Happy Halloween

It's Halloween Day and the kids and I are pumped!  Our neighbor, Sarah, tagged along with us as we tore up the neighborhood.  Brenner cruised around in the stroller.  He was fine for the first leg of our trip, then as it started getting dark, he wanted out.  So, I held him for a bit, but I knew that wouldn't suffice.  We ran into some friends which was a perfect time to regroup.  So I let him crawl around and I gave him a bucket of candy that he had fun dumping.  And then I thought, if Brenner was walking, this would be so much easier.  Back in the stroller he went and the shrill cry came instantaneously.  I'm not kidding.  If you ever lose us at a park, or in a mall, or within a 5 mile radius, never fear.  As soon as the screams hit the air, we will be found.  It's actually quite ridiculous.  I have to hush him all the time.  When he gets mad, oh is he mad.  But he cooled off and it was smooth sailing from there.  Just give the boy a bucket of candy and he'll have fun throwing it out the stroller.   

Emmy kept her headband on for the most part.  She took it off a few times, and I sometimes managed to get it back on her head.  She did great saying "Trick or Treat" followed by a shy "Thank you."  She had a lot of fun watching the other kids.  Sarah and Emmy held hands almost the entire time.  I brought the double stroller, just in case Emmy needed a quick rest.  Who am I kidding.  She kept up with the kids.  She noticed Sarah grab a piece of candy, unwrap it, and pop it in her mouth.  So Emmy thought she'd grab a sucker and do the same.  No problem.  One piece of candy.  I can handle that.  Except she wanted to do it again and again and again.  We had a short meltdown at one of the last houses.  The piece of candy she was given at the door, she wanted to unwrap.  "No, Emmy.  You already had one."  The streaming sobs ignite.  "Emmy, if you stop crying and pouting you can pick one more piece of candy out when we get home."  We started walking to the next house and she turns around and looks at me and says in the sweetest little girl voice, "Mom, sorry I was crying and pouting."  That girl melts my heart.

So I would say our Halloween was a great success.  We missed you Daddy!   

My friend pointed out to me how cute it was that Emmy was wearing her shoes on the wrong feet after seeing my pictures.  I investigated the above pictures, and finally I had to go look at her shoes.  Then, I looked at the picture below.  Yep.  Sure enough.  Her shoes were on the wrong feet the entire night.  Can't say that I noticed.  But now this picture just makes me laugh.  That's how we do things around here.  We usually have food on our faces, dirt stains on our clothes, sunglasses upside down, and shoes on the wrong feet.  That's how we roll.

Let's Get Girly

Halloween is an excuse for 3 year-olds to wear make-up and curl their hair, and wear the brightest shade of pink nail polish, right?  Well, apparently it is at our house.  As I was getting ready this morning and putting my make-up on Emmy says that she needs to wear make-up too.  She tells me this every morning.  And my friend sent Emmy the most fabulous birthday present, a wooden make-up case with wooden make-up galore:  tubes of lipstick in 3 shades, a palette of eye shadows, a powder case etc...   So when she asks to wear make-up I tell her to go get hers, and we'll do it together.  However this morning when she asked me, I told her "Okay, I'll do your eyeshadow."  So I put a baby pink and a shimmery gold on her eyelid.  And it was fun!  I haven't done someone's make-up since my sister's prom.  And then we finished off the look with some lipstick and instead of lip gloss which I occasionally let her wear, she chose chapstick.  And there you have it.  Perfection!

Then during Brenner's nap, we painted our fingers and toes a striking shade of pink.  Emmy loves getting her nails done.  Sometimes I have to distract her to keep her still.  She'll start fidgeting, and I'll say, "Emmy can you tell me your abc's?"  Then she'll start bouncing along to the song, and I have to change the distraction by asking, "Emmy, did you get a pumpkin at school?  Tell me about the pumpkins."  And then she miraculously stood still and told me a story.

Next, we whipped the curling iron out and did some fun little curls in her hair, knowing that no amount of hairspray could hold these curls long enough for trick-or-treating.  But that's okay, I got a few pictures and she sure had fun posing.

