An insanely long Halloween post...

This post is so long because we celebrated Halloween for four very long days...

Wednesday:

Evie had a costume parade and program at her preschool. She was so excited for it and even more excited that both Mommy and Daddy got to be there.  In fact Grandma T., Pa Dave, Aunt Caite and Uncle Patrick all came.  She is a very loved and supported four year old.

Once they started parading around the parents I think she got a little overwhelmed and nervous about all the people.

By the time they got on stage she was sobbing. She actually cried for the first couple of songs. It was so sad and so funny at the same time, because she just kept singing and trying to smile through all the tears... of course, the smile looked more like a rictus of pain, but she never stopped performing.  (She gets that from my side of the family...)

She eventually calmed down.

But was apparently emotionally wiped out...

Then she started yawning...

And almost fell asleep at one point.  

We were so proud of her, yawns and all, she did a great job. After the program Daddy headed off to work but us girls went to breakfast with Grandma T.  What a special treat!

That night we had to scramble to finish Jake's costume for the school parade the next morning.

I ended up quickly sewing the vest because it was faster than trying to alter one to fit him.  So much for my whole, "I am NOT sewing any costumes this year" vow...

I think he looked great... and a little bit like Napoleon.  

Thursday:

A lovely rushed morning trying to get up to the school in enough time to snag a parking spot.  We made it, but  Lila had a pretty good grouch on as you can tell from these pictures.

"Hey girls, smile for Mommy!"

"Put your arms around each other..."

"Lila, please smile..."

Oh well, Jake was ready with some grins for me.

And the obligatory shot in the holiday novelty shirt.

  I love those shirts and until my kids stage a coup and flatly refuse to wear them I will keep buying them...

That afternoon and evening they both got to go to Halloween parties at their friend's house, which was a first for both of them and something they really enjoyed. Plus another time to dress in their costumes!

Friday:

Jake had a day off school so we had a pretty quiet morning and just tried to catch up on some laundry and housework.  But after nap time we headed out to Brian's office for our first go around of trick or treating.

It's really very fun, each group decorates their areas with a theme and most of them really go all out. The kids were very impressed with the Great Pumpkin and pumpkin patch from the Charlie Brown special.

And just to show how big it was...

Brian loves to get to show off his cute kids and the kids love that they get lots of candy.  I'd call that a win/win.

On the way home Evie crashed hard-core. She was pretty wiped after all the celebrating (plus getting to stay up a little later than usual the night before...)

Just a cute close up of my little stinkbug! I mean, ladybug.  Lila has gotten into this horrible habit of taking off her shoes the second I buckle her in the car seat and turn my back. 

We had another fun but late night having dinner at Pa Dave's and then watching the new Karate Kid movie with Caite.  We liked the movie, but now my children are all trying out Kung Fu moves on each other. sigh.

Saturday:

Hooray! After all the build up and waiting it was finally time to go Trick or Treating!

Pirate Jake, Witch Evie, and Ladybug Lila.

Grandma T. and a couple of cousins came to join in the fun! My kids couldn't wait to set out...

Fifteen minutes later the heavens opened and they came back soaked! I think they made it to about six houses.  I stripped the girls out of dripping costumes and put them in a warm bath, then we changed into our Halloween shirts and went to visit the grandparents. 

Lila loves that she has a whole "munkin" of candy! 

(This girl takes after her Mama and goes straight for the chocolate.)

Happy Halloween everyone, I hope your holiday was as memorable as ours!

Witch's Night Out

Saturday night Caitlin and I headed out for a girl's night.  Of course that meant that we had to put on our best outfits and accessories!  Caitlin's look was the sophisticated elegance of a by-gone era.  I was going for a more "tweedy librarian" vibe.

Brian said that we both looked like we stepped out of a Harry Potter novel, so we took that as a great compliment and headed out to Gardener Village for a fun night of dancing, shopping and eating.

(We also had many people stop us to compliment our outfits and ask where we got them, and they were very impressed when we confessed to making them ourselves.)

Yummy, warm soup in bread bowls. Perfect on a brisk autumn night.

There were also many funny witch displays to look at...

It was so fun to dress up and go play with my little sister.

We're already planning the costumes for next year!

A "Shark Tooth" Tale

 Last Christmas Jake lost one of his top front teeth. And so we waited for the permanent tooth to grow in... and we waited... and waited.  Finally, in August, a teeny tiny point started to push it's way through his gum.  Jake smiled at it in the mirror and would say, "Well. Look who finally decided to show up!"

But then the point kept growing down and we thought, "Oh no, this tooth is coming in really crooked... How much do braces cost!?"  

But the worst part for me was that Jake lost his sweet cheesy grin.  He was very self-conscious of what he called his "shark tooth".  And out of two months of pictures, this is the only one I could find where I caught him with his mouth open enough that you can see the pointy front tooth.

Today we went to the dentist and after several x-rays, quite a few tears and a cleaning where he made those dental techs really earn their pay, we discovered two things.  Jake inherited his mom's gag reflex, and an extra tooth from his dad.

