whole body laughing. I climbed out of my car and into hers, excited to find out what she found so funny. She then played for me a snippet of what I would soon consider one of the funniest podcasts around: It's a Wonderful Lie. It's a Wonderful Lie is hosted by Ashley Flowers (host of my beloved Crime Junkies), Gregg Hess, and Holly Laurent and is a "short-form comedy podcast that imagines the hilarious 'truth' hidden in your holiday newsletters." The letters themselves are hilarious, but equally funny is the commentary provided by Gregg and Holly, both of whom are comedians. There are two seasons - 2020 and 2021 - but we're hopeful that a third season will roll out any day now...

Following

Somewhere to learn: Sign Language 101 (@sign.language101 on Instagram) showcases two easy to follow/understand American Sign Language speakers teaching different ASL signs. Hallie wants so badly to take ASL as her language in high school, but unfortunately it's not offered in our district. This app isn't a substitute, but it's a great place to start!

Somewhere to laugh: Simon Holland (@simoncholland on Instagram) has great quips and quotes about (mostly) "dadding". I see a lot of Tom - and a little of myself 😉 - in these posts, and they always make me laugh.

Trying/Using

Anticipating an increase in the number of interviews I would need to do these last couple of months, I started searching for a recording app. After a trying a few that fell short, I finally found one that does a great job capturing in-person conversations and cutting out background noise. It's called Voice Record Pro, and I highly recommend it should you need to document meetings, interviews, etc. 

Anyone know of an app that lets you record both sides of a phone conversation? I haven't yet figured out a good way to record interviews I do over the phone.

I have a tripod to hold my regular camera, but it couldn't hold my phone so I swapped it out for one that could (which also doubles as a selfie stick). Thus far this tripod seems very stable while filming!

Wearing

I recently picked up a few J. Crew Factory tops, most in anticipation of the (ever so slightly) cooler weather we're now experiencing. I couldn't find all of items online, but here are the two that are still available and that I highly recommend!

link

link

Hallie and I are also enjoying (and sharing!) these shoes from Target.

Eating/Drinking

I've used Safari for years - probably more than a decade - but about a month ago, the browser just died. I tried just about everything I could think of (and everything suggested by Google) to fix it, but nothing worked. 

What does this have to do with eating and drinking, you ask? At any given time, I have between 60 and 80 new-to-me recipes bookmarked on my computer...all of which are accessible in Safari and NOT in Chrome. I finally came up with a way to access these links a few days ago, but prior to that I was without my many saved links for a little more than a month. I'm ready to start trying new fall (think apple and pumpkin) recipes!

Speaking of fall... These two seasonal treats are absolute winners!

Feeling Good About

• This trampoline master is amazing! Watching him is both fascinating and mesmerizing...
• You've probably already seen this video, of an older gentleman's first trip to Disney, but it's worth watching again. (Or for the first time if you haven't seen it yet.)
• These woman - athletes before Title IV took effect - are finally getting a chance to compete.

October has wrapped...happy November, friends!

High Five for Halloween 2022

Halloween should never fall on a Monday...or a Sunday, a Tuesday, or a Wednesday, for that matter. I can get behind Thursdays, but Fridays and Saturdays are of course the best possible days of the week for dressing up, trick-or-treating, and staying up late eating candy and watching scary movies. 

Unfortunately, Halloween falls on a Monday this year. We have school, soccer practice, and three dance classes (and we'll skip a fourth dance class, because if we didn't, Hallie would miss trick-or-treating completely), but we're going to make it work!

I love looking back on what the kids - and Tom and I, when we on occasion put together themed family costumes - wore on Halloweens past.

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

Last year Will still trick-or-treated for a bit with friends, but for the first time he intentionally avoided the camera. Made me a little sad...

Have a fun and safe Halloween, friends!

