Another Hollaway Halloween

 

Here's our crew...black cat, green dinosaur, and Pippi Longstocking of course. Am I a wee bit sad that they don't let me dress them up as a cohesive theme? Sure, a bit. Is it fun to see their unique personalities shine through in what they pick to be themselves? Definitely! They all came up with their own costume ideas this year.

The girls and I have read two of the Pippi books so far and they have loved them! Reese won the costume contest for her age group when they trick or treated at my work earlier in the week. (Unfortunately, Drue was in that same age category so there were a few tears from her).

 

People mistaked Tate for a dragon, crocodile, and almost any other greenish amphibious or fictional character. When they would finally ask him which one he was he would say, "I'm a green dinosaur!". He really was excited about being in his costume...the face he's making in this picture is of him trying to act ferocious.

 

Of course, Drue is my most challenging child to dress up, heck, to just plain dress. I was so relieved when she wanted to be a black cat this year. No itchy costumes or ones with props that would feel kooky on her. We just went with a black, tagless, shirt (which still took her trying on 3 different ones to find the perfect fit). Oh, and the sleeves can't even fall just a little past her wrists or she will go into minor hysterics. Black leggings, which we already owned and she'd worn before so they were safe. I bought the ears and the tail in September so she could get used to how they felt on her before the big day. And viola, our precious little black kitty cat.

 

Pumpkin Patch

I am going to start a petition that pumpkin patches should open earlier in the season next year. Like Sept 1st even. We haven't been able to go as a family yet this year, and it is looking like that might not even happen. Between other planned weekend activities, freezing temps, and sick kids, there just hasn't been much of an opportunity for us to all trek out there together and hunt for pumpkins.

 

Reese went a few weekends ago with a friend of hers. So I have no pictures of her. Zero. Zilch. Nada. These shots were all taken when Tate and I accompanied Drue on her field trip last week with preschool. It was 40 degrees! And they are so bundled, you can barely tell who is who. It was cold, wet, and muddy.

Don't ask me why they are tilted like this. Probably just thrown off balance by their many layers...

 

 

 

Roll Baby Roll

So the kids are feeling better.

Thankfully.

Gone are the fever induced stupors where they are content to lie on the couch under a blanket with me.

Again, very thankful they are on the mend.

Along with that, comes their slow integration back to fighting with each other and tattling on one another.

So late in the morning we pulled out the board games. To refocus their newfound (thank you Motrin) energy.

First board game? Yahtzee. Princess Yahtzee. There is just no hope for poor Tate in this household. I realized this as I was dividing up the pieces and asked him, "Which princess do you want to be?". And he leaned over and chose Snow White from the remaining choices.

My next purchase will be a manly version of Yahtzee with tools or cars or lawnmowers on the dice.

Tate really enjoys getting to play the big kid games with us. He was all smiles as his little hand shook up the dice and tossed them into the box lid we were using. He needed just a little help from Reese and I deciding on which ones to keep out and which ones to roll again.

On one roll as he peered into the box lid surveying the various princess faces he excitedly hollered, "Did I get a lot-zee?!".

Happy Birthday Boo! (Yesterday)

I can't believe I didn't get this posted on her actual birthday. Her actual 7th birthday. Which was spent dispensing medicine to bring her 103 temp down, keeping her fully supplied with tissues, and just snuggling on the couch.

 

She asked to open her presents in the morning. Before the meds had fully kicked in. But what parent in their right mind would deprive a sick child of opening her gifts when she wants to? She was void of all emotion as she opened each one though.

She even showed no excitement when Geoffrey from Toys R Us called to wish her a Happy Birthday. Drue's eyes, however, got real big and she said, "I didn't know Geoffrey was real!".

 

She did perk up later in the day and we were able to play her new karaoke/dance wii game for a good part of the afternoon.

This picture pretty much sums up our day/weekend. Tate started his fever last night. And was actually pretty excited that he made it to the "sick couch" today with the girls. We tried to keep him out of their room and off the couch where they were lounging.

