Sugar Plum Ball

Emma and Brad attended CARTI's Annual Sugar Plum Ball tonight! I tried to get some photos before they left but let's just say that somebody (Emma) was a little too excited to take a nice picture.





Meanwhile, Josh and I watched a little Sesame Street and then I cleaned out my closet after he went to bed. Do the boy and I know how to have fun or what? Speaking of bedtime, the normal routine for Josh includes some crying for this reason or that as soon as we leave his room at night. However, on Thursday nights, when Emma is at dance and it is just him and Daddy, there is no crying and he prays well and then off to bed. Apparently it is Mommy who makes bedtime harder since I got the usual crying and needing this, that or the other thing tonight.

Elf on the Shelf

We have jumped on the bandwagon and have a new friend at our house for Christmas. Our Elf (or Elk as Emma likes to say) on the Shelf was waiting at our front door last night when we got home. Thankfully he brought along a book for us to read that explained everything. After much deliberation, he was finally given the name Doodle. In case you don't know about the Elf on the Shelf, they are magical elves that keep watch over kids everywhere. You can't touch him or his magical powers will disappear. After everyone has gone to bed each night, he makes a quick trip to the North Pole so he can report whether the kids have been naughty or nice. After his trip, you never know where you'll find him so every morning kids have to search their house to find their elf. This morning we found him hanging out in the lamp in the living room. We can't wait to see all the places he'll end up before Christmas arrives. Hopefully he won't cause too much mischief. Welcome to our home Doodle; we wish you luck in keeping Emma and Josh on the straight and narrow!

Birthday Week Begins

We kicked off Emma's birthday week with a party with many of her friends. Emma wanted an Ariel cake this year so we went with an "Under the Sea" theme. There was "Dance Party with Sebastian", "Snarflak Blowing (Bubble blowing)", "Fishing for Flounder", "Mermaid Races", and of course, there was the play house, and whatever else Emma and her guests found to entertain themselves. Thankfully we had good weather for playing outside for the third year in a row and we definitely took advantage. I know Emma and Josh enjoyed themselves and think everybody else did as well. One thing was certain, the four of us were completely wiped out afterwards.

Thankfulness

In honor of Thanksgiving tomorrow, this morning, Emma gave me her list of things that she is thankful for. It started like this:

You (Mommy)
Daddy
Josh
My Cousins
God
Jesus
Swimming pools...

I just love that swimming pools made the top 10. Other items that made their way into the list included water and soap to wash up, bathtubs, blankets to keep her warm, buckle seats (car seats) to keep her safe, roads that the cars can drive on, stop lights to tell us when it is safe to go and so on! We hope that everybody has a Happy Thanksgiving!

A Few Notes

I was pretty sure that this last round of teething was going to do us all in. Poor Josh was in a bad way with those upper molars and turned into a child that nobody recognized. Let's just say that there was lots of crying and needing to be held by Mommy (all at inopportune times). Everything sort of came to a peak about a week and a half ago after a particularly terrible day that included spitting at his teachers and basically being totally non-compliant with every request. I kept trying to reassure myself, Brad and anyone who would listen that this was not Josh and things would get better. Thankfully I was right and the very next night, we had our boy back. He was laughing, being silly and just generally fun to be around again. Hooray!

Yesterday morning we were the greeters at church. One guy that likes to mess around with Josh a bit was giving him a hard time and I guess Josh had enough because he told him "Go away to church." Another usher overhead and asked if that was how we greeted people around here. Guess it is when we're on duty!

Somebody in our house is getting ready to celebrate her 4th birthday in less than two weeks and we are going to party with her friends this weekend. The issue that I have is I don't recall us telling her she could grow up so quickly. The weekend before last, we went shopping to find Emma a dress for an upcoming dance. Not thinking, I grabbed what I thought was the right size off the rack and didn't have her try it on first. Lesson learned because when we did try the dress on at home, the waist was pretty much up at her chest and the sleeves were easily two inches above her wrist bones. I am a little afraid that Emma is going to outgrow all the pants that I bought her by the first of the year. Look for a bigger update on our soon to be 4 year old on her big day.

Boo at the Zoo!

We made our first trip to Boo at the Zoo this year and it was a hit all around. There was trick-or-treating, a haunted train ride, and free carousel rides. When you first enter, the kids are given nine tickets for trick-or-treating. Each ticket is worth 4 pieces of candy although I am pretty sure that our cute little Lemon Meringue and Pirate got a few extra pieces in a couple of spots. One of the first characters we spied upon entry was Elmo and let's just say that we currently have a little guy who is obsessed with Elmo. Josh was awe struck and really wouldn't get too close. He desperately wanted to see him and touch him and while Emma did give Elmo a big hug, Josh couldn't bring himself to even give a fist bump.

Before heading out to collect some candy, we rode the carousel. Then it was off to find some treats. Emma, of course, was an old pro after last year and it didn't take long for Josh to figure out that you pass over a ticket and you get something in your bucket. He would walk up to the tables, put the bucket on the table and say "here you go." The funny part was that he never really looked to see what was going in the bucket and didn't realize until we were leaving that there was candy in there. In addition to the trick-or-treating, we got to see a fire truck (another obsession for the boy) and go on the haunted train ride, which was just about the perfect amount of exciting and not too scary for the younger set. All in all, it was a fun evening for Emma and Josh up until the point where his mean Mommy wouldn't give him his candy bucket at home and then took off his pirate costume. Can I just say that the boy is all about being a pirate? Thankfully he has a couple more opportunities to wear it this weekend.

Lemon Meringue
The wig did not stay on long and she kept pushing it way back; we'll see if we can do better on Halloween! Brad and I were told that we had to call her Lemon Meringue all night and had to call Josh, Pirate.
Aarghh Matey!


Looking for Daddy "Grilla!"

Are You There?

Psst, we're here believe it or not! What have we been doing since I last managed to update the blog. We made a trip to KC for a half marathon and fun weekend with family. Emma had a field trip for school that I was able to attend. Finally, we went to Boo at the Zoo for the first time this year. Looks like I do have a few things to catch up on but before I start recapping in no particular order, here are a few photos of Emma and Josh playing in the leaves. Initially I was the one who would rake the leaves into a pile but then Emma realized she loved to rake (I am keeping that one in mind) so she took to raking the piles for her brother to jump in, run through, etc.

Telling me about his silly rock!

The boy loves his trucks and especially his big dump truck! Jumping
Emma is looking too big!