happy halloween...

...from Jango Fett:

...a feverish owl, same as last year (the owl, not the fever):

...and a "Chinese girl from Thailand*"

*apologies in advance; it was Avery's description, not mine

shorts

Earlier today, Cayden came out of his room and asked me if he could go play outside. He was dressed in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. It was 57 degrees outside. Not freezing by any means, but not warm enough to play outside dressed like that, in my opinion.

"Sure, if you wear something a little warmer," I responded.
"Like long pants?"
"Mmm hmm."

2 minutes later, he came out wearing long pants and a short-sleeved shirt. "Do I have to wear a coat too?"

"Yep, either that or a sweater."

2 minutes later, he came out wearing shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. "I didn't want to go out that bad."

yesterday was a bad day

Yesterday was just one of those days. I was within an arm's reach of Josie for 11 hours (in a row, no nap, no breaks) and she was whining for about 10.75 of those hours, I'm pretty sure. It was a school day for her, but it was a "shift day" for me and also the school costume party. (Was it a coincidence that the new mom got stuck working on that day? Hmmm.) Which means that all the kids in the school came for the first 2 hours, whether they were on the schedule or not. At some point, I counted 18 kids and 8 adults in a room that's used to holding 10 kids and 3 adults. It was crowded. And the kids were excited (and dressed up super cute). One kid--mine--was really whiny. She hadn't slept well the night before and that sealed her fate for the. whole. entire. livelong.day.

By the time Andrew got home, I practically threw Josie into his arms so her whining would be slightly less audible to me. I was thankful to be leaving the house for a soccer meeting... which is crazy because, trust me, those meeting are nothing to be thankful about. I just knew that by the time I got home, Josie would be asleep. Hopefully sleeping off her funk.

The only good part best part of the day was absolutely all the cute kiddos in their cute costumes:











*For those of you wondering, Josie slept 12 hours straight last night but it doesn't appear to have been quite enough to get her all the way out of her funk. I'm still holding onto hope that she'll snap out of it soon.

I might have to work some magic and find some time for a nap... for both of us.

abandonment

So tonight was a crazy night, where we each had different places to be at the same time (well, I guess that's been every night lately) so we had to do some kid-shuffling. Cayden's soccer practice started at the same time that Avery's ended so Josie and I dropped him off and sped off to get Avery. Since Avery and I were heading straight to book club, we swung through a drive-thru to get some grub for her and her sister. Avery ate in the car while Josie nibbled a bit here and there, on the way back to Cayden's soccer. Once we were there, I set her up in a chair with her dinner and explained that Avery and I had to go to book club. She looked a tiny bit perplexed but nothing too out-of-the-ordinary, then resumed eating her dinner. She's definitely good at rolling with the punches.

What I didn't know until I got home a few hours later was that after I left to go to book club, Josie suddenly looked over and saw Andrew (who was coaching Cayden's team of course), looked very surprised and ran over to greet him. The poor girl had no idea that her father was there... because her mother failed to mention that one important detail. She thought I just left her there to watch some soccer (presumably she at least knew it was Cayden's team, right?).

wordless wednesday #50

building the castle

As promised, highlights from Cayden's Taekwondo tournament. This occurred during hour 6, and comprised Cayden's favorite event, "Build the Castle". You may be wondering why it is called "Build the Castle," as opposed to, say, "Jump Over the Belt While Kicking." Well if you don't know, I'm not about to tell you. And neither is google, apparently, because it's coming up with nothing. The video is a little small, so just watch for the orange belt.

My favorite part is when Cayden tries to play off hitting the belt and then looks all shocked when the judge calls him out. In this household, we are all about fair play once you have been caught.

birthdays, birthdays, birthdays!

I've been bracing myself for this for 2 years now... the day when Josie would start getting invited to birthday parties! Thanks to Avery & Cayden, our weekends already always include at least 1 or 2 parties... and if the past week is any indication, that number is about to increase!

In all fairness, we kind of invited ourselves over to celebrate Henry's birthday. I did try to invite him over to our house, but Christie said he had a lot of new toys so we just couldn't pass that opportunity up! And there was no way we could let his second birthday go by without some kind of celebration... and of course some Chantilly cake. Yum. Avery came over to help with the cake & snack eating.

* * * * *

And earlier this morning was the first party of a school friend that Josie's been invited to... so we headed out to Pump It Up, Jr. for that little shindig (a 20-minute trip that took 60, thanks to the Run Like Hell marathon... arg). Pump It Up's always been one our favorite places, but Josie's never been so she had a blast!

Ravi (the cute blond boy on the left, next to Jojo) was turning three!

