• I continue to love Morris Jeff Community School. Ruby just took her first field trip to help the people at the Arc of Greater New Orleans with their Mardi Gras bead recycling program, and she truly learned a lot from just that one day. Also, she just finished her first International Baccalaureate project. That sounds really impressive and scholarly, but one of the keystones of IB education is that it is child-led. This means that Ruby got to pick what her IB project was, and so her project was called Helping Mom Make Cupcakes. I wish scholarship always tasted like Funfetti!
• Ruby has now changed her mind approximately 27 million times about her Halloween costume. She still sometimes wants to be the Sleep Fairy. Other times, it’s Cinderella, a zombie, Batgirl, a butterfly or a skeleton. Luckily, she is a spoiled only child and only grandchild, and so she has many of these costumes in her dress-up box already. But wow. Are others of you with youngish kids finding they’re changing their minds a lot? Do you just not buy a costume till the last minute or do you put your foot down about switching costumes? At least in New Orleans, we can soften the blow with, “Well, you can always be that for Mardi Gras.”
• I am in love with my new car. I couldn’t, in good conscience, sell my Honda to anyone, so I just gave it to my dad. He has a soft spot for junkers. And he hasn’t taken any of the My Little Pony stickers off of the back window, which means that his car looks very different than the cars of most 73-year-old men. It amuses me every single time I see him get behind the wheel.
• I am attending Mia’s sixth birthday party on Saturday, and I can’t guarantee that I won’t tear up during “Happy Birthday.” She’s doing so well.
• I am also co-hosting a kids’ Halloween party this weekend, and I am absurdly excited. Spooky, gory recipes; kids in costumes; pumpkins; candy: There is absolutely nothing not to like about this.
Happy Halloween!