Happy Halloween!

Bugaboo's first year helping out with the pumpkin carving:

No hesitation there--he loved it.

Bean, however, is a girl after my own heart. I've never loved the feeling of pumpkin innards either, which is why the carving is usually left to Daddy-o.

The finished product. Why can't I get 3 people to look at me?! Daddy-o would be just fine if he wasn't trying to get the two little monkeys to pay attention. But Bugaboo seemed to think that if he stopped looking at the pumpkin (or "bummock" as he calls it), it might dissappear.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Should I Be Proud?

We had an interesting discussion in the car this morning, driving back from dropping Daddy-o at the bus stop:

Me: When we get home, we need to finish breakfast quickly, get dressed and brush our teeth and hair and then you can play until preschool.

Bean: Or watch TV.

Me: No, just play.

Bean: I choose TV.

Me: That's not a choice this morning.

Bean: Then I'll just turn it on myself.

Me: Then I'll have to put the TV in a closet where we can't see it.

Bean: I'll just watch where you put it and then get it out myself.

Me (getting slightly annoyed): Then maybe I need to put the TV in the garbage can instead.

Bean: I'll take it out of the garbage can and bring it back in.

Me: I'll put it in the garbage and watch until the garbage men pick it up (today happened to be trash day).

Bean: Then I'll write a letter to the garbage men and ask them to bring it back.

As annoying as her refusing to accept that the TV was not going to be turned on was, I'm pretty impressed at her solution to get the TV back from the dump. And luckily this made us both laugh and by the time we got home, she'd forgotten about the TV.

The Playroom

Another room mostly unpacked and organized. I hope in a few months I'll be able to come back and do some more in this one, but we'll see. We may still be working in the kitchen then--it feels like we're never going to find the time to finish those cabinet doors!

I started doing before and after pictures for this, and then realized that since we hadn't actually changed anything except by adding in all our junk, the befores look a lot nicer! So here's the tour of the filled up room:

The kids reading areaThe bookshelves that we don't have enough books to fill.Bean's art wall.And my little corner--its really nice being able to do my work while the kids are playing in the same room, but we'll see how long it takes Bugaboo to get into a crafting disaster--with his track record lately, I'm actually shocked that I've made it this long.

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble

We had our church Halloween party last night--our little witch and wizard had a good time, got more candy than they need, and went to bed way too late (and woke up WAY too early--I am not okay with 4:45 ever, especially not after a 9 p.m. bedtime).

Daddy-o probably had the scariest costume there, although no one under 18 got it.

Four Year Old Wisdom

"You have to meet before you get married." Wise, wise girl. Apparently, the prince and Cinderella didn't meet each other properly before the big day--maybe her clue was that they didn't even know each other's names.

And a random, early morning observation, "If you don't know if someone is a boy or a girl you just call them 'they'."

Kid's Room

The moment you've all been waiting for (I'm sure you've all been checking in here several times a day to see something actually finished :). . .

Before: And after:

Before:
After:
I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out. It's amazing what a difference the chair rail makes in the room. And it wasn't that hard, or time consuming--just a couple days to do 2 coats of paint and then an hour or so measuring things and lining everything up. I think we'll end up doing the same thing to our room at some point.

And the murals--not as hard as I had thought, but it took a lot of time since things had to be painted in layers. Bean got her secret garden, complete with the little girl skipping up the path. She's also requested a rainbow between the clouds so I'll add that in sometime this week.And Bugaboo got a barn with animals and an apple tree (he actually said his first 4 word sentence about the tree the other day, "Mama paint apple tree") Bugaboo had a really hard time when I painted the animals--he thought I was painting over the drawings I'd done and was devastated that I was covering his donkey and sheep. But he got the yellow donkey that he asked for (we have no idea why he's obsessed with yellow donkeys, but look for more on a certain big day that is coming up too soon for me.)Bugaboo's side still needs a little more work--his growth chart needs a whole drilled in the back so I can hang it and I need to find/make something else for his wall which is looking a little bare. But I'm sick today, so that was as far as I got with the few finishing touches I needed to do this morning. I really wish that mom's got sick days. Instead, since the kids are both a little sick, too, I got a morning with both kids at home with me. Not exactly relaxing. But they've actually played pretty well this morning, so I can't complain too much.

