thisishalloweenthisishalloweenhalloweenhalloween

our zoe lane was nancy drew this year. (don't let the cheer leading pose fool you.) the only thing we bought for halloween was the skirt, that we got on clearance for a measly 5 bucks. everything else we had. yes, even the insanely crazy socks.

every single one of my babies has worn this green monster costume for halloween. max wouldn't wear it trick or treating, so i had to snap some quick clicks of the camera while he was trying it on. i realize now that i shouldn't have attempted that at nap time. it was itchy and a bit snug. he was equally upset when the hood was on or off. and the vampire teeth sucker that was meant to distract him just made him sticky, so his mean mom wouldn't let him near her camera. and that just ticked him right off.

riley grace was several different princesses for our many different halloween functions. the cinderella costume proved to be the least itchy, allowing me to get these very hurried pictures of her. sweet little girlie.

jakob was anakin skywalker again this year. he was in the middle of conquering "lego battles" on nintendo ds and couldn't be bothered with photos. he suggested i post a link to the pictures of him last year. i found that to be very inventive of him. so you can see jakob HERE.

cheer

zoe did the cheerleading clinic again this year. john paul and i decided this would be a good time to divide and conquer, since she would be cheering right around bedtime. i went to one of her practices, so john paul got to go the night of the game. he loaded up zoe and jakob and the freshly charged video camera, and off they went. when he got home, he claimed he didn't record any of the cheers or dance because the video camera was dead. bummer. but he assured me that (just like last year) she was the cutest one out there. but still, i was disappointed i didn't get to see it. but sometimes, on sunday afternoons, we watch home movies. and when i put the most recent disc in, i discovered about 15 minutes of people's feet...on bleachers...at what appeared to be a high school football game. just sayin'.

almost famous

http://www.commercejournal.com/archivesearch/local_story_299115049.html

look who was on the front page of the paper!! the children's museum had a "mother/son pirate adventure" and jakob and i tore it up. yes, i am wearing a skull and crossbones bandana on my head. yes, i have a pirate printed tee shirt on. and yes, those are giant hoop earrings i am wearing. (i haven't worn earrings for about 12 years. i gave them to zoe. she's been begging for giant hoops. there you go.) not exactly the picture i would choose to have plastered on the front page, but this is a small town. it's not like any more than 9,000 people saw it...and now all of you.

her party

4 days after jakob turned 7, birdie turned 4. we let her be in charge of every aspect of her party. she's 4, now. she's pretty responsible. so riley chose the decorations:

• purple streamers
  pink and purple balloons
• purple tablecloth, purple plates, purple cups
• purple flowers

she chose her cake and helped decorate it:

• barbie cake with a purple dress.
• purple flowers on the bottom.
• sugar "happy birthday" letters

she chose the agenda:

• decorate bags (to hold pinata candy).
• run around and laugh and scream
• whack the pinata (a pink and purple unicorn we got for $2 at goodwill).
• get upset that your sparkly little unicorn friend has been hung in a tree and beaten with sticks and is now on the ground being torn apart.
• make candy necklaces and bracelets.
• giggle giggle giggle.
• open presents. riley's friends (or their mommies) must know her really well. she got a disney princess cd player, fancy dress up shoes, make up, and tons of jewelry.
• dress up.
• put brand new make up on anyone who will sit still.
• dance to princess music.
• eat purple barbie cake.
• scream with delight when we see that even the inside of the cake is purple.
• stick sugar letters on cheeks.
• beg to do it all again tomorrow.
  

jakob is 7

when we became a family of 6, we adopted the idea to only throw birthday parties on even years. (when they are turning 2, 4, 6, 8...who do we appreciate?) and on the odd years, they can invite one friend to do something fun. this year jakob turned 7, and that boy knew exactly what he wanted to do. he wanted to go bowling with his best friend in the world, bryan. they were in the same kindergarten class last year, and upon discovering they were both die hard star wars fans, they were virtually inseperable. we are so in love with our little jakob gray. and here are 7 of our favorite things about the boy.

