2011 Halloween Costume Recital

Yesterday was our annual Costume Recital here at the studio.

This year my studio is made up of all girls, the youngest being Eva (4) and the oldest being Olivia (Senior in High School.)

I will post more details later today, but for now, here is the video of Eva's and Amanda's performances.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3fiiK7AEnQ&feature=youtube_gdata

Our first getaway without the kids

It has been over six years now since Dave and I have had a night to ourselves, sans kids. Thinking we were long overdue, I jumped on a great Groupon deal several months ago. The deal was for a one night stay at the Castle Hill Resort and Spa in Ludlow, Vermont. The usual $329/night was being offered through Groupon for $99/night (with certain blackout dates), so of course it was just too good to pass up. I went ahead and bought it, figuring it would be a good 7th anniversary gift for us.

The time has come for us to finally cash in on this night away. We are leaving early Saturday morning and will return sometime on Sunday. (It is a 3 1/2 hour drive, so a good portion of the time will be spent in the car but at least the scenery will be beautiful! Fall foliage is quite a bit behind this year, so that has worked to our advantage.)

The girls will be staying with Omi... in between going to Dance class, having a babysitter for a few hours, and an evening pizza party with Uncle Jason, Auntie Angelina and cousin Nick.

Although I should be excited about this mini getaway, I am having trouble mustering up the enthusiasm. Obstacles keep appearing in our path and I'm starting to wonder if it's happening for a reason.

1 - Dave's car, the one we will be driving to Vermont, suddenly had a brake issue. On his way home from work last night, he had to push the brake pedal all the way to the floor. Not good! $400 later, the brakes are repaired. Problem #1 solved.

2 - Amanda has been up several times during the night with a persistent cough. At least once per night I have been administering the albuterol inhaler. Then a few days ago, Liam started waking up in the middle of the night crying. Then a runny nose and cough started. Last night he woke up at 10:30 pm screaming in pain, and it lasted basically the entire night. Dave and I took turns trying to comfort him and get him to sleep, but it meant keeping him in an upright position. Not very comfortable for sleeping. A trip to the doctor this morning showed that he has a bad ear infection, and he was prescribed codeine and an antibiotic. By afternoon, he was back to his happy, playful self. Hopefully tonight will be a more restful night for everyone. Problem #2, partially solved.

3 - I use my iPhone to write notes to myself, things like grocery lists or things that have to be done. Today I found a new note called "Why?" that I didn't remember writing. As it turns out, it was something Amanda had written at some point, unbeknownst to me.


Talk about a guilt trip! We still have two more days to go... What will happen next??

An Ideal Fall Day

Yesterday was the perfect afternoon for a trip to R&C Farms in Scituate. I had gotten half price admission tickets to the Corn Maze, so after Liam woke up from his nap, we headed out.

For some reason, I thought they had advertised a 70 acre Corn Maze. I think the farm itself was 70 acres; the Corn Maze was held on just 3 acres. Oops, just a slight difference! (Just this past week, there was a news story about a family with a 3 week old baby that actually got lost in a Corn Maze and had to call the police from their cell phone.)

Ready or not, here we come!

I took a picture of the maze layout, just in case.


As it turned out, we didn't need it at all because we had Eva, chief navigator, with us.

We were in and out of that maze in maybe 6 minutes. We all wanted to go through it again and this time we took turns deciding which turns to make. Eva became frustrated with us, insisting that we were "going the wrong way!" She must have been born with some sort of internal GPS system! The second time through the maze took slightly longer.

Amanda wanted to take some pictures for her blog. She may actually have a future in photo journalism!

On our way out, we each picked an apple. Dave chose Gala while the rest of us chose Honeycrisp. He may have regretted his decision because the Honeycrisp apples were out of this world. And at just 50 cents a pound, I asked myself later why I hadn't thought to buy a few pounds worth! What was I thinking?!

Our local grocery store only carries a few varieties of apples, not Honeycrisps either, and they are usually around $2.00/lb. I am seriously contemplating a return trip this week to stock up for our fruit bowl. (Speaking of which, ever since I bought a trifle bowl, which I keep filled with fruit, the kids are eating more fruit than ever. Plus, it makes a nice centerpiece.)

