Halloween and the Glider Rider

Photo taken by Amy Schneider

Luke is home from school today, and Zach is taking his morning nap. I should probably be doing laundry but instead have decided to catch up on our blog. I’ve been hesitant to write again -- in fact some days I've felt like hiding -- after being so honest in my last post. I am extremely appreciative of all of our friends and family who have given such positive feedback, but I also feel a little embarrassed. I don’t usually share my feelings so openly, and I tend to worry that my sentence structure or choice of words could be better. Actually, worry is an understatement, it’s more like obsess (I prove my point). In the end I have decided that I want this blog to be what I had intended it to be from the beginning, a place for family and friends to go to get caught up on our lives, and also a journal of sorts for Steve, the boys, and I to have years from now (I plan to print it one day). Steve says I worry too much what others think, so maybe this will be a good learning experience for me. After all, I am what I am (this might just be my new mantra). So bear with me through the good, the bad, and the ugly…or don’t read it all, that’s okay too. :)

I took advantage of the early morning to clean out our kitchen cabinets. Thrilling, I know. Usually this time is spent buzzing around packing lunches, eating breakfast, and getting dressed, but Luke was laid up on the couch, Zach was content with his Tinker Toys, and my aunt’s voice commenting on my messy cabinets has been haunting me since June. She said something like, “You know, I’m really surprised at how you keep your cabinets.” Granted this is the aunt who holds nothing back (and I love her for this), but ever since then my cabinets have been “buggin’ me out” (Luke’s favorite phrase these days). Not to mention she’ll be here in January and I have a huge need to please. I should include a picture for proof since I'm pretty darn sure they won't look this good by January, but I'll spare you the peak inside my cabinets. You're welcome.

***Halloween***

Back to the fun and exciting -- or maybe just the not-quite-so-boring -- stuff around here...Halloween. I’ve never been one to celebrate Halloween much, but as I have learned with having children this day becomes one of the major holidays. I’m talking right up there with Christmas and birthdays. We attended four parties, a festival, and were Boo’d. This adds up to lots of clothing changes, face paint, making spooky snacks, and leaving baked goods on our neighbors’ doorsteps. (By the way, I still don’t know who Boo’d me. It’s time to fess up, people!) :) This year I was lucky enough to reuse two costumes from the previous years. Score! Zach went as a scarecrow (the same costume I made for Luke at this age), and Luke dressed as a lion (the costume my grandmother and I spent a ridiculous amount of time on last year). The bonus was that they coordinated as characters from the Wizard of Oz. Double score! People kept commenting on how cute it was that they went together, and how I should have dressed like Dorothy (fat chance!), but really it was just me being lazy. Ha! Love that!

Snacking at the library.

I just couldn't resist posting this one. Love the action shot!

The kids loved trick-or-treating and came home with scads and scads of candy. We try to keep treats to a minimum, so I was unsure how to handle this onslaught of sugar. I gave them each one piece of candy and debated what to do with the rest. Take it away overnight with the hopes that they’ll forget by the morning? Uh, I don’t think so. Give them one piece a day until it’s all gone? That would take forever and by then they would expect a piece of candy every night for the rest of their lives. Not gonna happen. So instead I pulled out two small toys from our birthday present stash and placed them in their empty trick-or-treat buckets. The next morning I explained that the Halloween Monster had come in the middle of the night and traded their candy for a new toy. It actually worked! Score one for healthy teeth and calmer children.

Have you noticed that I keep saying I and not we? Well, that’s because the silly men (men, I presume because women would know better) who make the college football schedule decided to have the Longhorns play one of the biggest games of the season at 7:00 on the night of Halloween. Um, hello, that’s prime trick-or-treating time. Needless to say I was not thrilled at handling the trick-or-treating, dinner, and bedtime by myself, all while the doorbell rang over and over and over again which resulted in the dog barking over and over and over again. Oh, those pesky, I mean adorable kids in our neighborhood. Just kidding! What can you do? Maybe I’ll write a letter to those men (yeah, right). At least this is now documented so the next time I want to do something at an inconvenient time I’ll pull this out and get a pass. Just kidding, honey! :)

Pouty scarecrow.




Notice the Longhorn gear. Grrrr...





This one cracks me up. I think there might have been an airplane?

He was not going to let his stash of Tootsie Rolls go for ANYTHING!

Not cowardly at all.

I realize I'm partial, but those have got to be two of the cutest little backsides I ever did see.

One piece Zach, only one piece.

***The Glider Rider***

In other news, Luke is riding his bike like a champ. We are so thrilled! Why, you ask? Because we took a gamble and bought a bike called the Glider Rider last February for his third birthday. The thing about this bike is it has no pedals but also no training wheels. The thought is that the hardest part of learning to ride is the balance not the pedaling, so by taking off the pedals and using their feet on the ground, children learn to balance and glide. Does that make sense? Check out gliderrider.com if it doesn’t. Anyway, Steve and I were a little skeptical, but sure enough Luke is gliding around the neighborhood. We have a street with a slight incline, and he can ride the entire way with his feet up. Looks like he’ll be getting a new bike for his fourth birthday, one with pedals.

Luke's typical cheesy smile for the camera.

Steve commented that he looks like the little kid on the Glider Rider video.

Again, thank you so much to all of you who reached out after my last post. I hope no one got the wrong idea. I am very happy with my life. Sometimes it just helps to stop and take note, to put things into perspective. Since that day, I have tackled many of the things on my list. I’ve yet to start my organic vegetable garden, but that can probably wait until spring, right? :)

xo,

Jess