Gardening in November

Nate got me an early Christmas present this year when he laid out the other half of our garden (on the left).

I had high hopes of Emma being able to hang out with me while I planted the garden this morning. Alas, she was as helpful with this home improvement project as she is with every other one I try to do with her.

And, our dirt must be really tasty because all of my kids seem to really enjoy eating it.

Asher's babysitting

Asher was watching Emma in the backyard while I was making dinner the other night. His report:

"Emma loves flying on the trampoline."

And, "I tried to put Emma on top of the hammock, but she ended up underneath it."

Luke on Church

Today, we were eating lunch, sort of the calm before the storm when we all get ready for church.

I was trying to have a pleasant conversation to set the tone for getting ready for church, so I said to Luke, "What's your favorite thing about church?"

Luke said, "I don't have a favorite thing about church." (pause) "But, I do like it when my dad and I stay home and don't go!"

Also, this picture? Luke staged it one morning while everyone was getting ready for school. He got out all his favorite stuffed animals, set them on the dining room table, found me, got my camera, and had me take this picture.

Something Good

Emma and Luke think this video from Grammy is awesome...



Grammy says the dog reminds her of Luke--always busy finding something to entertain himself.

The Running Dead

Zombies hate fast food!
Zombies are were people, too.
Zombies never call shotgun.
Zombies only want you for your brains.

We also realized at about 7 pm Friday that we should have totally used The Rules from Zombieland(note: this links to clips with some swearing), but IMHO, they are far more practical than these Rules.
P.S. Some of us are doing the Del Sol Ragnar, February 24-25. We still have a couple spots left on the team. Let me know if you'd like to join us.

Happy Halloween from Emma the Bumble Bee

Rachel, my sister, had the cutest ladybug costume I could have borrowed because she's generous like that, but for some reason, I had it in my head that Emma had to be a bumble bee. Poor thing hated getting put in the car seat because of the full scratchy skirt, and I didn't get it together to get her antennas. Still, with that smile, I think she pulled it off. (And, yes, that's a toilet seat in the background from Nate's 2008 Halloween costume when he was the economy at the beginning of the recession. I don't know why I don't just throw it away.)

We're transitioning from 2 to 1 naps right now, so I'll need to keep these pictures around for 4 pm every day when she's so, so tired and miserable.

We went to see the grandparents, and then, the boys went trick or treating. I expected Emma to go to bed, but she was perfectly happy to sit on my lap and hand out candy. Except that she never did figure out to let the candy go. She'd pick up some candy, hover over a trick or treat bag, and then, just put her hand and the candy back down.

I think we'll be in trouble when she actually figures out what's IN the candy bags.

Happy Halloween from Darth Vader

Like his desire to take naps until he was 5, Asher's early decision making skills and his complete independence regarding Halloween costume totally spoiled me and has me scratching my head that Luke won't be so accommodating.

Seriously, every year, Asher announces in the beginning of October what he wants to be totally on his own and keeps with that decision for the whole month.

Might I point out that last year, I wanted to do a Star Wars theme and Asher refused to be any sort of Star Wars character?

Happy Halloween from Thor/Obi Won

Luke totally wanted to be Thor for Halloween (after he insisted on being a Thor/Woody/clown hybrid, we told him that it wouldn't be possible to wear all those costumes at once and he had a major meltdown for about 3 days every time Halloween was mentioned). So, once he settled on just being Thor for a couple days, we got this costume at Target complete with Thor's mighty hammer.

The day after he got the hammer, I let him take it school. His teacher was nice about it, but clearly, not so happy, and when I told Nate, he said, "What were you thinking?!"

(Seriously, I have no idea. I guess I was thinking, "Here, Luke, take this big hammer to preschool. No kid would ever figure out within 10 seconds of holding that hammer what an awesome game it would be to run around smacking each other on the head for 4 hours.")

But, then, on Halloween, Luke put on his Thor costume for school and freaked out because it was covered with little spider webs. You know the polyester stuffing they use to pad the muscles on those costumes? Luke saw a few stray ones poking out of his chest and was convinced the costume was dirty. He ran to the bathroom sink and got the costume completely soaked. And, wouldn't ya know, those fibers still stick up, even when everything else is completely drenched.

Fortunately, Luke didn't wear the costume he insisted on getting last year, Obi Won Kenobi. At the last minute last year, he decided the costume was too messy (it has some tunic hanging parts on it), so he was Woody for the second straight year. With minutes to spare before carpool, Luke got the Obi Won costume on and was happy.

I told him I'd wash the Thor costume while he was at school, but I got nervous about washing all that synthetic fabric, so I just told him I washed it and tried to pick out all the stray fibers. It didn't fool Luke. Luckily, he was quite content to put Obi Won back on that night for trick or treating, which meant that for the first time ever, our family had a quasi-theme Halloween:

Aunt Rachel would be so proud...