Halloween

A couple of years ago, I vowed to NOT make the girls' Halloween costumes. Yes, they could be anything they wanted. Yes, it was fun to make them all costumes that followed a theme. Yes, it was nice to have everyone comment on their cute costumes and know that I had made them. But, it took forever and the kids never seemed to appreciate all the time (I don't know what I was expecting they are kids.) After that I have happily taken the girls to Party City and let them pick from the gigantic wall of costumes. I paid for them and that was that. Well, this year a horrible thing happened. This:came in the mail and the girls saw it and insisted on me making their costumes. They even insisted on wigs!!!!

Well, what is a mother to say? So, I did it. Luckily a friend of ours had a Dorothy costume complete with a basket and Toto. All I had to make was the wig. Leighton was thrilled.Her favorite part....the ruby red slippers, of course. I bought them early in October and made her wait until Halloween to wear them. She was dying!

Carly loves Pippi Longstocking and was so excited to see her costume and wig. She was a little upset, because the 'real' Pippi wears a very short overall dress and Carly thought hers was a little too long (it covered her underwear).

She was looking a little more Raggedy Ann than Pippi and we gave her bangs a little hair cut.

Jensyn wanted to be El-O and we found the perfect costume for her.

She couldn't have been happier.

Until the neighbor dogs came over to give El-O a little love. She is running for her life.

We headed to Skyler's for our trick or treating.

The girls had a blast, as usual. Looking forward to next year. But, don't think I won't hide all magazines that come in September!

Pumpkins are Done

The girls always love carving pumpkins. This was Jensyn's first year to gut her own pumpkin.She was a little leery at first. She didn't love the guts on her hands.Then she decided it was fun.Leighton likes to see just how dirty she can get. Carly goes for the more subdued approach.They poked all the holes and Dee and I did the actual carving. They were very happy with their finished products. Jensyn was thrilled with her ghost trick or treating.This is my attempt at a night shot. This was a little better.

Butterfly Museum

Leighton's first grade went on their first field trip to the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, more popularly known as the Butterfly Museum. They have an entire house of butterflies. Miss Potts gave me the best kids in Leighton's entire class. That is Angie on the left and Adaliz on the right. Jensyn got to come along because Carly had a field trip to Historic Oakwood the same day. She wanted Grandma Young to go with her.

About ten steps into the museum I walked past a little girl who looked just like Adaliz but had on a different colored shirt. I then found out that she is a identical triplet and that they have a sister who is also in the first grade and looks exactly like them. I got a small sampling of how annoying it is when EVERYONE comes up to you and asks if she is a twin or says that they've just seen her over there. I will never again make a comment to a mother of multiples. I just started stopping people mid-sentence and saying 'Yes, she is an identical triplet and they have a sister who looks just like them.'

The girls loved the train ride. Even Jensyn loved the train. She even participated in the required screaming through the tunnel.

We headed off to the dinosaur walk and found the excavation site.

The girls got to dig for fossils.

I look over and Jensyn is just posing like this watching the kids.She was cracking me up.
I took about 20 of these pictures.

We had lunch and it was time to go home. I really like to drive to the field trips so that my kids can stay longer if they want. Of course Leighton wanted to. Another mom had come with me and wanted to stay too.

We headed off to see the animals. This bear was so funny. If you called him he would come to the fence, but as soon as you would pull out your camera he would turn his back on you and walk away. Apparently he doesn't care for paparazzi.

We headed back to the playground and Jensyn enjoyed having the sandbox all to herself.

Dalton and Leighton got to play all the loud instruments with no one waiting for their turn.

Jensyn even got to play too.

Pliers or DIE!!!

Leighton has her first REALLY loose tooth. It is the one on the bottom, front left. I tried to get her to let me pull it out with a tissue and she wasn't having any of it. I have learned that Leighton has to work up to anything new. The harder I push the more she pulls back. If I just back off she comes around. It was the night of the Fall Festival, so I just let it go and planned on dealing with it when we got home. (The pink hair is from Rock Star Day.)

Dee came home and the big girls and I went to the Fall Festival.

Leighton spent most of her time in line for the inflatable rides.

Carly spent her time at the basketball toss.

(Once again, don't mind the hair or clothes, it was Rock Star Day. But I do have to say, it was easy to keep track of my kids, even when they went in different directions. All I had to do was look for pink hair.)
They had tween music BlARiNG! Carly was in heaven. Here she is rockin' out!
(The fact that she is barefoot in this picture makes me shudder! I can only imagine the things she could get from the gym floor and the inflatables. Yikes!)
The girls had an awesome time. We went home to shower and get ready for bed. Leighton made the mistake of showing her daddy that she had a very loose tooth. Dee is squeamish about teeth, but he will touch anything with a tool. He went out to the garage and brought back in his pliers and told her that he was going to pull it out. That absolutely sent her. He told her that if she went to bed and it fell out and she swallowed it she would choke and die. That made matters worse. He just kept at her saying, 'Leighton, do you want the pliers or do you want to choke and die?' He kept getting closer and she kept backing up until he had her in the corner insisting, 'Pliers or Die!'
Can't you see the pleading for help in her eyes? I decided to intervene and stopped the whole thing. I sent Leighton to the shower and then to get ready for bed. After she was all tucked in I asked her if I could pull on it. I explained that if I pulled and it didn't come out, then I could be sure that she wouldn't swallow it in the night. She agreed and I grabbed a damp towel and wrapped it around the tooth and

out it popped.

She came running down the stairs with a huge smile to show her daddy. He looked at me with a puzzled expression and asked, 'How did you get her to let you pull it?'

'That's why I am the mommy.', I replied.

CRaZy HaiR DaY!

It is Spirit Week, once again, at the girls' school. They have had Pajama Day, Crazy Backward Clothes Day and now it is Crazy Hair Day. Carly requested a mohawk. I had Britain get us some hair cement, but after 45 minutes, half a tube of cement, lots of small ponytails and a blow dryer, I still couldn't get her hair to stay up. So, I improvised with this....Then we striped it purple and pink.A view of the top.And one more shot to really get the true effect.On to Leighton. She just wanted spots and spiders.
I sprayed pink all over and then spotted with purple. The spiders are put in with bobby pins. We added the orange bug and the purple bat for good measure.

And if you think I got off easy with her. Just spray color and viola, she is done. This is what she looks like when she comes downstairs in the morning.

I had to get this mess combed and straight.

Looking back, maybe I should have used the hair cement, blow dryer and 45 minutes on her instead!