This is Halloween.

Our trick or treat night was originally scheduled for this past Saturday.  Due to the winter storm they moved trick or treat night to Halloween, when it's actually supposed to happen.

The kids and I spent the afternoon watching the Charlie Brown Halloween special on my counter while eating popcorn and candy.  I later realized that we ate popcorn and candy in place of our dinner.  You can judge me, but my kids thought it was pretty cool.

Jack was pretty exhausted from a long weekend of birthday and Halloween fun. Saturday night he went down for a late nap at 4:30 PM and did not wake up until Sunday morning at 8:30 AM, he was seriously tired. He was not feeling the trick or treating, until he figured out that all he had to do was go to the door of a house and candy was handed to him.  Then he was all for it. 

(In this picture he has just finished throwing himself onto the porch and threw his smurf hat as fas as it would go, classic Jack fit. I think the fit was because I tried to make him sit for a photo.)

We trick or treated for over 90 minutes. The children were completely exhausted by the end and were put to bed.

I knew you would want to hear my children say Trick or Treat, so I recorded it, just for you!



I talk so fast in that video, it's amazing my children understand me.
Now I am going to watch my favorite Halloween movie!

Weekend Update

Weekend update.

Friday was Jack's official birthday.  He had cake for breakfast, because it was his birthday and that's what he asked for. That's not blood on his face, just red icing.

As you can see, he really likes those rocket pajamas.  Okay, I like the rocket pajamas, he has never voiced an opinion on his wardrobe choices.
Our ward trunk or treat was Friday night.  I placed third in our chili cook off and the kids had a great time gathering treats from all the cars.

Saturday morning we woke to miserable weather which turned into snow. A lot of snow.  People called it Snotober, and quite frankly, it ruined snow for me.

I cannot get excited for snow before Halloween, just like I can't put up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving.  It's just how I am.

The kids in the nieghborhood came over in their snow clothes asking to rake our yard before the snow accumulated over the leaves.

My last year at Penn State it snowed from October to April and I swore that I would never return to Pennsylvania. (When I was younger I also swore I would never marry, have children, or own a mini-van, I don't have a mini-van...it's probably best to stop swearing things off.)

So many of you asked me for a video of Jack saying "candy" that I made a video today!

Okay, no one asked me for a video, but I think it's really funny how he says candy.



Happy Halloween!

Jack's Birthday

My sweet Jack is two today.  I can't tell you how much we adore this little boy.  Jim and I adore him so much that when he throws a truck in my face and slaps me as hard as he can we still say "Oh, he's so cute."

 I think we might need to start disciplining him. 

(My neighbor recieved a Cars cake from a friend and gave it to us. Perfect for Jack's birthday!)

Jack only speaks the words that interest him.  He says cars, truck, train, choo-choo, plane (see a theme?), Lilly, mama, stuck, more, baby, bubbles, sticker, water, uh-oh, thank you, no, and perhaps a few other occasional words.

Words that need translating:

Me-me: Drink of any kind.
Bling-bling: Candy
Waffle: Anything from the toaster and chicken nuggets.
Night-night: Bedtime and blankets

Jack loves to jump in puddles, play with cars, watch the movie Cars, eat candy, and play in Lilly's room when she is not home.

His eating habits are very sad.  He mostly eats goldfish and other white carbs.  The only fruit he will eat is a small amount of a banana.  He will eat three types of vegetables, corn, peas, and edamame.  He loves cheese and plain pasta.  We give him a lot of milk because it's the only place he gets nutrients from.

He likes to be outside, but does not enjoy the trampoline.  He loves slides and sometimes the swing.  He likes to hit with sticks and throw with rocks.

He folds his arms at every prayer and insists on a kiss from each member of the family before they leave for the day. He loves to hug Lilly because he can rest his head on her shoulder.

Each day we drive past Lilly's school and he calls for her in the car and points to her school.

He calls Jim, mama, and really misses his mama during the day.

When he is tired or sad he sucks his first finger and rubs his hair with his other hand.

When I tell him it is time to change his diaper he runs to his room and lays down.

