Halloween

Let's talk about Halloween for a minute here.  And when I say minute, I mean this whole post.  I think I actually over did Halloween this year.  Really.  By the time Halloween actually arrived, Rex was sick of wearing his costume that he helped design and didn't really care about trick-or-treating.  Next year, we just trick-or-treat.  We started on the First Day of October with a play group and craft making.  

As as a wild thing, on the First Day of October

Rex, not super excited to be a monkey, on the First Day of October

Then we had pumpkin carving, the ward trunk-or-treat.  Then I decided it would be fun to take treats to a nursing home, but Alice was sick so my mother-in-law took Rex for me (that was the 30th).  Then on Halloween I thought it would be fun to make treats for Dad and take them to work in costume, but Rex refused to put his costume on.  Actually, it was pretty funny because he said if we were going to Dad's work he had to wear a belt just like Dad.  I got out a pair of old glasses and ta-da, a young blonde Greg.  Greg thought I'd dressed Rex up like me.  His co-workers got it.

Rex as Greg.

And then Halloween night came.  It was bad.  The night started with hot dogs for dinner and me threatening in my worst mom-voice, "Rex, if you don't sit down and eat your hot dog we're not going trick-or-treating."  Rex just wanted some of the soup I'd made for recovering Alice.  He got soup, which then turned into, "If you don't eat that whole bowl, we're not doing trick-or-treating."  He finished most of the soup.  And we were off.  

Since we don't live in a neighborhood, we had to drive to one.  As we drove, Greg and I strategized over how to get the most candy.  Rex wanted to know what we were talking about--"Nothing Rex!"

We arrive at the neighborhood, park, snap a few pictures and we're off. 

Alice still getting over a cold.

"Rex, walk faster!"

"Rex, don't go that way, go this way!"

"No!"

"We'll hit this house and then this house."

Rex: "Why are we going to hit the houses."

"It means go to that house.  Hurry up."

Alice --shove a piece of candy in her mouth.

We must keep going.

Rex: "I'm tired.  My bucket is full."

"No.  You can fit more in there.  Quick just run up to that house."

Seriously, Greg and I were terrible.  All we did all night was yell at Rex to walk faster, knock louder, follow more closely, and essentially to not have fun because Greg and I were in it to win it.  Win what?  A ton of candy whose wrappers I find ALL OVER THE HOUSE and which require me to bath Alice twice a day and that I could have gotten half off the next day.  We were so competitive.  We completely forgot that we were with CHILDREN and that two pieces of candy is a lot to them. 

We ended the night at a ward member's house, which seemed to cheer Rex up.  He really likes their decorations (the Carlson's) and was thrilled to see all their lights.  And then we walked the mile or more back to the car all the while Alice just cried because she was so tired and cold and still getting over a cold.  In the end, Rex had no more room in his bucket and Alice's got dumped in the bottom of the stroller so she'd have more room.

Seriously, we're terrible parents.  Next year, we decided to just park at the Carlson's and trick-or-treat their block and call it a day.  

Rex and his loot.

As a side note, Rex and Alice are in love with their candy buckets.  They carry them around all day.  Just holding them.

Alice mid tantrum because I told her she had to eat dinner before she could eat more candy.

Carving pumpkins (10.22.12)

I know this is out of order.  So what?

We carved pumpkins for family night last Monday.  We did two pumpkins this year.  One for the boys.  One for the girls.  Only the boy pumpkin got carved.  Like an angry bird.  Alice just colored the girl pumpkin and then threw a fit when I tried to actually carve it.  No worries, I couldn't get a knife threw it anyway.

Every once in a while, Alice will make a super funny face.  Like this one.  Just out of nowhere.

She seriously colored her pumpkin FOREVER.

Rex showing off his Angry Bird design.

Rex cutting out the Angry Bird design (he was super excited to do an Angry Bird pumpkin)

Alice.  Still hard at work.

Greg gutted and carved.

Alice tried to get in on the carving action with her safety scissors.

Rex got a little bored during the carving phase.

So he started making funny faces.

And then he helped Alice color for a bit while she ate the scissors--that's right, Mom of the Year over here.

Finished product.

Rex took this

Side-by-side

Alice has dropped her morning nap and struggles to make it to bed time.  She goes to bed at 7:30 now.

We, however, live in the South and carved our pumpkin too early.  Greg threw the boy pumpkin away today.  Whatever.  We live in a forest.  No one trick-or-treats here anyway.

Trunk or treat

While I typically avoid just posting a bunch of pictures and have a general dislike of it in blogs that I read, I don't have much to say about this collection of pictures.

Don't worry, I will say something.

