Our cutest baby in the world has been walking!
He started at a step or two, but he has graduated to five or six recently.
And with everyone within a mile radius of him, cheering him on every time he is on his feet — he is at it all day long.
He’s like the little engine that could.
And the most impressive fete — he can quickly walk away from an overly eager big sis.
This time was a crash and burn, but there are a lot of times when he actually makes it.
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Now just to clarify, I don’t know if I would call him a “walker” just yet, but he is just weeks away from claiming that title.
I know we are a bit early, but I am SO excited to officially break out the Santa diapers I bought on sale after last Christmas. I have used them very sparingly throughout the year. Only at times when I needed a little extra excitement when I was changing a dirty diaper — or let’s be real….when I was completely out of normal diapers.
But the bulk of them are still there, and during this season….my littlest one…
…is definitely the cutest little mini-Santa on earth!
I love a good and cheap art project.
So do my kids.
So directly from Michaels, for one dollar each, my kids had a good time painting their own snakes.
Scout went the colorful route.
Navy went for the fast route.
I missed the picture about 10 minutes later where her entire front side was painted also.
We had soccer, so she took the world’s fastest bath.
Too bad that we had soccer, because that bath looked like we had personally painted it to be blue/green later that day.
I’ll be the first to tell you that the paint looked much better on the snakes — and even Navy for that matter!
These three weasels got to go to Scout’s Fall Festival at his school.
It was a hit.
Micah and I were in charge of the “Hamster Run”, and my kids loved their tries at the big ball.
Navy had to have been the youngest one in it all night.
Then the slide — which is always a major attraction for my kids.
Navy loved it so much she got the Carnie in charge to really like her, and she cut to the front and got on the slide for free about four times.
(Remember I was running the Hamster Run.)
Meanwhile the cutest baby on earth was contentedly sitting by my side in his permanent chair as of lately.
Scout caught up with two of his best buddies — Dylan and Brody.
Then was off to compete in “Boogar Wars”.
He was in the dodgeball-style “war” for about 25 minutes.
He finally excused himself to play the other games.
My kids love carnival games.
So do I!
But why do they have to be so much darn money at the real carnivals!
Scout was the second kid of the night to pick the right key and open the treasure box.
He got all sorts of accolades for the big achievement.
Dash — still in his regular spot — was very entertained by this lip whistle.
Scout met up with another of his best buds — Henry.
We finished off the night with my personal favorite — the Cake Walk.
Look who got really into it!
Unfortunately, it was this little thing-thing who got her number drawn.
And to think she picked these homemade cupcakes.
You better believe those made it to the trash pretty quickly!
Who knows what type of conditions those were made in.
And what type of animal resides in that very same home.
Gross!
You would think that the day after Halloween wouldn’t be the best day to have another dress-up day.
Bergeson thought differently.
According to some parents — “It is the perfect day to send our kids in PJ’s because they will be so tired, we can let them sleep in and then drop them off at school”.
I have two problems with that.
First — my kids sleep in undies.
Second — clearly, I wouldn’t just get them up and send them.
This was another costume day for me!
And since Scout wore his tuxedo PJ’s on Halloween (the day they don’t dress up in costumes — just orange and black), we had to come up with a plan B.
Good thing I had these beauties in his drawer.
And better thing that my little confident boy put them on and walked into school proudly!
Micah keeps saying that he can’t believe that he walks in to school and doesn’t even flinch at the other kids who are staring at him.
I believe it.
I have been preparing him for this for years.
If I could, I would dress all three of my kids up every single day of their lives.
But because we go to church on Sundays, they get a break about one seventh of the time!
I will conceitedly admit that I think my kid’s costumes this year are the best I have ever seen. It must have been divine intervention when the thought “they could be shadows” came into my mind, because the amount of fulfillment and happiness these three shadows brought to me this past week, is almost unparalleled to every other thing in my life.
Without further adieu:
Meet my three shadows.
(There may be a play on words here, because they really are my three shadows in real life — especially that little mini one.)
My three shadows who tell secrets and are a little rascally.
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When I first introduced the costumes to Scout and Navy, they were higher than a kite. They put them on, and I had to threaten them to get them to take them off. They are obsessed with them. Especially while they sit still for 20 minutes in the dark– just waiting for someone to come close, and then they jump out to scare them. These costumes are amazing! Talk about camouflage.
But it wasn’t until Halloween night that I tried out Dash’s costume. I figured I only had a short time with his patience. Little did I know! This little boy tried to take off his mittens and face nylon (this is makeshift since they didn’t have a legit suit his size). When I sternly told him “no no” he never tried again! He was perfect! He was my ideal shadow. I can’t wait to see what I can do with him next year.
Look at these three.
I am slightly obsessed!
Here is mini shadow, just sitting in his car seat — waiting to hit up some houses for the goods.
We always try to hit up the Perkowski’s house before we leave. Luckily Gary passed them some yummy stuff. But, better y et, all of my kids had to wait patiently to eat any of their candy, because they didn’t want to de-shadow.
We hit up Auntie Gail for some healthy treats, and then Grandmas.
She took them to neighbors to get in some trick or treating.
Look at these three.
Aren’t they awesome!
Look at the shadow crawling.
So lifelike!
You’ll be amazed to know that my three shadows still beg to be held.
