How to have a happy Halloween

1. Start with some leaf raking...make sure someone has applied liberal amounts of red hair spray to Maddie's hair. It's also a good idea to go help a World Series Champion finish up raking his leaves (I like to drop names and such).




























2. Suit up one Ariel, two firefighters and one dalmatian (firehouse dog). Take kids trick-or-treating at the World Series Champion's house and a few regular peoples' houses too.




























Did you miss that dalmatian? Here you go.














3. Succumb to the trunk or treat pressure and hit the ward party.














Oh Nico.

4. Have someone tell Jana that they "forgot she had twins".














5. Stick Nicholas in the trunk to hand out (play with) the candy. Bravo on the great idea Grandma and Grandpa.














6. Stick all of the kids in the trunk...just 'cuz.














7. Go home tired, yet happy and document it. (Isn't my mom beautiful?)

I love you internet and Halloween was fun

After that big, gushy post about Utah I bet you're all wondering what's up with the no posting.

It's the internet. It's always the internet. Our modem mysteriously broke and so we've been out in the cold all week. Now that we have the internet I'm frantically researching winter coats, boots, etc. before our outlet store trip tomorrow. This weather thing is fo' real and we are taking it seriously.

So, I am determined to post all of the Utah lovelies, but it'll have to wait until later (yet still soon). For now I'll leave you with a picture of our 29th of October pre-Halloween and pre-Utah festivities with Matt.














Heaven.

The smell of roses reminds me of home

The walkway to my parents' front door is lined with prolific rosebushes. The smell and look of the late autumn roses were the first things I noticed when we arrived last week.

The boys and I returned from a wonderful 10 days in Utah last night. Since we just moved from our Atlanta home of 5 years, Utah felt even more like home than usual. I felt like a sponge determined to soak up the golden fall afternoons that greeted us. To say nothing of the memories upon memories to be enjoyed in my parents' house. I can be painfully sentimental.

A friend of mine told me to be careful of what I choose bring into my home because in 15 years my kids will cling to the outdated wreath I got at Target because "it's a tradition" or some such nonsense. How true says the girl who was determined to take a picture of every little Halloween decoration in her parents' house.

I still feel like a suburb kid in a city kid's life, so it was delightful to rake leaves and pick apples (or listen to Mom and Jana pick apples with the kids and laugh their heads off while I tried to kick a stubborn cough that turned out to be bronchiolitis--who knew!).

I was able to have sweet one on one time with each of my parents, my sister, and my Grandma...as well as see some dear friends and family. I especially loved my last night there when Dad made baked apples (in the microwave!), Mom insisted that we watch the Parent Trap (her favorite movie) and we basked in some old time familial togetherness.

I love my family. I love where I come from. I love the shared history of our little family. We're not perfect, but there's a lot of love and joy to be had. I am grateful for my sweet sister Jana and my wonderful parents. I am crying. I am so grateful for it all.

Sigh.

And, on a related note, if the smell of roses reminds me of home, the sight of this guy reminds me of Halloween!














(Mom and Dad have had this ghostie hanging in their front window every October for as long as I can remember. And that spectacular rose is one of mom and dad's roses.)

Thank you Sid

Get ready folks. In this season of endorsements this is me officially endorsing a television program. Sid the Science Kid to be exact. I almost wrote an ode to Sid, but then I realized that one ode is enough for any blog.

Sid the Science Kid follows this kid named Sid, ya dig? Every morning he has an experience that puzzles him (i.e. "Why can I smell my brother's stinky diaper down the hallway?"). He then goes to school and talks about it with his class. Teacher Suzy then miraculously teaches an entire lesson on the topic. With visual aids that would take time to prepare. Like weeks to prepare in some cases. But somehow...she knew to leave a pumpkin to rot in case Sid was curious about decay (which he has been). They spend some time in the lab, they play with their ideas, there's a song, and then Sid goes home with his weirdo Grandma (she really is weird) and discusses it with his parents.

My reasons for loving Sid boil down to three points. And please don't scoff until you've heard me out.

1. It makes me a better parent. No, wait, let me explain!

I notice moments when I could be showing something new to the boys (particularly Jacob at this age) rather than shooing them away. A good example is when I recently made ice. Jacob asked me "Wwwwwwwwwhat you doin'?". The, "never you mind" answer was on my lips when I felt a stroke of genius. Sid genius. I told Jacob that I was making ice, which is when you turn water into ice...blah, blah, blah. He loved it. And he loved it when I called him to the kitchen a few hours later to "investigate" how our ice was progressing. It's all about the investigating, and the comparing, and the contrasting and so forth.

They also did a show about estimating, which lead to The Great Overestimation of 2008. I gave Jacob 8 carrot sticks and asked him to estimate how many I'd given him. He poked around in the bowl and decided on 27. Hmmmm.

I also deeply love Curious George (which also focuses on math and science). But Sid doesn't sugar coat the science with stories like George does, they actually admit that, hey kids, we're going to teach you something! And it's reproduceable at home. Unlike on George when he accidentally becomes part of a flying trapeze group or goes to space (twice!). Just not as likely as finding a mushy banana and wondering why it turned so gross (the decay lesson). I'm not so much concerned about my kids becoming more scientific than the Japanese or anything, but I like the straightforward approach to it all because then Jacob can do it too. It's empowering for him.

So, yes, I love Sid because it helps me see opportunities to be a more engaging, teaching parent.

2. I also love Sid because Jacob loves it.

We really try to limit TV (our success varies day to day) but to see Jacob take positive, interesting things away from it makes me happy. Not like dumb ol' Dragon Tales. I deeply dislike those dragons.

