Trick - or - Treat

Monday was a very busy day for the girls.  For starters, our local elementary school decided to have Pajama Day in lieu of costumes.  This increased the excitement level for an already exciting day.  Once at school, Savannah and Lila had class parties before coming home and trick-or-treating.  Between my committments in Lila and Savannah's classrooms, I was at their school all day.

Lila's party kicked off at 9:00 a.m.  Luckily, they have a "No Food" policy so the kids weren't shoving candy in their mouths at this early hour.  I went into help with the party and fill my little girl's bucket.  Lila was engaged in the activities but seemed a tad overwhelmed by the number of people in the room and change of routine.  She hung close to her very good friend Mya and especially enjoyed the freeze dance activity at the end of the party. 

Here is my little Halloween Kitty girl sporting her pajamas after her school. 

 

During Lila's party, I was pulled to be a mystery reader for Savannah's class.  She has such a nice class this year and I really enjoyed my time reading.  I was asked to provide three clues and it wasn't until the third clue that the students knew who was knocking at the door.

1.  I have a daughter in the class.

2.  She has a sibling in Kindergarten. 

3.  She eats lunch on a cloth napkin.  (Everyone enjoys this novelty when observing Savannah eating lunch.)

I put on my bathrobe and slippers (like my big girl requested) and brought all the slumber party essentials - a Thomas Train pillow, Hello Kitty Blanket, stuffed animal, flashlight and favorite book.  I was surprised at how anxious the students were when I asked them to hold my items while I read. 

After my mystery read, I took Lila Grace out to lunch and then quickly put her down for a nap before rushing back to the school for the pajama parade.  Lila could have participated as many of the morning Kindergarteners did, but I figured a nap was best.  Here is a picture of Savannah during the parade and before we headed into her classroom party.  

Once back at home, the girls rushed to eat dinner and get into their costumes.  They were very excited that our old neighbors were joining us again this year.  It just wouldn't be Halloween without them. 

Here is everybody chomping at the bit to collect their candy!

 It was chilly on Halloween.  After all, there was snow on the ground in places.  The girls are really bundled under their costumes and look a little heftier than usual. 

This was the first year that I didn't coordinate their costumes in some way or another.  In fact, Adeline is wearing her costume from last year and Lila is using Savannah's old butterfly costume.  Life is just too busy and opinions are too strong for me to take the reigns in this department.  Sign of the times. . .

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving Year 6!

We hosted the 6th Annual Pumpkin Carving with the Anstines this weekend.  We have carved with them since the little girls were in the NICU.  Things have certainly changed since then.  This year, the girls had lots of opinions and offered up lots of help.

My girls had been talking about their pumpkins for a full week with vivid imagery.  Due to the pumpkin shortage and our illnesses delay, we were left with very few pumpkins to choose from and forked over a hefty amount of cash for the chosen three. This year, Adeline was set on a happy pumpkin.  In fact, she didn't want to give him a name but requested we all just refer to him as a happy pumpkin.  She tried very hard to carve some of the pieces.

Lila caught onto Savannah's idea of carving a kitty and wouldn't let go of it.  At first, she was going to have three pumpkins - Bert, Ernie and a rubber duck.  Luckily, Daddy worked hard to carve out a cat to Lila's liking.  I believe Lila caved one of the ears all by herself.  It took a very long time.  Her pumpkin evolved into a cat named Erika and then into a princess kitty. Only one person in this family would put a crown on a pumpkin!

Savannah came up with another original design for a cat.  I didn't help her at all except for carving out the whiskers and the tough part of the mouth.  Everything else was done by her mind and hand.  I think it was our best pumpkin this year.  It fits my big girl!

After the first few pumpkins were carved, the parents were left the remaining few. 

Here is the final product.  Not shabby. . .

Even better. . .

4" Later

I can't even light the pumpkins we carved last night! I don't know about you, but I am not ready for gloves, hats, snow pants, boots and melted puddles of snow cluttering up my house.  Apparently my girls are. . .

5 Year Check Up

We trekked the girls into the city for their five year old check ups yesterday.  We continue to see our "special baby" doctor who we started with five years ago.  At the time, we needed a doctor that was familiar with one pound babies and all their tubes and monitors.  While we aren't such a special case any more, we have earned a bit of a celebrity status at the office and feel that driving over and hour each direction is worth it.  Before we could even check in, our doctor came out to the waiting room to see the girls as well as three nurses and a nurse practitioner.  This is a city pediatric clinic that is packed all day long.  How they remember us from year to year, I will never know.

Miss Adeline was very nervous for her appointment.  Medical establishments still shake her to her core.  She talked Nurse Robin out of the squeezy squeezy (blood pressure cuff) and only had to produce a height and weight.  Here are her stats. . . (and a picture of her from her Halloween party at school today.)

