Happy Halloween!

Luigi

A Shaggy Dog

A Panda

A Duck

A Panda

Pumpkin Carving

Close to the last minute but we made it! The kids were so excited to carve pumpkins tonight! Andrew did a great job scooping all the guts himself. Gwen wanted nothing to do with the pumpkin guts. She is so squeamish like that.

Lucy and Zane were both thrilled with the pumpkin process. They scooped valiantly but managed to get the two most slimy pumpkins. They took the longest to clean out. I think Zane had guts up to his armpit by the time he was done. Good thing he was thrilled with the entire experience.

I really didn't know what to expect from Reid. He is pretty fussy when it comes to textures so I was actually surprised that he eventually did try and scoop seeds out of his pumpkin. And then when it was all cleaned out he tried to put them back in of course.

Eric and I wielded the knives again this year. The kids told us what faces to carve and we went at it. Some year soon we will trust Andrew to carve his own. We have lots of years of pumpkin carving ahead of us before they are all independent.

All aglow!

On the porch, Happy Halloween!

Blankie

Blankie, blankie, I need my blankie. Blankie where are you! I can't find you anywhere???!

Such is the love my Gwen girl has for her blanket.

Halloween Cookies

I think I managed to avoid baking sugar cookies to frost completely last year. I usually take pictures of it when I do and I cannot for the life of me find any. So it was very fitting that we made some this year and everyone got in on the decorating action. Reid was intrigued and amazed at the sprinkles.

My game plan with little ones like Reid are to give them one cookie to decorate while the rest of the family takes care of the remainder. That way if they just eat the cookie it is no big deal. Reid thought it was a stellar plan as well.

The kids decorated in teams this year. I didn't buy the large variety of sprinkles so they were stuck with the one type of fall color sprinkles I had. Two bowls. Two kids per bowl. And a tiny little bowl for the Reid boy, so he didn't feel left out.

I think Zane thought it was a race to get the most cookies decorated. He certainly was driving Lucy to decorate at the speed of light. Zane has been so excited to do this project though. I was glad that we ended up getting to it this year.

Decorating one batch of cookies takes no time at all when you have a lot of happy hands to help. The finished product will be enjoyed for several weeks to come!

Pumpkin Picking

We finally made it to the pumpkin patch this afternoon. We should have gone several weeks ago before the weather turned nasty but it was easy for us to lull ourselves into a false sense of weather security when it had been so gorgeous out.

So today when we went to the pumpkin patch it was in the middle of a crowd and the ground was muddy to say the least. We slipped and slid all over the place. We had come directly from Andrew's soccer game and church and we weren't fully thinking when we got the kids dressed in nice shoes and beige pants.

Andrew fully embraced his role of helper this year. He helped Reid search for a pumpkin (although Reid seemed more interested in the weeds) and he also helped Lucy carry her pumpkin.

He is such a wonderful big brother. Zane spent most of the time trying to push the wheelbarrow through the thick mud. He finally had to give the task over to Eric once a couple of pumpkins ended up picked. It just got too heavy for him.

The boys of course wanted the biggest pumpkins they could find. I reminded them that the bigger the pumpkin the more guts to clean.

Gwen decided to have an impromptu photo shoot at the pumpkin patch. Sheesh. She has way more attitude than she can handle.

All in all it was a great day. Can't wait to see how they turn out all carved up!

Reid Isaiah- 18 Months

So I am a few weeks late. Reid turned 18 months at the end of September but finally today I got him into the doctor for his well child check. Other than the fact that Reid still has a pretty nasty dairy allergy I had absolutely no concerns about his development.

Reid is really starting to add words to his vocabulary. It is so hard for me to keep what is normal in mind with the talking piece. I have had some really early talkers and some latish talkers. But Reid says about 10 words, including please and thank you (or what passes as those words) and a few others that are consistent. Right now he regularly says ball and doggy and kitty. Although doggy can mean anything from a dog to a horse. Apparently kitties are only kitties though. Reid is way ahead of the curve when it comes to gross motor skills. He walks up and down the stairs, he jumps off of objects, he jumps with two feet off the ground and can do it repeatedly. He climbs anything that is possible although strangely (and thankfully) he has not yet attempted to climb out of his crib. He throws a ball and kicks a ball easily. He is 100% boy. He has big siblings to try and keep up with.