These pictures come from our ward trunk or treat, which was held on Saturday night.  This is the first year since we've been married that Greg and I did not dress up together.  I had a theme in mind and even an easy way to do all the costumes, but could not find any orange felt at any of the whole 2 fabric stores in Charlotte.  I didn't want to use orange broadcloth as that is basically see through and Wal-Mart completely failed me when it came to an orange t-shirt.  (Did I mention Greg was supposed to be Fred Flintstone; I was Wilma; Alice was Pebbles; and Rex was a giant extinct lizard [you know a dinosaur, but he really wanted to be a lizard]).  I was going to make one last effort to make Greg a costume Saturday morning, but after staying up all night with Alice on Friday, I figured that one of us would be staying home (she had a fever and runny nose and cough). I decided not to bother with a costume for Greg.  But then Saturday evening rolled around and Alice seemed to be doing better so Greg did a 10-minute costume and we were off.

We ate dinner and then headed back to the car for the trunk-or-treat part.  I went to get Rex's bucket out of the car, turned around and he was gone.  I waited around for a while, figuring he'd show up eventually.  After  five or ten minutes, he still hadn't returned so I went to look for him.  I found him not two minutes later with a lady from our ward.  She'd found him wondering around the trees at the back of the parking lot saying, "I'm lost. I'm lost."  He was happy to see me, but also didn't seem too bothered by his previous state of lost-ness.

We started going to cars to get candy.  Rex is a pro.  Alice, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with her candy bucket.   I put a piece of candy in it, and then she was all about it.  She put that little thing on her arm and would not let go.  She's one smart cookie.

Greg, meanwhile, stayed at the car and passed out candy.  He was out in less than 15 minutes.  We'd brough 3 bags.  He managed to mooch a few bags of candy from some people parked near us.  He lasted another 20 minutes.  He passed out Alice's candy.  He gave up and took Alice around while I took Rex around.

As a side note, Rex is a lizard.  Not a monster.  Not a dinosaur.  A lizard.  He helped design and execute the costume himself and he is in LOVE.

After the trunk-or-treat, my mother-in-law sat with the chil'ens so Greg and I could go to an outdoor movie night with the youth at another ward member's house.  It was weird to leaving at 8 instead of getting home at 8.  Made me feel young again.  We watched Wait until Dark.  Greg was not scared.  Whatever, he held my hand like a real date so I don't care.

How's that for not having much to say?  And now, to the pictures.

A better view of Rex's costume taken a few days previous.

He has a pot on his head.  Get it? Get it?

Rex and his pirate friend Jack.

Rex making a scary face.  He's a scary lizard don't-cha-know.

I had a really hard time getting Alice to stand still long enough to take a decent picture.

10.21.12

So my sister has been updating her blogs tons lately with all the fun things they've been doing.  Mostly in Utah.  My first and only love.  Naturally, I felt pretty bad.  For a few days really.  One that I wasn't in Utah in the fall, which I think I still prefer to North Carolina (surprise!), and two that we don't do anything.  After sulking and feeling bad for myself for a few days, I decided to make it look like we do stuff.  I took a ton of pictures of us doing nothing for a day, just to feel better about myself.  Then, as I was going back through my pictures, I realized we have been doing stuff.  Just most of it has been well, in Charlotte.  In fact, all of it has been in Charlotte.  Most of it in the front porch/yard area, which, I might add, I am no longer afraid of.  I even let the kids play outside with the door open while I make dinner.   

Nevertheless, I've accepted and usually appreciate the routine that is our life.  Monday: clean the house.  Tuesday: Joy School.  Wednesday: Joy School. Thursday: ward playgroup.  Friday: Park Adventure Day (we go to a new park that we've never been to before).  

Here's a pictorial peek into what we do.  E V E R Y D A Y

We run.  I run actually, while pushing the children, and get lots of weird comments from people about how the kids should push me.

 And this is how Rex feels about running.

 We also drive.  A LOT.

 And this is how Rex feels about driving.

 And then we do some slave labor.

 This is Rex's happiest face.  Looks a bit like he's been decapitated.

 We spend long, lonely days at new parks.

 We bake.

 Rex learned the joy of Angry Birds.

 Alice is quite the little mommy.

 Op, more parks.

 And then we bake some more and spill  at least three pounds of flour on the floor and then roll around it in because Mom is trying really hard not to get upset over the little things that don't really matter.

 And then we spread the flour all over the house.

 And we roll around some more.

 And then we eat it.

And now, to bed.  Alice will be up in a few hours because, no, she still does not sleep through the night.

4:00

I was a bit surprised when I looked at the clock and it was 4:00 pm.  I did my usual, "Oh, crap, what am I going to tell Greg I did today because I haven't done anything." Not that Greg cares.  I just like to feel like I have something to show for my day.  I start rehearsing what I'd done today and realized, quite happily, that I had just spent nearly two-and-a-half hours holding a child.  It was fabulous.  One of those savor momentsssss (it was two-and-a-half hours, that deserves more than one "s").  Starting at 2 pm, I rocked Alice to sleep; read stories with Rex and then cuddled with him until we both fell asleep; woke up to Alice complaining so I cuddled with her and nursed her for a while then rocked her a bit and tired to get her to go back to sleep; then I woke Rex up and he laid on my lap for a while until he was really ready to be awake; then Alice complained again, so she sat on my lap while I played Memory with Rex.  It was a good day, even if I didn't get anything done.

(As a side note, I didn't have plans to get anything anyway so there.)