Halloweekend

We headed to Kemah on Saturday to pick up a car for brother-uncle Jake. This means he will be travelling back to Texas for Thanksgiving and I'm SO excited about that. Kemah is an area of Texas we have never explored before and it was a fun family adventure. The little town definitely has that easy going coastal vibe. We decided to check out the Boardwalk and indulge in all the people-infested activities that I tend to loathe. But parenting requires sacrifices!!! And I'm willing to make those sacrifices for two tiny people I love!

We checked out the amusement park rides and it was a right of passage for Miss Lyla, as she has reached the 42" height requirement allowing her to ride solo. She was loving this newfound independence and even requested to ride the mini ferris wheel in a cart on her very own. Unfortunately, this created some jealousy in Max. Sorry shorty. Maybe next year. The kiddos also had their faces painted. Max picked a Spiderman design. He was quite pleased with his new look and started spraying strangers with invisible webs afterward. It was a day of adventure, including a near death experience due to a run in with a flock of seagulls. The shrilling screams definitely turned some heads on that one.

Max said, "LOOK MOM! A PIRATE SHIP!!!!"

Jake's new blue car!
Jake doesn't know it yet, but we decided he should gift it to Lyla when she is old enough to drive.
That's assuming he doesn't wreck it as he usually does. Who typed that? How rude. 

We had such a fun Halloween! I always forget how much I love this holiday until it rolls around each year. The festivities lightened the heaviness that typically accompanies a Monday. The kids were able to wear their costumes to school and I was able to join in on their class parties. I coordinated the cookie decorating portion of the party for each class. It makes me really grateful to have a job that allows me to still be so involved in the daily routines of my kids. I start to feel a whirl of anxiety when I think about them going to school without my presence in the background. Maybe I can convince their next school to hire me too! Ha!

The school day concluded and we headed home to recharge our batteries for round two. I prepared for my Annual Halloween Chili Chow Down. Actually, I just made that up. I've never called it that in my life. The Texas weather sometimes permits the practicality of this event, but I don't care. I will not allow the unrelenting heat to ruin my traditions!!! Taylor came over to transform me from nice witch to mean witch, and I must say, she is quite the talented artist. I purchased one of those latex noses to really amp up the wow factor. The kids remained in their costumes all day, so they only needed a few modifications for trick or treating. We spray painted Max's hair black because...Superman! As for Lyla, she begged and pleaded for this silly wig and I finally caved in. It was hilarious for the entire fifteen minutes she wore it.

The Stouts joined the party and we all headed out for some trick or treating. This was our first year in our new neighborhood and holy crap. The herds of children were unbelievable. The entire neighborhood was so festive and it was awesome to see all the different decorated yards and porches. We noticed Max was beginning to tip to one side as he carried his overflowing basket of candy, so we decided to head back home. The obligatory dumping of their winnings was the final conclusion of the night.

Post Halloween, Lyla has been disciplined with her candy consumption, but sadly Max already had his entire fortune permanently revoked. It has yet to be determined if he will have an opportunity to earn it back. Life is rough when you fail to listen to your parents. Happy Halloween!

Visit from Grandma Anna

The official sibling shuttle service, eagerly awaiting the arrival of Princess Grandma Anna

We were so lucky to have Grandma Anna to ourselves for a few days. Her visits always seem to go by way too fast. We made up for lost time by catching up on all of our missed shopping & lunching dates due to the serious amount of mileage between us. Sometimes simply 'being together' with the people I love is what I miss most about Idaho. I should really do more research on proper hostage techniques, because so far none of my attempts have worked. I think the reasons we want to keep her are obvious, but I'll go ahead and list a few. 

She provides unlimited back scratches. She folds laundry for fun. She is a professional Barbie player. She secretly returns to certain retail merchants to make surprise splurge purchases. She also tells awesome bedtime stories, which is great considering my inventory is running low. [Side note: If you have a childhood story, particularly from when you were three, please do me a favor and share it with the curious mind of Lyla.] Lyla is continually fascinated by her understanding that her grandma is also my mom. I kept hearing her say, "Grandma Anna, you have such a hard job --- you have to be a mommy and grandma!" That does sound like a tough job, but she does it so very well. We had so much fun and it never gets easier to say goodbye. I'm switching gears to Thanksgiving mode now to avoid melting into a puddle of sadness! Gobble Gobble Gobble. 