1. when he wakes up in the morning, he is excited and ready to go.
2. he is sincerely concerned about all living things (and cartoon characters, cg beings, and stuffed animals), hoping they are not hungry, or cold, or lonely.
3. he is a great hugger.
4. he's happy eating the exact same thing for lunch every day of his little life.
5. his teacher insists that he is a perfect student. not caring as much about grades or being "the smartest" (although he is very smart) as he does about being obedient and kind and helpful.
6. he adores his family.
7. if you give that boy a job, he will go to the ends of the earth to accomplish it.

happy birthday, jakob!! i'm so happy you are in our family. you make us so happy.

hair

last sunday, we were having a seemingly quiet afternoon, when john paul walked out of the bathroom and said, "there is a huge pile of curly blond hair on the floor in there!" what?! that's impossible! we confiscated all scissors! (after bird gave herself layers and sweeping bangs last year, it became clear that she could not be trusted.) but i had forgotten i was letting the big kids do a craft in jakob's room. we made sure the door was closed. i don't know why that put me at ease. after all, she does have operable thumbs. so sometime between jape snoring on the couch and me playing tractors with max, riley went into jakob's room, snuck the scissors into the bathroom and cut a good 9 inches off of her hair. she came clean that she wanted short hair like one of her best buddies, caitlyn. i informed her that beau's mommy is the only person that has permission to cut her hair. she agreed. we made an appointment. and riley got an adorable new do. jape absolutely loves it, saying over and over how cute it is. and although i love it, too, i miss the curls. i miss the little girl with the curls. she looks way too grown up. and it is blatantly staring me in the face that my little girl isn't all that little anymore.

brilliant

zoe has been asking for a digital camera for over 2 years. so this christmas, we finally came through. i've been talking to zoe about cameras for months. what kind she wants, how much we were willing/able to spend, it's capabilities. eventually it came down to one camera and one camera only. she chose this camera based solely on it's color. i tried to sway her multiple times. there were better cameras, at comparable prices with better options. but that girl would not budge. not in a stubborn sort of way. more like a "no thank you. this is exactly what i want." i considered getting the one i wanted for her. the better camera. but then i imagined her sweet little face opening her present on christmas morning and seeing a hint of disappointment. and i couldn't do it. so this is the camera that i bought and stashed in the closet, prepared to wrap in 2 months. but then my precious little canon got sick, and i had this brilliant idea. what if we give zoe her present early so that way we can at least have some sort of documentation that we all still exist. so if you see pictures on this little blog, it is thanks to the little mint green block that zoe absolutely adores. "maybe i'll be a fashion photographer! smile."

sad but true

my sweet little camera is sick. specifically, her auto focus is being difficult. and her manual focus is lazy. and until a bag of money falls from the sky, so that i can take her the doctor, there will be little to no pics on this here blog. sorry about that, because it really is my favorite part of all this "blogging" business. the pictures. so i'll be watching the sky, and hopefully i can get back into my groove.

i'm sure you've already seen these

but when i watched the crowd of thousands dance to "the black eyed peas" on oprah, i got that same giddy, teary-eyed, hyperventilating feeling i get everytime i watch these. i just can't help myself.

maxwell's dictionary

max isn't much of a talker. he doesn't really need to be. he will repeat anything and everything (so watch yourself) but the words he chooses to say with no prompting melt my heart.
swing \whin\n. 1. please push me in the pink swing 2. the blue swing will do if someone is already in the pink swing
jump \dum\vb 1. i want to bounce on the trampoline 2. i'm going to jump in the pool whether you're watching or not
no \'no\adv 1. if i say "no" high and sweet, i really mean "yes". 2. if i say "no" low and grumpy, then i mean "no"
what \'wat\adv in response to any question you ask me (we haven't completely figured this one out. he says it all the time. but i'm pretty sure he thinks it means "yes")
ball \'ba\ n. 1. i want that ball 2. i want you to catch the ball 3. i want you to throw that ball at me and if it happens to hit me, i'll laugh and laugh
jakob \day'kuh\n. 1. boy to play with 2. small male person i'm always excited to see 3. someone who can remove me from my crib.
riley \wa'wee\n. 1. best friend 2. someone i love to see/play with/snuggle/accuse of stealing my blankie\bang'din\n.
zoe \zuh'\ n. 1. yea! you're home! 2. please share your snack with me 3. girl bigger than "wawee" who can put me on the trampoline and get me out of the swing 4. girl who occasionally locks me out of her room
hot \ha'\ adj. 1. the trampoline/cement is hot on my feet 2. i'm concerned the food you are trying to feed me is hot 3. i don't want the food you are trying to feed me, so i'll stall
stuck \'tuh\vb 1. come quick! i'm stuck 2. come quick! something i want is stuck 3. come quick! i want you to open this jar/door/toothpaste that i'm probably not supposed to have
max has recently started putting 2 words together. that one \da'win\, daddy's home \daddy oh\, stop it \dop eh\ and want bite \un bye\. they just might be the cutest sentences known to man.

