Momma's New Toy

After Tom's accident with the Sentra a few weeks ago (he was fine, but the car was totaled) we were forced to look into buying a new car. Not really what we had planned, but given where we live, we are required to be a 2-car family. We tossed around the idea of replacing it with another compact for Tom to go back and forth to work. BUT, the next car was supposed to be my choice, and I've been waiting for my choice for a few years. So, here we go.








Yep, I got my van. It's a 2008 Kia Sedona with about 35K miles. Great condition, and we got a super deal on it (thanks Uncle John B. for the tips). It rides so nice. The kids are getting used to it. It's pretty different from what they're used to riding in, being so much higher up. It will be nice on longer trips too. So now Tom has his "BOOSDDY" license plate back on the Intrepid and I've got to come up with a fancy-dancy plate for my new toy.

History

This is as close to history as we got today. Even though we're only about 90 minutes from DC we decided that for the safety of the kids and the sanity of Tom and I we'd stay home. Believe me, I really wanted to be there to witness this momentous day. I did have the TV on throughout the day. I tried to explain to Erin what was going on. I pointed out who Obama was and explained what a president is (not just a dead guy on a coin). By mid-afternoon she would get excited whenever she saw him on the TV. Jeffrey on the other hand didn't really get it. He was impressed by YoYo Ma playing the cello right before the swearing in. At least the boy's got taste. So the kids have some pictures of them sitting in front of the TV that they can show their own grandchildren in 50 years.

King Boo Jr.

Does anyone remember this post?

He Was A Tree Cutter

I still get a laugh out of reading it.

A few weeks ago, at a Worship Committee meeting, someone brought up the point that kids don't know why they are getting a day off from school. It just happens. I nodded my head in agreement, but added that I felt Erin's teacher was doing a really good job incorporating history into their daily lessons. Learning about money? Then talk about Abraham Lincoln or Thomas Jefferson when you learn about the penny and the nickel. Kinda cool.

I know that Martin Luther King Jr. is on the kindergarten SOL (standards of learning here in VA) so the kids are taught about him - generally around his birthday. So, I asked Erin if she had school on Monday (knowing well enough that she didn't but wanted to see what she'd say).

"Hey Erin, do you have school Monday?"

"Huh? Oh. No."

"Why not?"

"We're celebrating something."

"Something?"

"Yeah. Some guy's birthday. King Boo I think." (for those of you who are not Super Mario fans.....King Boo is a character from a video game.)

"Oooooh. King Boo huh?"

"Yeah, or Junior something."

(trying very hard to control my laughter)"OK Junior something. Why are we celebrating this King Jr.'s birthday? You don't get the day off school on daddy's birthday or mommy's birthday."

"I don't know mommy. Can I go play now?" (clearly finished with this silly conversation)

"Yes dear, you can go play now."


Anyway, the weekly report from the teacher said that this week they were talking about public safety -- got to meet a real police man and everything -- and that next week the topic of Martin Luther King Jr. will be discussed. I have every faith that they will, but for this weekend, there's no school on Monday because it's King Boo Jr's Birthday (or something) and who knows why that's such a big deal.

This Afternoon's Project

Check out this afternoon's project. I'm pretty happy with it.

Happy Birthday Cousin Will

We went to New York to celebrate Cousin Will's first Birthday. We had a great time playing with our cousins Rylie, Avery and Will while staying at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We even got to take an hour one afternoon to go sledding with Cousin Rylie and Uncle Jeff. It was so much fun.

On Saturday we went to Cousin Will's birthday party. There were lots of people there and Aunt Katie brought lots of toys to play with. It was a great time. Both Erin and Jeffrey got to help deliver Will's presents to him.


It was a fun time and I'm glad we got to be there for Will's special day!!!

Jeffrey Helping Will Open His Birthday Present That He Picked Out

Erin Giving Daddy and Jeffrey A Push To Start

Puzzles

It amazes me how differently the kids can approach the same problem. I realize that they are two years apart in age and that may have something to do with it but it's a very interesting phenomenon.

Take this puzzle for example.It's a definite favorite of the kids. If you haven't checked out the Melissa & Doug puzzles, they're awesome. We have 3 of the board puzzles like this one and 3 floor puzzles they make. Seriously, they're great puzzles.