Paint the Town Teal (and My Halloween Soap Box)

I talk about the Teal Pumpkin Project each year around this time, so for those of you who read Chasing Roots regularly, the first part of this post may feel familiar. (The topic is an important one though, so please give the post a quick read and consider either participating yourself - if you plan to welcome trick-or-treaters to your home this year - or sharing the post so others can jump on board the teal pumpkin band wagon!) The second part of this post is new this year, and stems from an experience Hallie and her friends had last year. Here we go!

~

Four years ago, Will trick-or-treated like a "normal" kid for the first time. He didn't have to gently sift through bowls of candy looking for a piece he could safely eat, or say "no thank you" and walk away with nothing at all if the candy offered contained or might contain peanuts. I didn't have to read the labels on or look up the ingredients in any piece of candy he brought home. He sampled anything and everything without fear.

This wasn't always the case for Will and our family. As my regular readers know, Will has a peanut allergy. Four years ago he completed a months-long peanut desensitization, and he just recently entered his fifth year of maintenance during which he eats 12 peanuts every single day (without issue) to maintain that desensitized state. Sadly, not all kids with peanut allergies are so lucky, which is why, after participating for the first time in 2014 when it officially hit front porches nationwide, we continue to participate in the Teal Pumpkin Project.

For those who haven't yet heard of this Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE) project, here's the background information and a quick summary. At least one in 13 children (perhaps as many as one in 11 children) have a food allergy, and many more suffer from Celiac Disease, eat a restricted or special diet, or receive their nutrients via tube feeding. For these children - those who can't consume any of the items received while trick-or-treating or who can't trick-or-treat at all - Halloween doesn't have the same sparkle. The Teal Pumpkin Project began as a local awareness activity in Eastern Tennessee and grew into a nationwide campaign to "raise awareness about food allergies and promote the inclusion of all trick-or-treaters" and aims to ensure every child can experience a safe, happy holiday.

Participating in the Teal Pumpkin Project is easy.

1. Pick out a pumpkin, paint it teal, and place it on your front porch on Halloween.
2. Provide non-food treats - pencils, erasers, stickers, bubbles, and plastic vampire teeth have been popular at our house - for trick-or-treaters. 

The goal here is not to exclude candy; FARE suggests simply putting candy in one bowl, and non-food treats in a separate bowl. And if you don't have time to buy and/or paint a teal pumpkin, you can buy one online, order a fun sign for your front yard, or print out and hang up one of FARE's signs!

Painting a pumpkin teal or putting out a teal pumpkin on Halloween won't cure Will or anyone else of their allergies. But doing so is a step toward increasing awareness and making the world a safer place for people with life-threatening food allergies.

Let's paint the town teal!

Every year I consider using a different picture, but I just can't
look away from that sweet, toothless grin nor can I forget about
how seriously she took her responsibility to paint that pumpkin for
Will. I've since purchased a reusable teal pumpkin, but she still takes
responsibility for putting it out and gathering our non-candy goodies. 

~

Last year, Hallie and her friends spent weeks (months?) planning their Schyler Sisters (Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy) Halloween costumes. On October 31st they dressed up, did their hair and make-up as authentically as possible, and headed out with their treat bags to enjoy what is usually one of the best nights of the year for most kids.

One of our neighbors answered the door and asked the girls how old they were. When they politely answered that they were all 12, she launched into a speech about how 12-year-olds are too old to trick-or-treat and that she didn't "allow" her 12-year-old grandson to trick-or-treat.

The girls were dressed up, incredibly polite, and 12. TWELVE. There's no way that 12 is too old to trick-or-treat. 

Side note: I trick-or-treated through my senior year of high school. That might be pushing it, but my friends and I were always dressed up and polite, and for our junior and senior years we prepared a little harmonized song so that if people were grumpy about us coming, we had something in our back pockets to make them smile. 

There are so many unsafe activities kids could be partaking in on Halloween, and they are only little for so long. Please, don't take the joy of trick-or-treating away from kids who are hanging on to their childhood.

~

Let the countdown to Halloween begin! 

And if you live in BCS and would like to stop by our driveway and experience Tom's candy cannon, email me and I'll share our address!