Halloween: Part 3

I feel like I created all this anticipation about Halloween on the blog & then failed to deliver when it came to the main event. I apologize to all three of my avid blog followers for any disappointment I may have caused.... heeehehe!

Nonetheless, Halloween was a success! The rain took a break and we were able to take the kiddos trick or treating. It was a pretty simple task this year since they no longer require assistance approaching each doorstep. They know the drill. I was even impressed by Max, who kept up with the big kids --- although he basically had to sprint to do so. He really didn't seem to mind until a few blocks in and we realized he was seriously out of breath & dripping in sweat. Haha! That little dude worked hard for his candy this year. The best part of Halloween was having my momma in town for a visit. She decided to dress up last minute and I thought there was going to be a real crisis when she returned home from the store with Elsa accessories. It definitely took some time for Miss Lyla to come to terms with that one! 

Halloween: Part 2

Wednesday means gymnastics and you better believe we took the opportunity to dress up again. The kiddos are quite fond of their teacher, Mr. Brad, so they were really looking forward to showing off their costumes today. It turns out Mr. Brad is also a superhero fan, as he was dressed as Spiderman. Plus, it was extra fun to have our friend Jordyn accompany gymnastics today as our guest. We think her mom and baby sister are pretty swell too! 

We were preparing for another party later in the day when Lyla randomly decided she wanted to ditch the Robin costume and swap it out for a princess dress found in her closet. The plain ol' princess look seemed a little too ordinary, so I was "heavily encouraging" her to let me add some zombie appeal to her ensemble. I had Aunt Taylor on my team to promote the gory transformation as well. Lyla was finally agreeable once we clarified we weren't going to use real blood. The moment she understood it was fake, she was totally on board. The only other condition was Taylor must be the one to create the masterpiece, of course. That was fine with me, as my artist skills from last year proved my scary make-up abilities resemble more of a raccoon. Lyla was thrilled with the final product. She really got into character and we went outside to scare kids around the neighborhood. Well, technically we could only find one kid....still fun though. 

Kirk got home from work in time for the next Trunk or Treat event with Kurt & Olivia. Kurt planned to dress-up as The Joker and Max was super pumped to take down a real villian. Well. It turns out he is all talk because in reality he was terrified of The Joker mask. I attempted a photo anyway of Batman & Joker, but as you can see it didn't exactly work out. I will make another attempt on real Halloween & hopefully the fear will subside by that time. 

I'm curious what will inspire Lyla's costume choice for tomorrow, maybe Max will venture away from Batman. Who knows! We are lucky to have a costume collection big enough to give us so many versatile options. Personally, I will be on the hunt for a witch nose to complete my costume for Saturday night. 

The zombie started hissing when I requested her participation

 in a family photo, so this is what you get.

Halloween: Part 1

It's an exciting week with Halloween finally being in full effect. Lyla was still undecided on her costume choice up until a few days ago. I think Kirk gave his best sales pitch to convince her that collaborating with Max would be the coolest thing ever. Batman & Robin is the final decision for this years festivities, although Lyla picked out a Wonder Woman costume tucked away in the back of her closet for our first Halloween adventure at the library. We came home afterwards to recharge our batteries before joining Charli & Hali for a carnival at their church followed by a trunk-or-treat. It was a successful day in terms of fun and we have much more planned as we countdown to the main event on Saturday. Fingers crossed the rain chooses a different path of destruction!

Halloween Recap

I promised some Halloween photos and I know my grandma has been patiently waiting. Charli hosted a really fun Halloween party at her house. I would like to tell this story through pictures. 

I love this photo because it captures how much Lyla looks up to her cousin Hali. Hali was Elsa for Halloween. I am surprised Lyla didn't request this costume, but also so grateful because we play Elsa pretty much every day.

This is Lyla (pre)Scary Fairy Ballerina. I think it's cool she wanted to be a little scary for Halloween, but I think she looks like pure perfection in this picture.

Max the Dinosaur. His sound effects were awesome. And I love that he is carrying TWO candy buckets. He's a prepared little boy.

I realize Lyla's scary make up made her look like a raccoon. But she thought it was really awesome. And the first make up test run made her look like a mime, which actually inspired my costume. I never claimed myself to be a make up artist.

The Mime. The Dino. The Scary Fairy Ballerina.

Kirk is really disturbed that I didn't smile in any picture that evening. I keep reminding him that I was a mime. Mimes don't smile. DURR! I am disturbed that he didn't dress up!