Adeline is 32 pounds and has dropped below the 5th percentile.  She is going to be petite - not real shocking news.  Adeline is 3 feet 5 inches tall and is working hard to hang onto the 25th percentile for height.  Not bad, considering her start.  We talked about calories and growth and the consensus is that she has laid her foundation in the height and weight department.  There isn't a lot we can do to change the fact that she is so tiny.  Dr. McNett offered up a new Pediasure that has more calories and we plan to make the switch since it is Adeline's breakfast.  She goes until lunch without anything else in her tummy.

I should note that I LOVE how tiny she is.  She is so easy to hold, so cute with her mature face yet very tiny body, and best of all, she still fits!  She fell asleep on me tonight.  I love that she can snuggle right into my lap.

Lila Grace checked in much bigger and braver.  She hopped up for the blood pressure cuff and didn't cry when getting her flu shot.  That was a shocker!  Lila enjoyed telling everyone that she was five and fed right into the celebrity status I mentioned.

Here are Miss Grace's stats. . .(and a picture of my current fever queen!)

Lila weighed 37 pounds!  Yes, that is five pounds more than her sister.  She hangs at the 25th percentile for weight and at the 50th percentile for her height of  3 feet 7 inches.  All three of my girls are long and skinny!  Not such a bad thing.

We left the office over two hours later.  The girls were super stars since we were well into the dinner hour when leaving.  Dr. McNett had nothing but good things to say about the girls.  Their outcome continues to amaze me and their doctors.  The girls are social, happy, sweet, loving, cute and, so far, hanging with their peers academically.   Did I mention that Lila is up to 70 on her number ring!

We are so darn lucky! 

October Moments

This month has passed too quickly.  We just finished our second weekend of being sick and Adeline is still running a 102 fever.  That coupled with lice is enough to set us back at least a month.  Regardless, I feel the need to post some memorable moments.  Or possibly, this is a post to reassure myself that we have gotten out and done something fun instead of battling homework, number rings, racing to various forms of swim practice and other electives in which the girls participate. 

Late last month, Lila's hermit crab died.  It got a little too confident and started to run around without a shell.  Not a good idea when there are two other crabs in the cage.  Savannah's crab caught it and violently picked it apart.  Honestly, I watched the whole thing.   Needless to say, there was a heavy heart in this house and a lot of talk about Heaven.

Here are the girls pretending to be two happy happy hermit crabs.  Lila selected a nifty shell.

Next up was apple picking.  We try to get to the orchard every year.  This year, we chose Columbus Day and boy, was that a mistake.  Everyone else decided to do the same thing.  We quickly filled our bag and left but the girls liked it just the same.  Lila was too busy bowling with fallen apples when I tried to get a picture.  Here are my other two happy pickers and juggler.

The girls have been on their best behavior this month so when they asked if they could sleep in their sleeping bags last week, we told them yes.  Here they are so happy to be sleeping on the floor instead of their beds that are only two feet away.  We thought they were so cute, especially when snuggled up close.  Looking back, all I can see are little tiny louse crawling from head to the other.  YUCK!

We took the girls to Dutch Wonderland for an early trick-or-treating. They recycled last year's ladybug costumes. It was a great night. The weather was perfect and lines for rides were minimal. After the girls collected their candy, Savannah put on her brave face and rode the big roller coaster with Daddy. She liked it so much that she went back for a second ride. The little girls were content to play in this little tiny playground. Where else would one find a TRAIN and a DUCK (I know it isn't a duck but Lila requested that I call it one so that both girls had their "favorites!") Pictures were taken with my phone. . .

This past weekend, we visited Cherry Crest Farm.  It is an annual tradition and is by far the best farm we have visited.  Unfortunately, the Belle ended up in the car with a fever while I took the other two girls around.  Luckily, we had two other families join us which helped fill the void for the girls.  I was sorely disappointed and Adeline was too.  It wasn't a photo heavy trip because I was missing my littlest one.

All Adeline could talk about was doing the Apple/Tennis Ball Slinger. With fever and all, my little determined girl drug herself out of the stroller to sling a few balls into the sky. 

The favorite attraction is the Bouncy Pillow.  Lila and Charlotte had a great time bouncing while Savannah and her friend bounced on the big kid pillow.  I must admit that it looks like a lot fun!

Here the girls are peering out of a their newly constructed life sized Lincoln Log house. 

Savannah and I hopped on a wagon ride together.  There was a day when she wouldn't ride alone and I would have to crawl in with her.  I didn't appreciate those rides as much as I appreciated this one!