All Dressed Up!

It seems like EVERY year since we've been in Texas (aka - every year we've done trick or treating), I start the school year with the best intentions. About two months later, everyone gets sick, and I end up burned out and overwhelmed by all the activities in which we participate. After a whole month of sicknesses, I'm worn out. Just like the other years, I am not ready to deal with Halloween till we start dressing up and walking out the door. Just like the other years, we had a blast.

This year, Maddie asked to be Fancy Nancy. Though she got to wear her costume on her birthday, to her birthday party, and to the school party, on the "real Halloween" I curled her hair like the book character, wrapped a feather boa around her neck, put on the necklaces and bracelets, and, since it was Halloween, she even got a touch of lip gloss and mascara. She was adorable and easily passed as her favorite book character. This year I made her costume because I couldn't find a cute one that we liked. Though I did enjoy making it and trying all the new techniques (lots of different flower-styles, a headband, and a tutu) I think paying for a pre-made costume is probably less expensive. I did create the costume to last -- well, the tutu should hold up well in the dress-up box, and the flowers will detach from the shirt so I can make them into hair clips. Since I wanted the colors to match the Dr. Seuss birthday party, I don't regret making it, but I will definitely rethink it next time I consider playing fashion designer. On a similar note, you can't beat the fun of playing designer when the costume is the fun and wild Fancy Nancy.

All three boys insisted on being Star Wars characters. Several years ago, Will was Darth Vader. Since we still had most of that costume, I was hoping one of the little ones would ask to be Darth. Thankfully, that is what Jon requested. We had to roll the sleeves and legs a bit, but he sure made a cute scary Darth Vader.

Ben asked to be Luke Skywalker. I was thrilled to find a Luke costume at the consignment sale for just a few dollars. He was really excited to see that I had gotten each of the boys a light sabre, too. If you don't have Star Wars-loving boys, you may not realize that as SOON as you put one of these swords in a boy's hand, he will NOT HOLD STILL!! No matter how he is dressed, he becomes a constant blur of motion. When I added the camera to the mix, I got lots of motion, but luckily, there were lots of neat poses, too. This seemed, to me, like the perfect Luke Skywalker picture. When neighbors asked about the kids' costumes, we all got to chuckle when Ben would say, "I'm Luke Skywalker," then Jon would follow with, "I am Darth Vader and I am his dad."

Will went through plenty of costume catalogs until he finally decided to be Boba Fett. I am told he is the bounty hunter who was after Han Solo, but I don't know for sure. Boba Fett is a bad guy, that's the part I understood, and though he usually has some sort of gun, I knew I wouldn't get away with getting two boys sabres and not the third, so Boba's costume isn't completely correct, but we're pretending it is. Also, since he is a evil guy, the boy in the costume refused to smile for a picture -- because "Boba would never smile, Mama!"

Allen and I haven't dressed up for Halloween since we were in college. Boring? Maybe... but this year, just as I was getting ready to start taking pictures, Allen disappeared. Though he went into our closet planning one costume, a few questions from the kids quickly changed his plan. He emerged as a perfect Evil Dr. Heinz Doofenschmirtz (the antagonist in the kids' favorite cartoon, Phineas and Ferb.)

The kids were excited to start trick-or-treating, and we all had a great time visiting the neighbors as we made our way through the evening. We came home just as it got really dark, and Allen and I let them eat way too much candy, and take breaks by passing out candy to the other kids. 

The Party

I'm not sure "The Party" is the right title for this one, but it will help me find it later if I need to. This year was just different. Usually we have the little kids' party the weekend of their birthday, but we had to adjust the schedule a bit because Allen's family was busy last weekend. My parents are gone all month, and my brother's family wasn't going to be able to come either weekend, so we postponed the festivities till the Kaisers could participate.... which is how it came to be that we went camping and hiking one day, and had a birthday party the next.

After the carnival, we had pizza for dinner, then Allen made cupcakes while I made icing. We gave Ben and Jon breathing treatments and tucked the kids in bed a bit later than normal, but since we were at the grandparents', the bed-times were a bit flexible. Sunday morning, after breakfast, I started decorating cupcakes, and ran into enough headaches with the cakes that I was ready to call it quits before my cold turned into a headache. Ben woke up with an upset tummy, and slept most of the day. Jon, Will, and Maddie played outside. We had burgers and hotdogs for lunch, then we let Maddie and Jon blow out their candles (Ben was still sick and sleeping.) Even the promise of a cupcake didn't get him to join us, so he must have felt really bad. Eventually, he did come out and asked if he could open presents. After that, he posed for  birthday cake picture, but he didn't want to eat it until breakfast the next day. My camera card filled up just before he sneezed out his candles.The boys asked for Dr. Seuss birthday cakes, and Maddie wanted Fancy Nancy (since that is also her Halloween costume, she gets to wear it a few times this month.)

My plans were so much more grand that what actually turned out, but if it really is the thought that counts, these were great! Maddie's cake was supposed to be fancy -- swirls of pink icing, little white pearls, and a red crown (made from fruit rollups). I was aiming for the Cat In The Hat's hat on Jon's cupcake, and Ben's was supposed to be the top of Thing 1. It was made from blue cotton candy, but that didn't hold up well over the long wait for Ben to join us. The icing dissolved the cotton candy, and the moisture in the air or freezer condensed on the candy and caused it to shrink. Ben still loved it, and that's really all that matters, right?