We still had a few hours of daylight left so we spent some time at the Purple Dinosaur playground in Scituate. I hadn't taken the kids there in years and they were glad to return.


It is a perfect playground for Liam as all of the equipment seems geared toward the 3 and younger crowd. The last time we had been there, there were a few of the yellow and red Cozy Coupes, which are always a hit with young kids. Yesterday it seemed like a ride-on toy graveyard!

It was as if everyone had discarded their children's outgrown toys. (Dave said it gave him a few ideas of what to do with all of ours in the next year or two.) It was actually really nice because it eliminated fighting over the best toys.


In the sandbox area, there were more yellow dump trucks and backhoes than you could shake a stick at. Between the lawn mower, wagon, and various bikes, Liam was in toddler heaven!

And the perfect ending to the day? Amanda finally lost Tooth #6.


But I will let her tell that story on her own blog.

Take Your Parent to School Day

I had a really relaxing morning doing arts and crafts with Eva today at Take Your Parent to School Day.

We started in the "Wet and Messy Room" where we made a haunted house scene together.


There were all sorts of odds and ends available to us... Qtips, foam cut-outs, foil, cotton, etc. It was a lot of fun to be creative together. Eva had some great ideas about where to place things in our scary scene.


Next Eva gave me a tour of the classroom, starting with the Playdough table. There were lumps of homemade aromatic orange playdough, scented with pumpkin pie spice. Then we saw the rice table and water table, both of which were filled with various Halloween themed bottles and containers.

And then, on to the wasp galls secured to branches. I learned that galls are the round balls that house wasps' eggs. At least, that's what I got out of it! And finally, to the cricket habitat. Eva pointed out the two crickets in the corner, making their happy chirpy noises.

Then we put on red smocks and painted a leaf together. Red, yellow and orange... and then Eva went over it all with a foamy sponge roller to give it a blended look. We had a lot of fun at that station.

We took a snack break - apple juice and a mini bagel with cream cheese for Eva, coffee for Mama.

Once we refueled, we were ready for our biggest project of the day: constructing a zoo made out of wooden blocks. We ended up finding so many tigers that there wasn't enough room for any other animals. Eva's friend Olivia watched us for a while, looking like she wanted to get in on the action, so after a while, she and her dad started building next to us. Their contribution was the giraffe exhibit.

Before we knew it, the hour was up and it was time to clean up. When we got home, we hung up all of Eva's art projects in my studio. It was perfect timing because I have my Costume Recital in under two weeks and I needed some decorations!

What a fun morning it was... I miss school!

Picture Day

Today is Picture Day for Eva. She took great pride in choosing her fanciest dress and got dressed this morning without any complaints. She looked absolutely adorable... (er, beautiful!)... when she walked down the sidewalk with her Tinkerbell backpack on her back.

And ironically, just today we just received the digital copy of Amanda's 1st grade school picture. I think this just might be my favorite picture of her, even with all those missing teeth and the fresh mosquito bite she got on the way to school! It makes me smile every time I look at it.


As soon as we get Eva's pictures back, I will send out copies of both photos to the family.

I would still like to get a professional picture of all three kids before the end of the year. Otherwise, the traditional Christmas family photo in front of the tree will have to suffice.

Book Borrow

This morning I left the house early in search of bargains at one of the seasonal consignment sales in our area. Dave stayed home with the kids, which allowed me a few much-needed hours of freedom.

When I returned home, this is what I saw.


According to Dave, Amanda and Eva had worked all morning setting up a "Book Borrow" stand in the front yard. They had blankets, pillows, and an umbrella all set up. The best part was their homemade sign, made of several pieces of paper, taped together and attached to a large branch.


I asked Amanda what a Book Borrow was. She told me that people could come into the barn to browse through her books, and take some home to borrow. Similar to a lemonade stand, I suppose, except no money was being exchanged. They even had a pretty gift bag ready and waiting, so their "customer" could tote their books home with them.

I love the arrow pointing "That way. Come now please."

(Click to enlarge.)

You would not believe how enthusiastic she and Eva were about their idea! They stood out there in the yard for a very long time.