He asks for a bath every night after dinner by saying "Bubbles, bubbles!"  He then attempts to take his clothes off.  He seems to love the concept of a bath, but refuses to sit in the tub and screams when I wash his hair.

After bath time he really loves lotion and says "more" after each application.

Jack and Lilly love each other and rarely fight.  They fight when Lilly trys to sticker him and carry him, or when Jack slaps Lilly or throws a car in her face.

He really likes to climb onto my piano bench and play the piano, or roll his cars along the keys.  The other day he stickered my piano, that was put to a stop.

Since he was born he has been a very sweet and calm child.  He was a very easy baby and slept for hours at a time from the start.  He is still a very easy child to have around and I kiss him and cuddle him as much as he lets me.  He usually fights me, but if I let him watch Cars I can hug him without too much fight.

Happy birthday darling Jack!

This week

The fall leaves are out, or should I say down (on the ground).

Our lawn is covered with leaves and I have misplaced my rake.

Lilly and Jack helped out with the baby rake.

It seems like the seasons changed really fast this year.

This week was anti-drug week at Lilly's school.  Which of course translated into crazy hair day (what?).  I guess to show their anti-drug support they dressed up each day with a theme. 

Wear red day.

Crazy hair day.

Wear camo day.

Tie dye day.

School colors day.

Wednesday night we went to the "mall" to trick or treat.  Our "mall" is more like a truck stop.  It has 29 stores, including department stores and kiosks (I went to their website to count  the stores so I could be accurate in my description).  There is one hot dog stand and that is the only food available.  There is no Gap, Gymboree, Old Navy, American Eagle, Hollister, or any other children's/teen clothing  store.  They do have a JC Penneys and a Sears, so I can find some clothing for my children.

Anyway!  Wednesday night was trick or treat night and I have never seen so many people in that mall.  I think there were more people there that night than they get in a year. It was insane lines and crowds of people.  The kids didn't get very much candy, a lot of tootsie rolls and a few lollipops.



I will never voluntarily go to trick or treat night again. I have become accustomed to an empty shopping mall with only a few people in my way when I shop.  However, Lilly had a blast and is still young enough to be thrilled with 20 pieces of candy.

Nostalgia

Jack is wearing the pajamas that Lilly wore that Johnny wore.

Let me explain.

Johnny, my nephew who is two years younger than Lilly, wore these size 18 month rocket pajamas when he was one.

He passed them on to Lilly when she was three (and he was one).

Lilly has now passed them on to Jack, who will be two tomorrow.

These are some serious pajamas that have been worn by a giant one year old, a petite three year old, and an average sized two year old.

I just need a picture of Johnny in these rocket pajamas!

My Smurfs

Last Thursday night was the Fall Festival at Lilly's school.  They had soup for everyone, a costume parade, caramel apples for the kids, and other fair related activities. The kids are not allowed to dress in costume at school (lame), so they had this night time family event to give the kids an opportunity to dress up.

We dressed Jack up as Papa Smurf per Lilly's request.

I am happy to say that Lilly was the only smurf at her school.  Everywhere she went people said "Look it's a Smurf!"  or "There is Smurfette!"  I thought with the movie out this year there would have been more smurfs. 

This picture turned out like a 80s glamour shot. Awesome!

I love that Lilly and Jack are dressing up as characters from my childhood.

Time Out

I went to Time Out For Women this weekend. A women's conference in Rochester, NY.  Time out for women is a tour that Deseret Book puts on across the country geared towards LDS women.

It would be trite for me to attempt to explain the beauty of the presentations and the music from this weekend. Just take my word for it that it was wonderful.

I got home late last night and this morning when Jack woke up he was so excited to see me. His expression was similar to the expression when he first saw Cars.  That made my week!

This week

The days are going by so fast.  Time seems to pick up from September through January, and then comes to a dead stop in February.

Jim found a trampoline for sale in our neighborhood.  He promptly bought it and then carried it home with a friend.  Can't you just picture two grown men carrying a trampoline through the streets of my neighborhood?

All the leaves on my tree are yellow and red and my neighbors tree is bright orange. Against the grey, cloudy sky, it's a perfect day for spooky fall fun.