Playing Together

I love it when they are playing nicely together. It's always a pleasant surprise. We've had a few of those this week.

And yes, some house pictures are coming--I'm a couple days behind, but I will put up the kids room tomorrow, which will be the first completely finished room in the house! Yay! Or, pretty much completely finished--I guess there will always be little things.

Founder's Day

Bean's preschool celebrated Founder's Day today. The kids have been working on these hats for the last couple days and got to march around the school with their musical instruments and singing (what, I'm not sure--lets just say that 13 4 year-olds don't exactly make a great chorus).
They ended with a couple songs by the tree that was planted two years ago in honor of the founders, one of whom was there today and gave a little thank you speech to all the kids and parents.
Bugaboo has gotten to know a couple of the younger siblings who we have a playgroup with every Tuesday.
And of course he wanted a chance to wear the hat.

The whole thing was nice and short. Or it would have been if Buggy and I hadn't been playing in the car before it started, which led to a team effort of locking the keys in the car. This is my second time in the last month--I think that means that I need to change some sort of habit. Or I need to stick more closely to my habits because my normal routine of exiting the car doesn't lead to this problem, but obviously any variance does. Thank goodness for AAA. And those really handy little inflatable pillows they use to open the door a crack--if you haven't seen them do this, it might almost be worth an "accidental" locking (maybe at your own house where you can just hang out in comfort)--they can have the car open in less than 30 seconds.

I asked the guy how much those cost, but he pointed out that it won't do me any good if its locked in the car along with everything else.

Productivity!

Finally. Despite a couple more 2-year-old type instances (and I know that I should be ready for this since its my second time through this, but Bean presented a completely different set of 2-year-old traits and not so much of the destructive, get-into-everything action), I actually got a few things done in the last few days. It helped that Daddy-o was off today.

First, a little Halloween recycling. Bean is tall, so her shirts always end up short on her before they stop fitting.

Add in a little pumpkin/black cat material, a bow that came on a gift awhile ago, some ribbon, and she has a new dress! There are a lot of directions online for these t-shirt dresses and it was pleasantly easy (just don't look too closely--my sewing skills are not exactly professional).And carrying on with the Halloween theme, I adapted the pumpkins from last week into a hair clip. I'm still not sure about how its attached to the clip--I was thinking about making it a dangly thing to hang from a ponytail holder, or even from the alligator clip, but tried this first.

And a couple more fall themed items--I found these ribbons a few weeks ago and loved them so much that I had to go out and find clothes that matched so I could make Bean a hairbow. So I used the ribbon on the shirt and then made a couple korker bows to go with it. On recommendation of my friend, Wendy, I got some Stiffen Stuff to make the ribbons stay curled a little better than on my last attempt and they turned out great! I think I may still go back and do something with the pants as well--I just have to decide what.

Then, we had a couple gifts for a birthday party Saturday. This was my first attempt with the crayon rolls and while I found some good directions, I think the sizing needs a little adjustment. I ended up with one just a little tight (sewing the pockets every 3/4 inches) and the next one a little loose (sewing them every inch or so). So I think I'd recommend going 7/8 inch, but I'll have to try one to see.The kids each picked out the material for their gift, except I don't think Bugaboo realized he wasn't going to be keeping his froggy roll. I may be making more for Christmas. . .

And I finished a new bib. This one has been cut out for a LONG time. In fact, I can't even remember who I initially started it for. But there are babies being born right and left around me, so I need to get busy and make a bunch more.We also crammed in some light fixture shopping, sanding, painting, mural sketching, sink fixing, and I even had time to make homemade pasta. I love fresh pasta--there really isn't anthing quite like it. (Dinner was pretty late that night, though).

I'm just glad that things are finally getting done. I think I should actually have some house pictures ready to go by the end of the week. But no promises there. Who knows what Bugaboo is going to get into tomorrow.

Getting Ready for Church

(Like the "gloves"?)
This was his first time wearing a tie--he was pretty excited to not be totally left out of the accesorizing.

