October 31

Happy Halloween!

While I was out shopping last night, I stumbled upon some last-minute Halloween markdowns, and picked up three skeleton shirts for my little darlings. Caleb and Lily were really excited about them. Caleb his to school and Lily wore hers around the house all day, but Daisy refused to wear hers. Bummer.

But wasn't Lily super cute in hers?

She still really likes my chew beads. Somehow, this necklace was lying on the floor. Lily found it, put it on, and then wandered around, occasionally biting a bead, for the next hour. Funny girl.

When Caleb came home from school, I put on my Halloween shirt and we had a skeleton photo shoot. Since Daisy wouldn't wear her shirt, she wasn't in the picture. 

Caleb and I are making our scary skeleton faces. Do you like little Pirate Baby Yoey on my belly? It was how I managed to fit in to our family's pirate theme this year.

Once Daisy saw how much fun we were having with our skeleton shirt photo shoot, she ran to put her shirt on, too. 

Much better. I love this shirt with all four of my skeleton babies represented!

(Also, I am still baffled by the fact that Chris and I produced two daughters with blonde-ish hair. My high-school level understand of genetic inheritance and dominant and recessive traits leaves me scratching my head that he - a product of two dark-brown-haired parents - and I - also a product of two parents with dark brown hair - ended up with two almost-blondies. But whatev. They're cute, and that's all that matters. And at least Caleb looks like he belongs to us.)

After the skeleton shirts, the kids changed into their Halloween costumes. Since it was super-cold today, and right around 40 at trick-or-treating time, we rocked the layers. Each child had three undershirts and just as many pairs of pants layered under their costumes.

Arr, matey! Pirate Caleb was quite serious about this pose. His outfit is a combination of thrift store and homemade - he already owned the vest and boots, and I added Goodwill pants and vest, plus a homemade hat, sash, and newspaper sword. He was so happy with this costume!

Mermaid Daisy's outfit was entirely homemade. I used this tutorial to make her skirt/tail, and then I dyed a white t-shirt to almost a flesh color with tea bags and embroidered the shells in place. The kitty hat was obviously not part of the original plan, but I think it adds a certain something. Daisy alternated between being really pleased with her costume and being really unhappy with it, but I think that just comes with the territory of a three-year-old.

I love how Lily is gazing longingly at Daisy's sparkly skirt. I guess she wanted a sparkly outfit, too? Instead, she was stuck being a lame old parrot.

I was so pumped about Lily's costume. I saw this one from Pottery Barn Kids, and knew something like that would be perfect for Lily. My plan was that she could wear it on her own, or over the Ergo as she rode on Daddy's back. It was perfect - flawless - and even made of fleece to keep her extra warm. The only problem?

The girl refused to wear it.

That would be Lily rebelling and Daisy screaming in frustration because she just wanted her sister to keep her costume on.

Lesson learned. Next year, Lily gets sparkles, too.

Once the kids were all layered up, we headed to the neighborhood party for games and hot dogs.

It was cold, but that didn't stop Caleb from downing two whole hot dogs, bun and all.

The girls refused to leave the warmth of the BOB and their blankets.

And Lily decided she would rather freeze than wear her costume. 

Or a hat.

Or mittens.

Or a blanket.

This girl could be trouble.

After the party, I pushed the girls straight home in the BOB, while Chris took Caleb trick-or-treating at the houses on the way home. When they got to our street, Chris picked up Daisy (Lily was in no shape to go out) and visited our neighbors.

When they were finished, each kid got to eat three pieces of candy, and that was it! Now I have to wrap my head around the fact that tomorrow is November...

October 30

Today was such a hectic day that I totally forgot I took any pictures, and thus forgot to blog. Oops.

