October 31

I am going to attempt to scare you this Halloween with...

way too many pictures!

Even when we do low-key Halloween, it's still so much fun that I inevitably end up with a lot of pictures to share.

We had a busy day planned, but rain all night and all morning meant that our morning plans were cancelled. Score! Instead, we hung out around the house. It was just what we all needed. At one point, I was in the kitchen and Caleb yelled from the living room, "Hey Mommy! You need to take a picture of this!"

He didn't have to tell me twice. I grabbed my camera and came running to find my older three lying on the ground together, snuggled up and smiling.

How cute are they?

(note: Caleb's green "eyebrows" that he wore home from school yesterday, and Lily's completely unnecessary Star Wars bandaid on her cheek.)

I ran back into the kitchen to grab Eli because, why not? I love my four silly duckies!

Then I went grocery shopping. In addition to my two normal stores, I also had to pick up some face paint for Caleb's costume. Nearly two weeks ago, he asked if he could have a skeleton hat for his costume.

Do those exist? I don't think so. So I told him no.

Then he asked for a skeleton mask. I didn't want to buy that, so I told him no again.

I felt bad, though, so I told him I would give him skeleton makeup. 

Last weekend, he asked for the makeup for his Trick or Trunk. We didn't have time, so I said no.

He asked for it again for Daisy's Trunk or Treat. I said no again.

He asked for it last night. Still no.

So I knew - I knew! - that I had to do the makeup today. The only problem was that I had neglected to purchase any. Oops. I thought it would be an easy find at the Dollar Tree or Walgreens, but I was wrong. 3 stops and 1 hour later, I finally found some at the Halloween store. I waited in line for 15 minutes just to pay for it.

But when I came home and put the makeup on Caleb, he was so happy.

It was worth the effort.

Lily added the tutu to her costume and refused face paint. I love that she has specific ideas about what she wants to wear!

I wasn't sure whether Daisy would want the makeup or not, but she was totally into it. She watched some YouTube tutorials with me, and was very patient as I painted her face.

While I applied makeup, Chris took these pictures of Eli playing with a baseball.

He is so funny!

And Daisy and I continued to work on her face.

Finished!

She was really happy with it!

Caleb looks sad and bored in these pictures, but half of it is the makeup. The other half, I think, is that he really gets into character when he dresses up. My guess is that he thinks skeletons are bored and sad, so that's how he acted. He was really serious about this ensemble; he even thought twice about wearing the glow necklaces because he thought they covered up his outfit. 

Skeleton gloves from  Grandmother to go with the skeleton shoes from Grace. (The shoes are way too small, but he didn't complain at all. He is willing to sacrifice for fashion!)

Our four little skeletons!

Do you remember our skeleton picture from last year?

It's so funny to think about how much has changed in one year! Last year, I was 22 weeks pregnant with Eli. Now he's 9 months old and wearing the skeleton outfit that Caleb wore for his first Halloween! (It is much too small, but the legs were the only area where it was noticeable. We just put a pair of long black socks on him and called it good.)

Oh, goodness. Is Lily the cutest thing ever, or what?

OK, he's pretty cute, too!

The rain stopped long enough for us to walk down to the neighborhood party. We had hot dogs, played some games, and ate some candy, then trick-or-treated our way back home. When the rain stared falling again, I took Eli and my camera and headed home to wait for trick-or-treaters.

They never came.

Instead, Eli and I helped ourselves to the candy.

Kid doesn't even know what candy tastes like, but he knows he wants some.

Mmm.... Candy!

Ha! You wish you could eat it, baby!

Then Chris and the kids came home. We hung out, played, watched the World Series... And Eli played the piano.

Seriously! Eli was really engaged in his piano-playing, and it was adorable. I have video of it, but it is 11:15 and I am done.

October 30

It feels like we have been celebrating Halloween for the past month, and it still isn't even Halloween yet.

Today we had yet another Halloween celebration. Some of the families in our church small group went trick-or-treating on historic Main Street. Since Caleb had school, we couldn't make that event happen, but we did join everyone for a bonfire with hot dogs and s'mores afterwards. Even though our kids wouldn't be trick-or-treating, they wore their costumes. Daisy and Lily decided to give the skeleton jammies a rest and wear their wings again, but this time they were fairies. During naptime, I crafted flower crowns for both of them, using fake flowers left over from Daisy's first birthday party. When Daisy got up from her nap and saw her flower crown and wand, she was so excited!

Daisy asked if she could borrow my sparkly blue necklace. Apparently she thought that completed her ensemble.

Flower fairy, spinning in the leaves!

I think Daisy looks just like her Auntie Grace in this one!

