24 November 2015

Thirty brings the party!

A couple of weeks ago, I had a birthday. I turned 30, which on the one hand feels like any other number, and on the other hand, feels a little surreal. That's basically life, though, right?
But really, the point of this post was to mention some things that my family did for me, because they are cute.

A couple of days before my birthday, Calista starting counting down for me. "Is it the next day? The next next day?" So almost as soon as she woke up on my birthday and I confirmed it was indeed this day, she excitedly told me "happy birthday," and also made me a giraffe for my present.
What a thoughtful girl.

Kyler felt bad that he had to be gone all day (and in the evening after dinner, too) on my birthday, so he ordered a pizza to be delivered to our house for lunch. Which was yummy, and the kiddos loved, too. He told me he considered sending flowers instead, but thought the pizza would be more appreciated. Ha, I love him.

Kyler also bought me some fun presents, including a doughnut pan and The Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack. And while I love them, I think the person who has been appreciating the latter the most has been Calista. Because dancing.
She turned off all the lights except a lantern (we'd had a short loss of power earlier in the day) so she could dance in the dark.

Yeah, that was basically my thirtieth birthday. Well, plus some Vietnamese food and cupcakes. Because food and family is how I like to celebrate.

02 November 2015

Twinkle, twinkle little SMASH!

It was that time of year again, the time of costumes, pumpkins, and candy: Halloween! We had a blast this Halloween, and of course we have pictures to prove it!

First up, from my date with Calista to the pumpkin patch. She went through and tried to pick up every single pumpkin, and if she couldn't, she said, "Not this one! It's too heavy!" and moved on to the next one.
Eventually she found a pumpkin that should could pick up, at least mostly. Then I carried it all over while we did the rest of the things at the pumpkin patch.
Note to self: maybe pick up the pumpkin last so I'm not carrying it every where? Of course, I'm not sure the excited four-year-old would've been able to handle waiting until the end!

Also part of the pre-Halloween festivities: matching skeleton pajamas. And struggles to get a couple of children to sit still and look normal for pictures.
This struggle will continue throughout this post...
Craig especially loved the "pider" on their pajamas. He loved to point it out multiple times, every time he wore them.

Per Rasmussen tradition, we carved a watermelon instead of a pumpkin (the one Calista got at the pumpkin patch got decorated at preschool - it became an alien).
Kyler, as usual, was the main artist,
But both kiddos got in on the act.
Calista also decided on what face we would carve.
Craig thought it was awesome to help with the carving.
Of course, even better was the eating! He sure loves watermelon!
When all was said and done, we had a happy little "pumpkin,"
Or two...
Or three!

We also went down to the mall and decorated pumpkins there, too, and met up with some of Calista's old preschool friends.
Craig helping put the face on his pumpkin.

He had a lot of fun (with some help from Kyler).
Calista put the face on hers all by herself. She's getting so grown up!
We had another attempt at a picture of them together...
The struggle is real, folks.
And then we took a couple of pictures of the preschool friends.
 Just the "big" kids, and then one with all the little siblings.
Craig got glitter glue from his pumpkin on his hands. He did NOT approve.

After we wiped Craig's hands and put him down for a nap, it was time for Calista's preschool party.
 They had a costume parade, with all the little kids.
They were all so cute!

And finally, we are at Halloween day proper!
While we've already had some peeks at Calista and Craig's costumes, we will post the complete pictures now.
Calista was the main character from one of her favorite books, The Princess in Black. She decided on this back in August, after she got the book for her birthday in July. (She has actually already planned the next, like, six Halloweens: Sleeping Beauty, dinosaur, orca whale, witch, Elsa, and then Anna. Seriously, I would not be surprised if these ended up happening, even. She's committed.)
Anyway, so I made her a cape, flower, and mask, bought some gloves and boots, and compiled her costume.
She loved it, even if almost no one knew who she was. "I'm the Princess in Black!"  "The Black Princess?"  "No, the Princess IN Black!"  "Uh...." (And then I'd usually interject, "It's a character from a book... she's basically a monster-fighting ninja-princess.")
And, just for funsies, we decided to have Craig's costume match her theme, so he was the Big Blue Monster, from the book as well.
At first, he hated it. He didn't want to wear the costume, especially the hood. He didn't want to be the Big Blue Monster, he wanted to be the Princess in Black...
But then I showed him his horns in the mirror,
and he decided they were pretty cool.
The next task was a picture of the kiddos together...
 That was easier said than done, but we got a couple...
I think the Princess in Black is fighting the Big Blue Monster in this one? Twinkle, twinkle little SMASH!
After a nice dance class (in costume, of course), we headed to do some trick or treating.
Craig loved it, though he walked so incredibly slow (especially as his bucket got more full)... he was just so fascinated with so many things!
Calista did great, mostly even remembering to say "thank you."
And, of course, they got quite the haul.

Happy Halloween!
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