Happy Halloween!

It's been a week of Halloween festivities for our family!

Last weekend, my IL's had a costume party at their house. Here are Emily and Lily (our neighbor and Em's dear friend) dressed for the party:


Jared's preschool had a Trunk or Treat event on Wednesday, where the families all decorate the trunks of their vehicles and the kids go trick or treating from trunk to trunk. It's always set for early evening, so it's still light outside, we all know each other and can be sure the candy is untampered with, and the kids have a blast hanging out with their friends getting candy for an hour or so.

Here's our trunk (not too shabby for being thrown together an hour before the event! ha!)


Three little trick or treaters: (please allow me to toot my own horn while you take note of the coordinating trick or treat bags I finished at 12:30am that morning...)


And the pretty bridal bouquet Emily and I made last weekend:


Once the kids had all made the rounds getting candy, the parents thought it would be loads of fun to gather all the kids up for a group photo (why do we do these things to ourselves and our kids???) #1 and #2 are cooperating, though #2 seems a little hungry and has bypassed the idea of eating candy and has opted to gnaw on the eye patch elastic instead... #3's off checking out the tractor oblivious to anything else that is going on


And now #3's wandered back into the group, looking a little lost, while #2's still working on devouring the elastic band from the eye patch.


And now #3's off getting up close and personal with the tractor, #2's given up on the elastic, SOMETHING is going on off to the left of the picture, and many kids can't decide if they want to be in the picture or not (marked with arrows; I've got several more group pics and those kids were in and out)


Jared's NEW pirate costume FINALLY arrived in the mail halfway through the day yesterday (I know, I know, the kid doesn't need two pirate costumes, but this new one is WAY cooler than our other one, and it was ridiculously cheap online, and we've had the other one for two years now already...I couldn't resist the splurge). It came just in time to put on to head over to Grandma Marlee and Grandpa Jeff's house for some early trick or treating (Grandpa Jeff has to put in a 12 hour day today and won't be around to see the kids, so we went yesterday instead).


Don't mind the little ghost in the picture. It was the only way we could get Connor to stand still for the picture. We told him he had to stand in front of the ghost and hide it. ha!

I was also babysitting my cousin's daughter, Grace, so I requested they send her Halloween costume as well so she wasn't left out of the fun:


That costume also happens to be the same one Emily Grace wore on HER first Halloween:


Today, I am volunteering in Emily's 1st grade class for the Halloween party, and I need to spend this morning making the cookies I said I'd donate. This evening, rain or shine (and RAIN is predicted), we're heading out to trick or treat around the neighborhood, and tomorrow is another Halloween costume party (this one is at my friend Nikki's house).

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! May you enjoy a day full of spooks and laughs, may your children get lots of goodies, and may we all learn to keep our hands out of the candy bags after the fact...

@#$% @#%* #@^*(&^*@%!!!!!!!!!

And that's putting it nicely, just to forewarn you.

I got Emily's school pictures back last Thursday. She's got the traditional fakey smile you generally find in a school picture, but it's cute enough in it's own right. AND it shows off the fact that she was missing both front teeth at the time they were taken. I should be thrilled right?

WRONG!

Instead of noticing the cute fakey toothless grin, you focus in on the slime green background. I DID NOT CHOOSE GREEN AS THE BACKGROUND!!!!


I'm all for green/pink combos, but not in my kids' school picture.

So then to add to my frustration, I realized we didn't receive our extra sheet of wallets. I hunted around through the fine print for the phone number to be able to call and get something worked out, but for Thursday and Friday, the line was down for updates, they were closed Saturday/Sunday, and I was swamped with LIFE Monday/Tuesday, but I finally got a chance yesterday morning to deal with it.

