Pirates, ahoy!

 I've had a goal to get my office organized before the baby comes, because I knew it wouldn't get done after, and I can't function in chaos!  So, one day, I was in there organizing, throwing out boxes as I emptied them into the family room.  The twins capitalized on the surplus of boxes and they morphed into pirate boats.  The wrapping paper tubes became spyglasses, and a game of pirates was born.  Adventure on the high seas!

 Arr, matey!  Land ho!

 I spy a landlubber!

Pirate or not, a girl's gotta be fashionable.

And don't forget the first mates!

The Great Pumpkin Harvest

 Every year when we plant a garden, we've planted pumpkins, in hopes that we'd actually get some to maturity to harvest.  One year, the voles at them.  Another, one of the kids stepped on the baby vine and snapped it, killing it.  Another year, Brighton has dug them up as part of his play.  You see the pattern.  So this spring, when we planted them, we were hopeful, but not expectant, to have pumpkins to pick in the fall.  We were pleasantly surprised when they reached maturity, and we counted 13 pumpkins growing!  Not big, carving pumpkins, but baby decorative pumpkins.  Brighton, especially, was excited when the ok came to pick them.  He carefully got a pair of scissors and gathered them all up. 

Here's the proud farmer!

A Decade

 Irelynd is officially a decade old!  We had a family dinner on her actual birthday, and a friends party a few days later.

 For her birthday dinner, we had broccoli cheese soup and pizza braid, with brownies and ice cream for dessert.

 This is one of our family's favorite traditions, that of heavy heavy hangover, where you bonk the birthday person on the head with the present, in return they wish you something.  I remember doing this in Scott's family when we first got married, and getting the strangest reaction from them.  Apparently, this is a mainly UT/ID tradition; not sure where it got its start, but it did not stretch over to include Oklahoma.  Nevertheless, Scott's adopted it, and we continue it in our family.  This is the one time when it's not only OK, but encouraged to hit.  Brighton has fully embraced this rite, as you can see by his smile.

 He bought Irelynd her own package of ring pops, after much deliberation in the Dollar Store; as you can see, it was the right thing to give her.  I love to see these two, specifically, show love to each other, as they probably fight the most in the family.

 My own hot chocolate!  We all speak Irelynd's language.

 Keaton also loves the bonking tradition, as you can see from his grin.

 Soda pop is a rare delicacy in our house, so to be given her own 2-liter was a treat.

 Even if she did have to endure the bonking.

 For Irelynd's friends birthday party, I took her, 2 cousins, and 2 friends to Lowe's Airsports in Provo.  I've become a big fan of that place; close by and not the usual party destination.  Irelynd got whacked in the side of the head within the first 5 minutes in the door, and spent the next 30 with an icepack pressed to her head, crying.  I felt bad for her, but she eventually perked up and went back to playing, although she had to avoid the trampolines the rest of the time.

 For her birthday this year, she wanted to get her ears pierced, so several friends gave her earrings.

 You can't tell by her face in this photo, but she was really excited about these headbands from cousin Maddie, especially the zipper one.

Happy Birthday, Irelynd!

What's a boy to do with a purple crayon?

OK, so this post totally cracked me up.  This drawing came about when, sitting in church one Sunday, Brighton leans over to Scott and asks, "Dad, what's something purple I can draw?" (All he had that day to draw with was a purple crayon).  Scott immediately rattles off the first thing that pops into his head:  a one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater.  So that is what Brighton drew, piece by piece, as Scott repeated each part for him.  This is the result.  Not bad, huh?

Simple Pleasures

 One day the twins found a grasshopper outside on the driveway.  We spent an hour watching him jump and playing with him.  At one point, Keaton even rescued him from being lunch to a big spider that came out to claim his catch, and scurried back down to his hole after the grasshopper was freed by a stick.  The poor thing finally jumped into some bushes and got away, but it was fun watching the twins' fascination and enjoyment out of something so ordinary and simple.