I know I should just focus on the fact that the kids enjoyed it, but I am still bummed that the week didn't turn out like I planned it. I know I'm the one acting like a five-year old, but I really want to sit down and cry. I didn't get the picture of the triplets together at their party, but at least I got a cute one on Monday. I hated that Ben was sick and couldn't enjoy the day, but at least he is getting healthy.  It was really hard to have fun with just two kids partying, when I felt like Ben should've been having fun, too. I was feeling sick enough I just wanted to sleep all day like Ben, but I was able to keep going. I was frustrated that we were so busy we couldn't even sit down and enjoy the moment, but at least we have lots of opportunites.

In the end, I think I know what "too much" is for our family. We packed too much into one weekend and when we got home, Jon was still on breathing treatments, Ben was getting worse, and Allen and I were both sick enough to plop into bed and hope for a full night of sleep. I know that we didn't get sick because of the weekend, but being sick was an excuse for me to rest all day Monday, and I needed that. We are still struggling to get healthy, but I think I need to drop a few things from our calendar and definitely not ADD to it. I hope that the kids all have just happy memories of the week of the fifth birthday, and next year, I won't set the bar so high for myself.

I still can't believe these little ones are five...

Fall Festivities

Our annual pumpkin patch trip was cancelled this year because our normal location was closed due to the drought. I was a little bummed to not be getting fun fall pictures, but I don't know when we would have fit it in anyway. This weekend, Papa and Nana were working at a booth at their local elementary school fall carnival, so after our camp-out, we headed to the school to see what fun was available. I was half-way hoping for a cute pumpkin setting for photos, but I didn't find one. I did have fun taking pictures of the kids having fun, though. 

The kids were excited at all the options. I was a bit anxious about the crowds (one of those things I thought I would grow out of, but it seems to be getting worse now that I can't hear properly.) Daddy and Nana bought some of the tickets and all the kids played a few games, the five-year olds went on an inflatable obstacle course, and Will and Nana broke boards at the karate booth. Will used some of his tickets on the dunk booth, and sunk the volunteer on the first throw.

Some of the free activities included going through the firetruck and using the fire hoses to knock the fire cut-outs out of a house. Cousin Beckham even got chance to help his Uncle Allen put out the fires.

The local high school cheerleaders did some routines then invited kids to come learn to cheer. Jon got right up there and did some cheering, Maddie joined him a bit later, but Ben raced for the stage and sat from the high point watching the girls. It was tough to convince him to get down, especially since the coach was so sweet to help him up there. The kids had fun and were disappointed when it was time to leave to get dinner.

Finding Our Limit: Camping and Geology

We found our limit. We packed too much into a weekend and now more than half of us are sick. I know it isn't because of the weekend, but I definitely feel like we need a break from our busy-ness. We did have a lot of fun over the last few days, but I'm not sure, yet, if it was worth the weariness.

First off, we packed up the van with lots of gear and headed off to Cooper Lake State Park for a family camp out with Will's Cub Scout den. There were about six families there while we were there, but some others showed up after we left (and we left a day early.) Friday, we got to the campsite just after sunset. It was a challenge to set up the tent in the dark, but it was harder to keep up with the four kids while we were doing that. After we set up, we all went to bed -- yes, early. Saturday, we got up at dawn, had breakfast with the others, cleaned up the dishes, and headed to a river that was mostly dry from the drought. One of the other boys' dad is a geologist and he and his coworker introduced the boys (and siblings) to different types of rocks and fossils. After the short lesson, we all descended a steep cliff. We had been worried about getting all the little kids down, but it went quite smoothly since we let them sit and slide down on their bottoms. It was steep enough that they slid quickly, but not so steep that they didn't have control over their speeds. Once we were in the "river" we all started searching for different fossils, including shark teeth, shells, and vertebrae from a particular dinosaur (that I can't remember the name of, but that was the reason the geologists chose this spot.) I finally relaxed a bit and let the kids wander as long as I could see them. Maddie found a lot of fossils, but they were of the big, heavy type, so I took a picture instead of hauling them back up the cliff. Ben and Allen found some shark teeth. Jon, Maddie, and I preferred to find the pretty and smoothed river glass. After all the second-grade boys got tired of hunting for fossils, they had a blast climbing the cliffs and sliding down what they called "avalanches." Thankfully, he didn't wear the seat out of his pants, but I'm not sure how he didn't wear through them. Ben eventually got bored with looking at rocks and just kept asking me, "Mama, please walk with me and lets find an adventure." Jon continued to crack me up as he had been trying all morning to get the attention of five-year old, Sadie. At breakfast, he insisted on sitting where he could see her. After a potty break, he demanded we walk faster so he "could spend more time with Sadie." At one point, while we were at the river, he ran to me to giddily explain, "Sadie smiled at me!" We all found pretty stones, a few shells and fossils, petrified wood, and quartzite. For the most part, we only brought back what would fit in our pockets, though. After we wore the kids out, we headed back to camp to pack up, eat lunch, and head for our next adventure.

Three New Bikes

It is just two days after their birthday, but they finally got their new bikes. Monday was their birthday, but we ran out of time. Tuesday, we were home, but all three of them were in trouble by dinnertime. Without naps, they really needed to go to be early and we wouldn't have let them ride anyway. This evening, we planned to be at church, but I had an awful headache and my meeting was cancelled, so we stayed home. The plan was for the kids to be surprised when the garage door came up and they saw the three new bikes, but Ben was the only one who showed any surprise in his facial expressions. All three were excited about the big-kid bikes and the now big wheels have been labelled "Little Kid Bikes." I figure the Big Wheels will still be fun for awhile since Daddy lets them race down the driveway with them and it will be awhile till they are that confident on the big bikes. The boys were both immediately comfortable on the bikes, but Maddie is still having a bit of trouble pedalling.