Unfortunately they were set up a good 40 feet back from the road, so it wasn't even possible for passing cars to READ their sign, much less even notice them standing out there. But they were troopers.


After a while, Amanda quietly asked,"Mama, why isn't anyone coming?"

I felt horrible. My heart absolutely ached for her. She was so disappointed to have gone to all of that work and have no one pull into the driveway. It made me sad and I didn't know what to tell her.

Luckily I was able to distract her with something later and I reluctantly took down her display. But I kept the sign, propped up behind the barn, simply because I didn't have the heart to throw it away.

(On a side note, a few days ago, Amanda told me that she wanted to be a Librarian when she grows up, so she can "stamp all of the books." So I guess this is just an extension of her wish. I admire her creativity and passion for books. I hope her lack of business doesn't discourage her.)

So Long, Farewell, auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye!

Grandpa Clint and Grandma Reda left this morning after a wonderful stay with us. (Well, wonderful in OUR eyes, at least!) I am sure they will be glad to get back to retired life and a slower lifestyle pace. I think our regimented life was a bit hectic for them, always running here and there, keeping an eye on the clock to make sure we weren't late dropping off or picking up one of the kids.

It was hard to see them go. Some of the memories we will cherish from our time with them include:

- Open House at Amanda's school
- The girls' sleepover in the barn, complete with movies!
- The girls' trip to the theater to see Dolphin Tale
- Poopsie's pizza!!!!
- Playing games... like Pretty, Pretty Princess (with Grandma AND Grandpa!)
- Trips to the playground
- Walking to and from school, and little hikes here and there
- Eating Friendly's, Dairy Queen and McDonald's... without Mama and Daddy!
- Cuddling and reading book after book
- The "grown up's trip" to Hola for tapas
- OktoberFest (cheering us on during the Beer Stein contests, where Dave and I each finished 2nd. No drinking was involved, by the way... this was merely a contest of strength.)
- The side trip to Hull and exploring the Fort
- Building block towers and playing cars with Liam
- And of course, all of the help: yardwork, babysitting, and other household chores

Here are some photos to summarize their time with us.

Open House in Amanda's classroom

A "boys only" Nature Hike

Lots of special time with Grandma and Grandpa

Pretty, Pretty Princess: Grandpa was a great sport, wearing his pink jewels.

OktoberFest in Norwell

Hull and Nantasket Beach

Thanks for everything, Grandma and Grandpa! We will miss you greatly! Please come again soon.

Potty Training - already?

I got Liam a potty seat a few weeks ago, since he suddenly started showing interest in the little portable one we have.

He had sat on it a few times and chuckled.. but never did anything.

Until Wednesday night, which happened to be his 20 months birthday.

Right before his bedtime shower, I put him on the potty in hopes that he wouldn't "go" in the shower, like he usually does! So I put him on and immediately, he went!

We all cheered like crazy for him and gave him his potty reward: a chocolate chip.

Then I put him into the shower with the girls... and he "went" again. Ugh!

The next day, he kept going into the bathroom and saying,"Potty, potty!" Then he would stand in front of the cupboard and say,"Chock-it!"

So I thought, what the heck... we'll give it a try. I put him on the potty and he went without even pausing.

Later in the morning, I put him on again. Same thing.

A third time that day, I put him on. Success again. 3 for 3! Wow, I was pleasantly surprised!

Before his nap, Eva called,"Mama, Liam took his shorts off!" I went into the room and sure enough, not only were his shorts off, but he had taken half of his diaper off too. Oh no, I was not ready for this.

So I put him on the potty. He sat there, staring down at his lap, waiting for something to happen. When nothing came out, he looked up at me with a concerned look and said,"Uh oh, boke it..." (As in, "broke it.") Eva and I couldn't help but laugh.

He's got the whole routine down - close the lid, flush, step up to the sink to wash hands, and wait patiently at the cupboard for "chock-it."

We have had other successes since that day, although I haven't been as diligent about putting him on since I have been preparing for our weekend Open Houses. Once things calm down, I will get into a better routine and see if he really is interested in doing this for real. I am crossing my fingers that he will be a fast learner like his sisters!