Back to School dinner

 We did our back to school dinner again this year, just scaled down a bit.  The kids enjoyed it though.

First Haircut

 After much denial, I finally came to the realization that Keaton's curly blonde locks were gone forever and not coming back, so I submitted him, Brighton, and Waverly to the barber one day.  Brighton because he needed it, too, and Waverly because Keaton got a hold of the scissors one day and took a chunk out of the front of her hair.  Waverly added to it a few days later and made it impossible to ignore the gaping hole in her coiffure.  Brighton was really nervous to sit in the chair and have his hair cut; every time we do it at home, it takes one to cut and one to hold down.  However, he was really brave and sat still for the hairdresser to clip it.  The promise of a sucker at the end didn't hurt, either.  Keaton took more convincing, and I just had to pick him up and plop him in the chair.  He frowned through the whole thing, but he was happy with his haircut at the end.  He just didn't like anybody commenting on it afterwards.  He's my shy little guy.  He looked so much older afterwards; I kind of hated it!  I missed my baby boy and his curly locks.  Oh well, every little boy has to grow up, and he did look so cute.

Waverly liked her new haircut.  She did look sort of sassy with the short new do.  It is lots easier to brush, and causes less tears at bedtime. 

First Day of School '12

 Savannah started 8th grade this year.  I can hardly believe it; I was just in 8th grade myself.  She was very excited.  The printables are all courtesy of Tip Junkie.

 My 5th grader, Irelynd.  She is in Mrs Hatton's class.

Sadly, our Fun Lunch Fridays have disappeared, but I did this fun lunch for Brighton for the first day of Kindergarten.  The bread is a school, and if you open the door, there's a tiny little bologna Brighton standing behind it.

 I wish I could add the sound of trumpets to this post.  I have literally been waiting for this day since Brighton made his first mess.  I have been so excited for this child of mine to join the ranks of school children across the US, and we FINALLY made it to this momentous day!  He chose his own outfit for his first day, from a few I put together for him.  Here he is in his "dream come true" shirt, named so by Brighton when he woke one morning and found this shirt hanging in his closet.  He proceeded to tell us that he had had a dream where he woke up and found this EXACT shirt in his closet.  He was so excited and almost emotional about it, we had to put our serious faces on and save the laughs for later.

 Brighton was at first scared to go to Kindergarten, but after the Back-to-School night, Irelynd put his fears to rest by telling him how fun Kindergarten is, and how they go on a field trip to the zoo.  Thank heavens for big sisters!  It was a touching moment to watch her take him aside and comfort him.  Also making him get excited was his teacher giving him his first homework assignment.  That was a bright moment in this little boys' life.  Maybe he will take after me in some way...

 Brighton is in Ms. Mellor's aftenoon Kindergarten class.  When I dropped him off for the first day of school, they had some fun things for kids and moms to do, like measurements and writing his birthday on the calendar, etc.  I left him, with hardly a backward glance by him.  I didn't expect to get emotional, but it was kind of hard leaving my little boy there.  He has grown up so fast, and it's such a poignant moment to enroll a child in school for the first time and walk away, leaving them in the care of a stranger.  I realized it was my first time to have the privilege of doing this.  With Savannah, I was working, and it was done by Scott, I believe.  Irelynd started school just weeks after the twins came home from NICU, so Scott did it again.  I was so glad for the chance to be the one to be there this time. 

 Finally, the twins started preschool this year, too.  They were SO excited.  I am so glad they have each other to start this adventure with, and subsequent ones.  They are going to Miss Kasa's Little Red Schoolhouse.

 This is Keaton's goofy smile lately, when told to say cheese.

 

 These two are the best of friends.  I hope they stay so through their growing up and adult years.

 Until this baby comes, I am the proud owner of 2 quiet hours, 3 days a week.  I am so excited, I am practically beside myself.  The first day after dropping them off, I went home and just revelled in the quiet.  If I could have, I would have kicked up my heels.  Alas, I settled for cleaning out a closet instead.  It was beautiful!