Halloween, Trick or treat or Beggar's Night

The Kids with our Neighbor

Up until this year, I have dictated what costumes the kids wore for Beggar' Night. However, this year Bella begged (no pun intended) to wear the Alice (in Wonderland) costume that Charlotte wore last year. Charlotte had her heart set on being Tinkerbell (which we already had the costume); however, I wanted them to be a group. Roll your eyes as you may, I will probably only get to do this one more maybe 2 years max. After some convincing, Charlotte agreed to be the Queen of Hearts, which left Xander. I didn't want to pay for 2 costumes so I thought long and hard about Xander's costume. What could I make with not a lot of time, money or effort. Ok, I know that sounds lazy, but this was at the beginning of October. I can be crafty; however, it takes time which I didn't have. It finally came to me, a card. The queen of hearts played croquet with playing cards. Being that Charlotte was the Queen of Hearts, Xander would be the 2 of hearts. I made a card out of foam board, craft paper, elastic and wrapping paper. Quick, easy and cheap.

The only picture I have of Xander in his costume because he refused to wear it.

Boys to Men

Last night little man was so cute. He kept running around the house saying, "I'm super baby, I'm super baby." Dan agreed how cute he was. After the kids went to bed, Dan and I were talking and he made the comment that boys mature until the age of 16 yrs then not much beyond that. I guess if I analyize it, that so true. Boys play video games all their lives, but girls don't play with dolls forever. However, I suppose you could argue that our children are the dolls from our past. So I have 13 1/2 more years for Little Man to mature and then 2 more with him at home when he is "fully mature" but still a hormonal teen. Great. At least with the girls I know what to expect because I was their age once.
When we embarked on the path to parenthood, I knew I wanted a girl and possibly a boy, but not all boys. I don't know if the rut of parenting 2 children of the same sex makes a difference or not having brothers, but what a shock when baby boy came. He is messy, loud, spits, hates clothes, likes to lick everything and has more energy than the rest of the family combined. He has put the circus in our 3 ring circus. With all this said, he has learned to ask politely for what he wants, and say thank you in response. He loves his mama and can be sweet to his sisters when he choses to be.
Alexander Elijah means Defender of Mankind and Benefactor. I pray that my "super baby" will grow up to be a "super" man of God. "The Lord says: Be fair-minded. Do what is right! Help those in need of justice! Isaiah 1:17.

Where does this rank

My son has done some gross things and this is by no way a comprehensive list more like a top 2.
1. Licked the bleachers at the gym where my kids do gymnastics, ballet and swimming. I'm sure this is where he picked up Hand, Foot and Mouth at 18 mo.
2. During a lunch at Panera somewhere in MO this summer, he decided it was OK to lick everything in sight. You would have thought that we NEVER take this child out in public.

This is what happened last night. After bath time in his pajamas, he rummaged through one of my drawers and found deodorant. One he took off the cap, smelled it and returned it to the drawer. The next one he took the cap off smelled it, put some on the front of his pajamas and then proceed to lick it. Do you see a reoccuring theme? I guess he liked the smell of it and thought it would taste good too?

My sweet little man has been in my life for just under 2 1/2 years and it never ceseses to amaze me the gross things that he does. To all my friends with boys, do you ever get used to the crazy gross things boys do?

Mama I got a free comb

When I picked Bella up from school last week the first thing out of her mouth, ''Mama, I got a free comb from the picture people." That is not what you want to hear on picture day. On picture day, and a few other special occasions I take extra meaures to ensure that her hair looks good. I use a flat iron to smooth her hair and add some other products to keep the fly away hairs to a minimum. However, that does not guarentee that her hair will look anything like when she left the house that morning. Most school days I do her hair and by the time I drop her off, it looks like it has never seen a brush. This week we got the pictures back and they were absoultely adorable. Yeah for the picture people for making Bella's hair look good.

Anniversary Date Night

Tonight was the first time since our anniversary (September 15th) that Dan and I were able to go on a date to celebrate our 9 years of marriage. If you do the math then you will figure out that we got married 4 days after 9/11. I am saving the retelling of that story until next year, on our 10th anniversary. I know, the cruelity of making you wait a whole year is deplorable, but you will just have to wait.
We had free babysitting since my mom is in town this weekend. We went out to dinner which was relaxing with no food to cut up, no whining about what is for dinner and no interrupted conversations. We walked into the resturant at 6pm or so and were immediately seated. I love living in a smaller metropolitian area. After dinner we went bowling which we hadn't done execpt on the Wii, in about 3 years. I had high hopes for myself since I am pretty proficient at bowling on the Wii. Yeah, not so much. My first game, now no laughing, ended up as 85. I did improve to a score of 100 for my second game. I usually bowl a 160 on the Wii. Dan beat me both times. The night was young when we finished bowling so we headed to an outdoor mall to walk around. We tried to see a movie, but everything that we considered seeing had alread started and we didn't want to wait until 10:50pm for the next showing. We walked around and wandered in and out of stores. Dan even waited patiently as I tried on some clothes which I did model for him. After our shopping excursion, we headed home to a quiet house with no babysitter to take home. We had such a nice time together.

Mix up at the post office?

This is what came on a box I recieved yesterday with 2 pairs of training pants in it. I would hate to see what was in the box that needed this sticker.

Girls Weekend in Gatlinburg, TN

Girls weekend with my prayer group girls

Our favorite pastime on our girls trip is shopping. The theme this year was shoes.

This is one pair of shoes I bought.

How does a dinosaur take a nap?

I don't know if this is actually a book in this series, but here's my version.



You woke up too early (4:50am) and wanted to play. You sat on the potty and said, "No way!" In the car after errands, you needed a nap. Does a dinosaur kick and scream all the way up the stairs? Does he pull out his hair? Does he stand there and glare? Does he open the door and scream no more! NO. You play in your room with your puzzles and games til your eyes gently close for an hour or two. Sweet dreams, Sweet dreams little dinosaur. That's not quite how it ended. How can a 2 year old who wakes up at the pre pre crack of dawn not take a nap? The sequel: How does a dinosaur act with no nap? I'm sure you can use your imagination how that went.

Sleeping Beauty

I took this picture last night.

Cute Pitures

Crazy Hair Night at AWANAPosing with the bears at the Columbus Zoo

Charlotte's New Favorite Fashion Item: Knee Socks