Dinner tonight...

Oliver went on a steak strike. Natalie said she was going to eat his, and forked a piece from his plate - trying to reverse psychology him. Instead of him flipping out, as he would most of the time, he said "eat it all", scooped up all of his pieces, and put them on her plate..

Halloween

A little late... The kids had a blast on Halloween! Natalie was Dr. Frankenstein, Oliver was Frankenstein, I was the Bride of Frankenstein, and Jon was Igor. They got lots of candy! We went to see Mitz and Pops first, then came back here to hand out our treats, and trick or treat.

The week before Halloween, we were teaching Oliver how to ToT. It was really cute! I'd go in the powder room, and shut the door. Oliver would grab his pumpkin, knock on the door, and when I opened it, said "Trick or Treat", wait for me to put something in his pumpkin, and then "thank you". The night of Halloween, he said "Trick or Treat" at every house, without being prompted, and somewhere along the way, started saying "Haaaaaap.......py Haw-weeeeeen", very slowly and very seriously - it was the cutest thing ever. Then the next day, he told us "get dark and get candy". :-P

Jon carved a bunch of pumpkins for the kids - did a great job. We had a Buzz Lightyear, Batman symbol, Batman face, and Spiderman face.

Quote of the evening went to Natalie though... On the way back home, she said "I can't WAIT to get to the sugar rush".

First quarter report card!

Natalie received her first quarter report card this past week, and I had our first parent-teacher conference of the school year. She is doing really, really well! Her teacher says she loves having Natalie in class, she's respectful, organized and a good friend to her classmates. She is one of her teacher's three go-to kids for other classmates who struggle a bit socially - that makes me really proud. She's very sensitive and kind, and I'm so glad she's a friend to everyone. Academically, she's also doing very well. Grading scale is 1-4, with 4 being the highest. Her teacher said that she gives out very few 4s this early in the year, as that indicates mastery. Natalie's report card was all 3s and quite a few 4s! This Tuesday is her Student of the Month assembly, which Oliver and I are looking forward to attending!

Little Monkey

While in Chicago, Oliver taught himself to climb in and out of the crib at Grandma's house. It was hilarious, and I foolishly thought that since his crib at home is lower to the ground (it just seems deeper because of how low it is), that it wouldn't be an issue at home. Yeah, not so much. Not 24 hours after we got home, he was climbing in and out of our crib, so off came the front, and now he's in a big boy toddler daybed. I took him out to pick out new bedding - he chose Toy Story/Buzz Lightyear, and loves it. I'm not going into a lot of detail, most of the people who would be reading this know the hell we went through when Natalie switched to a bed, but so far, he's doing really, really well!

I just wasn't ready for this - not only the fear of having him less contained, but it's just one more baby thing left behind. He's getting to be such a big boy!

Chicago!

Two weeks ago, we went to Chicago to visit Jon's side of the family. Natalie was on Fall Break, so we had the whole week! Had a great time - the kids had so much fun with their cousins, Will, Maggie and Owen - Oliver is still asking to go to Owen's house. And of course, they loved all of the time they got to spend with Grandma!

The flight out was a little rough - Oliver had a hell of a time, and made his displeasure known. Mama Bear (me, duh) tangled with a couple of fellow passengers, but we arrived safe and sound, and I managed to avoid getting arrested. :-P Natalie was her usual excellent traveler self - she just travels so well. Settles herself down on the plane and sits back and enjoys the ride.

Aunt Lois and Uncle Don drove in from Michigan - which was such a nice surprise! And they came bearing pumpkins, gourds, and some awesome candy. Got the whole group together - I think there was 16 of us (?), and we went to Aurelio's - a great local pizza place in Jon's hometown, where Grandma still lives and works.

Checked out a pumpkin patch too, which was a lot of fun. They had a Moo Choo ride, corn maze, kid's area with animals, you name it, they had it. Great place in Indiana. Go figure though... We left AZ in 90+ degree weather, and that weekend in IL/IN, it was 90 degrees! Mercifully, it cooled down in the early part of the week - we really enjoyed the crisp fall weather. The leaves were even turning, and it was so gorgeous.

Got to take the kids to the Shedd Aquarium, and also the Children's Museum at Navy Pier. Went to the parks around Grandma's house a bunch of times. Visited Grandma at work, at got a full tour of the school, and met a lot of Grandma's colleagues. We also had a chance to see Aunt Elizabeth's and Uncle Matt's new house (gorgeous!) and neighborhood - where Aunt Annie and I nearly got into a brawl at a bakery. Don't ask!

We also took the kids to see Great-Great Auntie Annie, and took her out to dinner. Oliver was fascinated with her wedding picture.

Oliver cracked us up one day... I had gone out to get doughnuts, and I guess Little Man fancied a snack one afternoon, and thought he'd be sneaky. All of a sudden, he came out of the kitchen with a shit-eating grin on his face, rubbing his belly with one hand, holding a doughnut with the other - saying "Mmmmm mmmmm mmmm" over and over. He busted himself!

Natalie was great with her cousins - she and Will really hit it off, and she was so good with Owen and Maggie. Sometime that first weekend, she looked at me and said "It's really great being here with the cousins, isn't it Mommy?".

It was such a great time, and we're looking forward to seeing Grandma out here in December - just a couple more months!

Working on pics. Backlog - sorry!

Soccer girl!

Natalie started soccer two weeks ago - same group with whom she takes karate. Just once a week, on Saturdays, so no weeknight practices to interfere with school, which is good! She's doing really well so far! The first week the coach just had the kids in the field, kicking the ball around and getting comfortable. She was right in there, going after the ball - really cool to see. Especially since I hated all sports. I kind of dig having a daughter who is a budding athlete! My favorite story from that session is, the coach put the kids in their positions. Got Natalie to her spot and told her to stand there. Whistle blew, and all the kids started running and playing, but Natalie stayed put. LOL! I wish she followed directions that well at home! :-P

I missed this week - upper respiratory infection that won't quit. Jon said this week was regular practice, skills building, and Natalie continues to do well. Apparently several parents asked him if she's played before, because she is very natural out there!

She wants to play football too. Oof. Not sure if I'm ready for that, seems so much heavier on contact. I didn't think girls were allowed to play football anyway, but found out that the Pop Warner program out here (and I'm not sure if that is the correct spelling, I haven't looked it up) does, and in fact, on one of the teams, the quarterback is a girl! But for now, I think Daisy/Girl Scouts, soccer and karate are enough activities!

It's a good thing he's cute

Oliver is sleeping with Jon and me this trip. We found out he sleeps very well with us when we were in Baltimore in June, so we decided not to haul along the crib my mom has this time around.

5:30 this morning, Little Man was prying my eyes open. When that didn't work, he resorted to saying "Eat eat Mommy" and proceeded to gnaw on my head.

So I did what any good mom would do. I sent him into the girls' room to torment them. They were already up, but being nice and quiet. I guess they heard him coming, and quickly locked their door. So he started growling outside the door, and when he didn't get a reaction, proceeded to beat on it. Totally wouldn't be funny at home, but I was cracking up this morning!