Lady Bird Prep Work

Our friend, Marie, helped us with our Lady Bird costume. The use of a boa on a winter hat was her idea. So early in October she came over and we spent all afternoon working on our costumes! Lucas was her prop while Marie glued on the feather, and then our little bird got to try it on. I told Marie that she'd never wear that thing, but she did! She pranced around the kitchen, soaking up the attention : )

Halloween at Preschool!

Today the kids got to wear their costumes to school and will get to trick-or-treat with the other classrooms and staff. Ellen's lucky because she got to do this yesterday too! Since there are T/TH kids and M/W/F kids they had two celebrations. Yesterday she wore a costume that we made for her, but I didn't get any pictures because she wouldn't put it on for me - only the teachers. Since that costume is a little complex, today we wore Katrin's hand-me-down Ariel mermaid costume. And Lucas, the stinker, has wanted to be a mummy for months, but decided at the last minute that he wanted to wear one of his dress up Power Ranger costumes. Hopefully mommy can take the mummy costume back to the store!

Lucas's Classroom

Lucas's teacher invited the parents down to his room this morning so that we could take pictures of all of the costumes. After he hung up his bag on his hook, he signed in for the day. I thought that it was cute that he signed in by his friend Rayne's name. I asked why he put two c's and he said because I was watching him : )

Lucas, Paul and Patrick

Finally Caught Up

I was behind with some stuff for the past month, but we're finally up to date on the blog!

Lucas Bryant, LB, The Kid

Here is our guy at age 4 1/2. We were in the yard the other day, I had the camera, the lighting was good, so we just had some fun together....

Superheros

These aren't supposed to be their 2010 Halloween costumes, but Lucas said today he wanted to wear this one instead (santa got it at target last year post halloween for cheap). Ellen can't decide between Batman or red transformer : )

Ellen with her teacher, Ms. Susan

Thanks Grandpa!

Grandpa Schroeder got Ellen this trike for her bday and she LOVES it. It seems she throws at least one fit a day because she wants to ride "ow-side" (outside) and it's not an appropriate time... because her idea of riding outside is a 45 min walk around the block. She loves going down the hills too... : )

Father/Son Trip to Memphis

Jeff and Lucas just returned from a 4 night, 5 day trip to Memphis to visit SaSa and Grandpa. They had a great time and will definitely do it again. With mixed emotions I can report that Lucas didn't miss me one bit! He had a great time with Jeff, SaSa and Grandpa - which is awesome. He's growing into a independent little guy very quickly.

During the days leading up to the trip we we telling Lucas that he was going to get to fly on a big plane and do so many fun things in Memphis, including a trip to the zoo. His response was, "And will I get to play Angry Birds on SaSa's phone?" Seriously - that's all he could talk about. Luckily once he arrived he was able to enjoy all of the other activities that they had planned for him.

Jeff said he was great on the 2 hour flight. He had his book bag packed with his colored pencils, some coloring books and a preschool version of War that he and Jeff played a few times. While they were there they went to the children's museum, the zoo, the cupcake shop, a couple of playgrounds, and an art festival. Jeff said he was awesome for 98% of the trip... only a couple of meltdowns because he was tired.

Jeff didn't take the camera, but SaSa took a few for us...

Finally, a kid that sleeps!

Jeff and I are THRILLED that we are beginning to have more of a normal sleeping routine in our home. After 4+ years of crazy sleep routines, we really need this : ) So here we go, what we're doing now...

6:30ish: Dinner

7:00/30ish: Bath/PJs

8:00ish: Start to say our good nights and read stories. Ellen and I go to her room and Lucas and Jeff go to his room. I still lay down with Ellen and let her nurse. A few weeks ago she wasn't that tired and started being silly as we were laying there in the dark. I got frustrated and told her that I had to potty and would be right back. I told her that she could play and that I'd turn the dim light on for her. Tyson was already sacked out on the pillow next to where Ellen sleeps. To my surprise after I closed the door I heard her open her shutters and yell good night to Emma, the dog next door. Then she sang some songs and played with some of her toys. I went down to finish up the dishes, thinking she'd cry for me in a few minutes. But she didn't! When she got tired she took her binky and her bunny, curled up next to Tyson, and fell asleep. Wow! That is like magic to us. Since then, she's done it each night. And she sleeps all night too... from about 8:30-7:15. Sometimes she even kicks me out by running over and pointing to the light and smiling : )

We have to go back in before we go to bed to turn out her light. It is such a pretty little sight to see her sleeping so soundly...

PS - Lucas STILL gets up each night and comes to our bed, but I know that won't last forever, so for the most part I still think it's sweet : )

Have you had your collards today?

Ellen has! My friend, Marie, told me about green smoothies last year and I couldn't believe that I hadn't figured that out on my own. All you do is throw different fruits, fresh and/or frozen into the blender and add something green. Spinach is what we usually use, but today we used collards. For the most part, the smoothies have a sweet taste that masks any healthy taste that you'd expect from drinking a green drink. Ellen will drink one each morning, but Lucas is old enough to know that drinking something green seems kind of gross... hopefully he'll grow out of that one day.

Easel Art Work

We moved this from the playroom to the kitchen... makes much more sense to have it downstairs to occupy them while I cook. Ellen can make some mean color scribble circles! : )

The Kid

When Lucas sees a camera now he says, "CHEESE!" I don't know who came up with that because it just looks like he's saying cheese! I told him for this picture that I just wanted to see his pretty face and not to worry about saying anything.

Ellen's Actual Birthday, 10/18

Ellen's actual bday was on a Monday this year, and the fair was in town, so we kept Lucas out of school and spent the morning at the fair. Looking back, this was more of a treat for Lucas than Ellen, which wasn't my intent since it was HER birthday. But she's only 2 and didn't realize it... until she's old enough to read this blog. Sorry Bird - we love you!!

We got there early to check out the animals...

Then we took a few minutes to hang with our PBS friends...

And then it was time for our first treat (and ended up being our only)! Lucas chose cotton candy and Ellen chose a mega sno-cone.