Here she is all dolled up.  Diva-licious! 

Odds and Ends

Here are a few more random events...

Brenner has his first chore.  And it was actually Emmy's first chore too.  And he loves it just as much as she did.  Emptying the dishwasher.  Oh the joys of emptying the dishwasher.  His favorite...the silverware.  And it's really the only thing he can actually get out of the dishwasher without me saying, "Ahhh... No Brenner, that will break!"  So, first things first.  I quickly snatch up the knives.  And then he does pretty well with the rest.  He stands up next to the dishwasher.  He has one hand securely attached to the plastic dish rack, and the other hand snatching silverware one at a time.  He gives me a spoon and I say very enthusiastically, "Thank you!!"  And he grins and chuckles while I put it away in the drawer.  And he grabs another, to which I again respond again, very enthusiastically.  He cracks a chuckle again.  It goes back and forth and it's so cute.  And then Emmy comes over and helps me unload the rest, breakable dishes and all.  She's good like that.  Such big helpers I have.

Brenner's newest trick is climbing in his shopping cart.  And while he's in the cart, he's learned to climb on top of the side tables.  I have to keep a close eye on that little guy. 

Emmy is really getting a hang at this pedaling thing.  Her pedals are not the easiest to push.  And it's taken a long time to get the motion.  She usually does it the hard way.  She pushes one foot until the pedal goes around and then the bike comes to a stop and she pushes the other foot down until that pedal goes around and then the bike stops again.  So Wade and I have been trying to get her to keep pushing the pedals one foot at a time while keeping the bike moving.  And, yesterday, she pushed her pedals and rode that bike in a circle all by herself.  So proud.

 These two are just the best.  They light up my life.  They make me feel whole. 

 Emmy got these silly glasses in a goody bag from gymnastics.  They took turns trying these glasses on.  Brenner's hilarious.  He gets so frustrated when he can't put them on by himself.  So I help him.  He smiles for two seconds and then pulls them off.  Then he gets mad again.  But in those two seconds, I snapped this:

He loves trying on Emmy's sunglasses too.

 Here we are being silly.  We're sitting on the kitchen floor, and I'm trying to take a self-portrait of all 3 of us.  And I'm either cutting Brenner completely out of the picture, or Emmy's hair is in her face and she's not smiling.  Or I just look like a dork.  Finally, I got this one.  And I couldn't stop laughing while taking it because Emmy is squeezing my face with her fresh perfectly-painted pink nails.  That's her new thing.  She likes to squeeze my neck against her while saying, "Cheeeese!"  So, even though I'm being squeezed to death and chuckling away, this is it.  Me and my two.
 

 Emmy was finished taking pictures, so here are a few of mommy and baby boy.

More of My Little Sweets

These two kids keep me running.  Whether it's changing Emmy's clothes on the hour from summer dresses to sweaters and crazy leggings, and then to Tinkerbell fairies and princesses until her little heart's content... or whether it's chasing after Brenner trying to find the danger ahead before he does. Because after all, danger is his middle name.  Haha.  No, not really.  But it should have been...

I love nothing more than spending my days with them.  Watching their excitement, anticipating their questions for which I need my mom's wise answers, and sharing in their enthusiasm for finding fun in the little things.  There's simply nothing more that I'd rather be doing than sharing these fun moments, these little moments, with my little sweets.  Here are more pictures of those 2 reasons why I love love LOVE being a mommy.

Brenner desperately wishes he could ride Emmy's big girl bike.

On yet another gorgeous October day, we decided to give Dad's car a nice wash.  Emmy insisted on changing into her rainbow bikini and giving the house a fresh coat of...water.  And Brenner...well he insisted on playing in the bucket of water.

Emmy and I took advantage of a beautiful afternoon and sat outside Brenner's window while he napped and soaked in the sun.  I caught up on some reading, while Emmy chilled and sipped on some apple juice.  Beach chairs in the front yard...rockin' it baby. 

Those two are the best of friends.  Occasionally they fight over toys, shovels, and princess gummy fruit snacks; but the love this brother and sister share is unbelievable.