I called and waited on hold for a good 15 minutes before getting to speak with anyone. I gave my name, explained that the pictures came back with the wrong background color and that we were missing a sheet of wallets, and before I could even continue, the gal jumped in with a snooty tone that there's nothing they can do about the background. No apologies for the mistake, no offers of refund, no list of ideas on how to come to a middle ground on the issue. So my feathers were little ruffled, and I said that I felt some sort of refund was in order when I spent $41 on pictures that didn't match up with what I'd ordered. She put me on hold for a few minutes and came back saying that her manager okayed her to offer me a refund of the background fee ($5). I will be perfectly honest when I say I was VERY taken aback that they've ruined my child's pictures with an ugly background I didn't request, and all they're willing to offer me is a $5 refund!! I was too dumb-founded to even speak right away, and I think it was glaringly obvious I wasn't pleased, so then the gal suggests that I just turn in the original order and get retakes. WHICH IS ALL WELL AND GOOD, EXCEPT FOR THE FACT HER FRONT TEETH ARE ALREADY GROWING BACK IN!!!! I suggested that I keep the original package for the documentation of the missing front teeth, since the green background is THEIR ERROR, but we still get to have the retakes done so that we have decent pictures to hand out to family/friends. "I'm sorry ma'am, the only way you can get retakes is if you surrender the original package." So then I asked if I just kept the 8X10 and surrender the others if we could do the retake. NOPE. It's all or nothing and I'm NOT giving up the toothless pictures (especially because if the retakes are worse than the original, you don't have the option of keeping the original afterall, you only have the option of getting your money back upon the surrender of the retake package, and then you're left with nothing).

THEN, I'm informed that I didn't even order an additional sheet of wallets, which is why they weren't included in the envelope of pictures. So I had to break it down with her what I'd spent on the base package, the additional money I'd spent on the extra sheet of wallets, and the extra $5 I spent to have her name and the year printed on each wallet (makes it easier for her to pass out to her friends because I don't have to go label them all first!), which comes to $41, and the cashed check is my proof. So she literally SIGHS out loud and puts me on hold again for a few minutes, and came back on and took down my address and phone number and says they'll be sent to me soon. She couldn't give me an estimated time-frame or anything.

I LOVE Emily's little toothless fakey grin in that picture, and if the background were GRAY like it was supposed to be, I'd be pleased as punch with her pictures and wouldn't be able to wait to pass them out. As it is, I've spent $41 on pictures that will probably sit in the envelope for the rest of their little picture lives, because I'd be very embarrassed to hand them out (especially to her little friends) and having people think I chose that background color with that outfit on my own!!!!!!!!

I complained to my friend/cousin-in-law, Jessica, and she was appauled at how the phone conversation went and what I was offered, and expressed her surprise that I didn't fight harder for something better. I explained I can talk all I want and vent to friends/family or on my blog, but when it's with real people, I tend not to be as demanding and pushy as I often should be. So being the dear, sweet friend that she is, she's getting all the info from me and SHE'S going to take charge and try to get me a better refund.

I know it's partially just stubborness on my part that we haven't reached an acceptable solution, by not accepting the retakes, but you have NO IDEA how thrilled I was that picture day came just in time that she was still toothless, and I'm not giving that up.

Not printable with copyright laws and all that, but look at what sweet Rachel did for me after viewing my blog this morning: (there's still a bit of green around her body, but doesn't it look a THOUSAND times better?)

Primate Pals

Dan the gorilla and Connor the monkey, hanging out together in front of the TV while waiting for the rest of us to be ready for the Halloween party my IL's had over the weekend


I'll post up better pics of Connor in his monkey costume in a few days (and I'll include pics of Em and J in their costumes as well). CJ's about the cutest little monkey you ever saw. I can't get enough of him in that costume

PS It's got a very padded tummy, and slightly padded backside and hips (soooo CUTE!), so I was poking at his padded tummy saying, "Look at your chubby monkey tummy!" He turned around, grabbed fistfulls of the backside and yells, "Chubby monkey butt!" (I don't condone the use of the word butt, but he picked it up from Dan and I can't get him to stop using it!!). Maybe you had to be there, but it was hilarious at the time. LOL!!!

Pumpkin carving!

(sidenote: neither Emily nor Jared were entirely willing to dig in and scoop out the pumpkin guts at this age, but Connor didn't hesitate for even a split second!)




I missed getting any pictures of Emily doing some actual carving because I was off changing Connor's diaper...

These are three seriously proud little kids!

I'm very spoiled this month!

