Trick or Treat

So this blog has been totally neglected lately, not because I don't have things to say- I feel like I have lots of thoughts to record at the moment- not so much because anything momentous has happened recently but because I just have a lot of thoughts about life right now... but poor time management skills so I never seem to get around to writing any more! 

But every "mommy blog" needs a Halloween post, so here's mine. :)

 We went to my friend Heather's house tonight because we like to mooch off her neighborhood. Ours is great but the houses are so far apart- and her neighborhood is just crawling (literally ;)) with little kids! So it's a fun place to trick or treat, and it's always fun to be with friends. :) Tonight we joined up with some other friends for a little party. Fun times.

 Best pic I got of Fern and Wilbur together. :)

The last time we had Halloween at Heather and Rich's house... three years ago when Nora was in my tummy- I loved that sweater- probably full of holes after so long in my basement now... sigh... not that I need it.  ;)

 The whole crew- Fern, Ariel, Dorothy, Kitty, Fairy Kitty, Wibur, and Cinderella.

 I call this one "Whiney Pig." We've been seeing a lot of that expression lately... the joys of being over-the-hill to the big "3."

 And this one we will call "Show Your Teeth."

 And this one "Stop With the Camera Mom- I'm Busy!" And she certainly was busy- she really "got" the concept of trick or treating this year and had a total blast running from house to house and filling up that treat bag. Now... what to do with all that loot?! We certainly don't need it around here!

And I will call this picture "I Know You Have The Camera, Mom, So I'm Not Looking."

And that's that folks. Happy Halloween. :) Tomorrow I will feel slightly less deviant that I have already been tuning in to the Pandora "Swingin' Christmas" station. :)

Miss Mischief

Nora has been very possessed of the "do it MYSELF" attitude lately. This is how I frequently find her when it seems a little too quiet and the water is running... She LOVES to wash her hands, and does NOT want me to help her. She uses the little drawer pulls to help hoist her little short self up onto the cabinet so she can reach the soap and water and sort of holds on with her toes while she makes a terrific mess. I shouldn't encourage the behavior by taking pictures of it... but it really is something I laugh at when she's not watching- all too soon she will be plenty tall enough to reach the sink and these sweet toddler days will be but a memory... just like the now bygone baby days... sniff...

She always has loved the bathroom. :)

Preview

Here's  preview of the girls' Halloween costumes this year. :) It took a long time to narrow down the choices (Mulan, Pocahontas, and Princess Tiana were all front-runners at one point)- but in the end, we settled on "Fern" from "Charlotte's Web" for Carolyn, and Wilbur for Nora. My friend Krysia had a pig costume Nora could borrow, and I found a yellow dress on ebay for Carolyn, and each girl will carry a bucket and a special friend- a stuffed pig for Carolyn and a stuffed spider (Charlotte) for Nora. :) I'm a little bit geeked about their coordinating costumes... now, if we can just make sure Nora is inclined to actually wear hers on the day in question...

Successes

Since I'm a person who tends to immortalize my failures (especially in a time of life when the thing that's most often on my mind is something I feel that I'm failing at (or at least my body is failing at... sigh))... sometimes it's good for me to take a few moments to commemorate the success I do have. :) And I have had a couple recently.

First, I attempted these bread bears with Carolyn, Nora, and Carolyn's friend Kennedy this week. They actually WORKED! The bread smelled sensational and tasted really good too- especially with our homemade turkey soup. I love bread. Heaven forbid I ever become gluten-intolerant! I'm pretty sure I ended up eating more of the bread than anyone else did... but it was still fun to do- and even made from scratch these didn't take THAT much time. :)

Second, I realized as I was running yesterday that somewhere in the middle of all the training I did this summer... I have "become" a runner! Maybe not a "good" runner... but this "runner girl" was apparently inside me all the time and I had no idea! I have a vivid memory of several months ago when I ran my first 10-minute mile on the treadmill at the Y, and I was so excited that I could do it- and then yesterday, on my favorite trail which is now decorated in all its fall splendor- I did ten 10-minute miles in a row- and other than wishing around mile 8.5 that I'd been able to use "gu" (too much caffeine for that late in the day)- it really went great! I've discovered that I really actually like running- especially running a "long" way (10 miles is still "long" for me)- it seems to wipe my mind clearer and chase away the grouchies better than anything else I can think of (even better than a bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough... though when I'm really stressed, you can guess which one I gravitate toward ;))

Third, and only because I feel like there needs to be a third thing if there are two, I sat down, stopped life, and read books on the couch tonight with my children, and cherished the sweet smell of their clean hair and the warmth of their cozy jammies tucked up next to me. It's ironic that at times when I feel the most conscious of my apparent conceptive inability, that it's my natural bent to withdraw into the land of the constant pity party- and consequently miss the beauty and grace that is right around me. That I am becoming ever more conscious of what a true miracle both of my girls actually are as a result of this journey, should drive me to soak them up, seize every moment, waste nothing. It's hard in a way to really do this because it means giving up that notion that has always seen me through every change- the "you don't have to be sad about "x" because there will be another one and it won't be the last time you get do/see/be in this stage." But I don't want to miss it- not even one minute of it.

