Halloween Party

William had a Halloween party at school this year! Luckily, he has the nicest teacher who scheduled the Halloween party around my work schedule and Amelia's nap. You don't get that just anywhere, people.

William was NOT sure about wearing his Halloween costume. We tried to wear (read: I tried) it to a library storytime for costumes without success. He appears to be all into it until and excited until you have all of the pieces of costume in place. Then, he is immediately unhappy and begins taking the costume off. Please note: There are exactly two pieces to his costume this year. A hat and a jacket. Knowing the fickleness of my particular three year old, I didn't want to invest in a complicated or expensive costume.

So, I was totally shocked to walk into William's classroom at school and see him happily wearing his Halloween costume. His teacher really is awesome.

William's preschool class. He is the one on the far left.

We decorated trick or treat buckets. We ate cookies. We went trick or treating to different doorways in the preschool. It was SO much fun. Amelia was very welcome and there was another younger sister there about her age.

William carefully decorated the inside of his treat bucket. I asked him if he wanted to put any stickers on the outside of the bucket and he just looked at me. Why would you do that?

Amelia attempting stickers
The kids all decorated cookies with sprinkles. This was important work.

Amelia couldn't be bothered with sprinkles. There was COOKIE. And FROSTING involved. Someone might change their mind and take away the cookie. COOKIE.

Crazy, Busy, October

Last weekend: Staff meeting, vet appointments, wedding, engagement pictures, church, etc.

Our fall has been the busiest ever. We've had great weather, great company and great fun. We've had plans every weekend for the last eight weekends. Or more. Important, fun and wonderful plans. But, plans that don't really allow a lot of time for sitting down and writing*. So, here is just a snapshot of where we've been and what we've been up to!

We went to a wedding!My second cousin Jamie and me. It doesn't look like we are related, does it?

Let this be a public service message as to why you should not ever let your kids play with the potatoes. They are all natural and everything, which means they'll go ALL NATURAL on you when they are left at the back of someone's closet. For the record, this shrunken, smelly potato was about the size of a golf ball after being left to its own devices for a long time.

We went to the park to try and get some pictures

Amelia wasn't really interested in slowing down.

William was surprisingly cooperative, at least for a little while.

I really wanted a picture of them together. This is the best of the bunch. With a trash can in the background.

Frank and Laura were more cooperative. They even let me take some engagement pictures of them.

We tried to jump in the leaves. Sadly, the leaves do not follow my schedule. I had clearly marked on the calendar :Fall pictures of kids in the leaves. The leaves did not cooperate. Am totally writing a letter of complaint.

Best one of the kids together

It was a lot of work keeping so few leaves together in a pile. Daddy had a big job to do. For the record, fleece? It is like velcro with leaves. You will find bits of leaves EVERYWHERE for the next three weeks.

We've been reading books together at night as a family (this isn't really new, taking a picture during this time is new)

We went tree planting with our favorite non profit. William is the third person from the left in the very back. He was VERY busy getting in the way of everyone. He was marginally helpful at picking up empty tree containers after the tree was planted. Although he also liked to dump the tree out before it was planted so he could collect the containers early.
John planted trees and carried Amelia. He is a SuperDad. I also planted trees. I would say I was less helpful than John, but more helpful than William. I hope.

In trying to get geared up for Halloween, we've been pulling out our costume box and practicing. We're hoping William will tolerate a costume long enough to get out and do some trick or treating. So far it isn't looking good. Here I am, trying to show him how it's done. I'm dressed up in a bathrobe I picked up (new! in package!) at the thrift store for $1. Someday, I'm going to cut it up and make a quilt. I love polka dots. Until then, I'll keep on threatening to wear this in public just to see the look on John's face (utter horror).

*Which would be why it is now February as I'm trying to remember what to write....

10/9/10 Peek a YOU

Just a few things I want to get down before I forget:


1. Amelia is very distressed anytime someone is upset. She is immediately on high alert to report the crying to me in hopes I can solve the problem. The longer the crying goes on, the more upset she becomes herself. Worst case scenario is her beloved Mama crying. Even if it is clearly a game or pretend (ie: making her baby cry). She is NOT happy and will immediately try to get into my arms to shower me with kisses, hugs, pats, special toys, blankets, and books. The whole time, she will be inquiring "Mama! Okay? Mama! Okay?" each time becoming louder and louder until I finally reassure her I'm okay. It isn't enough to simply stop crying. The girl will not rest until I say "Mama's okay." I will admit I've used this to my advantage on occasion.


2. Amelia has been playing Peek-a-boo for a long time. However, she's recently added words of her own. She'll hide her face from you, wait for you to ask "Where's Amelia?" before unveiling herself. Once unveiled, she says Peek-a-YOU. Which, actually makes more sense. And it's so SO cute.

3. Amelia has a lot of words for a kid her age and she uses them almost nonstop. Unless you are a person trying to evaluate her (Early Childhood Education, dr, nurse). Then she doesn't have a word to say. At all. What I'm loving is her daily narration of events. She'll take off running and announce "Running!" or "Mia, running!" or "Running! Fast!" Most parts of our daily routine and a few games, she'll proudly announce such as: "William! Crying!", "Sleeping" which includes fake snoring, "Eating!", and my all time favorite "Hiding!" as she tries to evade bath time, nap time, etc.