A quick rundown of our day:

Caleb to bus

Daisy to preschool

library

grocery store

gas

Costco

Old Navy to get a winter coat for Caleb

stop at home to grab my camera

back to preschool for Daisy's fall party

home for lunch

naps

bake a cheesecake using a recipe that must have been maliciously altered by the author

pick Caleb up at the bus stop, only

Caleb wasn't on the bus

wake up Daisy, check on cheesecake baking in oven, and drive to school to pick up Caleb, who (along with two other kids in his class) missed the bus because his substitute teacher didn't know what she was doing

home to make dinner/finish that darned cheesecake

finish dinner and head to the mall to buy a winter coat for Daisy

book club

to my parents' house to drop some of that stupid delicious cheesecake off for my mom

bed

Can you blame me for forgetting that I took these pictures of Daisy at her preschool party? Since not everyone celebrates Halloween, they have a pajama day and a fall party. This year, I exercised restraint and did not volunteer to make/do/bring anything. It was lovely.

Lily and I arrived to find Daisy's teacher, Ms. Amy, helping Daisy with their art project. As soon as Daisy noticed I was there and taking pictures, she stuck her little tongue out. She is such a stinker!

There. A tongue-free picture of Daisy working on her paper-plate ghost.

She really liked this game at the light table. She chose a trasparency with a tree trunk and a number drawn on it, then used the tongs to place leaves on the tree.

She looks like such a big girl here, and I love the butterfly on the wall behind her!

 I remember Caleb loving this activity last year - the teachers pre-drilled holes in pumpkins, then let the kids use toy hammers to pound golf tees in to the pumpkins. It is so much fun!

At circle time at the end of the morning, Daisy ran to the purple spot and asked me to sit on the blue one next to her. What a sweetie!

October 29

Caleb and Daisy are best friends. Like, they seriously adore each other. Everyday when we pick Caleb up at the bus stop, Daisy waits for Caleb with her arms spread wide open and he steps off the bus into her hug. It's the sweetest thing ever. Since Lily is just a baby, she can't really participate in their adventures and shenanigans.

But lately, she's been trying. Now that she's walking really well and sometimes even running, she can keep up more. One of the best things about Caleb being at kindergarten is that Daisy and Lily have had a chance to develop their friendship. I love watching as Lily can do more and more with her big sister, and I love watching as Daisy discovers how much fun Lily can be.

How much fun can Lily be, you ask?

Well, today she wore her baby doll in Daisy's toy Ergo.

I know. Cutest thing ever, right?

Look at how she delights in her baby!

Of course, as soon as Lily saw that I had my camera out, she lost interest in the baby and wanted to play with the camera. And of course, I wouldn't let her.

When I let Daisy hold the camera and take a few pictures with it, this is what happened: 

Mmm-hmm. We have entered the age of tantrums. That, my friends, is a tantruming 15-month-old.

And then it was Daisy's turn to wear the baby.

Oh! Lily's turn again, this time on her back. She was pretty happy with that one.

Daisy went to get dressed, and returned wearing a hippie dress that Aunt Jenny gave her. She demonstrated its awesome swirling, twirling capabilities, and ended up just spinning until she fell down. Lily wanted in on that fun, so she immediately dropped the baby and tried to figure out how to spin like her sister. It took a while - first she just walked in wide circles - but eventually she figured it out. I sat on the floor and laughed as my girls spun and laughed and fell, over and over and over. It was beautiful.

And then this happened: 

They held hands and walked down the long hall together. Apparently it's their new favorite thing, because several times today I found them holding hands and grinning like fools.

What a lucky mama I am!

October 28

I was in the kitchen today, making lunch for the girls, when Daisy came running in.

"Mommy! Lily is climbing the ladder!"

"What ladder, Daisy?"

"The ladder in the dining room!"

I was confused - we don't have a ladder in the dining room. Who keeps a ladder in the dining room? What was in the dining room that Daisy might think was a ladder? Curious, I grabbed my camera and went into the dining room.

Oh, yeah. That ladder. The one that has been in the dining room for the past month as Chris slowly finishes caulking the crown molding. The one that, so far, none of the children had tried to climb. Lily was climbing that ladder.

Yeah. She was remarkably high up the ladder. Granted, she's a good climber, and has practiced on the ladder to the swingset clubhouse quite a bit. Still, I was surprised. I didn't get concerned, though, until she looked back at me, judged from my expression that I wasn't too pleased with her choice, and began climbing down.