Anyway Jeffrey approaches the puzzle in this manner. He first puts together the flag. Next comes the pirate under the flag and other pirates from there on. He will take pieces that he knows go together, even if they don't 'fit' into the board yet and place them where he thinks they would go. It's a very interesting method of working puzzles but he can prettily easily complete this one and it's 48 pieces.

Erin looks at the puzzle totally differently. She MUST start with the piece in the bottom left-hand corner. She then works across the bottom of the puzzle. When she finishes that row, it's back to the left and she puts in the next row. She will NOT go out of order. She will hold onto pieces, knowing where they go, but won't put them in until the gets to them in line. The biggest issue with this method is that if she can't find one certain piece the whole process comes to a stop. Even if she has other pieces she can easily fit in, she refuses to until she finds the 'missing' piece. Watching her work with the puzzles is really fascinating to me, but she always finishes them.

So two kids, raised by the same parents and their approaches to a simple problem are night and day. How cool it is to watch them learn and grow and turn into their own little thinkers.

A Look Back at 2008

Just thought this might be fun to do. Here's a look back at some of the things we did and some of our favorite things from 2008.

From Meg's Mommy Journal

Christmas 2007

From Meg's Mommy Journal

Christmas 2008

Basic Stats: This is the year that little brother broke the "little" title and out-grew his big sister. At their mid-year check up he was 35 lbs and she weighed in at a whopping 32. But in June she measured 42" and he 41". Now I'm afraid even that has changed. It appears he's got a good 1/2" on her in height now.

Starting Schools: Erin started Kindergarten in August and Jeffrey started 2-day preschool in September. Both are having a blast at school.


Places we went: Memphis with Noni and mommy. We liked the zoo there the best. To New York for Uncle Jonathan's graduation. To Pennsylvania with mommy and daddy for our very first family (just the 4 of us) vacation. We had a super fun time at Hershey Park -- locally referred to as "Chocolate World". To the New Jersey shore with all of daddy's family. The kids decided that a week at the beach was an awesome time. To Maryland a few times to visit Noni, Grandpa, Oma and Uncle Jon.


Our favorite movies: 2008 was the year of The Incredibles, Madagascar (the Move It Move It Movie), and Annie. As for movies at the theater Wall*E takes the cake. And now that it's out on DVD it's a staple here at home too.


Our favorite things to do around home: Erin continued to love going to gymnastics and being in the plays. This year she was a street girl in Annie and an angel in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Jeffrey discovered a LOVE of swimming over the summer and couldn't get enough of the water. He also loves going to the gym with mommy and playing with all his friends there. Both kids like playing the Wii. Erin's mastered several of the games including bowling, mini-golf, tennis and cow racing. Jeffrey's slowing picking things up but enjoyed race car driving until the game broke. This was also the year that the kids really got into helping in the kitchen. Both kids especially love making bread with daddy as well as making cookies and even helping with dinners.


2008 Firsts: First time camping. First time bowling. First time for Jeffrey to ride a roller coaster. First days of school. First time seeing the Mississippi River. First summer spent playing on the deck. First time Erin read a book to mommy. First time Jeffrey traced his name. First soccer game. First field trip for Jeffrey.

Favorite Toys: Erin still loves her Little Pet Shop toys as well as her tea party sets, stuffed animals and magnet dress up dolls. Jeffrey goes nuts over anything with wheels, especially Cars cars, his Diego truck, his train set, and still loves playing with his Little People.

Merry Christmas To All (take 2)

Merry Christmas -- Again!!!

So yesterday we had a great day celebrating Christmas with Mommy, Daddy, Noni, Grandpa, Oma and Uncle Jon. They all came down to our house on Christmas Eve and are spending a few days just hanging out and playing.

On Christmas Eve, Mommy, Erin, Noni, and Oma spent lots of the afternoon in the kitchen making yummy desserts. We made apple pie bars and gingerbread. It's not often that 4 generations get the chance to hang out a cook together. Later in the evening we went to Christmas Eve service (which Jeffrey managed to sleep through while being held by mommy - she even got up and sang in the choir with him asleep) and drove home the scenic way to see the lights. When we all got home Erin and Jeffrey scattered the reindeer food for Santa and Rudolph. Erin made sure to leave several cookies and some milk for Santa. She even wrote him a note:

Der Sata. I wat a pethsop (petshop). I luv you. Erin.