4. William is trying very hard to Make Sense of it All. He wonders when we will see Grandpa and Grandma again. What will we do on Monday. Is it a school day? When will it be my birthday? The best way I've come up with to deal with these bigger time questions is to put the events in order. First it will be Halloween, then it will be Uncle Mike's birthday (Will we eat cake, Mama?), and THEN it will be Thanksgiving. He loves ticking off events and remember what will be coming next. We've been talking up Halloween a lot lately and discussing what people do on Halloween. We have several pumpkin/Halloween related events to attend in the coming weeks. Earlier this week, we had our daily discussion about what day it was and I happened to mention it was October 1st. William immediately stopped and a HUGE smile cracked across his face. He was DELIGHTED about October 1st. All day long, he would wish everyone we encountered "Happy October!!". He was so enthusiastic and I was having trouble figuring out what was so special about October 1st. After a long discussion at lunchtime, I determined that William had heard Halloween was in October and OCTOBER was finally here!!! He was so EXCITED for Halloween!!! I didn't have the heart to tell him he still had another 30 days to wait!

10/9/10:Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit for the weekend! I can't tell you how happy I was they could be here, you see, I had a Mama Dilemma. I started working a new job. It is VERY part time in that I only work eight hours a week. But, those eight hours are not flexible at all. Not even a little. If I don't work, I don't get paid. I also am responsible for finding my own substitute and making a lesson plan for that person to use. Missing work is highly discouraged. Especially when you are the newbie on the job. However, William had his very first field trip for school on a day I was working. The Mama in me was adamant about fulfilling my responsibility to my son. The only way William could attend this field trip was if he had an adult with him. Which presented the Mama Dilemma. A low level problem, but one that needed a solution everyone could live with. Many, many options were discussed and several plans of actions were put into place. I had Plan A, B and C. On a whim, I called Grandpa and Grandma to see if they would drive all the way from Minnesota to take William to the pumpkin patch on a Thursday morning. I can't tell you how relieved I was when they could work a trip in! The guilt for missing his very first field trip was still there, but GREATLY reduced.

Anyhow. They came, we had a great time.

They drove in late Wednesday night in order to do pumpkin patch duty on Thursday morning.

Grandma reading Amelia her current favorite book: Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes. John and I have this one totally memorized. I suspect William and Amelia do also.We had some gorgeous weather, so we went to the park
William convinced Grandma to try the slideAmelia loves to hang from the monkey bars until her fingers slip from the bars. She can hang on for a surprisingly long time on her own. She only requires you spot her on the way down before demanding "UP!" immediately.It was fun to play with our new camera
It looks like Amelia is enjoying swinging. That would be true. She loves to swing. For roughly 13 seconds at a time.
William is oddly attracted to these baby swings. Warning: If you put his feet through the holes as they were designed, you won't ever get his body out from the swing again. Instead, just stick his behind into the swing and let his legs hang over the edge. Much easier.Amelia posing
On Friday, we went to Grandpa's favorite stop: the transportation museum! William is actually inside the engine, ringing the bell if you look carefully.While we were there, we rode a tram to get to the train ride.Who was more excited about their train ride? a) William b) Grandpa c) Grandma ?
Amelia was getting tired and hungry. She wasn't feeling the train ride. She just wanted some Mama time.Leave me alone.
William, on the other hand was a blur of energy. He ran from exhibit to exhibit with wild abandon. He rang bells, pulled levers, pushed buttons and peeked out windows. Thank goodness we had some Grandpa and Grandma backup to keep up with him!

On Saturday morning, we got up and went....back to the pumpkin patch! Grandpa and Grandma were good sports about going back to the same place twice!This is what most of the pictures of William look like. A blur.
This one will not make the Christmas card bunch. Getting the two of them to hold still...wasn't easy.I can't say I'm thrilled about William discovering the fake smile. Here it is. 100% Fake.
Amelia on the other hand will not look at the camera. Nope. Boring. Too many other things to see.Amelia really liked swinging with Mama in this giant tire swing.
She also enjoyed the giant boxes filled with corn.She played and played and played. You can only imagine the places I found corn later....
William especially enjoyed the pedal tractors. He was not happy about leaving them behind to do other fun things.
Even if her feet don't reach the pedals, Amelia wasn't about to let that stop from doing whatever William was doing.


All in all, so busy, so fun.

10/4/10: Marathon Weekend

We were so excited our friends Jessica, Chris and their daughter Cana drove in for the weekend! It was a quick trip so Chris could run in the Lewis and Clark Marathon in St Charles, MO.

The kids were really good together. Most of the time.Sometimes they just wanted to play. Not pose for pictures.We decided we could spend more time together and save a little gas if we all rode together in our van! It was a tight squeeze!
On Friday, we took a trip out to Grant's Farm. I was looking for Christmas Card quality pictures. Clearly, kids are not interested.We all rode the tram - nice picture of Amelia's black and blue cheek!
The kids enjoyed the train ride and looking at the animals. The girls, were especially cute together looking and pointing at the different animals.William would NOT move for their family picture.
Luckily, we cropped him out!
He wasn't much more cooperative for our turn (Amelia has her mouth full of Cheerios).Sunday was the race - here is the family at the finish line! We hope they can make it again next year!