November

November has slipped in quietly. The weather has been mild and so over the past two days M and I raked a ton of leaves, mulched them up with the vacuum and got them bagged up. Of course, since our big tree hasn't come close to losing all it's leaves it looks like we didn't do anything at all.

The big news this week was we got school pictures back.

Pretty cute! 

It's so hard to believe that today is already November 2! Have a cozy weekend friend. Mine seems like it will include my snuggie, watching a good movie and making an apple pie. Just keeping it real!! 

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween friends!

On Friday for our friend's party the kids looked like this:

And my guess is this is pretty much what they will look like this evening! Though I was really hoping M would be Eeyore tonight so I could take a third similar picture.

Last night we carved our pumpkins.

M and I created the cat pumpkin. It even has pumpkin pieces for ears. C and Husband made the other pumpkin which was C's vision, and it's supposed to be a penguin. But the flippers and feet aren't super visable so it just looks like a screaming face... oh well. C is happy with it so that's what counts yes? 

We are excited for a fun Halloween! 

Marriage Booster

On Saturday Husband and I went on a Marriage Booster Retreat. 

We dropped the kids off at his Aunt and Uncle's house where they spent the day playing outside, with the dogs, reading books, playing toys and even a fancy lunch out to Buffalo Wild Wings. They had a good time. 

And here is a backlit crazy picture of the two of us on our retreat. Where we had a good time. 

Our Parish has a year-long program going this year called Invest, where we meet with small groups monthly to discuss all sorts of topics for us to invest in our marriages. The group offered this booster retreat as an additional option and we are so glad we did it! 

We played games, we laughed, we listened to speakers and we were given ample time to just talk by ourselves. And this room was filled with other couples, some married 30+ years, some under 5 years, who were reconnecting and discussing and finding joy in each other. 

Husband and I won the charade game, we guessed 31 things in the allotted time. And then we were brought to the front to demonstrate our mad skills. They gave Husband a hard word. And just as they were about to pull the plug... I got it. 

I wasn't getting it at all. Then he mimed a tower and Rapunzel and I said "Rapunzel Rapunzel let down your hair, oh AGONY!" Because that was the word he was given. Agony. But I got it. Shocking the entire room. And the man running the retreat, Pete, was utterly flummoxed. People came up to us the rest of the day asking how we managed that. We won a prize, a travel mug, and a chocolate bar. 

In case you're wondering how we got from Rapunzel to Agony... it's from Into the Woods. Here's the movie clip. 

 

It was such a good weekend and I am so glad we said yes to the opportunity to take time together on this retreat. If there's an option like this in your neck of the woods I'm going to go ahead and tell you it's worth it!! 

It's Almost Halloween!

Wednesday night was the school trunk-or-treat.

And these Grapes and this Penguin had a heck of a time! This year the school offered a tailgating version, so they had the trunks all decorated but one parking lot also had parents in chairs passing out candy. I chose that option and passed out 270 bags of fruit snacks in just under an hour. The good thing about that was that we could go home after that. The trunks had to stay even if they ran out.

Yesterday was M's class pumpkin patch!

It was cute. It basically consisted of the kids singing a song, picking out a pumpkin and having a snack. But it was sweet and I am glad I went!

Today is the end of the quarter and school is out early. Perfect for our friends annual Halloween party this afternoon. Where M will be debuting her Red Minnie costume. Since you can't play when you're grapes! Tonight we are going to snuggle up with a family movie night to watch Double Double Toil and Trouble.

The great Mary-Kate and Ashley Halloween classic! At some point this weekend we will need to carve pumpkins too. It's set to be a good weekend. Have a great one yourselves!

A Cat Party: Part 2

M actually turned four on Monday and as fate would have it, Monday was an in-service day and C didn't have school! So Husband took the day off of work and we had a bonus weekend day to celebrate our girl. To make this story interesting you should know that I had specifically been praying for M to have a great birthday and really feel loved. 

M really wanted to go to Monkey Joe's the inflatable place, but it closed. She sobbed and sobbed and was devastated. It took us about 20 minutes to calm her down and she somehow decided the backup plan should be Burger King. It should be noted that my kids are no strangers to fast food but we really have never done Burger King for a lunch. But they have a play area that C went with his friends a bunch when they were 4. 

We got to Burger King and not only were they cleaning the play area but they changed it! Gone were the tunnels of yesteryear, and in it's place was a play area that didn't really look fun anyway. So we got back into the car, luckily I had warned the kids that sometimes they clean it. (Happened once before to us years ago!) We did bop through the drive-through and everyone got a burger to tide us over. I am glad I insisted on that because it was the only thing we would ever get around to eating for lunch. 

We went to the local garden center. They do a fall festival on the weekends and we thought maybe some of the stuff would still be available. Plus in Saturday's windstorm, M's pumpkin blew and the stem fell off, which, obviously invalidated the pumpkin, so we were going to get a new one. There was no one there! And so the kids played in the corn bin. 

And they had so much fun. So we walked around and looked at the Christmas trees, and the plants, and mums and then, there was a man and he blew up the inflatable! I mean, probably it wasn't just for us but we were the only ones there with people under 20 so... it kinda felt like it was just for us. M jumped her little heart out for a half hour solid. With no interruptions. (Besides her brother.) And she was SO happy. 

After we picked out two pumpkins for $6 (Which is all we spent for over an hour of fun in the corn bin and jumpy!) We headed to the botanical center so M could feed the fish because she likes to do that. We pulled up and there were SO MANY cars. Husband didn't think it seemed like a lot, and in reality, it wasn't but normally there's like five cars. We went in and people started streaming out and they looked so happy to see us. All those cars were the board of directors having a lunch meeting. We had this place to ourselves too. We played in the sun garden, reading books and feeing the fish. 

