Halloween Preparations

I've never been much of a Halloween fan, but this year, I've really gotten into it. I think it's mostly because the girls and I have been busy decorating and learning about the holiday. Our first couple projects were about pumpkins. We made these stained glass window decorations . . .and then made these paper plate pumpkins. Summer did the two on the left; Claire did the one on the right. I let them paint the plates, then I cut the eyes, nose, and mouths out, and they glued them down wherever they wanted. (I helped Claire a little with the gluing, but I did ask her where each piece went.)
We'll also be carving pumpkins this weekend with dad.

The next week, we did ghost projects. Our first project was our ghost mobile made from suckers and paper towels. The girls drew the faces on.


And then we did a ghost patch of rocks with dad. These are my favorite. The girls and dad painted them white, then glued on the eyes and mouths that I had cut out. I love how they all turned out.

This week, we'll hopefully get to make some bats, black cats, or skeletons. I'm not sure yet.

We also learned this Halloween song. The girls are singing along to this clip on YouTube (which they have a hard time taking their eyes off of). I printed the pictures and the girls colored the props for the song. We love this song and sing it all the time.


Up Next: Halloween Costumes and Parties

Some Things They Say . . .

So I know I said I'd do a Halloween post next, but I thought I'd throw this in real quick next to the Summer and Claire post.

Claire's language skills are increasing so rapidly. I love how she and Summer have conversations together. It is so much fun to listen to them. Claire also tells us stories or recalls things that happened. It usually goes something like this: "Bonk. Head. Over there. Fall." or "See. Doggy. Guys. Walk."

A while ago, I was driving in an unfamiliar area and I was mumbling to myself about how to get to where I was supposed to go. Summer asked what was wrong and I responded, "Oh, I'm just not quite sure where we are at." Claire called out, "Oh maaaan."

And yesterday, I picked the girls up from Nursery, and as we were leaving, Claire spun around and said, "Kank you guys!"

She has also picked up a funny little thing where she hears Summer say "No thank you," so she says, "No kank you peas." (No thank you please.) So we'll be passing around the beans or the broccoli at the dinner table, and she pipes up, "No kank you peas."

School has been soooooo wonderful for Summer. I don't know what we would have done if she couldn't have gone. She is learning so much--socially and educationally. And she's getting lots of reinforcements at school for the things we do at home. Now it's not just crazy parents that want her to be polite (etc.), but she sees that her friends and teachers do it too, so it's now okay to say please, thank you, and no thank you. She also can identify quite a few letters. "S" for Summer, "O" for Olivia. "P" for Porter. "X" for Xandra. "B" for Burnadette. "C" for Claire. "R" for Rachel. "G" for Grandma. "M" for Mom. "D" for Dad. And she knows the rest of the letters in her name too. We are proud of her progress.

The other day, I came into our office and she was typing on our computer. I said, "Summer! You're not supposed be typing on the computer!" She turned and looked at me, and then said, "But I'm checking my oatmeal!" (email)

We were getting gas and "Bring Back That Lovin' Feeling" was on the radio. I was singing along, and Summer said, "Mom, I don't know this song." I said, "Yeah, it's kind of a song for old people." (No offense to you "old people" out there.) She said, "Like you? Are you old peoples mom?" I laughed. "I guess," I said.

Summer and Claire

I was getting ready to do a Halloween post when I realized I had a few pictures of the girls that I wanted to share. So stay tuned for the next post--it will be all about our Halloween festivities. As for now, I don't know why some of these were taken, but I thought they were cute.

Summer

Claire

Dad had fun one night with the girls' hair. We tried and tried to get Summer's to stand up without Dad's help, but I could never get the picture taken at the right moment before it fell over. So he's helping it out just a bit.

We love our girls!

Reports on a Birthday, the Fair, and The Belly (plus a Cute Kitty)

We had a fun time celebrating Rhett's birthday last week. I made these Black Bean Chocolate Cupcakes. They were delicious! Wow. Better than a chocolate cake mix. And super easy too. Thanks Heather for the recipe! (We've also made them again since Rhett's birthday! Mmmm!) For our party, we played red light/green light with the girls. I just sat on a chair and when I held the green balloon up, Dad and the girls would run towards me, but when I switched to the red balloon, they were to stop. Claire got a little distracted, but Summer had a great time playing with Dad. It was a lot of fun.