3. Sid has finally brought Jacob around to art.

After every experiment they always draw their observations in their journal. So, one day I pulled out a notebook and wrote JACOB on it and told him it was his journal. All day he's begging to draw in it. In fact, it's pretty much out and ready to be drawn in all day long. I feel like it's a nice place for him to return to during the day. Sort of to regroup and process for a minute and then move on to something else.

This might not seem like much, but Jacob has never taken that kindly to art of any kind. I felt so disturbed by his complete dislike for it all. I mean, play-doh, finger paints, watercolors, crayons, markers -- you name it, he didn't want to do it.

He just loves it now. Sometimes Nico joins in too (although ever since the below experience mainly with Colorwonder markers). And as I type this I actually have a tear of joy in my eye. It's delightful to have a little artist in residence. Jana (mother of the artsy kidlets) has been telling me this for years and I am finally witnessing it.

So, behold my little artistic scientists. Sigh.


















































Definitely the Colorwonder. (What rock star eye makeup.)


















So, please give Sid the Science Kid a shot. I thought it looked dumb too and see how I'm eating my words?

That is all.

They were right

They say never to leave a baby unattended, and they were right!

I was out of the room for about 15 seconds and this is what I came back to. (Minus the toothbrush which I gave to him right before I took this picture so that I could take the picture.)














He likes to get in there and figure things out.

Another example.














But in this example the comedy came in the getting out.














He just can't quite clear those cheeks.

I'm up, I'm up!

Or, I have way made up for yesterday's mediocre video.

I feel like the luckiest woman alive to have caught this.

Behold!



The poor little fella just couldn't make it through lunch. Did anyone notice the snoring at the end? I love how he just wakes up chewing time and time again. And for anyone placing bets on the substance all over his face?

Sour cream.

If any of you are America's Funniest Home Videos fans (AFV as we call it) then I'm sure you've seen this scenario before. To think that one of my I-only-sleep-in-my-crib kids did this just makes my day.

Jacob was unusually sleepy as well. Here he is dozing through Thomas.


















The final pose.

You just had to be there

Earlier this week we enjoyed the little park next to our house on a gorgeous day. Living in the south has softened me up/made me love the warmth and so we have tried to make the most of the out of doors while it's still bearable. I've heard enough stories about someone's eyelashes freezing in February to last me a lifetime!

I was standing next to the slide (in an attempt to spot Nicholas) and apparently completely zoned out because Nicholas suddenly shot down the slide squirming and wiggling the whole way. Jacob and I pretty much haven't stopped laughing.

Seeing Nicholas go down the slide is the carrot I dangle in front of Jacob's nose to get him out of the door to the park. It's our favorite thing.

Nicholas is a solidly built little man, and seeing that little ball of baby make its way down the slide is just delightful.

I took a video.

It captures such a tiny fraction of the joy.

I am so sorry.

But here it is so that you can imagine how hysterically funny and delightful it is.

Some things to watch for in the video:

1. Check out how big and tall Jacob looks compared to Nicholas. Now that Nico is becoming a toddler I am realizing that to me Jacob has stayed an 18 month old in my eyes. This video pretty much shoots that perception out of the water.

2. When I tell Nicholas to turn himself around he says "Noooo" and for Nico, no means yes. Literally. It means yes.

3. Anyone see the blatant elbow Jacob throws after bodily removing Nicholas from the slide? Nicholas is taking his licks and learning tricks for later. Jacob, let me warn you, he is watching and probably learning.

I stand corrected

Matt wanted to show his little boys off to a school friend and alerted me that the blog was very Nico heavy lately.

I find that the pendulum swings between kidlets as I blog. I'd like to give the pendulum a push towards Jacob this evening and discuss his sweetness.

Because he has a lot of sweetness.














Today when I went to get him after quiet time he was busily drawing on his magnadoodle. He was muttering to himself while he was scribbling and then propped the 'doodle up against the wall. I decided I wanted to watch him for a while when the tile creaked. I was detected. He told me that he'd drawn the picture just for me and had propped it up so I could see it. He then erased it and started telling me to "look and see, Mama" and "I'm drawing this just for you".

When he was a newborn sometimes I would be washing dishes and imagine what life would be like in a few years. In my mind's "ear" I could hear him pitter-pattering around the corner into the kitchen bursting to tell me something. And now he's all that imagined child and so much more. More good (and more challenge) than I ever thought.

I love hearing him call, "Moooooomma, come see" through the house. When I get to him he is usually wearing his sly smile. The one that he wears when he is delighted by something but is also wanting to seem cool-ly aloof. If you know my dad, it's that smile.

He is sweet, fun, crazy-making and smart and I want everyone to know it. (Nico is too, but it's not about him.)

Nicholas

I love you.































A lot.

Even when the house is covered in bags of clothes to be sorted and stored. Now that's real love.

Did you know Obama has dish?

He does.















He also has a whole bunch of police barriers blocking his home from traffic. There are always a few squad cars stationed outside. I wonder what life is like on the "Obama beat". The officers always seem to be enjoying a good chuckle, so things can't be that bad.















Obama also works out in the small private gym of an apartment complex we actually considered living in. It's a small, moderately ghetto gym (like a lot of Hyde Park), but because it's such a lame gym inside the apartment complex it's always close to empty. A friend actually met him there.

Whatever we all think politically...don't you think it's cool that Barack Obama and I live on the same street only 5 blocks apart?