On Christmas morning, mommy was the first one up (to put the breakfast casserole into the oven). Jeffrey came down and joined her not long after. They read a few stories together and looked and the tree. Then Erin came on down and the festivities began. It was much fun running around and waking everyone up - especially Uncle Jon.


Before breakfast everyone opened up their stockings from Santa. Then after a great big breakfast (cheesy potato casserole, scrambled eggs, bacon and grapefruit) we dug into the presents. It was so much fun to watch the kids faces not only when they got to open a gift but when they got to see someone open one that they had chosen out all themselves. Santa brought Erin a great big new Pet House - "Just Like I Asked For in my Letter!!!" Santa brought Jeffrey a cool Little People Race Car set, but it didn't work well so mommy and grandpa exchanged it this morning for a different Little People set which has much less potential to "Not Working Mommy!!!" Jeffrey's favorite toy right now seems to be a Diego Tree House from Grandma and Grandpa. Very Cool. They also got little music boxes from their Oma that they completely adore.


Daddy got a bread book and some brew stuff (and managed somehow to give brew stuff to 2 other people too). Mommy got her new Nano that she had asked Santa.


So we spent the afternoon opening boxes, removing elastics from Little Pets, un-tying Diego toys, playing games, reading bread books, downloading music etc...


For dinner we had a ham with lots of different potatoes and squash. Our desserts from the day before went along just perfectly. What a great fun day!!!!

The Tree and Stockings

Santa's Cookies and Letter


Wake Up Uncle Jon!!!!

Helping Open Gifts

Jeffrey Helping Grandpa

Playing Pets with Uncle Jon

The Gang at Dinner

~~Merry Christmas~~

An Early Christmas Blogged about 2 weeks late (whoops)

Merry Christmas to All!!!!

We had a wonderful day yesterday celebrating a pretty cool Christmas. But first mommy must get off her lazy toosh and remark that we had a super fun morning celebrating Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa W. 2 weeks ago when they were visiting. Since then life had turned into the familiar Christmas whirlwind and mommy completely forgot to Blog about it. Our special morning included a nice pancake breakfast made by daddy.

Then we gathered around the tree and opened some gifts. The biggest hits were Jeffrey's "Red" Fire Truck and his Tractor Book, and Erin's marble run. The marble run continues to be the star of the show. For 2 weeks I've been tripping over marbles, repairing broken runs, helping to figure out a cool new one. Both Erin and Jeff totally LOVE it. I'm glad they are having so much fun with it.

After celebrating Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa they came into town to see Erin and Mommy in the Christmas Pageant play (the real reason for their trip to C'ville). We're so glad they could come down and celebrate with us.

Strike!!!

Or at least a few spares. We took the kids bowling today and all had a really great time. Back in October we won a family gift certificate for 2 hours of bowling at the local lanes. We've been waiting for a good time to do. Since Tom is taking this week off and Erin has 2 weeks of Winter break we decided this would be a good day to go. I'm really glad we had the prize because otherwise one of us would have had to go out and donate a kidney or something in order to afford a few hours of fun with the kids. Seriously. It would have been close to $60 for 2 hours for a family of 4....OMG.

Anyway the kids are familiar with bowling because of the Wii. Erin's pretty good at it. Jeffrey doesn't quite really get it yet. But he tries. We got there right as they opened (as Tom was advised to do when he called in the morning and a good thing too because it got pretty busy). Handed over our golden ticket, got 4 pairs of lovely shoes and headed off to lane 17.

Everything is much more automated than I remember it being. So we put our names in a little computer and even tried to set it up so that Erin and Jeff had bumpers and Tom and I didn't. That didn't quite work as the bumpers were more manual than that. But probably a good thing because Tom and I needed them just as much as the kids.

Erin has this really weird connection with bowling. It took 2 games on the Wii for her to get the idea. Took about 2 frames with a real ball (and bumpers) to catch on. She had her very own way of rolling the ball with some amazing spin, hitting each bumper at least twice, and then smacking the set of pins right in the kisser. She got her fair square of spares and even a strike I believe. Mommy only beat her by 7 pins in the first game.

