Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers

Monday, October 28

Whatcha Gonna Be....

For Halloween? So remembering last Halloween, I was little skeptical about purchasing any costumes for the kids. I went to a resale event in September and found a Buzz Lightyear costume for $4 for Drew and thought that since he was so into Woody and Toy Story, it would satisfy his costume needs. When I showed it to him, he acted scared of it. Oh great, hear we go. I think my kids are the only ones who hate dressing up! I didn't even attempt to buy Kelsey a costume...but I have been asking her what she wants to be for Halloween and for the first week she would change her mind every day. Disney Jr. has been playing a lot of Halloween cartoons and she loves all the pumpkin decorations. This week though she's been telling me she wants to be a princess. But all she seems to care about is wearing a tiara (which she calls a teira). Our sitter made her a cute frilly tulle dress and I have a pink feather boa and a fairy wand. So I decided to bring it all with us. Drew had been talking about being a spider, not Spiderman per se. I turned his coat inside out to make it black and added spider legs! We had dinner with friends and then night time  trick or treating in their subdivision on Saturday. My hope was that they would see the other kids getting their costumes on and want to participate too! Otherwise it is so cold that they will have to be bundled up and no one will really know if they are dressed up underneath:)

Of course the opposite of what I was worried about happened. Drew was scared of the spider I made him or upset that I converted his coat; I'm not sure. And as soon as Kelsey saw other kids dressing up, she wanted to be everything the other kids were. Kelsey walked the WHOLE subdivision, walking up to each house, after she got the hang of where to go and what to say. She jumped right in with the older kids. Drew took more breaks in the wagon, had some candy, and wasn't totally into the Halloween thing. My favorite thing about the trick or treating in this subdivision is that they put barricades up at the 3 entrances so there are no cars to worry about.

Drew slept through most of the trick or treat yesterday. But Kelsey was loving it again. She would walk up to the house with grandma or Auntie "Sandra", turn around after she got the goods and yell to me, "Mom! I got some more!" It was a bit more chilly yesterday than Saturday night. (This morning Kelsey grabbed her treat bag to bring to the sitter's, and of course I had emptied it. She looked in it and said, "candy all gone. I gotta get some more!" Oh dear, I may have opened a can of worms!)

Our friends, Aidan the ninja turtle and his dad, Tom, the pink bunny!
Hey, that costume was genius - he was warm and toasty the whole night.


Drew's costume was big enough to sneak snow pants under to keep him
warm. He also called his outfit a robot - I guess a space robot.


Thursday, October 24

Floating Lights

Sending our love up to heaven...


 


 Last Saturday marked a year since my cousin Stacie lost her husband Tom to APS disease.  Family and friends came together to share memories, watch his favorite team - the Wisconsin Badgers, and spend a chilly evening outside lighting our lanterns.

Saturday, October 19

Big Tractor

The days are flying by around here. I wish I could go back to grade school and bank all the times I prayed for the school year to go faster - what I would give to be able to say, "Mom, I'm bored."!

We are in full fall swing, raking mounds of leaves to the curb, turning the heat on, and pumpkin everything. The kids point out every halloween decoration they see. Kelsey has such an  aversion to costumes that we aren't sure she will want to participate in Halloween next weekend. I found a used Buzz Light year costume for Drew so I thought I could do a homemade version of Jessie, the cowgirl from Toy Story. She loves wearing her cowboy boots and she may even leave the hat on!

The kids actually had a busier social calendar than us last weekend. Craig and I had dinner plans with friends before we all decided to clean out my dad's house. So it only made sense to bring them with us during the day, then they went to my mom's for a nap, and then my sister, brother- in-law, brother, and sister-in-law took them for the evening and overnight. There was fire safety at the local fire stations, and my step-dad is a volunteer so after their nap they went to see the fire trucks. Then my sister picked them up and took them to the farm my brother-in-law helps out on and saw the cows, pet the kitties, and rode on the big tractor. For supper, they headed to the local bowling alley for grilled cheese and video games. How they even wanted to come home the next day is beyond me! They talked our ears off about Matt, "Derk", "Sandra", and "Sara". (Matt's name is the only one they say correctly - granted Cassandra IS a pretty big word. But why can't they say Tara?)

Uncles Derek and Matt with Drew.

Of course my dad still had our grade school lunch boxes.
And a pink hat, which Kelsey decided to inherit.

Monday, October 7

Gotta Wear Shades

Another crazy week has gone by but as I speak, our bathroom should be getting started. We took a couple tile samples home and made sure we liked what we were picking. I'm ready for it to be done! There are only so many weeks that I can handle convincing the kids we are bathing in the sink...again.

For the past 6 months, Kelsey will randomly use the potty. And not usually at home. Like an obsession, she wants to potty on the public toilets - which is the opposite for normal people. I talk to her about using the big potty, like a big girl and she just giggles. The joys of potty training.

We did family pictures yesterday. I usually stress about the weather and the kids. Well, it was a perfect sunny fall day but the kids were in a funk. Drew has been going through a phase (I hope) where he only wants Craig...for everything - change his diaper, change his clothes, carry him to bed, put him in his chair, even to drive the "big truck". He woke up from his nap on the way to Appleton yesterday and immediately cried because Craig and I had switched spots driving. So when we started pictures, Drew was not letting go of Craig. He cried to be held. Even when we were kneeling on the ground, he wouldn't let go. That's another thing I'm ready for the kids to outgrow - being picked up and held. They are getting too heavy for me and I feel it when I spend multiple whole days with them because my back is killing me in the morning.

Building castles

Every day we leave the sitter, the sun shines directly in the kids' eyes.
So we took a walk to the store and purchased sunglasses!