Love

We haven't seen this guy around a whole lot this weekend since he's been on call for the group and delivering lots of babies at the hospital... but my favorite thing about this weekend was the fact that this daddy came home tonight, just to spend a few hours with his girls, even though he could have chosen to skip the part of the day that is simultaneously the most sweet and the most precious. It makes my heart happy to see him love our family so sacrificially, even when I know he's tired and would love to just relax and sleep. He still makes me feel like our family is first. We are blessed to have him as husband and father!! I love being married to a man who reads to his children. :)

Hayride

Wow, another week flown by not a single blog post since Monday... oops. 

Today I took some pictures, and we had a fun time. :) It was the annual Growing Kids God's Way family hayride at our mentors' property up north of town. This is the best party of the whole year- you should all be jealous that you didn't come. ;) I was mostly sorry that Brad couldn't be here this year because of call today- sniff sniff. But I'm still glad that I somehow managed to schlep everything in the car and strap everyone into an appropriate seat and get out there even though all of that was a bit of an event for me by myself- there was one occasion today (when rushing at top speed into the bathroom of an almost-deserted bar for a very near miss on a potty disaster)- when I was actually very thankful that I did not have to try to somehow manage a car seat with an infant along with the barely-holding-it-in 2-year-old and the whiny 5-year-old! Some times God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers (or so the song says and it's probably true ;))- but I can't help still wishing at nearly every other second of the day that He would see fit to answer this one! But I digress... back to the fun of the day. :)

 One of the obvious main events of the day is the Hayride- it's so beautiful, though often cold and windy like it was today- but all the fall leaves are at their peak right now and it's just a fun time with dozens of people snug together in the wagons crunching along the road. And there are some great friends there, too. Above is Carolyn with her friend Emma- and yes, Carolyn has an appointment for a haircut on Wednesday! I can't wait to see her pretty face again once those bangs are cut back- she stubbornly persists in refusing to wear any sort of clip in her hair! Some things don't really change...

 And here is Nora with her "boyfriend," Collin. :) These two are a total hoot together. Today when they saw one another, they RAN for one another, embracing so exuberantly that one or both of them would soon have fallen over. Collin's mom watches the girls for me when I am taking my weekly "bow day" and so Nora and Collin have some fun times together. :) It's so funny to me to see Nora's first little "best friend" be a boy! Carolyn was always drawn almost exclusively to other little girls- but Nora's favorite friend is Collin. :) We joke that they'll be each other's prom date because both Collin and Nora are on the  "small" side. (okay, Nora's still not even on the growth chart! ;))

 I love these pictures because the girls just look so joyful. They were singing such a silly song and clapping their hands. :)

 And I love this picture because I just want to memorize and love each and every one of Carolyn's tiny little teeth... because I know that all too soon the Tooth Fairy will materialize in our house and that smile will be just a sweet memory... all her friends are starting to lose their teeth, so I know that she won't be too far behind (unless she's like me- I didn't lose my first tooth until I was about 7!) Still doesn't seem like it can be right for us to be on the verge of losing teeth already- wasn't it just yesterday I was feeling mopey that she was getting her FIRST tooth and that gummy baby smile I loved so much was disappearing forever.... motherhood can be so bittersweet- and each stage so fleeting that you barely have time to get used to the inconveniences of it and take joy in the beauty of it... before you're on to the next.

And THIS one... is just cute, so it makes the blog. :)

And now I'm off the hook for another week?! ;)

Love

I love that when I go to bed at night my head falls upon coloring book pages and cut out masterpieces of the day, gifts from my precious five year old, who loves to leave her treasures for mommy and daddy in our bed so we can't miss them. I love that there is a gerber bowl of rocks on my bedside table next to a Lego structure built just for me. I love that my two year old impetuously threw her arms around me at the store today and said "I love hugs!" I love that she carefully tucks her ooh-eys in bed before going to sleep (somehow we let it slip that there is indeed more than one...)