Yes, Josie is wearing the exact same outfit that she wore last week for Henry's party. No, I did not plan it that way... it was just the first thing I could find out of the clean clothes basket. I didn't even make the cupcake connection until I was taking this photo:

8.5 hours of tournament fun

I never would have guessed when I woke up this morning that I was in for close to 9 hours of tae kwon do watching. I might have stayed in bed if I had known that was the case! All kidding aside, today was Cayden's tournament and it was long. And 99% of it was incredibly boring. Cayden performed 3 times... he demonstrated his current form (won-hyo... video posted below for Iris), he sparred twice (once successfully, as seen above... the other time not so much), and he competed in "build the castle," which is basically the exact opposite of a limbo competition, hence all the practicing in the hall:

I think I'll have Andrew edit the castle competition video down (you know, to just show Cayden, because who cares about those other kids, right?) because some of the jumps are pretty impressive. How that boy ever manages to land on 2 feet is beyond me.

When all was said and done, Cayden won 3 medals and seemed very pleased with himself. He's obviously in his element with all this jumping and kicking and board-breaking. Next step, green belt test in about a month!

first school artwork!

Josie is defintely not the artsy-fartsy type. Although she likes to draw (or more accurately, write) at home a lot, I've never actually seen her do any artwork at school. She's painted a few brush strokes on paper but had yet to bring home any big creation... until yesterday. She proudly showed me her new... um... er... paper pumpkin ornament? Maybe? Whatever it is, she glued all sorts of things onto it (corn, birdseed, beans, barley? maybe?) and carried it around all day.

I don't anticipate seeing all that many more of her art projects from school, so I'll be sure to hang onto this one!

If she ever lets go of it, of course.

baby shower invitations

Since we got back from vacation almost 2 weeks ago, I have been buried over my head in school-related obligations. (With two schools now, each eating up a boatload of volunteer time, I might just go crazy.) In the middle of all that work and a broken (now fixed--yay!) computer, I offered to make some invitations to a baby shower for my cousin-in-law that I'm going to be co-hosting with my mother-in-law and aunt-in-law (that's a lot of in-laws!). No surprise, the invites turned out to be the funnest task I had all week... and, simple as they were, the most creative thing I've worked on in a long time.

wordless wednesday #49and sunriver finallyall crammed into one overdue post

for erin

I got the cutest email today from Dr. A, aka "Erin's mom" (you'll remember the McMillers, who moved from Portland to the Bay Area this summer?), saying that Erin was asking for more videos of Jojo. Since Josie gets just as much enjoyment out of watching Erin's videos (over and over again), we are happy to oblige... Erin, this one's for you! (It might be a tad boring if you're not into Little Pet Shops or 2 years old, but there is some good counting starting at about 1:35.)

And that right there, friends, is a really good example of how it's not always the best idea to upload pictures and videos from your camera on a regular basis. It never hurts to leave a few good ones on there just in case a technological disaster strikes. Assuming you don't misplace your camera, of course.

operation mommy freedom: day one

Loyal readers might be under the (incorrect) assumption that Josie has been in preschool for weeks now. We've visited the place three times and I've completed my three shadow shifts over the course of the past 2 months (twoooo moooonths)... which means Josie got to go today for real! Without me! Woohoo!

After such a long period of getting acquainted with the school and her classmates, she sure seemed like she couldn't care less if I stayed or left. We talked about it all morning, how I would leave her at school so she could play and I would be back after lunch. When we got to school and I was attempting to say goodbye (as she was attempting to get me out of her face so she could keep playing), I asked her if she remembered when I would be back.

"Mommy comes back on Tuesday!!"

Once I assured the other parents that I would in fact be back later in the same day, I left and Josie got on with her toddler life. I checked my phone about every 10 minutes to make sure I hadn't missed an emergency call, but there never was one. I returned to find Josie happily playing the piano with Sylvia. She yelled a quick "Hi, Mama!" when I walked in the door, but there were no dramatic hugs and kisses like when Zoe's mom comes back.

Oh well, that must just mean that she had a great time and not that she loves me less than Zoe loves her mom.

Day one: 100% successful*

*Well, maybe 99% successful. The fact that Josie was wearing her back-up Legoland t-shirt instead of her dress clued me in to the fact that something had gone wrong while I was gone. The fact that she was still wearing the tights that went under the dress had me perplexed for a minute. Then it was explained to me that when she went potty she was determined to do it all herself and that nobody thought to help her hike up her dress. So, she pretty much peed all over the back of her dress. Oops.

more technology woes

My trusty laptop is broken. Again. But this time the damage is more severe... the stupid thing won't turn on and even Andrew is worried that I might not get my stuff recovered from it (it's normal for me to panic about that, but when he's worried, I know I really should worry). The last time I backed up my photos was June, which means there are approximately 3000 photos on said laptop that I do not have another copy of. Thankfully, I've been diligent lately about uploading new pictures to my favorite online photo company... so worst case scenario, I can order them on CD. At 12-18 cents per photo, that really is a worst case scenario for me.

In other news, I haven't posted anything here since we got back from Sunriver... something was keeping me from writing until I had put up pictures from that adventure. But, since that's not going to happen anytime soon, I guess I can proceed as normal!