Jeffrey had several methods. I'm sure there are several more dents in the lane than when we got there. He would just kinda toss the ball rather than roll it. It would then dribble down the lane and bump into a few pins. Then he tried a fascinating method of putting the ball on the floor and then pushing it from behind. Got a little more momentum that way, but was apparently not as fun. Finally he developed the true winner method. He'd grab the ball (6 lbs...forget about using the finger holes) run towards the lane, slide onto his knees/bum and let go of the ball down the lane, without crossing the foul line himself. Seriously one of the funniest things I've ever witnessed.

Of course where was the camera? Right here at home. Sitting right next to the computer. Oh well. Next time right? Maybe. We'll see if one of us wins the lottery first. Still it was a great time with lots of laughs and fun. I think we'll find a way to go back sometime.

Best Christmas Pageant

Well Erin and Mommy just wrapped another show. She's loving every minute of them now. This time she was a baby Angel in "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever." If you don't know the story it's a great one to look up. The crux is this bunch of hoodlums who take over the local Christmas pageant because they find out that snacks are served at rehearsals. They end up with all the big parts (Mary, Joseph, the Angel of the Lord, the Kings) and everyone is convinced it's going to be the worst pageant ever. In the end they add their own touch but bring people back in touch with some of the "real" meaning of Christmas and maybe how Mary and Joseph might have felt that amazing night.

Anyway I'm babbling. Erin and I had a ton of fun. She got to sing in 2 songs as well as all the pageant songs. She also had 2 lines. First was "When do we get our costumes" and second was "Can I be Little Bo Peep Miss Bradley." You can always count on Erin delivering her lines nice and loud and this year was no exception. She especially LOVED the Little Bo Peep line.

As always the last few weeks have been exhausting getting ready for the shows but we were lucky that Noni, Oma and Grandpa came down the first weekend and Grandma and Grandpa W. made it down the second weekend. It was the first time they'd got to see Erin in a show so that was pretty special.

Next up is Peter Pan in late April and early May. I think the 3 of us will be involved in that one -- and give Jeffrey another year or so before he makes his debut.

So here are some pictures and an little montage of Erin's parts from the show.

School Christmas Play

Jeffrey had his school Christmas play last Thursday. If you can't tell from the pictures - our little stinker was a skunk. Not sure why there was a skunk in the Christmas play, but there was. He did really well. Sang part of the first song and did some hand motions. He was also one of the only kids that had a line. It went something like "This is my song for Jesus....Pee Eww" (or however that would be spelled). He held his nose while saying it too. Of course we didn't know he was going to say anything so it didn't get recorded. Oh well. So here's a few pictures and a little video of the stinker. Sorry they are such poor quality. We seem to arrive too late to get a seat where we can actually get a decent picture.

Advent

It's that time for getting ready. Preparing the house and our hearts for Christmas. The fall play has certainly gotten Erin and I in the mood. If you don't know "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" you should check it out. The book and play are really great stories and will certainly warm your heart. Erin plays a baby angel and I'm one of the Church ladies. It's a lot of fun and I'll post some pictures and videos after next weekend.

We've also started getting the house ready. We got the tree over the weekend -- a good ole Boy Scout tree. It's gorgeous. On Saturday we brought the tree inside and then daddy and the kids put up the outside lights while I got the inside things out.

Sunday evening we trimmed the tree. The kids really got into it this year. They wanted Tom to pick them up so they could put their ornaments "up high". Erin just giggled. Jeffrey made it a game. Erin took a lot of time picking out the right branch for each ornament. Jeffrey preferred the method of weighing down one branch with as many ornaments as it could hold. After we had finished trimming the tree we took a few pictures sitting in front of it. Jeff didn't want to sit by himself or with his sister, but he was willing to take a few with mommy and daddy.

So we start our month of anticipation. Of questioning how many more days. And when is Santa coming? Of Advent calendars, trees, Christmas lights and music. I think this is my favorite month of the year - no matter how busy it gets (and boy oh boy does it get busy).

Best Kisses

Jeffrey and I have this cute little thing going about his giving "best kisses". He really does. They're the sweetest, cutest little kisses. It used to be that he'd give best kisses on the cheeks. Both of em. He'd take your face in his little hands and turn it so he can kiss one cheek, and then gently turn your head so he can reach the other cheek. Recently he has added a kiss right on the lips to the routine. Still a sweet little kiss. So the routine goes kiss one cheek, kiss next cheek, kiss lips. He now knows that he gives best kisses -- and he knows when to use them. When he's in trouble...."Wait mommy...best kisses...make it all better." At bedtime..."Best kisses night mommy" Just whenever..."Best kisses mommy." At the gym....."Best kisses...." Wait, at the gym? Yep that's right.