Another package arrived in the mail yesterday!!! I was expecting it to be the items I'd ordered from The Children's Place (at ridiculously low prices and shipping), but it wasn't. It was from my friend Carole's brother, Leonard, who is doing photography on the side (he's done some weddings, etc). Back in June, he flew up from California to be here for Rachel's and Emily's ballet recital, and he was so kind as to donate several hours one afternoon at my house, photographing my children. Some of the pictures turned out great, some of them were less than ideal (due to the lack of cooperation of a certain set of little boys), but it was a wonderful experience, and I hope for the chance to do it again someday! The pics were all shot in RAW format (don't ask, because I don't fully know, but I DO know it involves a lot of editing before the pics can be printed) and he took over 100 pictures, which means it's taken awhile to go through them all. I was expecting a disk with pictures on it to arrive in the mail at some point. I WAS NOT, however, expecting a beautiful photo book FULL of many of the pictures he took. I took one look at it in the box and my eyes filled up with tears (purely happy tears!). My friend Beth was here while I was opened it, and she'll attest to that fact!

I can't begin to explain to you how pretty this book is, and even the goofier pics I wouldn't have bothered printing look FABULOUS when they're all bound together in a series of pics, and REALLY capture the personalities of the kids. This was just such a thoughtful and generous gift and I'm truly grateful and thankful for his time, creativity, and thoughtfulness (etc!).

I'm posting pics (below), but please ignore the bad quality. I didn't have time to scan the parts I wanted to share for better viewing on your part, so some of the pics look blurry or glared, but they're great in real life.

Here is the front cover: ignore the double chins... LOL (I cropped out our last name for privacy reasons, but left his as he doesn't live in my area, and would probably like the "shout out" his way)


The front flap:


A little paragraph he wrote on the inside for us




These are just my favorites; there are tons and tons more within the book.

Jared, the goof!




Emily


I love how this one shows her long hair


Connor




Mr. Pouty


back flap




I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this book!

You know a little boy had a GREAT DAY when...

The rest of him didn't look much better! ha!

Well, that was fun!

I wasn't originally going to blog about this, because I like my blog to be more fun and upbeat, and I generally keep it to pictures and stories of the kids. However, this incident really upset me on many levels, so I decided to share the story and to get your take.

I was at Target on Monday with Connor while the other two kids were at school. He's all about doing everything the "big boy" way, and since I didn't have anyone else but he and I to worry about in the store, I let him walk like a big boy, instead of riding in a cart like he normally does. I just needed two things so didn't even take a basket. I just held his hand and the items we were purchasing. He was doing fantastically, until I was actually at the register paying for our items, then he was starting to try to wander off (not just a few feet away to check out the goodies behind us in the check-out aisle...He was trying to TAKE OFF), so I stuck him in front of my body, squatted down enough that my knees slid through under his armpits and pinned him in place in front of me. He, of course, loudly expressed his displeasure at being held in place, but I wasn't going to risk him running off and getting lost, stolen, or managing to get outside and being run over by a car. This woman comes running up to me, "YOU'RE HURTING HIM! MA'AM! YOU'RE SQUISHING HIM! LET HIM GO!!! CAN'T YOU SEE YOU'RE HURTING HIM!" I was sooooooooo taken aback and said something like, "he'll run off if I move my legs" and she starts in LOUDLY about it being child abuse and people like me shouldn't be allowed to have kids, and my poor POOR little boy having to tolerate horrible behavior from his mother (blah blah blah). I looked at her and said, "My knees are under his armpits on either side of him, he's not being squished, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to keep my kid from running off and ending up out in the street getting hit by a car, and if you think that's child abuse, YOU'RE CRAZY, LADY!" I grabbed up my purchases and Connor and headed towards the door and she hollers after me how she should really call and report child abusers like me. At this point, LOTS of people are staring because of all the commotion of the lady yelling about child abuse and Connor screaming his head off, and I'm sure some of them probably thought I really WAS abusing him!!!! I was so upset I was SHAKING when I got back to my car!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't hit him, didn't smack him, didn't kick him, didn't throw him around, didn't shake him, didn't scream at him...NOTHING. I simply placed him in front of my body between me and the check-out counter, and used my legs to keep him from running away. I kept my legs wedged tight enough against his sides to keep him from sliding down onto the floor and being able to take off, but there was so SQUISHING of my child involved. He wasn't hollering because I was hurting him, he was hollering because I was making him stand in one place next to me.

