Girls’ Day Out

 

I don’t work on Wednesdays, and both boys are in school that day, so for the afternoon it is just me and my girl paling around. Today we grabbed a bite to eat at the food court in the mall. I love, love, love our one-on-one time together because it is so rare, and I actually get to “know” my leading lady. So special!

The annual carving of the pumpkins.

 

I don’t know many details of what went on tonight –I was out drinking, I mean planning, with the PTO ladies—but a couple of scary jack-o-lanterns greeted me as I pulled in to our driveway tonight. Mason said the guts were gross. And Jacob said his pumpkin’s face was spooky. That’s all the info I could shake out of the boys. Either way, cross that off the ol’ Halloween to-do list!

Soccer ended.

 
And Mason may have scored his first goal. See above. We will never know for sure. I was home with a sick Camryn. Jacob wasn’t watching. Caleb wasn’t sure if Mason actually was the one who kicked it. And Mason, I don't think, knows what a soccer ball is let alone what it means to score a goal. But to feed his ego, we will let Mason believe that he got a goal. No harm in that! Through the course of the season, Mason went from always spinning circles and lolly-gagging on the field to actually running after the ball. Success!
 
Same game. Running. And lolly-gagging. Wouldn’t be Mason if he weren’t lolly-gagging!

Jacob did really well. He had a blast, and smiled the ENITRE game! Such a fun kid to watch play!
Next up: wrestling. More to come on that one…

Best. Sunday. Ever.

I may have not-so-subtly suggested that Caleb be in charge of the amigos on Sunday so that I could accomplish three years of forgotten tasks in a matter of hours. And he delivered. He took the boys out to breakfast at a restaurant. And then he packed up the family, sans moi, and headed off to the second pumpkin patch in as many weeks. Caleb said it was hokey, but the kids loved it. I don’t know all of the details of the trip, but what I do know is that the boys came home with painted faces, and Jacob ran in to his tee-ball “fling.”  I think I might push to have Kid-Free Sunday become a weekly event…

Sweet.

Camryn has recently began voicing her anger by hitting things and people. So when she angrily knocked over Jacob’s Lego tower, I very sternly told Camryn “No,” and Jacob mimicked me with an equally stern “No, Camryn, no.”  And it was at that moment that Camryn’s eyes turned sad, her bottom lip quivered, and she burst out in tears which prompted Jacob to immediately run to her side. And as he was giving her a very unnecessary apologetic hug, my sweet little boy had tears running down his face. I asked him what was wrong and he said it made him sad that he made his little sister cry. Melt. My. Heart. I love to know how special this sibling bond is. I must be doing something right.

Pumpkin Patch

This year marks our fifth annual trip to the local pumpkin patch. What made this year different from all the rest?

[The corn silo. Stinks. Like awful, awful, bad. And it caused this little lady to have a bloody nose. Who knows how long the blood was running down her face before I noticed. Third child syndrome…]

[One quick picture documenting that we were, in fact, at a pumpkin patch.]

No pictures to document anything else that we did like ride the trains, travel through the corn maze, jump our hearts out in the various bounce houses, and survive the “haunted” house. We ran in to some neighbors who have become fast friends of the boys and the four boys pretty much dictated our course for the day. They all had a blast!

I spy…

…Two boys sharing—without a fight—extremely close quarters as they watch a cartoon in a cardboard box fort.

…One sick little chick who is grabbing a nap in my arms.

I don’t love sickness and I could always do without cartoons, but I will take peaceful quietness any minute of the day!

Mother-of-the-Year

 

Double-fisting suckers five minutes before dinner. Betcha never saw that technique in a parenting book…

Isn’t it Ironic?

That not much more than 5 years ago, Caleb and I were just as pained as Jacob was as he was springing the exact tooth he just lost. The inconsolable crying. The moodiness. Ugh. It was not fun for any of us.

 

It’s crazy how exciting it was for us all to see Jacob lose the tooth that was so much work to get!

“One tooth less” little boy!

Jacob lost his first tooth today! It has been a work in progress for about the past three weeks, and the little sucker was hanging by a thread when Jacob got home from school today. Caleb gave it a twist and popped it right out of Jacob’s mouth. A quick “owie,” no tears, and a couple drops of blood, and Jacob has been all giggles ever since! And tonight Jacob is trying very hard to stay awake so he can see firsthand if the tooth fairy actually exists…

[Before. That tooth was literally pointing out of his mouth!]

[Checking out his new look in the mirror.]

[Holding his tooth. A rite of passage for every little Kindergartner!]

Mason and I have been calling Jacob “Jack.” Short for Jack-o-Lantern. Very fitting!

Not so camera shy.

Mason makes lots of faces.


This one punctuates his craziness. This is what Mason probably looks like for at least half of every day. On camera or not.


This one says "I'm innocent. But not really."


And good grief, I am sure glad faces don't actually get "stuck"!!!

Mason has a very wide range of expressions. It is what makes him. He is nutso!

Word Explosion!

This little girl has a big vocabulary!

Words not included in the video are (ba)nana, wawa, night night, doggy, woof woof, toot, woah!, uh-oh, ewwww!, what's that?, hey you, and papa. I absolutely love baby talk!

Crazy.

Crazy hair. On a crazy kid. For crazy hair day at school. What will really be crazy is if this doesn't wash out of his beautiful blonde hair. As the warning on the spray says...

This is how we roll.

Tonight as Jacob was playing with his flash cards, he announced "5 beer bottle caps." Yes. In our house that is what those would be called. But, really, what else has bottle caps?!