We decided it would be best to go ahead and pull it today because it needed to be done sooner than later, as it was making the real front tooth grow sideways instead of down.  Jake was not happy with that decision, but I thought it would be better to get it over with and not let him have a few days to work himself up into a panic attack.  

(The moral of this story: When going to the doctor's or the dentist's, never promise your child that they won't have to get a shot. Because you just never know what is going to happen once you get there...)

So Jake had his first experience with getting Novocaine. He is definitely not a fan of having a numb mouth.  They pulled the extra tooth and put it into a little treasure box for him.

He was attempting to smile for me, but said it was hard when he couldn't feel exactly what his lips were doing.

One more time to show the hole where the extra tooth was.  

I don't care if the Tooth Fairy has to fork out double the going rate. It's worth it to see those dimples again!

Just for fun...

Lila's hair is at an interesting stage and so on days when we aren't going anywhere I try out new styles. 

I am not sure this one really works except to make me chuckle when ever I looked at her. Oh well, they can't all be winners...

But I ask you, could a smile get any cheesier?

I think not.

A Shameless Plug....

This is my friend Kris's newest venture.  She makes these sweet cupcake purses that open up into a cradle with a little baby doll inside.  Why am I posting about this?  This summer we got to hang out at our husband's 20th high school reunion picnic lunch.  They were having a blast talking to all their old friends, and Kris and I were both thanking heaven that we had each other to talk to.  She showed me one of these bags and let Lila play with it and Lila fell in love with it!  So she gave one to Lila and one to Evie.  The least I can do to repay her generosity is to pass the word along that she is taking Christmas orders right now for these adorable bags.

And since a picture is worth a thousand words, here is my testimonial about how much little girls will love to play with these...

Lila loves to "feed" her baby with the little bottle.

She loves to give her baby hugs and kisses!

And she loves to carry her "p'us" when she is going somewhere!

Hours of fun and they're really great when you need a quiet toy to keep a little one entertained! :)

Story problems were never my strong suit...

Yesterday I ran out of embroidery floss for a project I was working on.  Which meant a trip to the craft store with all my kids in tow.  Always a good time. (I'm holding up my sarcasm sign right now, just FYI...) Anyway, Jake was helping me find the colors I needed.  He found the right shade of green and wanted me to buy two of them so that I wouldn't run out again.  I told him that one little skein would be more than enough to finish the project.  He asked, "Is it more than 10 feet of floss?"  I looked at the label and noted that one skein was 8.7 yards.  I then proceeded to try to do the math in my head for about a minute and a half, during which time I actually had to ask my 7 year old, "What is 8 times 3?"  He muttered something under his breath that sounded like "...8 less than 32..." then answered, "24."  I said, "Okay, this floss is more that 24 feet long, so I think it will be plenty." He demanded how I knew so I showed him where it said 8.7 yards and told him a yard was 3 feet, and was feeling pretty pleased with myself for that little teaching moment... for about 30 seconds or so until he said, "Actually Mom, it's 26 feet."  I stopped in my tracks and stared at him for a moment, then whipped out my phone to use the calculator.  He saw what I was doing and said in a deeply wounded tone, "Are you checking my math?"  And he was right!  I don't know how he does it, and it might make me feel bad except for the fact that I know he still needs me for lots of things.

For instance:

This awesome outfit he put together the other morning. When he came upstairs to get breakfast I said, "Um, I don't think that shirt really works with those shorts, Buddy."  He looked himself up and down and then said, "What?! They match and then they match more.  Red and red, blue and blue...."  Oh my.  I did convince him to change for a plain red shirt.  See. He still needs me, even if I can't do simple addition without counting on my fingers...

Sunday Snapshots

Getting ready for church. The girls love it when they "match"! It cracks me up when Evie checks to see if Lila has the same color that she wants to wear that day.

Jake is such a great big brother, and his sisters adore him. 

(Even if Lila did give him a bloody nose at the end of church today... that girls just has a mind of her own and woe to anyone who tries to make her do something she doesn't want to!)

Lila shows off her after church outfit, or as she calls it "waxin cose" (relaxing clothes). Today her daddy taught her to say "Go Broncos!"  It amazes me that she can say broncos clear as a bell, and yet still stumbles over the word blue. Interesting the way kids learn language, she also says "dang-it" very clearly. And usually very loudly...

Here is my cute husband being all domestic and getting the kitchen clean so I can cook lunch.

Taco salad, one of our family's favorite meals.  I find it mildly amusing that I have the weakest tolerance for spice out of this group. My kids all seem to enjoy salsa, and today Jake even tried some Tabasco! He decided to stick with salsa instead.

It was all Lila could do to finish her lunch before succumbing to the sandman.

She was irritated by the repeated flash of the camera, but not quite enough to wake up.

And last but not least a hug and a kiss for my Evers, after she gave me one and thanked me for making lunch. 

Quiet, lazy Sunday afternoons with my favorite people... it just doesn't get any better than this.