NJ2LA

After I published the last blog post, I realized that I forgot to report a bunch of non-kid activities.

This blog began as a way for me to cope with packing up my life and moving across the country. Then it became a virtual scrapbook for my kids, who might not remember this time in our lives. It has eventually evolved into an update for our three sets of grandparents. It doesn't hurt that our friends and family on both coasts follow it. So sometimes I might forget to update the blog with what's going on in Evan's and my lives.

So, a couple adult things that happened in the past couple weeks. Professionally, I've been doing a lot of contract work for my friend's agency, early-adopter.com -- ready for all your web and social media needs! That means that my hours when the kids are in school have been stuffed with work calls and Google Hangouts and furtively designing while The Goose is watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

It also means that I'm back in the swing of freelancing, and I am loving it. I'm hoping to keep freelancing at least until The Goose is in kindergarten next fall, and maybe until she's in 1st grade (we have half day kindergarten). If you know anyone that needs some designing, please point them towards my professional website:

www.brockwaymetcalf.com

In other adult news, it was the Second Annual Jersey Girls Brunch!

Last year, my friend Janice organized a brunch for some of us displaced Jersey Girls. The three other Jersey Girls ended up being a terrific resource for my family as we made our way through our first year in California. Doctors? Preschools? Parks? School advice? Brunch? Pizza? The Jersey Girls have guided us through the first year with aplomb.

My friend Jen moved here from NJ a couple months ago, and I figured it was time for another gathering of the Jersey Girls. We had lunch at The Marmalade in Sherman Oaks and cackled our way through a lovely meal.

The next weekend, I got an email from FIDM that the Emmy-nominated costume show was about to close. Waitamintue, I didn't even know it had opened! I saw the Oscar-nominated costumes last year and was keen to see the latest Downton Abbey and Boardwalk Empire costumes. My fellow Jersey Girl, Susan A., came out with me and we poured over Sybil's bloomers and Nucky's natty suits and even Rumpelstiltskin's crocodile jacket from Once Upon A Time, a show I like immensely. However, the first season costumes are schlocky. It was nice to see them in real life to justify my late night costume diatribes to poor Evan. Susan was full of insider gossip and intelligent recaps about all the shows I never could stay up for.

It was Spirit Week for the boys and Farm Field Trip week for The Goose.

She wants to have longish hair, and yet she hates the brushing and arranging. I told her that she had to have two ponytails for the farm. It's the law.

My Sister from another Mister had surgery this past week, so I asked Evan to take a day off so I could deliver her favorite pasta and pat her kitties.

It turned out that the day Auntie Jojo wanted a spot of company was the day The Goose's school went to the Farm. So, Evan bucked up, packed up a couple of lunches in a Barbie lunchbox, and braved the Farm trip, surrounded by cackling females.

Thanks to my friend Trish for this photo of an adoring Goose.

A girlfriend texted me that my husband was surrounded by females talking about squicky ob experiences. I messaged her back, saying that my man had guided me through three unmedicated labors and he could handle all the birth talk they could surround him with.

Every time we get in the car for an adventure, we tell the kids that we are going to the Broccoli Farm. Well, Evan actually made it to the Broccoli Farm!

The Goose loves her Stella.

While our friends and family on the East Coast are preparing for Hurricane Sandy, we are basking in the late-evening sunshine before karate.

First day of Spirit week at school: Wear Red. Arlo exhibits his red outfit and his sketch for his jack-o-lantern.

The next day was crazy sock day. When I was a kid, I labored over the Spirit days, and planned my outfits for weeks in advance. I plundered my grandmother's trunks and sewed up whatever I couldn't find. It certainly was the beginning of my love of costuming. I ended up minoring in costume design in college, designing friends' shows, and, eventually, ended up designing intricate and cunning Halloween costumes for my kids.

So! Crazy Sock Day.

We went to Target and bought some crazy socks.

The next day was Crazy Hair Day. A little bit of Gorilla Snot hair gel and they were good to go (It smells like bananas.)

The next day: Rock Star Day.

Oscar would like to know if anybody could find him somebody to love.

Arlo was going to go as Kurt Cobain (sweatpants and flannel) and then maybe Steven Tyler (scarves). He ended up throwing a giant temper tantrum and went as his own crabby self.

The Goose is Oscar B's groupie.

I am the room rep parent (class mom) in both Oscar and Arlo's classrooms. Each classroom decorated a scarecrow to be silent suctioned off for the upcoming Halloween Hullabaloo.

Arlo's classroom (Looping Kindergarten and 1st) decided to make a Bret Harte Bee Superhero. Well, as you can guess, this was right up my alley.

One parent designed a logo, another donated a utility belt, hung with honey and a plush honey jar. The kids each wrote and illustrated a one page comic about the Bret Harte Bee Superhero's adventures and we bound it into one volume. Lots of parents sent in contributions and we organized them into a cohesive superhero.

We did something a little different in Oscar's 4th grade class. I spent a lot more time in there. The class went through various votes to arrive upon a theme. They decided (with a good bit of coaching from the teacher and I) on a storyteller scarecrow.

Each kid wrote and illustrated their own story. There were adventure tales, nonfiction accounts of volcanoes, morality tales, absurdist tales, ghost stories, and joke books. The kids did a rough draft and then a final book. I taught them a bit of elementary bookbinding. They all signed the dress of our scarecrow, Irea D'Books. We attached the books with Velcro dots so they could be removed, read, and reattached.

We tried to make up for all that Mama-in-the-boys'-classroom with a lunch at Bob's with Daddy and The Goose. (I was graciously allowed to attend.)

The milkshake twins.

Milkshakes make up for a lot.

Halloween Hullabalooooooo!

The kids wore last year's costumes, more or less.

That curious West Coast tradition: the Cakewalk.

Mummy wrapping contest.

Most of the other classroom scarecrows were completely planned and assembled by classroom parents.I reached out to the other parents in Oscar's class and we raised a good sum of money. I used it to bid on our storytelling scarecrow and we are donating it to the school library.

Saturday! Evan took the kids on a hike in our new favorite canyon.

I stayed home and worked on Halloween costumes.

Arlo had a blissful hour or so with both Evan and my iPhones. He watched animated episodes of Godzilla on Evan's and took pictures of all the monsters with my phone. My phone is filled with 80 blurry pictures like this one.

We went to a Halloween brunch on Thursday. I braided a bunch of rubber snakes in my hair and called myself Medusa. Evan was about to leave without a costume, but then he out on his Wait Wait! bowling shirt and he was magically transformed into Karl Casell.

Our friends Trish and Al have a classic SoCal backyard -- totally intimate and enclosed, but like an outdoor home, with rooms and separate living areas.