Reid is tracking smaller in comparison to the big boys. But my guess is he is going to be very similar to Andrew in size when it is all said and done. He is a little heavier than Andrew at the this age but a little shorter. Growing just fine though!

Height: 33" (58%)
Weight: 26 lbs. (67%)

Just Add New Batteries!

We bought Zane this Thomas computer years ago. It was a huge hit until we lost the back to the battery case and the kids haven't played with it since.

Reid saw it on the shelf today and wanted to play with it. I busted out some cardboard and tape and new batteries and VIOLA'! Thomas was resurrected. I don't know who was more excited about it though, Zane hasn't let it out of his sight yet! He tells me that he is helping Reid but amazingly Reid has only gotten to push a button once or twice.

Busy Boy!

Andrew came home from school today and informed me that he was selected to be part of the math team at his school! He is really excited about it and can't wait until they start practicing. They will practice for the Math is Cool competition in the spring against other teams of 4th graders. The competition covers 6 different areas: individual test, team multiple choice, team test, relays, mental math and college bowls. Andrew was selected based on his MSP scores as well as his teacher's recommendation.

So now, with soccer, classroom representative, swimming lessons (that will start in a couple weeks), midweek church stuff and the school play that he wants to help with, let's just say we are busy. It is a lot of fun though to see him blooming away this year and getting into a whole bunch of stuff. He is so happy to have these activities and I am thrilled that he is finding a special niche all for himself.

Student Council Representative

Andrew came home from school today and announced that he had been selected for student council representative for his class this year. He is really excited about it, he has wanted to be a part of this for several years now. I am so proud of him!

Bliss

After a very busy day of homework and crankiness and naughtiness and insanity (a Costco sized tub of laundry detergent spilled all over the floor) they all settled down to color. The boys worked on some church homework and the girls just enjoyed a Hello Kitty coloring book. Once I can trust Reid not to eat the markers or color all over himself he can join in. Until then he just gets to watch. I have been down this road with busy baby Lucy. I am maybe a bit smarter this time around.

Busted

Reid loves chips. I mean seriously loves them. He was fussing at me that he wanted chips for lunch which was not an option. At least not until he had eaten some normal food. He started throwing his peanut butter crackers, I took him away from the table. Next thing I know I look back at the table and he is armpit deep in a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos which he can't have anyway because of the cheese. I said "REID ISAIAH!" and he started scrambling, shoving his mouth full of chips and kept going until I finally got around the back of the couch to pull him away from the table. I took the half eaten and mauled one out of his hand too. He cried a lot. But man, that kid knows how to act quickly on the fly!

I Match AND I Look Beautiful

Oh Lucy. Her sense of fashion may be the death of me. She gets herself dressed in two different plaids, or wears a headband with the tag still attached and refuses to let me take the tag off like a modern day Minnie Pearl. Or she comes downstairs dressed in an outfit like this one today.

And then she says, I look beautiful. Right momma?

And I say, You certainly do Lucy. You look beautiful no matter what you are wearing.

Checkups for the Boys

Well child checks are always a lot of fun with the boys. They are growing like weeds and eating me out of house and home. I always like to see that all that food is being put to good use.

Andrew 9 Years Old:
Height: 55.5" (85%)
Weight: 68.8 lbs. (63%)

Zane 7 Years Old:
Height: 52.75" (98%)
Weight: 69 lbs (95%)

They are both doing great and holding steady in their growth. Which is going to translate into a lot of food consumption in the years to come!

My Two Panda's

The girls got their recital costumes this afternoon.

They immediately wanted them on. And then they wanted some dancing music on so they could show me their moves.

Totally going to try and con them into using these for Halloween too. They are just too stinking cute!