Jeffrey's best friend is a little boy at the gym. His mom and I must have the same daily routine because he's almost always there when we are. The two of them get really excited when they see each other. First thing Jeffrey does is look to see if his friend is there.

So last week both his mom and I were picking the kids up at the same time. They'd been playing together for about an hour. I told Jeff to say goodbye to his friend. He ran up to him to give him a hug - what I expected as that's how he's said bye for a while. Then I heard him say..."Wait (S) Best Kisses" I looked over and there he was. Hands on his face. Kiss one cheek. Kiss next cheek. Kiss squarely on the lips. His friend had no idea what to do. He kinda stood there. Then wiped his lips with the back of his sleeve. I looked at his mom, and politely apologized for Jeffrey's kisses. She just laughed. All the ladies who work at the gym thought it was adorable too. Still I think I might need to work on when "best kisses" are appropriate. Lesson one...best kisses are NOT for friends at the gym buddy.

I Want Pie

Isn't that what Thanksgiving is all about? At least in the 3-year old mind of one Jeffrey it is. But really it was a great week of spending time with family. We did miss those who couldn't join us (Love you Uncle Jon, Oma, and Uncle Jeff, Aunt Robyn and Rylie and Avery).

Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Katie, Uncle Bill and baby Will arrived late on Tuesday night so on Wednesday morning Erin and Jeffrey woke up to a special surprise. We hung around the house on Wednesday (mommy, grandma and Erin did run out for a few errands) and had a yummy slow-cooker dinner that night. The kids loved sitting on the floor and playing with baby Will. Jeffrey kept wanting to share his special blankie or his pandas. It was quite sweet. He even donated his room to the cause and spent the next few nights camped out on Erin's floor. Erin thought it looked like so much fun, she abandoned her bed and slept on the floor next to him.

Thursday Noni and Grandpa showed up. Grandpa brought his plate of cheese, pickles, olives and cheese to nibble on throughout the day. Noni brought the bestest sweet potatoes as always. Daddy smoked the turkey. After an initial mishap with the turkey (the smoker overheated and "crisped" the skin of the turkey) he got it all fixed and ended up with a perfect bird. Mommy took care of the ham, mashed potatoes, green beans and carrots. We all relaxed during the day and enjoyed a wonderful dinner together.

Of course all Jeffrey could think of was the pie. We bought one at Sams Club on Monday and he talked about it all week. Then on Thursday we finished dinner and the men cleaned up in the kitchen. Jeffrey immediately wanted his pie. We convinced him to wait a while by playing on the Wii, reading some stories etc... After every activity he'd say "I want pie" Eventually he got himself a nice big piece of apple pie.

Noni and Grandpa spent the night and on Friday we all lounged around the house (no Aunt Katie and Uncle Bill braved Black Friday). Erin spent part of the afternoon "babysitting" her cousin Will. She let him set on her lap and watch Monsters Inc. She played with toys with him and banged drums together. Later in the afternoon Grandma and Aunt Katie made lasagna for dinner. Mmmmm.

Noni and Grandpa headed back home Friday night and Aunt Katie and Uncle Bill packed up Baby Will and left for home Saturday morning. On Saturday we headed to a movie and out to dinner with Grandma and Grandpa.

It was a wonderful weekend with lots of family around. Thanks to all those who were able to come share it with us and to those who we missed, we'll see you all soon we hope. Hugs and Kisses to all.

More Poop Stories

Have you noticed that there tends to be an inordinate amount of poop stories on the Blog? No. Maybe it's been a while. There's this one - Sigh Long Poopy Day . And this - I Don't Know if this Should Be Called Progress. Oh and we certainly can't forget Boys Will Be Boys I Guess

You get the idea....

So here's another wonderful story.

Jeffrey hasn't had an accident in quite a while. Aside from being wet in the mornings he's pretty much completely potty trained. Hooray. Yet yesterday whether he was angry at me (for making him take a nap when he was clearly overtired) or just so overtired he couldn't think straight I'm not sure.