The climbing down made me a little bit worried. 

That's when I put the camera down and rescued my baby.

Don't worry, Mom. No babies were harmed in this escapade. And I definitely put the ladder out of the way after that!

October 27

We finally got around to carving pumpkins tonight - or at least, two out of three of them. I envisioned a big family pumpkin-carving fest, but it ended up that I sat on the floor and carved while the children came and went and Chris tried to keep them from playing with the knives. 

Not quite idyllic, but it got the job done.

I chose the orange shirt because it's old and I didn't mind if it got messy, but it ended up making Baby Yoey look like a little pumpkin, too. (FYI, this photo is totally misleading. My belly is WAY bigger than that.)

Daisy took her shirt off so that it didn't get messy, too. 

She didn't touch the pumpkins at all. I think she just wanted to wander around with her shirt off.

In unrelated news, Lily has learned to "cheese" for the camera, and it is adorable.

(Side note: Lily had her 15-month checkup today. At her 12-month checkup, the doctor was concerned by her lack of weight gain. We had a few weight checks over the past few months, and now the doctor is satisfied that she is sticking to her growth curve and we have nothing to be concerned about. Today, Lily clocked in at 29 inches (55th percentile) and 19 pounds, 8 oz (20th percentile). She hit all of her gross and fine motor milestones, which thrilled our doctor. Given Caleb and Daisy's history with motor skills, she was prepared to see some delays. But Lily is right on target!)

Two shirtless kiddos. Neither actually touched a pumpkin.

Lily did some inspecting, though.

Daisy inspected the (mostly) finished product. Hers has a mermaid (I know. It's awful. You don't have to say it.) and Caleb's has a pirate. I'd like to add some details - an eye patch, hat, and silver tooth for the pirate, maybe some fish for the mermaid, and their names on the back - but I'll still call these mostly done.

Caleb was really happy with his pirate pumpkin.

He's trying to make the same face as the pumpkin.

Daisy with her mermaid. She didn't like it at first (I don't blame her), but she either realized she was being rude or changed her mind, because now she likes it.

So. Costumes are finished. 2 of the 3 pumpkins are mostly done. I just need to carve Lily's pumpkin, and we're all set for Halloween!

October 25

I supervised the ACT today, so Chris was in charge of the kiddos all morning. When I got home at 1:30, I found Caleb and Daisy - still in their pajamas - playing on the swing set while Lily napped and Chris raked in the back yard.

After a quick nap, I got to work finishing up the kids' Halloween costumes for a trunk or treat at Caleb's school. We weren't planning on going at first, but it became clear over the last week that Caleb really wanted to go. Chris and I talked about it, and decided that even though we are introverts who would rather stay home, we shouldn't let that keep Caleb from having a chance to experience events like this. So we decided to go. 

Which meant that I had to finish four handmade costumes by this evening, despite a pretty hectic weekend. Luckily, I only had to add finishing touches to Chris and Caleb's pirate costumes and Daisy's mermaid costume. It was Lily's parrot costume that needed a lot of work. 

In the two hours I had, I managed to get everything finished and get dinner made, but by the time my slow-poke children finished their dinner and were ready for the event, we had no sunlight or time left for pictures at home of their awesome costumes. We ended up arriving at the event about 20 minutes before it was over, which was pretty disappointing. Luckily, the kids didn't know any better, so they weren't upset.

Pirate Caleb and mermaid Daisy. 

She ditched her blue wig at the last minute. 

Earlier in the week I explained to them that mermaids swim in the waters near pirate ships and the pirates think the mermaids are beautiful, so they chase after them to give them hugs and kisses. 

In this picture, Daisy was begging Caleb to put his arm around her because that's what pirates try to do. Caleb, however, was seriously in character as a pirate, and would only give me his serious pirate face.

Daddy to the rescue! Pirate Daddy was willing to put his arm around mermaid Daisy. Parrot Lily is supposed to be on Chris' back, but the girl got annoyed with the hood on her costume and we took it off. I'll have to figure out something different before we go trick or treating on Halloween!

