Costumed

In early October I was taking a trip down memory lane, thinking of all the cool home-made costumes that Shannon and I wore through the years to go trick-or-treating.  There was the Coke can, the Rubik's Cube, Mother nature, a baby...  Part of the fun was coming up with something creative that could be produced by Mom, then seeing it come to fruition. 

So, I announced to the kids that this year we would be making our Halloween costumes.  I hoped for excited squeals and cool creativity.  I got moans and groans and pleas for store-bought stuff.  But, after tossing out some ideas, the kids started to warm up to the plan.  Katey more-so than Seth, as she is the one who loves craft projects.

After some internet scouring (how did our parents do things without the wonder of online resources?!?) the kids landed on their desired masquerades - a box of popcorn and a tornado:

We got lots of compliments on the costumes and, in the end, the kids were pretty excited about them.  Seth picked out the eyes for his tornado - he wanted it to look like something was stuck inside the swirling mass.  Every time I look at the pictures the Martian character from Sesame Street comes to mind:

  HA!! 

I am hoping that now the kids are on board with future homemade costumes.  I had fun making them and they had fun wearing them (though Katey did let Mike take over with the box before the night of trick-or-treating was done.  Wish I had gotten a picture of that!). 

Happy Halloween!!

Eventful Hodge-Podge

We have had quite the eventful past few weeks around here.  First there was crazy-alien hair day at school:

Next came the Family Sports Night at school - Mike and I both helped with this event.  Mike was on the tug-o-war station and here he is battling it out with 7 kids:

The following day, I flew to Ohio and drove to Indiana with Shannon.  Wish I could say it was a fun sister trip, but unfortunately, it was for a funeral.  The funeral was for Bonnie, my best childhood friend, Erica's mom.  I have such wonderful memories of Bonnie and her very welcoming and loving spirit.  Erica and I lived 3+ hours apart but wrote letters faithfully from age 10 until college.  We saw each other at Camp Ohio every summer and our moms made it possible for us to usually get together another time or two throughout each year as well.  I hadn't seen Erica or Bonnie in 12 years but I still felt a huge pull to be there for the funeral to say goodbye and to support my friend.  While it was hard, it was also wonderful to see Erica again, to get to know her husband and to meet her 4 kids. 

I am so very thankful to Mike for his willingness to take on the kids for several days (including rearranging his work schedule...).  And especially so after Seth ended up being sick, which meant Mike worked from home for 2 days.  I am also thankful for Shannon and Jason and their willingness to host me on short notice, and to have Shannon accompany me on the trip.  For my dad, who picked me up at the airport and for Jason's aunt, Sandy, who was ready and willing to house Shannon and me for the night in Indiana (even though we left her hanging and didn't come!). This trip really reminded me that I am so very loved and cared for.

Speaking of Seth being sick, he kept saying he was dizzy and needed something to help him walk.  This is how he got around for about a week:

He used his N-Force battle toy as a cane to help steady himself.  Crazy kid!!

Weekend at the Beach

Thanks to Grammy, Mike and I got to take a nice weekend trip to Ocean Isle beach.  It truly was a wonderful weekend away!! 

We started out driving to Wilmington to see the USS North Carolina.   It was really cool to be on a ship and get a glimpse into what life was like as a sailor in WWII.  Gotta say, I was beginning to get downright claustrophobic in some of the areas!

 

 

 From there we headed to Ocean Isle.  What a beautiful view we had from our hotel room!!

 It was a little chilly while we were there, so no actual swimming took place, but Mike did brave the water and got in up to his calves.

 We ended up spending a lot of time walking on the beach and looking at all the seashells that had washed ashore.  Oh, we also decided to rent bikes to ride around the island.  When we got to the rental place we opted to try out a TANDEM bike!!  It took a little getting used to, but we had great fun riding together.

 Another highlight of the trip was sitting on our balcony Saturday evening eating pizza and watching 4 beach weddings take place!  I was pretty amazed that 3 of the 4 weddings involved tuxedos and full-on wedding dresses.  We had great fun talking about the brides and grooms and pondering various aspects of the ceremonies.

We returned home on Sunday.  While we were sad to leave the beautiful view, Mike and I were both ready to be home and see the kids.

Turned out the kids and Grammy had a great time while we were gone.  They had all-you-can-eat pancakes at IHOP.  Seth ate FIVE!!!

 They took the train Uptown and had fun exploring Imaginon:

And, they went to a little farm and rode horses!!

Thanks, Grammy, for a fun weekend for all of us!

Shades

This is what I have learned:  I love painting.  I do not love prepping to paint.  I despise cleaning up the painting supplies and mess when I am done.  The actual painting itself is quite relaxing and seeing a finished product, all clean and neat and new, is amazing.  But, perhaps I should limit the work to one room per year instead of 3 rooms per month...