school days

the first week of school went off without a hitch. jakob started 1st grade with mrs. sturch (who we all immediately fell in love with) and was an old pro. "it's just like kindergarten!!" he knew where to meet before school started, what to do in the lunch line and how to sit on the curb while he was waiting for us to pick him up. everyday, mrs. sturch says something like, "i just love him! i want to keep him forever! i wish i had a million more jakobs!" i said to jakob, "wow. mrs. sturch really likes you." he very confidently told me, "yeah. because i'm the best kid in school." zoe was the tiniest bit apprehensive to start this year. she was in a brand new school, so the idea of not being familiar with where to go and what to do made her nervous. plus, none of her best little girly friends were in her class so she was feeling a bit secluded, (and she reminded us that she wouldn't see jakob in the halls...or collin or cameron or jayden or opheina.) but after the second or third day she was right as rain, once again feeling comfortable and happy, and although she doesn't talk about mrs. feduccia much, it's always nice things. so we are looking forward to another beautiful year. (although jakob is already asking if he can skip...pretty please... just this once.)

divide and conquer

there are millions of reasons why i love my little family. the fact that it's easily divisible by 2 is one of my favorites. taking on 2 kids is easy and completely do-able. and no matter how we divide our wee ones, it's even. boys vs. girls. in school kids vs. at home kids. big kids vs. little kids (don't let riley hear you call her little.) good kids vs. bad kids. kidding. i'm KIDding! 2, for us, is pretty simple. but we are trying to spend one on one time with them, too. and we have found that just taking one kid out of the mix (it doesn't matter which one) makes it infinitely easier. but amidst our quest of division, we realized we were never mommy+daddy+child. it was always mommy+children and daddy+children. so we have remedied that. it will be rare, but it will be. we have decided that we will take trips with each child, individually, when they are 8, 12, and 16. hopefully bonding us as parents and child. we decided to make the 8 year old trip a day trip. and let them choose what we do. all day. this summer when we were visiting jp's family in nc, we left the 3 youngest with nana and grandad and took our eldest for a "day in the life of zoe". jp was hinting towards a water park, i kept hoping for a play, but zoe made the final decision. she chose to go to the mall and get her ears pierced, go to build-a-bear and to eat at the nearest restaurant. (i think it was a friday's, or bennigan's or something exactly like it.) we had so much fun. she was thrilled that she got to get dessert (chocolate covered strawberries) and felt so grown up with tiny blue earrings. john paul and i were ecstatic that we could have a conversation with our sweet girl and not be interupted. that we got to hear everything she had to say. and that we had a chance to remember to just look at her. and smile at her. and let her be loved. it was a huge success. she is already planning what she wants to do for her 12 year old trip, and making suggestions for jakob on what he could do next year for his first trip. maybe he will be more easily swayed toward the play. but, i highly doubt that.

tweetsie railroad

aunt sara's

sara is 16 months younger than john paul. and that girl has got an amazing memory. she also has a pool and a cotton candy machine and kittens, which made her house (according to the monkeys) one of the greatest places on earth. but even if her house didn't have any of those things, it would still be awesome. because sara is happy and fun and gives the best hugs. thanks for inviting us, sara! we had tons of fun.

**oh yeah. i love love love both of the pictures of riley and sara. they are making the exact same face.