Halloween 2012

Trick or Treat! smell my feet!

Happy Hallo-WEENIE!!

These were the phrases most used this year. Gotta love elementary school.

I'm a fan of imagination filled costumes and a day to be In a total fantasy land. I tried super hard to find a costume of my body at 16 years old (because that's my fantasy) and it was a big disappointment that they don't make anything of the sort.

Brody's biggest desire is to be a hunter, a true blue Wyoming kid. He's green with envy of his friends who have fire armed dads and heads on the wall. His leisure reading is Hunters magazine and he's obsessed with watching those real live hunts on TV. The poor lad just has pacifist parents who are animal loving softies. Thank goodness for Halloween!! He camo'dup and wore true hunting attire and I could tell he just LOVED every minute of his hunter life fantasy. When the orange vest and hat came he ripped off his shirt to try on the new gear- then headed out to the back yard to do some "tracking". When I peeked out here was this kid in camo pants, Nike tennis shoes, a sleeveless undershirt,and bright orange cap and vest- it was like looking at a miniature Larry the Cable guy. Oh Brody.
He is currently saving every penny for a guide hunt when he turns 13.

Zane is just a funny guy. Last year he wanted to be a black cat. Sounds easy enough- too bad all the costumes for black cats involve pink ears and nose, and tights. We improvised. This year he wanted to be a ghost. Really?? A ghost?? Again, sounds fine. Until you actually try to put a sheet-like costume over a 3 year old with limited vision. Even after being miserable trying it on he wouldn't change his mind. His school wouldn't allow anything monster/scary related so we had a back-up costume of an army soldier (out of the dress up clothes) in the end he wore the soldier but I had to haul the ghost around. I slipped it on during trunk or treat :)

Preslie was the cutest little strawberry ever. She slept thru trunk or treat- which was the only time I took pictures.

We did trunk or treat at the church- which I think is lame. At least make the kids hike some hills or stairs for their candy! :)

Then in my quest to keep traditional trick or treating alive,we headed for the houses of safe looking strangers. In company with fabulous friends, we spent an hour making our way around one block. And it was wonderful.

Kids had candy for din and fell asleep in a sugar comatose.

Happy Halloween!!!!

Dates to Remember

I've been doing some reading from old journals and there are a few things I need to remember.

On March 10th 2029 I need to call Brody at 11 pm and scream that I'm hungry- I need to repeat this every 90 mins for 12 hours straight.( Brody should be about 21 and in school and really be at a point where he appreciates his sleep)

On January 20th 2021 or roughly when Zane is an early teenager- I am going to go to his school dressed in the most ridiculous outfit I can round up, and I'm going to pick him up for lunch and parade myself and him around town.

One day when being on time is important, I'm going to have a missing shoe crisis, not be able to get my jacket on, and then find someone to fight with all they way to our destination.. I wonder if Dev is up for project payback.

I know parents say that one day their children will have children of their own to pay them back for all these antics- But I'll be honest- I want in on the fun :)

Yes- it has been one of those mornings!

11 Months!

I was party planning this morning and it hit that I hadn't posted her 11 month pic. So here it is! Good thing my onesie of the month ends soon- its getting really tricky to get a pic of this little miss- she is ALWAYS on the move! Her up coming birthday has been a hot topic here- Brody wants to take her to Disneyland because "that's what you do with little girls" and Zane wants to give her everything that is girly. Whenever we hit the store he asks to go down the "pink rows" and he really just wants to put everything in the cart for Preslie. Pretty cute.

Luving some Mac n Cheese

Sharing with the dogs...

STUCK! Under the table. This is a daily occurrence. 

Just digging in some nice warm laundry. She plays Peek A Boo with everything. Loves it!

Mind of their own

I was a tad crazy with Brody. First time mother craziness- I had an unrealistic vision of motherhood I think. Thank goodness kids are resilient to parents who know nothing and friends and family and husbands are forgiving of obsessed, skewed ideals of me :)
It has been an interesting time of reflection lately; our morning routine is fairly established and I've noticed something, most mornings when I tell Brody to get dressed he asks me to come pick out his clothes- not because he's super concerned about how he will look at school but because for the majority of his life, especially when he was little I robbed him of that decision making. I was way too concerned about him being cute and matchy and fancy then I was about him developing independence. Oops. And he didn't care. He didn't fight me much on clothes choices. But now I'm fighting him to exercise his independence and make his own clothing choices.

Then enters my strong willed, super opinionated Zane. This guy is all about his own ideas- being his mother has made me read parenting books, seek help from good parenting friends and pray for patience everyday. Don't read into this wrong- he is a joy. He is smart and funny and full of life and energy, but wow he pushes me to be better and to work hard at parenting. He becomes fixated on things- like particular clothing or shoes and I cannot distract him or change his mind- so I have struck a deal- Sundays I get to help him make choices but the rest of the week he can dress himself.
I cringe 6 mornings a week. Because I'm still me. But I refuse to battle and get frustrated over clothes. He will grow out of it... Right?
And one day I'll look back at these pictures and Zane and I will laugh.. A lot. These pictures are awful by the way, he hates to have his picture taken for no reason, I think he knows I'm documenting for future embarrassment.

Currently we are in cowboy boot fixation...

In Walmart..it was hot outside and I tried to convince him he would feel better without the over-sized rain coat and hat and church pants and boots..