Halloweeeeeeeen!!!

Halloween is quickly becoming my favorite holiday.  I get such a kick out of getting everyone dressed up in matching or coordinating outfits and it doesn't hurt that my children look like delectable morsels when they're all dressed up either.  Macy set up her photography equipment again at the trunk or treat and because I knew she would be there, I made sure we were ready for the camera. 

I finished their costumes probably two hours before we headed out the door.  The outfits Chase and I wore were pulled together in about ten minutes!  We decided that if a witch and Dracula got together, they'd probably have human bat offspring.  Thank goodness for my black sheet which I cut in half and turned into capes, the Elvis wig Chase wore two years ago, and the black dress hanging in my closet.  We were overjoyed when we found our lost billy bob teeth too. 

I don't know what it is about billy bobs that gives me the green light to act light a complete fool in front of the entire ward.  Maybe it's because half of them didn't know who we were.  Less pressure:-)
 

We loved getting all our "candle pumpkins" (that's what Jack calls them) ready.  Chase insisted on making a scarecrow this year.  I've never made one.  The picture doesn't show his make-shift head and we'll just let y'all assume it looked fantastic. 

I got the idea to make bat costumes from my friend Dana and her blog: www.danamadeit.com.  It was fun running into her while we chaperoned at the stake dance a few weeks ago so I could thank her for yet another costume idea.  She's pretty much my hero because she makes these costumes look so easy to make.  I thought it would be a piece of cake too.  I was wrong.  I ended up making the capes pretty easily (without mentioning that I had to take a match and finish off all the silver lining so it wouldn't fray).  The bat hats put me over the edge.  I must have made four or five before I finally figured out how big I needed them to be.  And because I can only sew when the kids are either asleep or at school I had to use my own head for measurement.  That being said, I think they turned out pretty cute.  I can't handle how precious my little Austin bats are. 

AHHHHH!!  Those two teeth again.  I can't handle it!!

Chubby little bats are my favorite.

 

These three!!! I just love them to pieces!!!!

There's no way I would have gotten this many smiles out of G if Chase wasn't standing behind me acting like a lunatic. 

Jack insited on being called "batman."  He really wanted to be Spiderman for Halloween but I'm a mean mom and made him wear what I made (it took me three days for Pete's sake!).  His friend Chase was being Superman and he wanted to be a superhero too.  Apparently they are all the rage with the three years olds this year.  Next year I might not have as much room for negotiation.  His opinions are getting stronger and stronger these days.

This picture is so scary!!!  Poor George was probably petrified and wondering where is a "little less crazy" mom went. 

The alternative wasn't much better.  His Dad was replaced by a tooth baring Dracula with blood (reeking of nail polish) running down his mouth. 

He loved fishing through all the candy at the end of the night.  He couldn't believe his good fortune when he somehow landed a Swedish fish in his premature mouth. 

Looking all hyper and perky with those ears. 

This one's just for shits and giggles.  Happy Halloween y'all!

Sadie's first piano recital

We were beyond excited to watch Sadie perform in her very first piano recital.  You wouldn't have known it was her first by her outstanding confidence and zero fear of getting up there in front of everyone.  Because it was around Halloween the kids were encouraged to dress in their costumes and there would be a prize for the best costume.  Because I labored excessively over her costume, I was secretly hoping she would win:-)

The only wrinkle in the plan was Jack getting the stomach flu the night before after the Trunk or Treat.  He had eaten his entire bag of candy and puked it all up before going to bed.  He continued throwing up well into Saturday morning and we feared the recital would just have to be missed.  But after finding a babysitter (four phone calls later) we were able to attend while Amanda Severson sat at our house as Jack slept in his bed.  Hooray!!

I was able to accompany Sadie and she played beautifully.  She ended up playing 4 spooky Halloween songs and guess what....she won best costume!!  She whispered to me that it was actually me who won the contest because I was the one who made her costume.  But she won for looking so dang cute in it!!