These pictures almost make me forget what a stinker Daisy was at the end of the night.

Almost.

Then Lily came out. She did not want to wear her flower crown and she did not want her picture taken. Except that she totally wanted her picture taken because she had twin french braids that she was really proud of.

This was before she knew I was taking her picture.

This was when I asked her to smile.

Lovely smile, dear.

She is such a stinker!

But she loved her braids and her fairy wings and her tutu and her flower wand!

Last night, we finally carved the pumpkins. Do you remember how Chris hollowed them out on Saturday? Well, they sat in our foyer until last night, when Daisy insisted that we had to carve them tonight. When we opened the lids, we discovered they were all moldy. Oops.

But we carved them anyway. Caleb drew a sketch of what he wanted his to look like, Daisy wanted hers to look just like Caleb's, Lily's had a silly face, and I tried to make Eli's look like a funny baby. To top it all off, Chris used the drill to make their names in the back. It was delicate work because some parts of the pumpkins were really close to being complete mush. On the bright side: rotten pumpkins are much softer than fresh pumpkins, which makes them easier to carve.

Before we headed to the party, I took some pictures of the kids with their pumpkins. Mostly, I'm just not sure if they'll last another day! 

Eli was excited about his pumpkin and spent a while exploring it.

Then he army crawled off to examine Lily's pumpkin.

Hmmm...

He's clearly comparing the two pumpkins. Which is better?

Eli thinks his is the winner!

(Also a winner: that snotty nose. Sorry about that. I'm too lazy to Photoshop it out.)

Daisy's pumpkin was in the worst shape. You can actually see a little puddle/trickle of goo under it, and half of its face is falling apart. Sorry, Daisy.

In this picture, she is trying to make the same face her pumpkin is making.

Lily checked out her pumpkin.

"No like it!"

She was not a fan. Sorry, Lily. I think it's cute!

And Caleb. Oh, Caleb.

He came home from school with green eyebrows drawn above his real eyebrows. His costume for the evening was his skeleton jammies, a belt (to hold his sword), a cape, and his Spider Man mask (because he couldn't find his Iron Man mask.) He was in a touchy mood this afternoon; I think the kids have had too much candy in the past week or two.

Chris came home, and we headed to the celebration. My mom works nearby, so she stopped by on her way home. She saw Caleb in his black hooded cape, and told him about how when she was a girl, the nuns who taught her at school also wore long black hoods and capes. Caleb, captivated by her story, quickly asked, "Did they have swords, too?!?!"

Mom replied, "No, dear. But they had rosary beads!"

October 29

I scheduled Eli's 9-month checkup three months ago. His doctor is really busy, and I have a narrow window of times that work for me, so I booked it early.

Then I found out that Daisy's fall party at school was the same day.

Daisy didn't seem to mind, and I have already dropped any ideas I might have had about being the perfect room mom who brings crafts and snacks and blah blah blah, so we settled on the fact that I would not be attending her party. Daisy went to preschool today happily wearing her skeleton jammies, and I dropped her off hoping that I might be able to make it for part of the party.

Eli's checkup went well.

Well, actually it didn't go so well. He totally failed the gross motor and communication portions of his developmental checklist. However, when we re-did the checklist for for his adjusted age (8 months, instead of 9, because he was 5 weeks early), he was just fine. Our doc isn't particularly concerned, but it is definitely psychologically challenging to go from being on track at his 6-month appointment to being delayed at his 9-month appointment. Still. Eli is growing and developing and learning something new every day, so I know everything is just fine.

He weighed 17 pounds, 11 ounces, which pushes him above the 15th percentile for weight. It's the first time in his life he's been above the 15th percentile! Way to go, Eli!

He was 27.2 inches long, which is roughly 15th percentile, and his head was 17.75 inches, which I think is about 50th percentile. So he's growing and normal. 

Praise God.

We left the appointment and headed to Daisy's fall party, and she was not happy to see us. In fact, she told me that she wished we hadn't come. She was really mean today. I suppose we all have days like that.

Of course, the consequence of being mean to your mama is that your mama makes you take a nap. While the girls were sleeping, I tried to take Eli's 9-month pictures.

He was not interested. 

Still, I had to at least get the obligatory baby-in-a-pumpkin shot. It's tradition! 

I was worried that, at 9 months, Eli would be too big to fit in the pumpkin. Luckily, it was a perfect fit and he didn't mind it at all!

I mean, he didn't exactly like it, either. But he didn't complain.

He totally tried to eat the pumpkin.

Hi, cutie pie!

Are you tired of the baby-in-the-pumpkin pictures yet? 