The Scary Fairy Ballerina in all her trick or treating glory. She was in the zone. Some people got to witness this totally bizarre laugh that came from Lyla as she strolled down the street. I can't even describe it. It was a hyena type squeal combined with a high pitched laugh. It was shocking and I loved it.  

Max ditched the dinosaur helmet thing immediately. That's okay. His little dino tail wagging made up for the lack of head gear. He was uneasy about the trick or treating experience in the beginning. However, he gained some courage once he realized his bucket was filling up with candy.

Is It Pumpkin Day Yet?

We have been a busy bunch the past week. I am loving this Fall weather. The Texas heat can be cruel in the summer, but right now it is just perfect for me. I only wish the leaves on the trees would make some changes so I could enjoy Fall colors too. Halloween is on Friday, sharing the day with Max officially turning 17 months old. And that is nothing but surreal.

Max spotted a T-Rex costume at the Halloween store and his dinosaur noises were so adorable that I couldn't possibly force him to wear anything different. Lyla decided on a "scary fairy ballerina" for her costume. I can't wait to share pictures of our final presentation. I'm not even sure how she came up with the idea and I'm still figuring out what exactly the costume consists of. All is I know is that it's pink, it has wings, and it's scary. We had a couple practice runs with her "scary" make up. The only conclusion I have so far is that I am definitely not a make-up artist. Lyla was super impressed with my skills though, so I guess that's all that matters. 

We painted pumpkins. Lyla was so meticulous as she painted her pumpkin. It seemed unusual for her, but I guess that is normal considering she is evolving into a three old before my eyes. Max enjoyed painting as well. However, he was determined to touch all his body parts with the paint brush. It was all fine until he thought the dog needed a splash of color too. I know it's very impolite to disrupt a deeply concentrated artist, but that dang dog already has enough issues. 

Don't mind the lack of clothing in the photos. We have a no pants policy after 3 pm around here.

We are going to carve pumpkins with Kirk one evening this week. I'm curious whether Lyla will be intimidated by the pumpkin guts, as she was last year. I have a feeling Max will dive right in.

Music Class & A Tornado

The photo below is Lyla & Max at their music class that I mentioned in an earlier post. It's a really fun class geared to introduce these little seedlings to various types of music and instruments. Let's be honest...it's really just an hour of silly singing and dancing. Lyla is literally the loudest singer and Max is the most eccentric dancer in the class.  

It's pretty hands-on so I am unable to take photos of them in action. I was able to sneak this one in just as they were getting ready for a round of "I'm a Little Teapot" for the first time. They sang half of the song last week and get to sing the other half this week. I thought that was a little strange. But that's okay. Not my class. We just go with the flow. 

Max has entered a new phase of pure mischief. Anything he touches turns to mess! He is a tiny tornado, and although I adore him, I do hope it passes soon. I believe there is an actual cloud of crumbs and dirt that hovers above his head at all times. His ability to make messes has been on the rise since he learned to walk, but he is reaching all new levels. It is beyond ridiculous. Even on my very best day, I struggle to keep up with this kid. I usually keep the vacuum on stand by all day long in anticipation of more mess. Just this morning he dumped out all the dog food into the water dish, opened a box of flour onto the kitchen floor, and pulled all of my books off the shelf. This all happened before I could even get in one sip of coffee. How rude, Max. 

And yes, I realize some of these situations could be prevented by simple baby-proofing and it would save me from running around like a chicken with its head cut off. But that isn't exactly my style when it comes to these times of booming brain development. Unless the mess is posing a threat to his little life, I typically give Max the freedom to explore his surroundings and worry about the mess later. It's my philosophy and I'm sticking to it. My other logic is maybe the bookshelf or dog food will eventually lose its appeal and he will move on. I think it's safe to say that all humans, big or small, are naturally drawn to things we can't have!

Despite all that, I assure you Max would find a way to make his mark even with the most extreme baby-proofing tactics. I breathe deeply and remind myself that one day I  will miss his sticky little fingerprints appearing on everything I own. This goes for Lyla as well, she has her fair share of mischief. But I really do think there is something about being a BOY that causes so much more destruction. 

It is starting to feel like fall around here & I love it. Halloween is approaching and I'm excited for the holiday madness to follow. Lyla is tossing around the idea of a monster and a ballerina for Halloween. It's her first Halloween that she actually has input for her costume idea, so I'm looking forward to see what she decides.