Holiday Whiplash

"Mom, just how does Santa come down the chimney anyway?"

Note the flashlight in Ben's hand.  Photo taken less than 24 hours after trick-or-treating.

The Cape

Back in the lazy days of summer, I asked all the kids what they wanted to be for Halloween.  I did mention, much to their dismay, that the expenses of the Disney trip would preclude buying new Halloween costumes this year.

Caroline decided she would like to be a "Bat-erina" again (ballet dancer in bat costume), as long as I spray-painted her hair purple. Since the fully washable purple hair spray paint only costs $1.99, I approved her costume selection. We tried out the spray paint on Friday night prior to the Girl Scout Halloween dance.  Regretfully, I don't have a good photo of Caroline with her purple hair.  She really pulled off the look well!  Very rock star.  Here's a more traditional looking Caroline lounging on the sun porch eating some ice cream.

Ben has waffled on his costume decision on an hourly basis since August.  He's narrowed down his choices to Jedi Master, Astronaut, or Captain America (or some combination of those three costumes).  All these outfits currently reside in the dress-up bin, complements of the neighbors' hand-me-downs.  Ben opted for astronaut at this weekend's Octoberfest party, but it will be interesting to see what he picks for trick-or-treating tonight.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Astronaut again because Ben makes a pretty cute astronaut, right? He definitely has the Right Stuff.

Abby decided that she would re-use an ballet costume from last June's recital to become a Bavarian huntress/German peasant. She only needed a cape to complete the look.  Well, I (inaccurately) thought, I can use my newly found sewing skills to inexpensively create a cape for her.  I got that about half right.  I successfully followed the pattern (including pleating, gathering, AND understitching, I might add) to create a fancy hand made, fully-lined and hooded cape for Abby.  However, the cape ended up costing as much as a store-bought costume because the cool purple/brown shimmery fabric on the outside the cape was mis-filed at the fabric store, so my $3.99/yd material was actually more like $12.99/yd. (Boo!) But, on the plus side, the whole family loves the cape, so I think it will be put to good use in future dress-up adventures.  The cape is very swishy and silky, and has a cool "frog" closure at the top.

Speaking of capes, does anyone else miss the 2011 show called "The Cape" that aired on NBC for 10 episodes in 2011?  Probably not, since the show was pulled from the line-up for low ratings.  I must admit that it was a guilty pleasure for me. I don't miss "The Cape" nearly as much as as the 2010 Fox show "Human Target."  I know I am not the only person missing "Human Target" since our neighbors named their dog Chance in memory of that action-packed drama.

Here's a Halloween Family portrait, including Cousin S, the adorable owl.

Two reasons why Caroline is grounded until she is "OLD"

1)  Except from an actual conversation at dinner tonight.

Caroline:  "Mom, why do you have lines on your face?"
Mom (sighing):  "Those are my lines of wisdom.  See I have lines on my forehead and lines around my eyes."
Ben: "Right!  Grandma and Grandad and Pops have lots of lines."
Dad:  "See Caroline, I have wisdom lines too."
Caroline: "Well, Mom, you sure are a lot smarter than Dad."


2)  Too many telephone booth questions.

"Gosh, what is this red box over here?"  

"Hey Mom, did you know there a phone in here?"  

"Why is there a phone in here??!!!"

Seriously, I'm not THAT old yet, am I?????

(Please do not leave a comment with an affirmative answer to that question, or you will be grounded too.)

M-I-C-K-E-Y!!!

Last week I got to fulfill my lifelong dream of getting my picture taken with Mickey Mouse!!

Look!!! I'm with Mickey!!!

I will sheepishly admit that I was a wee bit teary when Mickey Mouse rode in on the Steam Engine to start the day at Magic Kingdom.  (Yes, I am a total sap.) I turned and looked at my kids, and they weren't crying at all.  Instead, they were all staring at me! I realized that they hadn't really grown up watching Mickey cartoons or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  So, that particular magical Mickey moment was mine to savor alone.

