Longest Post Ever

Beggar's Night


I don't get it, but in Des Moines and the surrounding areas we trick-or-treat on Beggar's Night, the night before Halloween. We invited our friends Amy and Matt and their two older boys, Elliott and Henry, to come T-o-T with us around the neighborhood. A good time was had by most (Will wanted to give up completely when I told him he couldn't eat any candy until we got home...he wanted to eat it NOW and was ready to be done 3 houses in. He wasn't able to conclude that more T-o-Ting = more candy. We were able to keep him out a bit longer.) Beggar's Night is a bit more strict about having a joke or trick when asking for candy. We kind of forgot to teach Will a new joke this year, so he used his fallback:
Knock Knock!
(Who's there?)
Boo!
(Boo who?)
Don't cry, it's only a joke!

Although that morning he told me he was going to say:
Knock knock!
(Who's there?)
Banana!
(Banana who?)
Banana William!
(ahhhhhahahahaha!)


Will LOVES these 11-year-old twin girls who live right around the corner. He met them a couple months ago when we were at our block party and he hasn't stopped talking about them since. He and Dave go for a walk around the block almost every evening, and every evening Will asks if he can go visit "The Girls". Dave took both Will and Catie over there on Wednesday evening and they spent about a half hour at their house. They're obviously a very nice family. Anyway, the girls told Will that they had a special treat for him for Beggar's Night. They baked some (delicious!) pumpkin-decorated sugar cookies for both Will and Catie. How cute are they?



Catie was her darling self in her Catie Cat costume. Since she still lacks the vocabulary for telling jokes, we had her meow for her candy. It was way cute. People loved her. Oh, and she did have another trick...she just walked right into people's homes. Luckily it was only into a choice few and we know the people who live there.


So after T-o-Ting around the 'hood, I took Will to visit Grandpa Bud. GB called yesterday afternoon to tell me they were having a big Beggar's Night celebration at the retirement community, complete with T-o-Ting and games in the rec room. When we arrived, there were paper pumpkins taped to the floor to lead us to where we were to go. We started in the dining room where they had a bunch of ladies sitting around handing out candy. It then took us downstairs where they had a really cool setup! There were probably 7 games with prizes, one of them being bowling, which Will LOVED. Grandpa Bud was all dressed up (see above) and was doing a little fishing game.

Other Stuff


Last weekend Catie and I participated in the Race for the Cure here in Des Moines. We did it with my YUM (Young Urban Moms) group and had a lot of fun! We only did the 1-mile walk, but I think a couple of us are planning to run the 5K next year. (I now realize that perhaps it wasn't tasteful for me to be wearing a pink skull cap with a scarf around my head- I hope no one thought I was "dressing up" for the race! It was just really cold.)


We also went to a Halloween costume birthday party for Will's friend Gia last weekend. It's the only time I will dress up this year, and as you can see, I used my old standby cat costume. But I thought it was cute that Catie and I were both cats. Catie's friend Drew was there, but they have a bit of a love/hate relationship. Catie seems to tease him by calling his name, then when he gets near her she cries and whimpers. Drew doesn't know his own strength and occasionally knocks her over when trying to hug her. I captured a love moment on the stairs, though:


And finally, just a couple other cute photos from the week:



So there you have it. The longest post ever. I haven't even gotten to Catie's new favorite saying ("oh my!") or Will making ponies out of Play-Doh. Another day.

Apologies

Sorry for no new posts this week- it's been really cold here, and because of that, the computer room is virtually unusable. And if I don't get in here right away to write down the cute things the kids say, I forget.

It's supposed to be in the mid-60s to low-70s for the next couple days, so I'll be back at it. And tonight is Beggar's Night, so I'll have Halloween costume pictures to post soon.

On top of cute pictures from tonight, my friend Yana is doing our family photo shoot on Saturday. Hopefully I'll be able to share some of those too. I know they'll be fabu. We're even going to attempt a wardrobe change for Catie so I can get our Christmas photos too.

Until I have real updates: Catie's cute. Will's cute. The end.

Feels Like a Photo Friday

A few from this week:

Will decided to make himself and Catie look like cats. Washable markers are amazing!


Will's school field trip to Iowa Orchard-

The class


Camo Boy checking out the pumpkins


Volunteering to sing with Grandma Jo


And a quick cute story:
There is a little boy in Will's class who was crying yesterday when his mom dropped him off. Will went to him and said, "It's OK...sometimes I have trouble when my mom leaves too." Which is actually a lie (he's never so much as batted an eye when I leave), but so super sweet nonetheless.

I Forgot!

Will is now wearing big boy underpants to bed at night. :)

Miscellaneous

It's a good thing my mom was here to witness this stuff, because I always forget the cute things the kids do.

1) My mom has nicknames for her granddaughters- Autumn is Buttercup and Catie is Sunshine. Catie sees my mom about once every other month or so. On Will's birthday my mom sent an email birthday greeting with her picture embedded. I showed the kids and Catie immediately said, "Sunshine!" Then, this whole weekend she was calling my mom Sunshine...and even now that Mom is gone, Catie says "Sunshine!" when she sees the flip flops I let my mom wear in the basement.