I went into Lilly's school today to volunteer for the fall festival.  The kids rotated between stations like tug of war, sack racing, sweep the pumpkin, etc. 

Lilly has inherited her mother's natural disdain for sack racing and other competitive, athletic events.  She pleaded with me to let her skip the sack race, and since I strongly dislike sack racing, I certainly wasn't going to make her do it. 

(Did I tell you about soccer?  She really does not like it.  I had a talk with her and I told her that we thought it would be good for her to be outside running around with kids her age.  She said "Mom, I will run around outside with kids but I don't want to have to kick a ball too."  How astute for a 5 year old!)

It made me so happy to be with her at school and she was thrilled to have me there!  She said to some of her class mates "Oh, do you want my mom to zip your coat? Because my mom is here. Did you see my mom?"  She was so proud to have me help her friends AND she held my hand the entire time I was there.  What a lovely day (despite the forced athletic competitions)!  Her teacher told me she is a social butterfly and that her mouth never stops running.  I was so pleased that she enjoys school and has friends!

Like I said previously, I have been hunting high and low for smurf costumes and I finally have all the pieces.  I felt like a real mom when I sewed the smurf hats yesterday.  It's the first time I have made any part of a costume.

Last week we went to another girl scout activity. It was to the pumpkin patch. I wasn't going to go, but then Lilly found out they got a "pumpkin patch" patch for attending.  They are iron on patches, all the other moms said they reinforced the patches by hand sewing them on.  I will not be hand sewing on any patches. I have super glue for that.

Jim, Jack, and I joined the girl scouts for an afternoon at the pumpkin patch.  It was actually a great time.  We all went down the slides, played in corn, launched pumpkins, took a hay ride, and drank hot chocolate. Wonderful fall day.

I can't wait to show you pictures of Lilly and Jack dressed as smurfs. 

Lilly update

Lilly joined Daisies this year.  It was the only extra curricular activity that she sought out on her own.  The meetings are once a month so I thought, how bad can it be?

 It's bad.  The patches are out of control.  Your Daisy can earn all these patches based on the work you, as the adult, do. It completely manipulates the parent into actively participating and fundraising!  I got suckered into staying for the meeting tonight because if a parent is not present they don't earn a light bulb patch.  Ahh!! I was really hoping for some low key extra curricular activities for my kindergartner.  We have work to do at home, monthly field trips, flowers to plant. Seriously?!?

Last weekend Lilly said: "Dad,  if we run for 15 minutes, and jump rope, and ride bikes for 60 minutes, then you will feel better...because Obama the Mom told us so."  The next day she reiterated the same sentiment to me via Obama the Mom.  This was her reasoning for needing a new jump rope.

Yesterday she asked me what made fog.  I told her it had something to do with water molecules but she thought the clouds were just coming closer to the earth.

Today she asked me why the leaves changed color in the Fall.  I told her I wasn't sure but that maybe it had to do with cold weather.  She told me it was probably the rain. The rain washed off all the green to show the other colors.  I told her that was a much better idea.

Oh and I made soup. In a pumpkin. Take that Good Housekeeping!

Last week sometime Lilly finally convinced me to get a feather in her hair. She has been begging for months and months and I finally caved.  That child is going to be like her Aunt Jessamyn with fashion and style.

This concludes the Lilly update.

I realized it's been two weeks since I have blogged. It's rather unusual for me to go so long without posting something.  I guess we have been busy getting back to normal, which is a good thing!

Two Saturdays ago my neighbor came over to my house, took some measurements of my basement, and then put in new drywall.  It was incredible.  Not only was he very kind and generous to do this for us, he worked extremely fast!

This week we had some people come mud and tape the basement.  I can paint next week and then get some flooring in and we will be back in business.

Lilly wants to be Smurfette for Halloween (and she wants Jack to be Papa Smurf).  Smurf costumes are harder to come by than you might think, most are sold out.  Which means I might have to make something.  Sigh.  I am not a costume maker and I have given up on my sewing/crafting abilities.

Lilly seems to be enjoying kindergarten and Jack is communicating more and more each day.  That's all from me - hopefully we can keep a normal schedule for awhile with no natural disasters!