Scarlet's 2nd Birthday!

This little girl turned 2 years old on November 18th.  All the kids were actually invited to another little girl's birthday so they had tons of fun playing at the party, eating cake and ice cream, and playing with all their friends.  After the party, and a nap, we made sure to celebrate our little birthday girl with a Winnie the Pooh cake and a couple presents.  Two cakes in one day!!  For a girl who loves sweets, it was a good day!  It was hard for Lorelai and Evelyn to watch Scarlet open her gifts.  I realized it's been quite a while since Scarlet has had a gift to unwrap and she took her time...



She's on her third piece of pizza!

She did NOT know what to make of the cake and candles.  She just wanted a piece of cake to eat!

Evelyn and Lorelai kept trying to "help" Scarlet open her gifts.  They couldn't stand how slow she was unwrapping!

Loves to be a little princess!

 

Too young for boyfriends...

So a boy at Lorelai's school has a little crush on her.  Three days in a row she has reported to me that he has kissed her.  She admits they're friends and she said she told the teacher but I am trying to explain that she's too young for kissing boys and regardless of age, school is an inappropriate place for kissing.  I've talked to the teacher about it and it's been addressed (Daddy was NOT happy with this info).  This is a video I took when I was discussing this whole kissing situation and what she should do.  It's not a great video because I didn't want her to know I was recording because she tends to ham it up for the camera.  It makes me laugh, makes me smile, and then makes me terrified for the future....

Amazing reader!

I am absolutely amazed at Lorelai's reading skills.  She gets to bring home two new books from the library every week and this time she brought home a beginner chapter book.  On the cover it says it's meant for 1-3 graders.  Not only does she read it, but she reads it very well with little tripping over words.  I am so surprised by her!  This is a video of her opening her new book for the first time....

 

What'd she say??

Scarlet is talking.... A LOT!  Trouble is, we can't always tell what she's saying!  Can you figure it out??

First smiles!

On October 22, 2017 (just before Joseph turned 6 weeks old), I was able to capture his very first smile.  We were leaving the zoo, and I was buckling him in his car seat and he was just staring at me giving me little smirks and smiles.  It's amazing that when the kids are sleeping, they look so much alike... but when they smile and show expression, they are all so different.

Sweet boy smiling at his Momma

Fall day at the zoo...

We are trying to enjoy every last beautiful, fall day we have left before winter hits, because the cold is just around the corner.  The Halloween decorations were still up so the girls enjoyed that!  It was a great day with perfect weather...

Scarlet was nervous of the gorilla statues.  I think at first she thought they were real!  She was really interested in the family of gorillas and pointed to each one saying "Baby...Mommy....Daddy..."

Halloween night...

We didn't take many pictures during trick-or-treating.  It got dark pretty fast and between the four kids and the dog, we had our hands full.  The girls had a blast!  Gone are the days of sluggish toddlers wandering from house to house.  Now, me and Joe have to keep up!  We had to keep telling Lorelai and Evelyn to slow down for Scarlet.  Scarlet would sometimes move slow, until I would say, "ok Scarlet, go get candy..." and she would snap her head up, look for the door and take off!  This girl is definitely candy motivated!

This black lion was a big hit during trick-or-treating.  She scared more than a few people!

Almost ready to go!

She's the cutest zebra around!

Little lion, fast asleep!  We had to pack him in the stroller because he's still so tiny

Big lion, protecting the baby lion

Getting candy from the very nice storm troopers.  This neighborhood is the best for trick-or-treating.  We go on post at Fort Knox and head to all the Generals' houses.  Everyone gets really into it and they sit outside their houses to pass out candy.  Many dress up so it's a big hit with the kids.

We are back at home after a late night of collecting candy.  Our pumpkins are all in a row.  I made up bags of candy for our trick-or-treaters and I counted them so I'd know how many visitors we got.  A whopping thirteen kids!  This is why we don't trick-or-treat in our neighborhood.  The houses are too far apart and not many people give out candy.

The next morning.... Scarlet yelled at me until I put her back in her costume.  Maybe she'll still be wearing it by Christmas!

Time to pick Evelyn up at school so I told her it's time to take off her costume.  Not a happy zebra!

Halloween pumpkins

This family loves carving pumpkins and it's become kind of a tradition with us.  Each year, the kids choose a pumpkin pattern and Mom or Dad help them to carve it.  This year I thought it'd be neat if we picked a theme and they could all match.  Well, Lorelai wasn't having it.  Evelyn really wanted a Tigger pumpkin so Me, her, Scarlet, and Baby Joseph all went with a Winnie the Pooh theme.  Lorelai, OF COURSE, needed something scarier and chose a creepy tree.  Then she asked Daddy to carve a scary haunted house to go with it.  Two very different themes.....

The kids were actually not as messy as you might think in this situation.  It went really well!

Joseph's pumpkin... Eeyore

Mommy's Winnie the Pooh

Evelyn's Tigger

Scarlet's Piglet

Our Winnie the Pooh gang!!!

And then there's Lorelai's creepy tree

Daddy's haunted house

Balloon Glow Trick-or-Treating!

A pumpkin patch in the neighboring town was having a trick-or-treating event the week before Halloween.  We decided to check it out.  The trick-or-treat stations were hot air balloons all aglow!  We also did the corn maze which was very disorienting at night in the dark.  The kids had a great time and they always enjoy dressing up.

Lorelai said, "Mom, take a picture of me looking surprised!"

"Where's the candy?"

The balloon operators were awesome and showed the kids how the balloons worked

My little zebra!  She LOVES this costume

Evelyn wanted to be a giraffe.

And of course, Lorelai needed to pick an animal with teeth (no cute and cuddly for her) and she's a crocodile.

Baby Joseph asleep the entire evening in the carrier