Tough, because I'm not.

Ha! Eat the leaves, baby.

And the pretend squash. Go for it, Eli! I love this last one because you can see a hint of mischief in his eyes. That's my boy.

Also, because I love a good tradition, I made a composite shot for you.

Isn't it perfect? I love to see how similar my babies are, and yet how different. I mean, look at how skinny Daisy was!

I also love to see my photography getting better.

And then we were done with the pumpkin. I tried mightily to get some good 9-month pictures, but I suppose once you put a baby in a pumpkin, you lose some of your credibility with said baby.

Ok, Eli. I don't blame you. Maybe we'll try again tomorrow.

October 28

It was another gray, gloomy day when I woke up this morning. Wednesdays are Running Club days for Caleb, which means getting him to school early. Luckily, Caleb sweet-talked Chris into taking him out for some Daddy/Caleb time before Running Club. That meant that my morning suddenly involved no deadlines. What a liberating feeling! I was all set to have a lazy morning, when Daisy and Lily asked if we could go to the Garden.

I've been wanting to go to the Garden lately, but it just hasn't worked out. The weather was far from perfect today, and our late start would mean that Eli would absolutely miss his nap, but I said yes. It was cool and windy and it spit rain at us a little, but we had so much fun!

Fall is totally my favorite season.

The sheep are totally Lily's favorite thing at the Garden. (Aside from Grandpa, of course, but he isn't there all the time and the sheep are.)

I wanted to do this trip totally stroller-free, but Daisy refused. She's a weird one. Still, I pushed an empty stroller over half the time, which is a big step. Moments like the one above are why I want to encourage the girls to walk: they can explore so much more when they aren't sitting passively in the stroller!

Sheep, take 2. Can you tell how cold and windy it was? Either that, or the girls are galloping so fast on their sheep that their hair is being blown back by the wind.

Bell tree. My crummy phone pictures don't even begin to capture how pretty the colors were here.

Yeah. Someone really needed that morning nap. Poor baby. 

He won't be getting one tomorrow, either, because he has his 9-month checkup at 10am. That's right; today is Eli's 9-month birthday! I really intended to take his birthday pictures today, but he has a cold and we were busy and it just didn't happen. Maybe tomorrow.

I want to say I can't believe that he's already 9 months old, and in some ways that's true. In retrospect it feels like the past 9 months have flown by, but then I remember that each day has actually been painfully slow

In many ways, Eli is not yet acting like a normal 9-month-old. I feel like he is not engaging and interacting as much as my other babies did at this age. He isn't talking or making sounds the way the others did.

But it seems like he is growing and changing even overnight. Today I was shocked to realize that if I set Eli down in one room, he will now army crawl into another. He is becoming more curious and aware of his surroundings, which is equally fun and problematic.

"What, Ma? I can't play with this?"

Commence Mobile Baby Protocol.

- clean floors

- secure baby gate

- clean floors again

- scan for errant choking hazards

- clean floors again

Except that he really likes finding random food bits on the floor. 

Yuck.

Hiya, Handsome!

Eli has also discovered the cat this week. Today I was sitting on the floor with Eli, talking to a friend on the phone while he played. Suddenly, I noticed Eli breathing faster. I looked around to see what was going on, and then I realized: he had spotted the cat. As soon as he locked sights with her, he did his best army crawl across the room to catch her. That cat is so seasoned and so mean. She knew that she didn't have to move at all. She sat and waited until Eli thought he might actually catch her...

and then she moved.

Eli was unperturbed, and it was so much fun to watch this game continue. 

Someday, child. I hope that someday you do catch that cat.

Then it was time to get Caleb off the bus, shove dinner in his belly, and get all four kids to Caleb's soccer game. I'll admit: it was hectic. I was also duped by my lovely walk to the bus stop, and so I didn't insist the kids wear coats as firmly as I should have. I thought they'd be fine.

Wrong.

Luckily, we have lots of blankets in the car.

Also, Lily didn't have time to finish her dinner at home, and was devastated at the thought of having to leave it and finish it later. So we brought it with us.

Look at my goofy boy. He wore shorts, even though I told him pants were a better idea. And he spent half the game hiking his shorts up so that I saw his lily white thighs and underwear. It's actually a move he gets from his nerdy Daddy.

Chris' parents braved the chill for this game, and the girls were so happy to see them!

Eli, however, wasn't happy with anyone. 

Except me, that is. He was happy with me, but only briefly. 

Then the cold got the best of us. Daisy was crabby and unpleasant, Lily just wanted to be held, and Eli was just plain unhappy, so we left early. Sometimes, that's just the way it goes.