Here I thought I was being a good parent, keeping my child safely with me, not allowing him to mess up display shelves, or run willy-nilly through the store. Here I thought I was being a good parent, allowing my child the freedom of being on foot, to be able to learn how to behave in a store and to stay by mommy when requested. Here I thought I was being a good parent, coming up with a calm solution to a tantruming, flight-risk of a two year old.

What do you think? Was I wrong to use my legs on either side of Connor to keep him close while I was paying for our purchases?

As Emily sees it

"I took this picture because I like frogs and because I knew my mommy likes green. It's colorful and happy and looks crazy"
-Emily

This is a lion...

This is a lion who took a nap on a stove burner that hadn't been cooled off quite long enough (curtesy of Connor, less than TWO HOURS after receiving this previously undamaged toy)




I'm just thankful that the burner HAD been off for quite some time. Can you image?? Yikes! It'd been off for long enough that I felt safe to walk out of the kitchen and not worry about it. Now I've really been enforcing that we stay away from the stove NO MATTER WHAT, and that we NEVER set things down on it...

What a bunch of hams!

(or bums?)



Not quite the picture I was going for...

Neither was this one! HA!

Quote of the Week

According to Jared (last night at dinner), "If your parents are making you eat something you don't want to eat, all you have to do is find someone else to live with who won't make you eat it."

Funny Story

A fellow blogger, Shellie, recently posted a story about puberty and her experience buying feminine products for the first time. It reminded me of the time I was at the grocery store with my dad (WHY this happened, I have no clue, as my mother was the one that normally did the grocery shopping...) and I needed some more tampons. I went down the appropriate aisle, grabbed the box I needed, and found my dad and tossed it into the cart. As quickly as I tossed it IN the cart, my dad tossed it right back out again, into my arms. So then I had to walk around the store with a box of tampons in my arms, trying to act very non-chalant about the whole thing. I was SO RELIEVED when it was time to check out at the register and I could put the box down. My dad took those divider sticks (you know, those ones you use to divide your groceries from the next person's?) and pushed the box of tampons further back with it, then layed the stick down between them and our other other groceries, then handed me a $20 to pay for them myself. I think it's completely hysterical NOW, but at the time, it was MORTIFYING!

My dad was also the lucky parent to be confronted with the fact I'd started my period in the first place, because it was his day off and my mom hadn't made it home from work yet. I'm not sure which one of us was more horrified, him or me!

I wonder how well Dan will handle this stuff when Em's going through it?

TOOT TOOT!

(that's me, tooting my own horn! ha!)

I've been working on this poncho for Emily for awhile now. She's been asking for one for about two years, but I always had other projects going on (blah blah blah), but finally sat down this year and decided it was going to happen NO MATTER WHAT. And so, it happened:


(it appears really long in these pictures, but it's truthfully a really cute size on her)


And then, because we somehow ended up with a bit of extra time this morning (THAT NEVER EVER HAPPENS!), I thought I'd attempt a hair-style I found online awhile ago. What better day to wear a cute new hair-do, than on the same day you're wearing a cute new poncho?


The ribbon should have been a lot longer so it could have more criss-cross's and longer tails out of the bow, but I didn't have THAT much extra time to take it out and cut a longer piece and re-do it, but I think it's still pretty cute!