Then went to the children's garden. We played in the hobbit house for a long while so Husband could fix C's pants. He is a skinny little dude and needs the adjustable waist, and one of the elastic pieces had come unbuttoned and into the waistband! So his pants were literally falling off of him.

After his pants fit again, we went outside and played games and looked at all the scarecrows they had.

It was a PERFECT day at like 65 degrees and sunny, so fall and wonderful! And we had so much fun all by ourselves. We didn't see anyone at all who didn't work there until we were on our way out. 

We went to the grocery store so M could pick out her school treat. (She picked brownie M&M cookies.) And then we went for frozen yogurt. 

We went home where she opened her presents from us and we played. Then had Papa Johns because her birthday is Saint Pope John Paul II's feast day and I consider him her patron saint. And we watched Frozen, had a piece of her cake and tucked our tired four-year-old into bed. 

We had such a special day out and about enjoying our girl. It was such a fun fall family day and my heart was filled to the brim with goodness. 

A Cat Party: Part One

M turned 4! And she had a crazy long weekend of celebrating! Which was absolutely the best way of celebrating her. She is so enthusiastic about so many things that it's hard to pin down what exactly would make her the most excited. This picture is out of order, but C got her the Minnie Mouse Happy Helper phone she has been wanting and she loved it!

My parents came to town on Thursday night and we had a pizza party with them before bedtime.

Friday M and I headed to their hotel, then went on a grand adventure stopping at Carters and then to "the pie store" (Village Inn) for brunch. After we made it back to our house M got to play for a while and went down for a rest because she was so excited about everything she woke up at 4:30! (And wouldn't go back to sleep.)

My dad and I picked up C from school and then went on a trip to the grocery store which is the tradition they have every time they come to town. That evening we went to Red Robin for dinner.

Saturday started with a Swedish Pancake Party then we went to M's last soccer game. And it was one to remember. My parents were so excited to go to a game and it was crazy bizarre windy. It wasn't like some gusts, it was like a relentless wind tunnel. It was freezing and loud, the kids couldn't hear us coach. The ball literally blew away from the kids many times, it was just so incredibly windy. Like 30mph with gusts up to 50, trees were knocked down, the power went out for a lot of people. Crazy!

Saturday afternoon we had M's "party" which was her special dinner of Hot Dogs, Macaroni and Cheese, Baked Beans and Broccoli. Fancy stuff those menus made by 4-year-olds. We also had her cake. It was really a hodgepodge of cats. We found adorable cat plates at Party City. (The dinner plates had ears!) But the only cat cake at the grocery store was Hello Kitty, which turned out to be A-Okay with M.

After dinner she got to open her gifts from my parents. The highlight was her matching outfit with Minnie Baby. And then she also got a Minnie Baby car seat and I have no pictures of. But the car seat is made by Joovy, like the actual car seat company. So it actually follows the LATCH system and will buckle in the car. Snazzy!

And that was part one for M's birthday weekend! 

Happy Birthday Baby

My Sweetest Girl,

Happy birthday, baby! You are such a delight to me and I am so happy for you that it's finally your special day. Even though a not-so-small part of me is heartsick over you growing! What a big year it's been for you!

You potty trained in your own specific M way. Stubborn until you were ready and then full speed ahead, no looking back. You, my child who still is such an early bird and who exclaims "I hate rest-es" every day at about 12:30, crack me up. I hope I never forget the satisfaction of watching you sleep. Someday kid, you'll figure out what you're missing. Until then we'll keep sending you back to bed at 4:30 AM.

You love so many things. Llama Llama, Pete the Cat, coloring, crafts, Vamperina, Minnie and Daisy, Panda Bears and Cats. There was no surefire birthday theme this year, though I am glad we went with cats. You love them. You are so happy go lucky and you like so much. You still can't decide what to be for Halloween and I am going to be just as surprised as you!

This year you got to take swim lessons by yourself and once you stopped following the example of Oliver, you were a pretty good listener. Your personality is such that if you see someone doing something interesting, you want to do that too, even if it's not in your best interest. Then you learned to swim! And my heart burst with joy. And you do have good listening ears most of the time really.

You also started school and not for one minute have you been nervous or homesick or anything even remotely related to not loving every second. I hope you continue to grow and make friends because it's a real joy to watch. You are so bubbly and friendly. You ALSO started soccer this year. Your first team sport and honestly it was adorable. You understand the game pretty well but we still need to work on your aggression but I love that your sweet self shines through.

My favorite thing right now is how you love me. You, my girl, love me so well. One day you aren't going to call me "Mama" anymore and it will break my heart. You love to snuggle and hug and know where I am at every second. As much fun as you have at school you still get excited when I pick you up. When I leave the house you usually still get sad and can't let me leave without singing your song (A Bushel and A Peck) and several hugs and kisses. Luckily for my heart, you have stopped the sobbing and clinging when I leave thing--that was rough on both of us I think.

I adore getting pictures art and love notes from you.

It amazes me how well you can write, because not to compare but it's wildly different than your brother. And speaking of him, I love watching the two of you. I hope and pray you always are friends. This past year you have really started standing up for yourself and not being a pushover to your brother. It has not come without some tears but honestly, you're still best friends and you actually like a lot of similar things. 

And now you are four. Which seems so big to me. I love you more than I can explain and I will forever be thankful that you are mine. May Saint Pope John Paul II intercede for you this year and always. 

Happy birthday, 

Mom