Fortunately, there were lots and lots of other wonderful moments on our trip (in between the less magical moments that happen when you travel with three kids).  Abby's favorites were meeting her favorite characters Pocahontas and Mulan, and getting to ride all the 'fast' rides, like Expedition Everest and Mission Space.

Caroline loved meeting all the princesses (Ariel, Belle, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella), and she most  enjoyed dinner with the princesses in Norway at Epcot (Thank you free Disney dining plan!).  I should revise that a bit -- Caroline did not eat much dinner in Norway.  She was too busy helping Ben lead the princess dinner parade with his special friend Ariel.  Ariel told Ben he was "handsome," so he was completely smitten with her after that.  Hilarious!

 It was a fun but completely exhausting week.  I have another 548 photos from the trip (actual total), so let me know if you want to see those too!  Here are a few more highlights:

Cinderella's Castle

(We ate breakfast in the Magic Kingdom before the park opened one morning....it was so quiet!)

Fun Fall decorations

Animal Kingdom's Safari

Even More Toothless

Caroline lost yet another tooth last night.  Her smile is looking cuter than ever.

I didn't mention in my previous post about Caroline's smile that we had a little tooth fairy debacle.  Would you believe that the tooth fairy hadn't yet visited when Caroline woke up at 6:45a.m.?  You can imagine Caroline's disappointment when her tooth, her little note, and the very special castle sticker she had picked out for the tooth fairy were still sitting in her tooth fairy tin.  Oh the tears!

Fortunately, I remembered that the tooth fairy has come late to our house a few other times, and she's even left Abby a little note that we're one of her last stops on her route.  So, I told Caroline to go eat breakfast and stay out of her room until around 7:15, and sure enough, the tooth fairy was able to stop by.  Whew!  Our tooth fairy, named Liliana, is one tardy fairy.  She also always leaves a little glittery trail of fairy dust, so we like to follow the trail to see which window she used to sneak into our house. 

Liliana was on time for this most recent tooth loss (thank goodness). Caroline was so inspired by all these fairy interactions, and she decided to create a new little home for her fairy friends.  In perfect second grade form, she labeled the fairy house, "New Home".

(Note that the rest of things in the picture are other clay creations that Caroline has made in art class or art camp.)

Ben's First Day of Kindergarten

"I'm not going," Ben announced in my doorway before seven this morning.

Ben padded into my bedroom this morning, still warm in his footie pajamas.  He slid under the covers and cuddled up close to me.

"I don't want to go."

He pressed his warm little self all the way into me and wouldn't move so I could see even a peek of his face.

Then, he quietly confided to me, "I'm scared to go."

So, we talked about how fun it would be to ride the bus, to make new friends, to learn new things, and to play with the giant bin of Legos.  I pressed a kiss into his hand that he could carry with him all day. I told him my kiss would never wash off.

Ever so quietly, he whispered into my ear, "But, I'll miss you."

My heart melted and my eyes teared up because I will miss him too.

My littlest baby is off to kindergarten today.

All Smiles on the Bus

Off to Big Starts

#1. Soccer!

Caroline's soccer season started this morning with a swish, swish, swish, swish --  a whooping four goals!  I don't think I scored four goals in my entire sporting career, so I find this fairly impressive. Needless to say, she is pretty fired up for the rest of the season.

I even photographed one of her goals. (Note that Caroline's team is wearing gold; their opponents are wearing light yellow. The goalie is wearing a canary yellow pinny.)
 

Driving down the Field

 Shooting through the Defenders

 GOOOOOOAAAL!

#2.  Music Lessons!

Abby will soon be starting instrumental music lessons at school.  Since we already own a baritone horn from Scott's playing days, Abby will be taking up the baritone.  She initially had her heart set on drums, but we were able to convince her that the baritone would be just as fun to play.  (Cue Mom's sigh of relief.)

Our music teacher suggested taking a short video of the first time trying out the instrument to compare to her playing at the end of the school year.  You should make sure the sound is turned on to watch this video (but maybe don't turn on the sound up too loudly just yet).  Personally, I think Ben's sword fighting during the performance adds just the right touch of chaos.