It all started when I realized the kids' bathroom needed a coat of paint.  From there it was an "if-you-give-a-mouse-a-cookie" kind of a project.  I let the kids pick the bathroom color (the choices were green, orange or purple).  They choose orange.  4 coats of paint later (yes, I said FOUR!!), the finished product looks great and is much BRIGHTER than the builder white that did cover the walls.  Check it out:

Once we began talking of painting walls, the kids were really excited and both wanted their rooms re-painted.  Here are the before and after shots of both.  

We (Mike and I, not Seth) were sad to see the cute animal mural on Seth's wall go. A friend painted it on there 6 years ago when we moved in the house and Seth decided he was ready for something a little more "Big Kid". We are all really pleased with the results of all the rooms!!

Bedtime

Our kids have always been good about going to bed. From the time they were tiny the routine has been: lay them in bed; walk away; they fall asleep. Until recently...

For some reason Katey and Seth seem to be bucking bedtime lately. We say good night, give hugs, send them on their way and within a few minutes one of them (Katey usually) is back downstairs needing a drink of water...and to chomp some ice...and then giving more hugs... And we can usually count on hearing a small, quiet voice at the top of the stairs (Seth), "Mommy, Daddy? I, um, want to turn on my fan, is that okay?" Or he wants a cup of water in his room or his blanket isn't quite perfect on his bed...

Now, I love my kids and I love spending time with them but when evening comes around I am ready for some quiet time with my husband. Bedtime has always been my favorite time of the day...but it seems to be more and more frustrating lately. When I hear or see the kids my heart beats faster and I feel my anger rising. IT IS BEDTIME...GET IN BED!!

Last night it was the same story. I had laid down the law with Katey before bed so I didn't hear or see her. But, just as I was beginning to drink in the quiet of the evening I hear, "Um, Mommy, Daddy?" WHAT, SETH?!? "Can I have my pillow case? Is it done in the wash?"

So I grudgingly head up to give Seth his favorite pillow case (because there was already one on his pillow...just not the one he loves. *sigh*). As I entered his room I noticed there were wet spots on his pillow. When I asked about them he got teary-eyed and told me that he was remembering how 2 of his classmates had called him a liar during the day and he got sad.

Now my heart is breaking in a million pieces and I hear that still, small voice in my head - life is not about Jen and what I want. There are more important things than a quiet evening and bedtime is not sacred.

If I had been really grumpy Mommy (like I wanted to be) I would have yelled up the stairs that he could sleep without his favorite pillow case and that would have been the end of it. I would not have had the opportunity to share in my son's heartbreak and spend time talking and praying with him. We both would have missed out on an important growth moment.

So, tonight when I send the kids to bed I hope to remember this lesson and be a little less grumpy about out-of-bed children and a little more compassionate towards them...even if it means my quiet is interrupted for awhile.

A Decade!

Katey is 10. I have been mulling this realization over in my head for over a week now. How can our precious daughter be TEN already?!

This was a year of no birthday party, but something fun instead. Katey has always wanted to go camping so Mike took her on a special Daddy-Daughter camping trip. They went with some good friends, Erik, Abby and Tori. (Coincidentally, Erik camps often so the fact that we had basically no camping gear was okay!) They headed out to Morrow Mountain for one night and had a great time roasting hot dogs, making s'mores and sleeping in tents. They also saw many deer near the campsite and spent time hiking, fishing and playing in the dirt. It was Katey's dream vacation!

I sent the camera with Mike to get some good camping shots and these are the two he came back with!

After they arrived home we had a family celebration with Grammy (who decorated the house and helped make Katey feel extra special on her big day). There were lots of presents and, at Katey's request, frosted brownies as her cake.

She might be 10 but she is not too old to get a horsey ride from Daddy...just like old times!!

It is hard to believe that our spunky, energetic, think-ouside-of-the-box little girl isn't so little anymore. What a joy and a blessing the last 10 years have been with her. Happy birthday, Katey Beth! We love you more than we can even express!!!

Back to School

It is that time of year again. Back to school!! After a fun summer we were all looking forward to getting school supplies, meeting teachers, seeing friends and heading back into a normal routine everyday. (Okay, I admit that I was more excited about all of this than the kids were. But, they were looking forward to it, too!)

So, true to form, both kids were up nice and early and ready for the day in plenty of time. Both had picked out new school clothes at least a week in advance.
Katey choose her dress because, "It looks like an old-time school girl dress." Awesome. Both were super excited to wear their new tennis shoes. We did have to spend a few days re-teaching Seth to tie shoes, but he is now a pro...again!

The kids headed to the bus stop. In the fog. At 6:40 AM. Seth was sad to say good-bye to Belle for the day, but I think Belle was pretty glad to spend 7 hours without the fear of being...um...too loved upon. Yeah.


I enjoyed a quiet day of cleaning out Katey's closet and the kids came home all smiles. The first day back to school was a success!