What I do know is that about an hour after he laid down for his nap I heard him playing in the living room. Given how tired he'd seemed to be, I was surprised by his lack of long nap. I went up to check on him. He held his hands out to give me a hug. That's when I noticed.

His hands smelled totally like poop - and they were covered completely in poop. There also seems to be a little poop on his sweat shirt.

"What happened bud?"

"Ummmm...I poopie my undies. (big smile) But it's ok now!!!"

Leading him upstairs to clean his hands and shirt. "Well let's go get cleaned up kiddo."

While removing the soiled shirt I noticed it seemed that his pants had met with some poop along the way as well, and they were on backwards (hard to wear jeans backwards but my kids can do it).

"Lets get these off too"

What met my eyes was quite a nasty sight. Legs, socks, a pair of inside-out undies all covered in poop. Seriously I was in for much more than I bargained for.

"Woah!!!!! What happened?"

"Ummmm. I dunno." (standard response when he knows he's in trouble)

"Where are your other undies?" Asked while stripping him down and running the bathtub.

"Don't worry mommy. I put them in the laundry"

"Oh. Ugh." Toss boy into bathtub. Go reclaim most disgusting pair of undies ever seen. Immediately toss undies into garbage. No salvaging these.

While the little man splashed around in the tub I continued to follow my nose for other signs of Jeffrey's cleaning abilities. The doorknob to his closet was crusty, smears on his wall and a small splotch on the carpet. I've never seen quite a mess as this. Nasty, nasty nasty.

But boys clean, clothes wash, doorknobs can be disinfected and undies thrown away. I'm not sure if I should be proud of his initiative to clean up his mess or severely pissed that he didn't come to me for help. I can assure you that if there's a next time he's been informed that he's to come to mommy for some help before turning my upstairs into Poopville.

Field Trip Fun

Yesterday Erin had her first real big field trip. Back in October they took a short trip to the pumpkin patch. I would have gone along but I needed to pick Jeffrey up from school right in the middle of it. So I decided that Jeff and I would tag along for yesterday's trip. They were heading to a discovery Museum Amazement Square. Although quite a drive away I've always wanted to take the kids. And Museums (in case you all forgot that I used to work in a former life) really are my thing.

So I sent Erin off to school in a driving rain so she could ride the bus down with all her friends. Jeff and I went home, got ready to go made a few stops - including visiting the new Dunkin Donuts - and headed out to meet them. It was probably the worst day for driving we've had in months. The rain was a cold nasty driving rain. It was foggy and windy. No fun. The drive took about 90 minutes (long enough for Jeff to watch all of Meet the Robinsons).

Once we got to the Museum though we had a blast. They had a ton of stuff to do. I was the only non-chaperon parent with Erin's group. The chaperon with them had been recruited from the school that morning as the original one had gotten sick. So while not an official chaperon I certainly helped to corral the kids. They had lots of exploration time. Their favorite areas seemed to be a motion area with chutes/slides and golf balls, a bicycle race thing, a river with running water, and this great big 4-story climbing tower. Yeah try keeping tabs on kids once they get in there. There is also this really cool room with all glass walls. The kids can go in and paint all over the walls. It's messy but they all seem to love it. Jeff did great keeping up with sister, but not getting in her way.

The also got to sit in for a lesson on living on the farm. The kids talked about animals. Counted them. Voted and looked at the result graph. I noted while watching everyone that Jeff fit right in, in the middle of a bunch of Kindergartners. Boy...is he growing up or what?

After our long day I took Erin with me home in the car because I had a meeting in the 'Ville. We were driving through Amherst and I asked the kids if they wanted to see where I used to work. Erin's immediate response was "You work mommy? Really? I didn't know that!!" "Well yes dear, I did have a previous life before you were around." "And YOU worked? Wow!!!" We did a drive-by just so I could prove to her that I wasn't lying. Clearly mommas don't work, and never did. Mommas are just mommas.

The Painting Room

Jumping Around in a Virtual Game

Playing with Lights and Colors

Of Dates and Rules

Erin's school held a Fall Festival last Friday evening. They had snacks and drinks, little games for the kids to play, a photo spot and some entertainment from the Principal (who I swear is like 10 years old....and Daddy in another body.)