Back in September, we went to the Spokane County Fair. While we were wandering around, we saw a booth where this guy would tear with his fingernails out of black paper any kind of silhouette you wanted. He had a whole portfolio of Superman, birds in trees, Abe Lincoln, etc. So we had him do the girls. Can you tell who is who? We thought it was pretty amazing.

As an afterthought, we also had him do me too:

And as we're nearing the end of this pregnancy, here's a couple pictures documenting my size
Finally, Summer got invited to her first birthday party on Saturday. It was a dress up birthday party, and she wanted to be a kitty in her black witch dress. She was so excited about it. But me? I dropped her off, came home, and just bawled. Maybe it's my pregnancy hormones, but here's another first for us, and I'm sappy when it comes to the girls growing up.

Clips for a Special Guy

Claire loves the "I'm so Glad when Daddy Comes Home" song. She sings it all the time. Here she is singing it.

And here's a special message for Dad on his special day. (Boy do our girls love hats!)

We love you so much dad! Thanks for all your hard work and sacrifice for us. We couldn't ask for anyone better. Happy Birthday!

Playing Together

The girls have so much fun playing together these days. I think they appreciate more their time together now that Summer is gone for part of the day. Here are some clips of them playing. The quality isn't that great because once they notice I've got the camera out, they get camera-happy. So I try to be inconspicuous.

Playing School: This was taken tonight after dinner. I was still eating at the table, and the girls were playing. I overheard Summer say, "Okay, Claire. Sit down." She waited, and Claire sat. "Okay, now put your hands in the air." Claire followed orders. "Now clap your hands." I heard four little hands clapping. "Now roll your arms." By this point, I figured they must do some kind of routine at school when they all sit down for story time--some kind of routine where they put their hands in the air, clap, roll them, and then put them in their lap. Summer never got to the last part. She got a little carried away, "Now, stand up and stomp your feet." . . . "Now take your hair clip out." . . . By this point, I was chuckling and wanted to get it on the camera, but of course, she was done, so I just got the next part--her reading to Claire. The book is about the life cycle of butterflies. Summer starts talking about what the bugs are eating--something about a "bug skeeter eating a pineapple," and a "rabbit" eating something--all of this which concerns Claire and she's saying, "Oh no. Oh no." In the end, Summer has no idea what the butterfly is eating so she just says, "I don't know what are they eating. The end." Then they move on to another book.


"Ay Ay Ay!" and "Ta ta-ta dah!"
This was taken yesterday when Claire was trying to climb onto my legs while I was sitting on the couch. Sometimes when I get a little frustrated, I say, "Ay ay ay!" Well, she's picked it up. So you hear her say it as she's struggling to get up. When she finally gets there, she triumphantly says, "Ta ta-ta dah!" Of course, not all playing together moments are blissfully happy. There's a lot of "My turn too!" involved!


Raspberries: This was taken Sunday while the girls played on a large cardboard box. Claire was giving Summer raspberries on her back, and then Summer started suggesting she do them elsewhere--belly, leg, arm, etc. Claire obeyed. Then it's Summer's turn to give them to Claire. I love how Claire (towards the end) lounges on the cardboard box like it's a hot tub or something. And that's the not the inside of the box--it's the side that's caved in from their weight!


Instructions: Summer's giving a lot of instructions lately. I don't know if it's from school, or just the age of bossiness, or what, but most of the time, Claire plays along and enjoys the companionship. In this clip, I think Claire actually put the big hair clip in her hair first, and then Summer takes it out and puts it in her own hair, trading the tiny clip in its place (which gets caught in her hair as she tries taking it out.) Claire notices I've got the camera out and starts saying, "Smile," and giving a goofy smile for the camera.

Reports from School

Per Summer:
"Bernadette was crying because she didn't have two muffins."

"Avery had to go to the office today because he wouldn't sit down."


Per Summer's Teachers:
"Oh if only we had ten Summers!"

"Summer is doing so well. We love having her here."