And when they are told that “mommy can’t”, they can throw tantrums like the shadow on the left.
(In that shadow’s defense, she told me about 10 times that day, “Mommy, my tummy doesn’t feel very good.” I didn’t buy into it too much because I couldn’t let a bad tummy ruin the showing off of my best costumes yet!)
But becuase of her bad tummy, I grabbed and held her.
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We headed off to Scummy’s house at this point where we met up with the kids to trick or treat.
This was really the first year that my kids did the real deal.
They loved it.
And although they could see really well, as it got darker and darker, a pregnant Bella helped them get down the walkways safely.
You would die over this boy — the cutest shadow on earth.
He sat in his stroller like a champ for 45 minutes straight.
He didn’t whine or complain even one time.
Finally, out of the goodness of my heart, I took his face mask off.
And it smiles as usual for my little Dashy!
We ran into “Sushi”, so made the original “Sushi” pose with them for a picture.
Here is our annual picture.
Scummy was disgusted with us and our annual lame costume.
Well, I was disgusted with her three 80’s rock stars!
When we got back to the Tackys, we opened up our bags, and Navy dug right into the gold!
All of that little stuff is for non-shadows!
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Scout dissapeared with Vaughn for an hour while they sorted and traded their candy.
And Dash cruised around for about 2 hours. You never heard him, but every once in a while, you would feel a fat little hand creep up you leg to let him stand, and then he would crawl off to something else. Like other people’s candy, that he would unwrap himself.
He really liked the suckers.
And naturally at the end of the whole night, Marc became the deejay, and we had ourselves one amazing dance party!
It was a perfect Halloween.
And the ending to a perfect night, was having two little sleeping shadows by the time we drove out of the Tacky’s neighborhood at 10:00.
And one big shadow giving us the play by play of his best Halloween night ever!
Navy had her first class party at Ms. Dianne’s preschool. All of the kids wore their costumes, and sang a bunch of songs.
My little shadow was loving the stage.
(Although I was not impressed with how quietly she sang — but it could have been that she was muffled by her costume!)
After the singing portion, they were going to bob for apples.
When ms. Dianne asked how Navy was going to do it, I told her to do it through her costume.
But, Tristen made me take the face part off.
She could have totally done it through her outfit — what a shame!
But seeing her smile was pretty priceless.
I love that she is the only girl — and the youngest in the class also.
This girl can hold her own!
The cutest spectator of the festivities leaned out to give Navy a “kiss kiss”.
I filled in when Navy was stuck on stage.
Then each kid got to hand out treats to their classmates — the “trick-or-treaters”.
Most people brought pre-packaged stuff.
And then there was RoRo who had to embarrassingly put brownies in each person’s bag.
Who are his parents?
Dash — the cutest pumpkin on earth — was loving the commotion.
After everything, the class sat down for a little Halloween lunch.
But when I realized the Navy is about the messiest eater on earth, and that the real Halloween was just hours away, I took her out of her outfit.
And because I didn’t pre-plan (like usual), I took Dash out of his outfit.
And put Navy in his little 12 month get up.
At almost 4 years old, it was a bit on the tight side.
But even a pumpkin wedgie didn’t slow this girl down.
Ms. Dianne — you did it again!
It was all a success.
But you better believe that I will be working with Navy on projecting that voice of hers when she sings — with or without a face mask.
We got an invite from the Zimms to carve pumpkins with them for family night.
Obviously we were in — especially when she offered up delicious soup, homemade rolls and amazing peanut butter brownies.
I was the adult sidekick to Scout — and our vampire pumpkin was simple and spooky, but not too scary.
The kids were great.
Can I just stop the presses to say that the girl in the blue tank is literally like an angel here on earth.
I think Dash is looking at her in this picture, because she is probably glowing to his pure little baby eyes.
All of those kids are awesome, and I love when my kids are with them because they have the best time.
And if our kids are together, that means we — the parents are also!
And any time spent with Jim Zimm is time well spent!
You too AZ!
The pumpkin carving was a success — even to the two over achievers you see above who were at the table about 20 minutes longer than anyone else!
Meanwhile, Jim Zimm was probably catching up on politics, while I created some sort of competition for the kids.
Based on popular demand, I put my kids in gymnastics.
Scout was so excited — and got to go back to an upper-level, all boys class.
And Navy is in the level that Scout used to be in.
Scout, my boy who follows directions like a professional, was used as the example several times his first week. When he came out, he told me, “Mom, the coach kept using me to show all of the other boys how to do things. And this is only my first week in class.” I told him that because he knows how to follow directions so well, all of the coaches and teachers really like him. He told me that I was right, because Ms. Shih uses him as the example a lot also.
And then there is Navy. I am SO pleased to report that she was P-E-R-F-E-C-T. She had one other little girl in her class who was pretty wild, and I was just waiting to see how Navy was in class, and she was amazing! She never goofed off even once, and she listened and followed directions flawlessly. When she came out, I gushed to her how proud I was of her. (I knew she had it in her, but was pleasantly surprised that she nailed it in her first class.) Then she told me, “Yeah mom, that other girl was acting crazy. She didn’t listen to the teacher at all!” I think she loved to be gushed over, and she has been telling everyone how well she did “at gymnastics”.
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