Erin was really excited to go so we all went. While walking in we ran into a friend from preschool. Erin went to school with the older daughter and Jeffrey goes now with their younger daughter. They spent much of the evening playing together. Especially Jeffrey and his little friend. They ran around and goofed off. Played ring-around-the-rosie. Her dad mentioned that little did Jeffrey realize but Chloe certainly said that she and Jeffrey were on a date. Hey 3 1/2 why not start off young. I'm just glad they're good friends.

Erin did see a friend from her class. She and Jeff played a bowling game, and a pin-the-tail game. Then Erin decided she wanted to wait in line for the "beauty salon". They had a mom doing face painting, then paint their nails, putting on little tattoos and "gem" stickers. Even Jeff decided it would be fun to get his cheek painted - he picked a turtle.

One of the highlights of the night was the Principal's juggling act. He told a story that involved juggling all different types of objects (balls, clubs, sticks....) He made it interactive for the kids too. They really thought it was super funny. Then they had a big hula hoop contest. Everyone got awards just for playing.

They broke down into age groups. Preschoolers, kindergartners etc.... Jeffrey was off playing something else and missed his group. He showed up as Erin was getting her turn. I figured that he could just join her group - since enough people claim they look like twins anyway. Jeff wandered in, got a hoop and started playing. Erin...my little rule-follower immediately took offense. She walked up to the woman handing out the hoops and said quite loudly...HEY HE'S NOT IN KINDERGARTEN. HE'S IN PRESCHOOL. HE MISSED HIS TURN. HE CAN'T GO NOW. Then she went and took the hoop away from him. The teacher had no real choice but to tell him he missed his turn and couldn't play. Poor kiddo. He was crushed.

After that it was clearly time to call it a night. We said goodbye to friends and headed on home. It was a lot of fun to watch the kids really interact with other friends their own ages in an unstructured environment and just have fun.

Happy Halloween!!!

We certainly had a fun-filled Halloween. We started celebrating on Thursday with Jeff's preschool party and continued all day on Friday. Friday morning Jeff and I headed to the gym which was totally decked out with Halloween stuff and everyone there was in costume. Erin had her school party Friday and wore her Halloween shirt from Grandma (they weren't allowed to wear costumes).

When Erin got home, we took a few sunshiny pictures with their jack-o-lanterns. Then we piled everything and everyone into the car and headed in to town to trick-or-treat on the Lawn. Now this is more than a big deal. This is a huge deal. Generally there are several thousand people on the Lawn. Since the week had been so cold and dreary and Friday was finally a gorgeous and warmer day I decided we'd brave the crowds and head into town. The plan was meet up with Aunt Margaret, Uncle John and Baby JB3, hang out on the Lawn for an hour or so and then meet daddy for dinner.

I quickly realized that wasn't going to happen. We were a little late getting set off to the Lawn. By the time we were about 2-3 miles away it became apparent that the Lawn was going to be packed. It took us 45 minutes to travel those 3 miles. But we held out, found a spot in the parking garage and wandered over to meet with our friends. As I expected it was quite crowded with adorably clad individuals and hundreds of college students ready to supply my kiddos with endless supplies of sugar. Aside from a slight trample incident as Jeffrey was trying to get to Mr. Incredible we had a good time.

As I headed to the garage we called Daddy and made plans for dinner. Once we arrived at the garage I knew that was out the window. The line to get out of the garage reached all the way to the top floor. 45 minutes later (and 2 screaming children calling me mean mommy) we made our way through the gate of the parking garage. We headed straight to our friends to meet up for some trick-or-treating.

The trick-or-treating was a blast. The adults put together the "wine wagon" (come on we got to have some fun too) and the kids ran from house to house. Our friend's son was the leader of the pack taking us all around the neighborhood. The kids literally ran from house to house with their candy buckets. For Erin the big deal wasn't really the candy, but more the ringing of the doorbell. She was obsessed with the doorbells. Mr. Jonathan led us around the neighborhood for about 2 hours. By the end, the kids buckets were overflowing with candy and in the "wine wagon". Not only were the buckets in the wagon.....Jeffrey was in the wagon. He was completely exhausted. Not even interested in going to doors any more. Luckily most of the wine had been consumed (4 adults - 2 hours....)

I don't think the kids have ever seen so much candy in one place. They're totally overwhelmed with it. At least there's enough extra that mommy and daddy can steal a piece or two or five and not have it noticed. So we had a busy day but a super fun one.

Happy Halloween every one!!!