Keep on reading--I got a lot of good pictures this weekend, so there are a couple new posts. And more coming tomorrow.

Almost as Good as the Beach

And why do my kids seem so grown up to me all of a sudden. When I was taking these pictures, I just didn't feel like they were my little babies at all.

Look What's Coming. . .

This has started.

So just imagine all of this in a month or so.

Good thing Daddy-o just bought a leaf blower.

Tornado

This week has felt very busy. And one of those busy weeks where I haven't actually accomplished much. I think a lot of it is due to the tornado who has replaced my fairly laid-back little boy.

He has

* completely drenched his bathroom, three times (I've never mopped a bathroom so many times in one week--or probably in one month, for that matter),
*dumped milk and other wet food off the table often enough that I've actually been mopping the area under the table on a daily basis, sometimes more than once,
*emptied out my bag, strewing various craft supplies and papers all over the family room,
*soaped down EVERYTHING in the half bathroom downstairs and then dipped a roll of toilet paper in it,
*emptied the pencil sharpener all over the table and floor,
*tried to climb the TV stand, which is not bolted to the wall yet,
*filled his car seat with crackers or other crumbly snack foods twice,
*run into the only wet paint spot within his reach, ruining his overalls,
*dumped a 1/4 full can of paint out, ruining another pair of pants, a shirt, and my pants (luckily it was in the driveway, not the house, but our driveway doesn't drain properly, so it was a very time consuming, water-wasting effort to clean it up).

(I sound like a neglegent parent, but at least half these messes were made while I was cleaning up the mess he'd just made before that.)

Add in two trips a day to the bus stop for Daddy-o, the normal preschool runs, grocery shopping, a couple trips downtown to finish with the apartment down there, two dinners for extra people beyond our family, and several night wakings each night, divided pretty evenly between the two kids (my favorite was the 2:30 a.m. "Daddy, I need more ice in my water"--and in a sleep-induced stupor, he actually went downstairs and got her more ice! That's the way to teach her to stay in her bed at night), and I guess that explains why this week has been so chaotic.

I have learned a couple things from all of this:

1. Our house is not toddler proof. I NEED to buy the doorknob covers for all the bathrooms. Thorough mopping is not on my daily "To Do" list.

2. We need more babygates--with two staircases, one gate does absolutely nothing unless I lock the little tornado in one room all day.

3. No matter how hard it is and how tired I am, I have got to exercise every day. I've let it slide the last two weeks because I haven't quite figured out how to fit it into the new schedule where we have to leave at 7:15 for the morning bus run. But I've been reminded again of how strongly my mood is affected by my level of physical activity. The kids are probably as tired of me as I am of their antics lately.


I just hope that the rest of today is a little more productive. We sent the car with Daddy-o today with the intention of staying home and getting some projects done and maybe even a little more unpacking.

Autumn is here!

It actually feels like autumn. No more 90 degrees with humidity and when I was walking home from bookclub last night, I was wishing I had a sweatshirt on. This is the type of weather that I absolutely love--sunny warm days with cool nights and crisp mornings.
The kids and I made these pumpkins (which we found here) yesterday. Very simple and with a paper cutter, Bean could even do most of it.
And look who I found in a box! We never could find the Halloween decoration box last year, so its been quite awhile since Mr. Pumpkin Head has made an appearance. I think Bean made him feel right at home.

I See You

The kids had their first trip to Chuck E Cheese on Tuesday and the fun mirror was a hug hit!

Softball

Daddy-o plays softball for a Bank of America team on Monday nights and we decided to be a good family and go support him for one of his games tonight. It was on the early side, the weather was perfect. . . why not, right?

In the first 25 minutes, Bugaboo fell over backwards off the bench and hit his head, Bean got her finger caught in the fence and while trying to pull it out, slipped off the bench, Bugaboo ran away and made it into the men's bathroom where I had to reach in and pull him out as someone was using the urinal, and Bean peed her pants before we made it back to those same restrooms. Oh, and not that it was his fault, but Bugaboo also almost got hit in the head by an overthrown ball to first.

But Daddy-o's team won both their games--their first wins this season!