kinky

One day last week, Olivia came home from school talking about her friend Morgan's "kinky" hair. Now, I've seen Morgan, and her hair has about as much "kink" as a ruler, so I wasn't really sure what she was talking about. But she continued obsessing about how she wanted kinky hair. Today I finally decided to see what I could do with a bottle of water, a few hair elastics, and my rusty braiding technique. Here's what we came up with...

...good thing tonight was bath night! Do you think she knows her mom had that hair about 20 years ago?

(She LOVED it, by the way, so I have a feeling I'll be doing it again!)

what a blast!

We had a blast at The Blast!

Last week, the kids and I met Nikki and Jaci at The Blast in Eagan for a long overdue playdate (for both the moms and the kids!). For those of you who aren't familiar with The Blast, it's a space-themed indoor play area with slides, tubes, and tunnels that provide tons of entertainment in addition to completely wiping the kids out. It's totally enclosed, and on a weekday afternoon, completely EMPTY. It was like we had rented it for a private party for 3 kids and 2 moms! Olivia is really good at maneuvering, manipulating and mastering the equipment, and Jackson is getting there. I did have to climb up to rescue him once or twice, and Nikki was gracious enough to do the same. Thanks for a fun afternoon, Nik & Jaci- we can't wait to do it again soon!

halloween

Choosing Halloween costumes for your young children is kind of a high pressure responsibility. You may think that sounds silly, but last year I chose a monkey for Jackson and a ladybug for Olivia. They were adorable, but Olivia had numerous meltdowns in the days before Halloween because SHE wanted to be the monkey. Well, I couldn't very well put Jackson in the ladybug costume, so I went back to Old Navy to exchange the ladybug for another monkey. Bummer...no more monkeys. She wore the ladybug, and she ended up being OK with it, but she still preferred the monkey costume. I vowed to buy two of the same costumes for them this year (and every year going forward, until they could be trusted to choose their own).

Then I saw a cow costume at a garage sale this summer. It was cute, cheap, and in perfect condition, so I bought it. My plan was to find a second cow costume for child #2. The one from the garage sale seemed to fit Jackson better, so it was his. Once that decision was made, Olivia insisted on being a pig. I don't know why, but there was no way she was going to be anything else (so much for my "everybody's going to be a cow" plan). Maybe she was stuck on the farm animal theme...maybe she likes pink...or maybe, as my sister Cole suggested, she thought of her favorite books about Olivia the pig (Ian Falconer), and wouldn't dream of being anything else. No matter what, once she's made up her mind, good luck changing it (wonder where that comes from?). Anyway, I had to bite the bullet and order a pig costume online (why couldn't Target just stock it so I could pick it up instead of having UPS deliver it to me?). And $36.57 later, we had a pig costume, and she was absolutely thrilled! We'll see what happens next year...Olivia has already announced that she is going to be a princess, and Jackson has every intention of being Thomas the Train. Halloween costumes are a racket, let me tell you.

For the 3rd year in a row, we spent Halloween with Jamie, Wendy, Josh and Julia. We were lucky enough to have Nik and Rod, and Connor and Jaci join us this year, too! We got together early to have pizza (and drinks, of course!), and then went out trick-or-treating as a group. It was such a beautiful night- no need for winter coats or mittens this year! We pulled the wagon along for Jackson, so that he could make it for the whole trip- he's still building up to marathon distances (but is well on his way!). Olivia took off with the big kids, and Jackson stayed with mom and dad so that he wouldn't get run over...kids on a candy mission don't often stop for a wee one who topples easily (not even his sister). They had so much fun running from house to house, squealing at the scary decorations and checking their candy buckets to see what they got.

When we got back to the house, there was the fully anticipated feeding frenzy- Jackson and Olivia tried Milk Duds for the first time, which was really funny. I think it took each of them about 10 minutes to get one down. The kids played for awhile, and when the sugar crash started, we put the girls to bed in Julia's room, and the boys in Josh's room...a segregated sleepover of sorts. Jackson was out within minutes, but the girls giggled and talked for quite awhile. Once they were all down, the adults busted out the Wii. We bowled, boxed, and played tennis. Nikki was the boxing champ, but I'd like a rematch once I can move my arms again! It was a great time, and we're so lucky to have such good friends to create memories with!

harvest party at preschool

Jackson and Olivia have been attending preschool 2 days a week since school started in September. They both absolutely love it! They've got fantastic teachers, and they've really enjoyed getting to know the other kids in their class. When I pick them up, it's like a contest to see who's first to tell me about what they did and who their new best friend is (as it changes daily!). Since I stay home with them, they haven't had a ton of exposure to structured activities- we did some ECFE classes last year, and we do lots of playdates with friends, but this is their first true school experience without me by their side. I'm so proud of how well they've adapted!


Last Thursday was their Harvest Party, and I volunteered to help out with the festivities. It was so much fun to see them in their school environment. They got to put their costumes on at the beginning of the party, and we went trick-or-treating to a few rooms in the school. Jackson was more than happy to walk with his dear old mom, but Olivia preferred to hang with her teacher, Miss Mary. Perhaps that's a sign of a future "brown noser"...she is my daughter, after all, and I was a teacher's pet from my first day of preschool on! (Maybe I shouldn't admit that?!?) Anyway, after trick-or treating, the kids got to listen to a story, sing some songs, and make a few different Halloween related art projects. They were definitely the cutest cow and pig I've ever seen, and they had such a fun time...as did their mom!

the leaves are good for something

The kids and I hit the backyard last week to have some fun in the leaves- had I known it would be so entertaining, I would have done it as soon as they started falling! As I mentioned in my last post, we don't actually have any trees of our own in the backyard. But we do live at the bottom of a little hill, so we seem to collect plenty of leaves from the high ground...and we stole a few more from our neighbors Jim and Sandy to make some good piles to jump in, fall in, lay in, cover ourselves with... and track in the house! These are just a few photos from our fun leaf (or "weaf", as Jackson puts it) adventure!