Daddy brought her some flowers and ran out after her performance to attend to Jack if needed (he ended up sleeping the whole time we were gone...phew!)
After her concert we stopped by a field to see some horses.  Chase and I were dying over this picture because she looks like a bat who ran into a fence. 

I then took my little bat to Costco for some last minute Sunday meal preparation.  She was admired by all but especially by me! 

Sweet Berry Farm

Probably the most expensive way to buy pumpkins is to drive an hour west and pick out pumpkins that are WAY overpriced just for the sake of letting the kids get their pumpkin from a "patch."  We've heard about Sweet Berry Farms for a couple of years now and finally headed out to check it out.  Admission was free but just like the rodeo, we had to buy tickets for all the activities.  These included jumping on the berry bounce, a train ride, corn maze and a hay ride....of course. 

 It ended up being a tad pricey but tons of fun for the kiddos. We could finally put to rest Jack asking every ten minutes if we could go buy some "candle pumpkins." 

Corn maze cuteness.

Berry bounce!!  Sadie was a champ but Jack couldn't seem to get the rhythm of it all.  Pretty hilarious to watch:-)

Hay ride!

Train ride.  We even let Sadie hold George so he could be entertained by it all.  Everyone loved it, especially Jack which isn't hard to tell by his expression above.

Thought we could get away with not bringing the double jogger but of course the kids always prove us wrong. 

 

Growing TOO Fast!!

 

Our little lady is growing like a weed.  Still the smallest one in her class (which I love:-), but quickly growing out of her pants and all her size 4 clothing...finally.  Perhaps we can now start buying size 6 for her at the end of her sixth year. 

One thing Sadie has been very excited about is starting piano lessons.  I asked her if she wanted to take soccer or ballet and she said all she wanted to do was play the piano.  This was great news for me and my wallet too.  We found a fantastic teacher who graduated from UT Austin with a degree in music and after hearing him play I'm convinced he's a musical prodigy.  I'm determined to have her sight reading better than I did with the Suzuki method so we are tackling the Hal Leonard method instead.  I am loving his teaching style and not only is he very respected by Sadie but he's also really fun for her too. 

She has completely taken off!!  It didn't take long for her to get the fingering down, half notes, quarter notes, legatos and staccatos, and tackling the metronome (that was a tough one).  She has already become such an amazing sight reader and even though we've had some VERY frustrating practicing moments she has learned to be patient with herself and me when I give her correction.  It's a hard balance because she wants me to sit in there with her but she doesn't want me to say anything.  She'll often "shush" me at times and I even got the "Spaniard finger" once.  I've noticed that if we practice earlier in the day and if she receives more praise than constructive criticism, we can have a pretty successful 30 minutes of practicing.  I love how sweet she looks playing the piano.  I am so proud of how well she is doing. 

She seems to have a pretty intense crush on her buddy Peterson.  I asked her why she likes him so much the other day and she responded "Because he's so handsome and he's my best friend."  I told her that's why I married her dad so she's off on the right track:-)

Sadie is so good at making friends and has such amazing confidence around others, but not so much that she would ever seem condescending or bossy.  She's just a lot of fun to be around and is always surrounded by lots of buddies.  Her friend Avery down the street knocks on our door just about every day to play and she's meeting so many fun friends at church as well. 

Her latest and most exciting accomplishment so far is taking the training wheels off her bike.  Chase and I took turns running around with her and it took only about 5 minutes to figure it all out.  I eventually just started running beside her in case she toppled over and she never did!  Seeing her pure and joyful excitement as the wind blew through her hair made me turn away so she wouldn't discover that her old mom was crying.  She rode off and left me there to watch her turn her bike around the cul de sac as I strained to keep the tears from pouring down my face.  My baby grew up WAY TOO FAST.  It hurts my heart and even though I am so proud of how wonderfully accomplished she is, I wish I could just swaddle her in a blanket and watch her fall asleep in my arms again.  Sigh.....

 

Tooth Fairy makes her debut

It finally happened a year later than the dentist predicted.  We now enter the early awkward stage of losing teeth and getting bigger ones in return. 