(I did manage to post a couple pictures and the video below on Facebook before everything was lost. Videos, I didn't think about the videos lost. So sad.)

wordless wednesday #48

I think Josie is ready for Cayden to go back to school

{overheard on the way back from the park today}

Josie: No! Stop it Cayden!

Cayden: I'm not doing anything Josie.

Josie: Yes you is Cayden! You is doing everything!

multiple choice pop quiz

It is 171 miles from Portland to Sunriver. If you leave at 12:38pm on a Friday afternoon and travel an average speed of 55 mph, how many times will your two-year-old have to stop to go potty?

a: one time

b: two times

c: three times

The correct answer is c: three times. And it would have been more if it hadn't been for that glorious hour-long car nap. Ah yes, car naps are the best.

hilarities

This afternoon, Josie did something funny (no clue what it was now but it's unimportant) and I told her she was hilarious. She apparently has not heard that word before because she repeated it about 572 times, pronounced just the tiniest bit wrong.

"Josie is hairyass."

"That was hairyass."

"This is hairyass."

"I be hairyass again."

wordless wednesday #47

obligatory first day of school pics

Josie started at her new school today. Since it was my first of 3 "shadow shifts," it was not unlike the 2 previous times that we spent the day there visiting. But, it felt somewhat more official today, since I tried to step back and let her interact with the other adults (all of whom she's convinced are her teachers).

All in all, the day was quite successful. Josie survived a few introductory pushes, hair pulls & toy grabs from her classmates and had no problem using the school's potty (you never know...). As luck would have it, she woke up with the beginning of a cold this morning so she was more sensitive & clingy than normal, and got super tired by the time the school day was done.

(Which meant that as my luck would have it, she took a nice long nap afterwards!)

Day 2 = Thursday

odorific

Life is ridiculously crazy right now, but I hate the thought of having that same lame post from days ago, so it's time to help get it pushed down the page a bit.

The kids' school got vandalized last week. Badly.

Fire hose + fire extinguisher = lots of damage.

It's sickening to think that someone/several someones had nothing better to do than to trash a school (and steal the food that was meant for the following morning's breakfast). Anyway, after a long weekend (I imagine) of drying and cleaning and drying and repairing and drying, it seems pretty well back to normal, more or less. A couple of classrooms (Cayden's included) had some flooding, but not enough to warrant replacing the whole carpet, so they're trying to just dry things out and see if that remedies the problem. His teacher mentioned this morning that it smelled pretty musty and moldy in there (blech... really conducive to learning) but, typical of a dedicated teacher, she was just going to make the best of it.

After school I told Cayden that I heard his room smelled bad and asked if it bothered him. His response?

"It bothers everyone else in there. But I like the smell. I hope it always smells like that."

Yuck.


*In other school-related news, Josie starts tomorrow!

Photos to follow.

imagination station

Thanks to Josie's awesome tot friends (and their moms, of course), we have been so busy lately. Gone are the days when I feel the tiniest bit guilty for Josie just having to tag along to her brother & sister's activities. Since school started, she has been to the zoo at least twice, OMSI, Out of This World Pizza & Play (we went before, if you recall, and it was just as awesome the second time around... seriously, you should go), two food carts, a fountain and probably even more places that I'm forgetting. She now wakes up and asks when we're going to see Henry & Avery, as if it's just a given that they will magically appear at some point during the day.

One would never have guessed from the title of this post, but that has nothing to do with what I was going to write about. I was going to write about how I decided to stay home this morning (which reminded me of all the fun things we've been doing and it all snowballed from there) and how fun it was to hang out with the little youngster one-on-one.

All of a sudden, she is all about the imaginative play. That was always something that interested her a little bit, especially being able to "make" us food from her play kitchen... but something different has clicked now. All morning she was coming up with new people to "be" and new situations to be in as those new people. Her very favorite person to pretend to be is our friend Amy. She points to herself and says, "Mama, this is Amy now. You say Amy." So I start calling her Amy and she thinks it's hilarious. Next, she usually insists that I have to be Kira (Amy's daughter), again by pointing to me and explaining, "this is Kira now. You say Kira." She gets confused when I (as Kira) refer to her as "Mom" so I just call her Amy, which makes her almost giddy.

I was able to guess that Josie's main draw to Amy is the fact that she actually gets to work every day in a preschool (she's obsessed with preschool right now), so I knew we had to create some kind of preschool spot. And that is how Josie came to have her first-ever fort made out of chairs and a blanket. She's been in heaven all morning. Ah yes, the simple things in life really are the best, aren't they?



And speaking of simple pleasures in life, Josie is now out of diapers during the daylight hours! She's even had two dry diapers overnight! Yippee! Exclamation points galore!!

humpty dumpty analysis

(not the cleanest language in the world, but funny nonetheless)