Happy Halloween

It took me over an hour to get all four children dressed last night. An HOUR. We began at 4:15 in the afternoon, with painting Emma and Elizabeth's finger nails. They were chompin' at the bit, wanting to get dressed up so I thought we'd begin with a little primping. Then it was a little face powder and eyeshadow. Then it was full-on bedlam, trying to be ready to be at our ward's annual Trunk-or-Treat and carnival at 5:30. We were taking pictures at 5:30... so not too bad, right? Especially considering I finished up with the costumes at about 3 o'clock.I may be prejudiced, but how cute are they?

Maddie and Annie's first Halloween. Pretty Ballerinas.

It's a hot dog dinner for us.

What is it about kids and Cheetos?

BFFs Elizabeth and Elijah.

Emma and her friend Lucy.

Happy Halloween....?

Since this blog is also my journal, this next part is for me. I woke up Wednesday morning with that sick feeling in my stomach that I was forgetting something. I had planned on the girls wearing white shirts to go with their tulle fairy skirts and wings. Unfortunately those skirts didn't cover as much as I wanted. And the sick feeling was the realization/remembering that Emma's white shirt had a big ugly stain in front and I had packed away all the shorts already. Thursday I decided I could make Emma a pink (long) blouse and hopefully I could dig out Emma's purple one from two years ago, so I bought material at Walmart. Friday after the kids went to bed, I cut out the pattern and started sewing. And sometime Saturday afternoon I finally finished it. It just wasn't quite as smooth as I had hoped. The cold medicine I was on made my thought process a little ...slow. In addition to that, I made Emma and Elizabeth little fairy wands and 4 tulle skirts for all my girls this last week. But they turned out and we had a good holiday.

Halloween Preview

One Halloween costume done, three to go.

Not Feeling Better Yet

11 Months

Annie and Maddie turned 11 months old on Saturday. It astounds me that we've made it this far. In another month, we'll be celebrating the twins birthday. (No more buying expensive formula! Woo hoo!!) Right now the twins are getting around everywhere. Maddie stands up all the time, and is beginning to "cruise." Annie is generally content to sit and play with toys while Maddie finds the action. This isn't to say that Annie can't get around, because she can, and no longer with the army-style crawling. But while Annie sits in the living room with the box of baby toys, Maddie plays with shoes by the front door, checks down the hall to see if the bathroom door is open (it isn't) and then goes into the kitchen to unload the drawer full of kitchen towels. Once Maddie starts attacking the kitchen, or if I'm in the kitchen, then Annie will join in the kitchen destruction.
They take cues from each other. If one baby is sad, often the other will start fussing too. I feel overwhelmed quickly with both Annie and Maddie crying. It's my personal belief that crying babies is a form of torture. With two babies crying, you don't even get the pause when there is a breath in, since baby #2 doesn't take a breath at the same time. And then I am stuck holding two babies and I am unable to take care of anyone else's needs or wants. On the other hand, it is great to watch them both while you play with them. If you tickle Annie's tummy, Annie laughs and Maddie will at the very least smile too. It's really fun to get them both laughing at the same time from just "getting" one of them. But sibling rivalry starts young with twins. When they both have binkies in their mouths, #1 will see another binky, grab it out of #2's mouth, spit out her own binky and put in the other. Then #2 will grab the binky from the floor and stick it in her mouth. Same goes for toys: whatever toy you have is cooler than the one I have.

The Best Part of Literacy

Fair Fun

Tuesday evening we went to the fair. We checked out Ryan's booth. It looked really nice. We went all crazy and got some crafty decorations for his booth this year.

This was made from jelly beans.

There was a candy theme going on at the fair.

I have pictures of the girls every year in this building with the hands-on stuff. It's nice to have a place for the girls to run around and be crazy. Elizabeth was entertaining the whole building with her high-pitched horse noises.

Emma and Elizabeth thought they were pretty cool when they got their very own ice cream cones this time.

Peaches

This comprises 2 1/2 hours of work last night after the kids went to bed. It was only one box of peaches and we have two. Our only thought was to get as many done as possible last night. The last batch was still going through the water bath after 10 pm. And we turn into pumpkins at 10 pm, so you can imagine how efficient we are by the end. We ran out of Fruit Fresh and lids (using what we had left over from last year), so it worked out ok. We will have to make a trip to the store this afternoon so we can go at it again tonight. There's no way we are wasting two boxes of free peaches!

Another Story About Elizabeth

Sunday was Stake Conference. It was the regional/broadcast one of the year, so we can attend our ward building and view it, rather than go to the Stake Center. This makes for a shorter drive, fewer people in a building for us, and the prophet attends, so it's really a win-win situation when you have kids. :o) We arrived early enough to get one of the "cushy" seats (i.e.- not the metal fold up chairs, but by no means comfy) in the middle-left part of the chapel.
While Elder Nelson was speaking, he invited 10 of his grandchildren up to the stand to sing the primary song, "Follow the Prophet." Then he asked all of the primary-aged kids to stand up and participate in singing the song. The lyrics would be broadcast on the screen, so if any of the kids were too short to see, they could stand on the benches. As we had impressed upon our children's minds the importance of listening to the prophet and apostles, Elizabeth bounced up at this request. It is important, as you all know, that all the pre-literate preschoolers stand on the benches so they could see the words.
As Elder Nelson informs the older members of the audience that they can sing along if they desire, Elizabeth, now standing on our bench, begins to belt out on the top of her lungs the chorus to Follow the Prophet:

Follow the prophet,
Follow the prophet,
Follow the prophet, don't go astray.
Follow the prophet,
Follow the prophet,
Follow the prophet, he knows the way.

Elizabeth then realizes that she is the only person singing by this time, and Elder Nelson is still talking. And everyone is chuckling and looking in our direction. Oblivious to what is happening in one small corner of Washington state, Elder Nelson cues the music and our impromptu choir begins singing together. Elizabeth is unsure of the words of the verses, but when the chorus comes around all three times, she sings it with all her might!

The Ring Leader

Look at this evil grin. You can almost see Mischief Maker plotting for the second picture. I had fun while I was washing Elizabeth's hair tonight.

Elizabeth was watching Beauty and the Beast and eating goldfish crackers when I left the room and when I came back, she had shared with Maddie. Crumbs, crumbs everywhere. And they showed up so well. I'm curious though, the lesson on sharing has taken hold, but how to impress on Elizabeth that some things we don't share with the babies? At least not while they are sitting on the carpet.

Mess Maker Strikes Again

The linen closet now has a child lock on it.