2) We went to visit Grandma Hazel at the nursing home on Saturday morning. A woman was there singing songs to the residents, so of course Will had to go investigate. He made it known that it was his birthday, so the woman sang "Happy Birthday to You" to him, and after that he requested "Bingo". After "Bingo" was over, the woman started singing "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" and my mom told Will the song was about her (her name is Bonnie). Will encouraged her to go up to dance. :)

3) We've started to have a little problem with lying. One example: Will's been forbidden to chew gum because he keeps swallowing it. The other night I was out with friends and Will asked Dave for a piece of gum. Dave said, "Didn't Mom say you're not allowed to have gum?" and Will told him I said he could have it when I wasn't home. Dave offered to call me to clear up the misunderstanding and Will shouted "NOOOOOO!"

Night Eyes

We went to an event called Night Eyes at the zoo yesterday with one of my moms' groups. The kids get to dress up in their Halloween costumes and trick-or-treat around the zoo. Here's a little teaser for our real Halloween pictures in a couple weeks!

Cool Cat in her costume


Will and his friend Kaiya


Someone who is really mad that she's not allowed to have "MORE CANNY!" (more candy)

Glasses?

We just got home from Will's 4-year appointment with Dr. Uthe. He weighed in at 46 pounds (with clothes on) and is 43 inches. That's the weight of an average 6-year-old and the height of an average 5-year-old, and the 95th percentile for 4-year-olds.

He got 4 shots and the flu-mist vaccine. He did well with the first two shots, only saying, "That hurts!" Then, with the third and fourth shots, got mad and cried and said he never wants to see Dr. Uthe again. He's fine now and has changed his mind about the Dr. Uthe boycott.

He got his first eye exam and didn't do so well. We're not sure if he was playing around, but the test indicated that his eyesight is 20/40. We now have an appointment with a pediatric ophthalmologist on November 17 to check it out. Dave thinks Will will get beat up if he has glasses...I think it'll be unbelievably cute.

Party Day Photos

From top: Will's 2nd choice cake- The Red Line L, blowing out candles, sharing cake with Isaac, opening his new car from Catie, a very scary pirate...arghhh!

It Begins

Will was talking about preschool this morning and told us about his friends Levi, Zev, and Harrison. I asked him if he plays with any girls. His answer? "I'm allergic to girls."

He's never had a problem playing with girls before, so I have to believe that the "allergic to girls" thing comes from the boys at preschool. I'm not looking forward to all the things he's going to learn that I've tried to shelter him from!

Will's 4th Birthday

 

Today is Will's birthday and he's having a great day! He could barely get to sleep last night because he was so excited, and he woke up with great cheer and a "Is it my birthday?" He got to choose his special breakfast (chocolate chip pancakes), got to open one present (a little track set to add to his Thomas train set, which he declared "beautiful!"), and had to take birthday snacks to school (Oreos and grapes). At school they had a birthday crown that he refused to wear because apparently only girls wear crowns.

He's taking a killer nap right now and when he gets up we have some stuff to do around the house to get ready for our weekend guests. But tonight, oh tonight- we're going to Chuck E. Cheese for his chosen birthday dinner. He can barely contain himself.

More photos to come of CEC and his weekend birthday celebration with family!

Friday Morning Pleasures

Watching Curious George

 

Today.

1) Catie just ran through the kitchen shouting, "I fast! I fast!"

The significance of this is that she put together her first little sentence. Sure, she says, "I don't know!" with a shoulder raise when I ask her a question, but that's something she's heard us saying.

2) We had friends over this morning for Morning Latte. Eight women with a total of 13 children here in our little house. It was lots of fun. See evidence:

The big kids made themselves at home in Will's closet. It was a tight squeeze.

(What is Morning Latte, you ask? It's getting a bunch of stay-at-home-moms together in the morning for coffee and breakfast pastries- or in today's case, pumpkin cake and pumpkin dip- and good conversation, while letting our kids run around and entertain themselves. I guess it's the morning version of the 3-Martini Playdate.)

3) I just made pesto for the first time ever. I used basil from my garden. It is pretty good, but a tad salty. I think I'll be able to tweak it so it's awesome. :)

Empathy

My dear, sweet, kind-hearted Will has been all worked up this morning. Apparently there was an boy being unkind to a gorilla on "Between the Lions" and it really touched a nerve. He turned the TV off, got very weepy, and had to tell me what happened. Then a bit later he was thinking about it again and started to get teary. Then, as we were getting in the car to take Dave to the office he busted out a full cry when recounting the story again.

Of course I had to make this a teaching opportunity and we discussed the importance of being kind and not hurting other people's hearts. He seems to get it...let's see if it sticks next time we're at the mall play area with Elliott. :)

Robots

Making up for lost time...

Wahoo!

I have a new camera!

Eta: Hmmm...things don't look so clear. Better start messing around.