 

Throughout the day I kept saying, "This time 7 years ago, you weren't even born yet". She didn't make her way into the world until 9:15pm that day. I added, "Then there you were...this tiny little bald thing with chicken legs!"

Here Reese is on her 1st birthday. I had almost forgotten how much red she had in her hair as a baby. She didn't even know who this was when I showed her the picture.

 

Happy 7th Birthday Reese!!

To Pee or Not to Pee

Reese is having a "friends" birthday party on Friday night. So we have been getting a few R.S.V.P. phone calls from some moms of her little friends this evening. One phone call came in about 8pm.

"Is Reese still awake?" the mom asked.

I told her yes, adding that she was in the process of getting ready for bed, lest she think I was a lackadaisical mother who let her children stay up until all hours. (Yes, I worry about those types of things).

Well, her daughter was also awake (ha!) and wanted to talk to Reese and tell her herself that she would be able to come to her party.

Let me just insert here that watching Reese or Drue on the phone with one of their little friends is the cutest! She got a big smile and squealed with excitement while they were talking.

Meanwhile, I left her room and went to check on the other two who were in the bathroom together. Not a good combination. Too much can go awry. Tate was standing on the stool with his toothbrush, hopefully getting at least some toothpaste slopped onto his teeth.

And Drue was sitting on the potty. Nope,, no privacy in this household what-so-ever.

Going potty is just part of our bedtime routine as I'm sure it is in most households. But they still try to get out of it at times. Especially Drue for some reason.

"Time to go potty and brush your teeth," I'll say.

"I already went potty," she'll respond.

"Oh, when did you go potty?" I'll inquire.

"Remember? During dinner? And you had to watch my food so Molly wouldn't eat it?".

"Yeah, ok, well dinner was 3 hours ago so that most certainly does not count as your last potty of the day!".

When I went in the bathroom tonight she announced, "No pee is coming out."

Knowing I did not want to spend the wee hours of the morning or in the middle of the night changing sheets, pajamas, and hosing her down I warned, "Well, you better make some pee come out....". Then I turned on my heel and there was Reese, holding the cordless phone in the air saying, "Here, her mom's back on the line."

Where is a good hole to crawl in when I need it?

Dreamland

After I snuggle Tate and tuck him in for the night I sometimes say, "Dream about dinosaurs".

Or "Dream about cars".

Or something else along the lines of his favorite things. Ok, so maybe having dinosaurs in your dreams is more indicative of a nightmare but he doesn't know about them eating people or tearing other animals apart so it's fine for now. Not a Jurassic Park type dream. More like Land Before Time.

The other night I said, "Dream about Mama".

"And Dada," he added.

"No. Just dream about Mama," I suggested.

"I'm going to dream about all of the people I got here," he decided.

Routines

Reese's school allows parents to come eat with their child at lunch if they so desire. There is a special "guest" table in the lunchroom and the child also gets to pick a friend to come eat at the table.

David took the day off on Monday for Drue's birthday, and since she was at preschool til 2pm, David and I decided to go surprise Reese for lunch along with Tate. We packed our lunch and waited patiently for her class to come down the hall. When we spotted her we all started waving wildly until she looked over and saw us.

I don't know what I was expecting her to do. What I didn't expect her to do was smile shyly at us and continue walking with her class straight into the lunchroom! We jumped up and followed her in there and seated ourselves at the guest table.

I couldn't help but laugh because more and more, I see snippets of my personality in her. That is totally something I would have done. "Oh, my family is here at school. That is strangely out of place. Now I'm nervous. So I will just continue on with what I normally do since I'm not sure how to react."

You can't mess with my routines. I get flustered. And feel out of sorts.

Reese was buying her lunch at school that day and finally made it through the line and back to our table with her lunch tray. She sat down and promptly raised her hand. It looked as if everything was fine with her tray, and I wasn't quite sure why she was raising her hand. So I asked her.

Her response? "I need help opening my milk."

Nevermind that both her parents were sitting right next to her, quite capable of opening a pint sized milk carton. Her routine is to raise her hand for the lunch aide to come do it.

Don't mess with that girl's routines.

Although I did reach out and snatch her milk up before the aide could make her way over...