Sad and pathetic

Connor had a ROUGH night Friday night. Lots of coughing (terrible, gagging, barking-sounding coughs), very labored breathing. Three separate times I was convinced we needed to rush to the ER and then he'd settle back into a better pattern (still very labored, but not to the point where I was panicking, you know?) and then I'd opt to stay home. We went to the Urgent Care in our area right as it opened Saturday morning and they got him started on a nebulizer after checking his vitals and listening to his lungs. They didn't hear anything his lungs, so whatever it was, was focused in his throat. They wrote us an Rx for albuteral and the nebulizer machine, which we had to go to two separate pharmacies before we found a place that had the machines in stock. The doc and the pharmacist made it sound like we should see some significant improvement after the first at-home breathing treatment, but two hours later, he was still wheezing BADLY, so I called to question if that was okay, and they said him bring him back in immediately. When we arrived, an x-ray tech was waiting at the door and rushed us back to do some chest x-rays (which ended up coming back clear). They gave us an Rx for an oral steroid hoping that, on top of the albuterol, would get him breathing better. They checked his temp several times (normal), checked his pulse several times (a little fast), checked his oxygen levels MANY times (within normal ranges every time). The doc said based on how he SOUNDED, they should be sending us straight to the ER, but since he wasn't blue in his lips and his oxygen levels were good, the doc said he'd probably be more comfortable at home, but we were to keep a very close eye on him (sleep next to him, etc). We did the albuterol every four hours during the waking hours, the oral steroid twice a day, and cough meds every six hours during the waking hours, and he's SLIGHTLY better today. The wheeze isn't as loud, he isn't coughing nearly as much, but he's clearly still wheezing. Today is his last day of the oral steroids, and we have a few more days of the albuterol. Their best guess, in the end, is that it was/is croup, except he never had any cold or flu symptoms AT ALL (and normally croup is associated with either a cold or the flu). He's hardly eaten a thing all weekend (I think, all together since Saturday morning, he's had a half a banana, a half a slice of cheese, 2-3 grapes, a few bites of toast, 4oz of hot cocoa, 5oz water, and a few peanuts.), but seems perky enough despite not eating and not breathing well.

How sad and pathetic is this??

Another one bites the dust! (Part 2)

At this rate, she's not going to have any teeth left! That makes four missing teeth since August 24th.


The bottom one (on HER left) is clearly coming in crooked (Autie, please tell me there's hope it'll straighten back out??? LOL), but the top tooth that's starting to come in looks nice and straight. It's going to be weird seeing her with teeth back in her mouth again.

I've half a mind to get some orange face paint and set her out on the front porch with a tea light in her mouth (totally joking!)

I should almost push the girl pirate costume idea for Halloween. She's got pirate teeth for the time-being! *grin*

Pure Awesomeness

My Freshman year in High School, I was introduced to a girl named Kristina, and as it turned out, we ended up in the same Freshman English class. We hit it off FABULOUSLY and have been friends ever since. We have a lot in common, and we have a lot NOT in common, but we've got some great stories in our past, and I hope a lot of great stories in our future. I don't get to see her very often because she lives a good five hours away, but when we do get together, it's like we were never apart. We pick up right where we left off. Kristina was, and IS, a very thoughtful, funny, caring, loyal friend. And I should add GENEROUS!

A package arrived on our doorstep yesterday. We never get packages... It was very exciting! (care to guess who it was from?)

The package came with some rules; the main two being that either Dan or I must be involved, and that there must be lots of pictures taken (And the picture rule was listed more than once! ha!)

So here I am, involved in the excitement of getting a package!


And Jared:


And Emily:


Connor wasn't interested in a picture, and tried to throw the box, and since there was a big orange "fragile, handle with care" sticker on it, I didn't force the issue.

We opened the box, and found something that thrilled the kids to no end. COOKIES! And to add to the thrill of COOKIES, they were frosted and printed with images like a coloring book page, and came with markers that had edible ink. What sort of genious is that???





Connor wouldn't take his eyes off his for a good minute. All I heard was, "LOOKIT Mama! LOOKIT!"


(finally!)


Then we got to work creating our masterpieces












K sent two for Connor because she wasn't sure which one he'd have the easiest time with. Connor doesn't care about lines or color choices, so I handed him the image I knew would thrill him of the two, and I did the remaining one myself


I should also mention that there was also an entire tub of Halloween themed cookies with an asortment of markers in the box as well, we just haven't gotten to those ones yet (thought it would be a fun project as part of Family Fun Night tonight!)

THEN, despite the fact that dinner was in about an hour, WE ATE THE COOKIES. How can you NOT eat an artfully decorated COOKIE??






I did get Connor on video saying "cool package" and "thank you Kristina" (in Connor language, that is), which my very biased self thinks is entirely adorable


PS Emily's reaction to see the stuff in the box was, "THANK YOU AUNTIE KRISTINA!!!" (which I didn't get on video because I was busy snapping still pictures), which prompted Connor to wander around for the next 15 minutes saying "tee-q, Unco Ta-Tina" (I guess Aunt and Uncle are a bit interchangeable when you're only two years old).

K, you're AWESOME, and your very generous and thoughtful gift was a HUGE hit with my children.