We bought a special box to put her tooth in so the tooth fairy could find it a little easier:-)

There it goes!!

Now if only she could fall asleep.  WAY too excited!!

Before and After

 
We thought we'd show George one of our favorite Austin spots and headed down to lady bird lake.  He got pretty tuckered out by the end.
 

After playing in the hammock at the four seasons and rolling down the hills we were all equally as sleepy.

 

 

 

Puddles

When it rains in Texas we make the most of it!!

 

 

9 months

These monthly George updates seem to be getting ahead of me but because of my unhealthy fear of forgetting every little thing my children do, I continue to write down these facts that probably seem monotonous to the average reader.  Sorry reader (all two of you).  Here comes another update.   

George is just a busy, busy boy these days.  He is getting into everything and crawls wherever there isn't an obstacle.  He doesn't seem to need me as much as he used to and HATES to be confined to a highchair, crib, swing or car seat when he's awake.  It kind of breaks my heart a little when I just want to snuggle him and he pushes me away only to crawl over to the loaded dishwasher. 

Even when he gets hurt, he won't let me console him.  He will let me hold him for a short three seconds before he's off to find another garbage can or in this case some tampons under the bathroom sink. 

His curiosity has made nursing VERY challenging.  George has completely weaned himself and will angrily push me away when I try to feed him.  It makes me so sad to be ending this phase of babyhood so much earlier than the other babies did.  I'm still determined to give him his breast milk.  I pump 6 times a day and give him the milk in a bottle.  I can tell my milk supply is pretty much drying up because it takes me a whole day and sometimes two to make a single bottle.  I've never been so grateful that I was such a milk hoarder when he was born because I still have about 50 bags frozen in my deep freezer.  I've calculated that with a bottle in the morning and evening, he should make it to his first birthday along with what I'm pumping as well.  We still give him a "sleep feed" not because he needs it but because it was the only time I could get him to nurse with out pushing me away.  Now we just give him a bottle before we go to bed and he sleeps in until 8 or 9 in the morning.  Still snoozing in our dark closet.  I'd sleep in too!

He's still super smiley and happy.  When I take him to the park with Jack I have to contain him in this swing otherwise he'd be stuffing handfuls of pebbles into his mouth.  I still can't understand why he likes chewing on those things. 

He's still a fantastic walking buddy and doesn't make a peep when we got out in the mornings for a few hours.

He really is getting into everything these days.  His favorite things are electric sockets, door stoppers, cords, toilets, paper, printers, magazines, and pretty much anything that's not a toy. 

He is always standing up in his crib now when I go in to get him after a nap.  He pulls himself up onto anything.  I love watching him sit on his knees. 

I love watching him explore but it can be a handful when I need to get things done.  We've had a few occasions when someone forgot to close the bathroom door and I've found him dipping his fingers into the toilet water.  This is especially disgusting because he's still very fond of sucking on his two left fingers. 

He's starting to wear "real people" clothes and it looks as though he may be graduating to a new car seat soon too.  He weighed 17.10 pounds at his 9 month check up.  Still 8th percentile and growing nonetheless.  We don't have to go in for weight checks anymore which means he's able maintain his weight pretty well now. 

Chase calls him "mini John Stockton" in this picture.  I had just changed his diaper and I wasn't ready to put his pants on yet because I still needed to squeeze his little thighs. 

These freezer magnets bought me about ten minutes of cleaning the kitchen time, but that's about all.

He fell down the stairs the other day.  I had no idea he was even up there!!  It was only the first two stairs but it was a serious wake-up call to get some baby gates and watch him like a hawk from now on.

 

We can get him to laugh pretty hard these days and he has developed a fantastic little personality.  He gets really mad if you take something away from him (especially from his mouth), has a little  stranger anxiety (even with dad sometimes), is sensitive to loud screams and even snaps of people's fingers.  Gina Bench snapped really loud by him and he cried for a good five minutes afterwards.  He's finally been saying "ma ma" when he wants me.  It's mostly when he's stuck in his highchair and wants to get out.  Everyone just loves this little guy!