At least I have time for more pictures this week, since the costumes are finished! 

October 24

People, I am feeling seriously busy.

Today involved Halloween costumes, Costco, Walmart (I never go there, so you know it was an ordeal), gymnastics, a trivia night... Tomorrow is the ACT all morning, more Halloween costume-making, and a trunk or treat at Caleb's school. Plus, we're almost out of food so I should probably go grocery shopping.

In the meantime, here are some pictures, even though I've been too busy to actually take any pictures.

Lily is doing some really adorable things lately. Things like wandering around with Auntie Grace's rhinestone-studded cowboy hat on her head, snuggling her baby doll. Of course, I couldn't get my camera out fast enough to capture all of the cuteness.

Still, she's pretty darn cute.

Am I right? Dirty shirt and all?

And then, as I was getting dinner ready, I looked out to see Chris playing with the kids on the swing set and Daisy was wearing her Halloween costume: 

I made the tail/skirt and shirt, and we found the wig on our Walmart run this morning. She really wanted a red wig so she could look like Ariel, but Walmart had no red wigs. (I thought they were supposed to have everything there, but we came up empty-handed when it came to red wigs and pirate hats.) Daisy's options were blonde, pink, or blue, and she chose blue. She is so, so happy about her costume!

October 23

Oy. I've been slacking with the blogging lately. 

More specifically, I've been slacking with the picture-taking, which has led to slacking with the blogging. Perhaps I've been in a funk this week. I keep looking out our front windows at our neighbor's beautiful tree, with leaves in shades of red and orange and yellow and green, with a pile of fallen leaves below it, with afternoon sunlight lighting it up like it's on fire, and I keep intending to take my girls out there and photograph them in the leaves... but I just haven't done it. I have a million legitimate excuses, but still. I just haven't done it. 

Instead, the few shots on my camera from this week look mostly like this:

 Lily, wearing Caleb's "Star Student" crown. He was at school, and she was really pleased with herself.

See? Pleased. 

Also? Those four teeth. So funny! But seriously - will the girl ever get any more teeth, or will she be 12 and all of her friends will be complaining about braces and she'll be like, "I wish I could get braces, but I only have FOUR TEETH!"?

Okay, maybe I'm being a bit dramatic about the teeth.

This girl is full of spunk, just like another girl I know...

Today was Daisy's school picture day, and I asked her how she smiled for the photographer. She showed me this face, but I'm pretty sure she didn't actually make that face at the poor person with the camera.

And this is why I haven't blogged in almost five days. 

October 20

The girls and I were productive today! We made a new batch of elderberry syrup, made some gelatin gummies, prepared a meal for a friend with a new baby, did laundry, washed dishes... It was pretty impressive.

So I was completely shocked when Lily and I went out to get the mail during Daisy's nap and discovered that it was lovely outside! An afternoon like that needs to be appreciated, so we scrapped all other plans and went outside.

Lately, anytime we're playing in the front yard, Lily manages to make her way down to the sidewalk, where she contentedly paces up and down the area directly in front of our house. At first, I was a little bit worried - hello, baby four feet from the street! - but I quickly discovered that the girl seems to know not to go there. In fact, she's not particularly interested in leaving the sidewalk. So now I just let her do her laps (with a watchful eye, of course).

This video is literally one minute of Lily walking up and down the sidewalk. It's not particularly entertaining, but I'm posting it because it shows how well she's walking now, and how she goes a certain distance and then turns around. It's so funny!

I don't blame you if you aren't willing to spend a minute of your life on the video, so here are some pictures of her pacing, too.

Today was a lucky day - she found a hair clip and a small ball on the sidewalk!

I'm sorry. She is just ridiculously cute, even from behind.

Daisy Padme Amidala, running toward me with her "light saber".  Her facial expression is telling me that she's in the midst of a serious battle.

I don't even know why I'm posting this picture, but I am. Sorry.

Aren't you glad you scrolled through this whole post to find this one hilarious picture? I love this girl!