Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Happy Halloween from

Glinda the Good Witch, Dorothy, Cowardly Lion, Tin Man, and the Scarecrow!

It turned out to be an extremely warm day for Halloween - getting up to 72 degrees! This made Halloween night absolutely perfect for trick or treating!

We went around the neighborhood with our next door neighbors (Mark, Donna, Lily, and Abby). Lily and Peter lead us to most all the houses while Natalie did her best to keep up. There were a few houses that Natalie wouldn't go up to - the ones that were "too scary". A piece of candy just wasn't worth the scare for her! Luckily, not every house was too spooky and the kids got their treats.

Elaine seemed to enjoy her first Halloween as the Lion (despite her unhappy face in the group picture). Her costume kept her nice and cozy while she liked being strolled around and looking up into the stars!

Unfortunately, we have quite a bit of leftover candy. I can never get it right. We either run out or have too much! I guess it didn't help that we went trick or treating for about an hour before getting home to hand out our own candy. I'm sure Peter and Natalie aren't too upset with the excess of candy. They had lots of fun sitting on our driveway eating their candy with Lily and helping hand out candy to trick or treaters. It was obvious that Natalie had too much candy tonight. She was getting all silly crazy while getting ready for bed, giggling and running around in just her diaper. It was very amusing to watch, and know every sugar high will have a crash. Fortunately, the crash happened right when we finished our bedtime prayer and songs. Next time, we should probably put a limit on candy at night. It was just hard to say no to my little cute "Dorothy".

Sorry if I'm repeating myself, but I am so proud of our costumes this year. I surprised myself that it all came together. Most of the items got done last minute - literally, as my crown was made 5 minutes before we hit the door - but we got nice comments tonight about our costumes. Althought I'm happy never to wear that pink dress I made ever again (it makes me look 20lbs heavier), I'm a little sad that Halloween is over because I really enjoyed seeing Natalie in that Dorothy dress...maybe I'll let her wear it around the house just for fun!

Gearing up for Halloween!

It's due time for us to dive into holiday decorating. With the exception of Christmas, I've been a minimalist when it comes to holiday decor around the house. I feel the need to get into all the holidays for the kids to enjoy them and get that experience.

So, here's it starts with Halloween! I was inspired by the ghosts hanging in the windows at Peter's preschool to do this craft project with the kids at home. It came together really quickly. I just grabbed some white, black and orange paper from my plethora of paper supplies, made some cut outs, and handed out the school and stick glue to the kids. Look what we made!

We made a pumpkin and a ghost for each family member, including Sydney. I then let Peter and Natalie put them up on the windows around our dinner table. I think it adds a lot to the room and they love them!

Notice how Sydney's pumpkin and ghost got whiskers and ears!

Peter made Elaine's ghost and Natalie made Elaine's pumpkin.

Finally, from left to right, we have Natalie's, Mommy's, Daddy's and Peter's!

ZTA 5K Walk/Run (or stroll)

We participated in the ZTA 5K Race today. Our babysitter Dominique's sorority was putting it on, and it was for a good cause, Breast Cancer Awareness. It turned out to be a beautiful and very windy day, perfect for the race - especially since it'd been raining for the last couple days.

Here we are waiting for the race to start. We got our numbers 76, 76, 77! For whatever reason, Peter was being anti-camera for this shot and Elaine is in the single stroller.

I was overly excited to get my "Think Pink" ribbon pin.

Luckily, Elaine slept through the entire race...all nice and cozy warm in her car seat.

I didn't get to catch Peter crossing the finish line because he'd ran off quicker than I could keep up, but he did get a lot of cheering to finish off the race, just like Natalie's reception to the finish line.

Here's their finish photo with the finish line of balloons behind them. It was sort of cute that each thought they won the race - as we told them, they did win...in their division.

Peter's favorite part was the race. Natalie's favorite part was 'the wind blow [her] hair away'.

It was a nice run and we had a great time doing the race as a family. We got a lot of props from other runners and organizers for bringing out the kids for the run. We felt happy that we did it...and now my legs are SORE!

As promised after the windy day out, we had hot chocolate back at home

...through a straw, nonetheless!

Whatever makes them happy!

Follow the yellow brick road

"We're off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of OZ!"

(Elaine as the Cowardly Lion, Peter as the Scarecrow, Natalie as Dorothy, and Puppy as Toto)

Iowa City had their Halloween Carnival tonight. The kids were pretty excited to wear their costumes. It helped that we watched the Wizard of Oz recently. Natalie loved being Dorothy! It was perfect that her favorite stuffed doll, Puppy the dog went as her Toto. Peter was so excited to be the Scarecrow - kept asking when his costume was coming in the mail (I won it off of ebay). The costume just fit him right. Elaine stayed nice and warm in her lion costume. I even added a little red ribbon for the Wizard of Oz touch!

