Last night was Graham's first Christmas program. His fan club sat on the front row. He walked in with the group promptly at 6:30pm. We smiled and waved at him as he walked in. He stood front and center. Then he had a melt down and began sobbing. Very loudly.
Daddy went over and let him come down off the stage for a few minutes. Graham calmed down after the first song and eventually went back up, but he was not happy about it.
By the end of the program, he was laughing.
Maybe if it had been 10 minutes longer, he would have sung the songs or done the motions. Instead, we got the double nose pick.
Lately, the kids are in a bird phase. They make nests out of laundry baskets and ask me to feed them pretend worms. If they are pretend worms, and birds don't have teeth anyway, we shouldn't have to fight through bedtime toothbrushing, right?
Here they are, crammed into our closet.
And here was one tired mama bird who woke up to three squirmy chicks on her belly. They were awfully sweet, though.
My sister sent a pair of training chopsticks for Graham a few years ago, and he just discovered them in the back of the utensils drawer. He insisted on trying them out, and since we were having chicken and noodles (a meal he refuses to eat) we consented.
Three plates of noodles and broccoli later, I decided that Santa will now be bringing every version of ethnic cutlery on the planet. It would be worth it to get him to eat without complaining.
Every time we visit Will's parents, the kids have to go to the barn. I think they would have been the happiest boys on Earth if they had been born in a stable like baby Jesus.
Mostly, they just want to sit on tractors. Emily and Aunt Susan are very kind to oblige, and they even got to ride one down the road. You know the song this time of year. Oh, what fun it is to ride... a John Deere tractor.
We also tried to see the baby goats, but the kids were terrified. Ours, not the baby goats.
Gabriella turned 2 years old yesterday. She is turning into this spunky little fun-loving girl with a mind of her own. Watching her sweet little personality unfold has been awesome. What a fun kid.
She's had a few firsts lately. For instance, we finally decided to chop off her mullet curls into a kicky little bob. I don't know if she was depressed about losing her hair or scared to be in the chair, but she was not happy.
For her birthday, we decided to take the kids ice skating. Through an awesome person at the ice rink, we got to have the whole place to ourselves that morning. This was good because Chase did not stop screaming for more than two minutes. See how Will is skating with Chase on the little metal walker? We both felt like we could have won the Geriatric Couples Award by the end. Could barely stand up this morning, but I digress.
Gabriella decided a few weeks ago that she wanted to potty train. I dug in my heels as much as possible, but she started staying dry at night and during naps. She's doing the whole thing backwards--still won't tell me when she has to go--but at least we're not messing with diapers on her anymore.
She enjoys helping with the dishes.
And finally, judging from this video, I think we should sign her up for Irish dancing lessons. Her Grandma Kelly would be proud. She claps for herself, and for a while she would yell "Amen!" at the end of each song.
This year, the kids got several excuses to wear their costumes. We did a Trunk or Treat through our church, went to a party with some friends, and showed up at the church's party behind us simply to take their candy and ride their hayride. We like to give them opportunities to witness to their community.
Graham was a bashful "demolition guy" (homemade costume, his phrase).
As winter approaches, we feel an impending doom, knowing that we will be inside for at least 3 months straight. The only way to handle it is to spend every possible moment outside. We did a lot of typical fall activities this year: an all-church harvest party, playing in leaves, a trip to the apple orchard with Grammie & Grandpa, and a visit to the pumpkin patch with some good friends. Here's a recap in pictures.
Still too short to pick apples off the tree, so she got a little help from Grammie.
Watching a demolition crew clean up the mess from knocking down an old house. See that shirt Graham is wearing? He insists on wearing it every other day. I get 24 hours to wash it. I am not making this up.
Ganging up on Chase in the leaf pile. He didn't mind, although he did keep losing his shoes.
What happens when you try to get a nice family picture on a bale of hay? One collapses, one covers her face, one runs away. This is pretty typical. We do not have many posed pictures of the kids.
And finally, we had a wonderful time at the pumpkin patch with Abbie, Saya, & Eldon and Jayme & Adam. It is so much fun to spend time with all of them.
Yes, that's right: Gabbritude. The word that most accurately describes our youngest child's disposition. For instance, the other day, she didn't want to take her clothes off after going outside.
We also have to watch her when she is playing with her dollhouse. Several times now, she has pulled down her pants to use the 1.5 inch potty.
Last night, 48 exotic animals escaped from a private farm in Ohio. News reports claim that they were first alerted to the situation when commuters reported seeing bears and wolves along the interstate. Local police, a SWAT team, and zoo officials are now hunting lions, tigers, cheetahs, wolves, giraffes, camels, and bears. I say it's a good thing this didn't happen on Halloween, or there would be a lot of very confused hunters.
Yesterday, I managed to get all of my children into laundry basket cages by feeding them marshmallows through the openings. I wonder if I should phone it in as a suggestion.
Yesterday morning, I got a phone call. This was one of those calls where it wasn't okay for the kids to be screaming with the force of 10 angry mobs in the background. So... I did what any normal mother would do--I ran upstairs and locked myself in the bedroom, then sat in the bathroom for the conversation.
Sure enough, I soon heard Graham outside the door. Then Graham beating on the door. Then Chase also beating on the door. Then Gabriella crying outside the door. I just continued the conversation like nothing was happening, praying our pastor wasn't hearing what sounded like 16 bass drums coming from the next room.
Suddenly, the bass drumming stopped. The kids appeared in the bathroom. Flabbergasted, I managed to say goodbye and then asked Graham how he got in the door. I expected him to say that he busted the door open with all of his banging. Nope.
"Well, Chase got the broom out of the closet, so I used it to knock the key off the top of the door and then unlocked the door."
We can never lock them out of another room as long as there's a long stick around. On a positive note, we don't have to replace the bedroom door.
There was a hot air balloon at Will's company picnic this fall. The kids were screaming with excitement, so we got in line. That wicker basket looks like it could hold a refrigerator, but it turns out it's a little snug for 6 people.
It was tethered the entire time, but that did not keep Gabriella from screaming in my ear for the duration of the ride. I relaxed when Graham peeked out and actually waved at the crowd once, then freaked out again when I noticed Chase was fiddling with the knobs on the propane tank.
Will's college friends swooped in over Labor Day and brought with them the flurry of activity that is known as our annual Hootenanny. The weather was not ideal. In fact, it stunk. But when you have that many good friends together, who needs sunshine or cool weather, or even clothes, for that matter? Case in point:
All of the pictures were courtesy of Sam and Cheryl. Thank you for sharing!!