I love my life. Thank you, God for your abundant blessing.

The Lake Geneva Vacation

We finally rolled into town a few hours ago after a wonderful trip with the family. We spent three nights in a beautiful (HUGE!) house right off Lake Geneva- we had seriously perfect weather the entire time we were there, and a marvelous time just hanging out together. I'd better blog about it right away, or I just never will! And the trip was amply worth a blog post! I had to reduce hundreds of pictures to the 40 or so below... so here are the highlights. :)

 Spending lots of time with my adorable nephew, who is getting old enough to remember Auntie EB- even if he likes Unca Brad better. :)

 Nora's hair braided so perfectly by Ammy. Isn't she starting to look like such a big girl?

 Watching my girls enjoy lots of unstructured sister time.

 Leaves in the front yard. All the trees were almost at the color peak while we were there, and the one in the front yard of "our" house had most of its leaves actively falling off, making for wonderful fall fun.

 A great wooden swing in the front yard. Carolyn loved the swing and I love this picture of her happy face.

 And this one too where they're both looking at the camera.

 Nora didn't love the swing as much as Carolyn did, but she still had fun.

 I love watching my brother-in-law carry his son on his shoulders. Elliot looks like such a big boy now... until I see him on his daddy's shoulders, and then he still looks so little. :)

 My sister and her beautiful family.

 Exploring the path around the lake and looking for spider webs.

 Playing frisbee. Brad makes this look good. :)

 The other awesome frisbee player in our family- my sister Laura. :)

 Papa and Elliot.

 The little beach near the lake where the girls had fun playing in the sand.

 Best I could do for a sister picture. :)

 The parentals... funny how "awww... do we HAVE to go on family vacation? (insert whine)" turns into  moments treasured all together as a family, now that we're all grown up. :)

 Spinning.

 The "Irving Stare" while watching the Lion King.

 The "apple orchard" that turned out to be an overpriced country store with an orchard only open to school groups on weekdays (no exceptions)- but they did have these lovely wooden horses, and better-than-average donuts and cider to enjoy before we headed back without any apples... it's entirely possible that we girls left the kiddos with the daddies and went shopping at the outlets after this- and had a much more satisfying experience (though there were no wooden horses at the outlets ;))

Best pictures of the trip: the following series involving the experiences of several family members in the giant pile of leaves left by the deciduating tree and Papa's raking efforts. :)

 We had a great time!

 I'm so thankful that all of THESE people are our family. :)

Other fun things that were not pictured:
-EATING a ton of good things. :) We all took responsibility for one of the dinners while we were there and the arrangement worked perfectly- each "family" only had to be in charge of dinner for one night, and we got to enjoy everyone else's cooking the rest of the time.
-the "daily run" I did with my mom (to make a dent in overcoming the effects of the previous statement ;))- we jogged part of the way on the trail around the lake and enjoyed beautiful views and a nice time together.
-the girls sleeping in the "princess room." I can't believe I didn't get around to taking a picture of it- it was their favorite space! A little room with two twin beds with pink covers and a "princess" sign on the wall- perfect for them! The first night there wasn't a lot of great sleeping going on, but the following two nights they did great- after being warned that whoever was the "noisy one" would be evacuated. Neither of them wanted to be excused from the princess room!
-the "Tiki Hut" and fire pit that the owners had right next to the big house. The weather was so beautiful and we got to eat outside every night, and we lit a fire in the big fire pit and all we "big kids" sat around til late at night talking and swapping stories- we all went to the same college, so we had fun talking about our "college years." ;)
-visiting with old friends when we went back through Chicago.
-chasing runners today at the Chicago Marathon- my dad and youngest sister ran the marathon this year- I think this is our 5th or 6th marathon we've run or chased through. Running the marathon is (obviously) a ton of work- but so is chasing runners with toddlers and little kids in tow- NOT so much fun when "I've got to go Potty" means "I needed to go potty 5 minutes ago" and there are NO bathrooms in sight! Next year we will get a babysitter! And- next year, it is my "plan B" to jump the fence from spectator to participant! For the first time, watching the runners, this year I thought "I could do this! I will do this someday!" So if Plan A (aka having the 2012 baby we are so hoping will become possible sometime in the near future) doesn't end up working out- I am going to train and run with the runners next year! And if Plan A does end up working out as we earnestly pray that it will- one day, I will still do this race. Because I'm afraid I've caught the spark... and now I really want to! ;)

And that, my friends, is the blog post covering the vacation! Now it really happened. ;)