I'm so happy that I got these costumes together without paying an arm and a leg for everything! I scored last fall when I found those red ruby shoes on clearance for $3. I'm lucky that I guestimated her shoe size a year in advance! Then, I found the Dorothy costume at a consignment shop - total luck and quite the find for $7. Peter's costume was an ebay find for $15. Elaine's lion costume was also an ebay deal for $5! I'm working on finishing up my Glinda good witch skirt (making from scratch without a pattern) and Sam's Tin Man outfit for next week. I'll post pictures of all of us together - if we manage to get a good one of us five!

At the carnival, the kids had fun with all the activities that included an inflatable castle bouncee, games with prizes, and a haunted hallway. Peter's favorite part was the haunted house and he enjoyed it so much that he wanted to go through it twice. Natalie wanted out halfway through the first time, so she had nothing to do with a second time! Instead, Natalie's favorite part was the castle bouncee.

They played several of the simple kids games. While she enjoyed the games, Natalie didn't really like the little game prizes, which mostly were plastic spider rings. She wouldn't even touch one!

We all had a great time. It was wonderful that the Iowa City Police and Fire department were there. Peter was excited to see Sparky, the fire department mascot for Fire Safety Week, especially since we just did a few things in his Sparky activities book earlier in the day! It's great that our community can put on a fun family free event.

I'm soooo "Audrey Hepburn"

Elaine is just missing the cute "Breakfast at Tiffany's" black dress! She thought my sunglasses were so fun and I had fun taking her picture!

Elaine also has started giggling at the goofy things we do.

Milestone for Elaine!

Elaine has flipped onto her tummy!
I don't think she really meant to. After an hour nap, I found her lying on her tummy and crying. She didn't seem too happy about it.
Nevertheless, another milestone!

On an added note, she also has been working up those neck muscles while on her "scheduled" tummy time. Also, she's been trying to sit up while in her car seat, swing or rocker chair (like she's doing some baby crunches/abs work). Looks like she's gearing up to be on the move!

All I have to say is these baby stages are going by all too quickly!

Life and sibling connections

Shout out to my blog readers in Nevada...this one is for you!

Elaine is smiling more than ever these days. Oddly, she dishes out the best smiles as soon as I lay her down on her changing table. She's really into her mobiles over her crib and the one over her swing. Here in her swing, she's looking at those butterflies flying above her.

On our walks around the neighborhood, the kids love to (literally) stop and smell the roses. Their favorite (and abundantly available in the yard of a vacant home that's been on the market forever) is the dandelion. Natalie loves to pick the bloomed white ones to 'make a wish' and Peter loves to pick any flower to give to me. Here he had rode ahead of us, picked this dandelion he's spotted, rode quickly back to me and said, "Mommy! I picked this one for you!" Yes, I know. Awwwwww.....

Natalie wins the title of my champion napper. I've worried that Natalie will drop her naps ever since Peter gave up all naps a couple months before his 3rd birthday. Well, Natalie has calmed my worries. One day last week, I had the kids downstairs set to watch one show (probably a Dora or Diego show) and prepared Natalie by telling her that after the show was over, it'd be time for her nap. I was upstairs in the kitchen when the show had ended. I finished up the dishes before I went downstairs to bring up Natalie for her nap. When I got there, I only found Peter. A little panic took over me as I asked where Natalie was. Peter said she'd gone upstairs for her nap. The gate was left open, but I wasn't convinced she'd gone up voluntarily. So, back upstairs I went and just as I got to the top of the stairs, I heard the door to the kids' room close shut. I opened the door to find this:

Natalie had quietly walked upstairs by herself, crawled into bed, got under the covers, and started to read a book...basically, put herself down for a nap! OH! I just love this girl!

If anyone wonders how three kids ages 3 and under get along in our house, here are a couple glimpses into our home to give you an idea. As good big brothers do, Peter is always ready to entertain Elaine in her walker. Both Peter and Natalie love having Elaine sitting up in her walker beause she's right at their level and they can interact with her 'one-on-one'. Peter gets Elaine's attention with a little peek-a-boo play.

I love this picture. It looks like the two sisters are already practicing their vogue poses...gotta love it! Always the snuggler, Natalie also enjoys a little snuggle time with Elaine on our bed. Natalie loves to just stare and smile at Elaine, and tell her that she's "so cute".

I'd have to agree!