The Other Corn Maze

The Better to See You With

First of all, when I got Fred's shirt out of the halloween pile to get him dressed I found this spider. Creepy.Poor Stella, it's not easy being the villain. Fred kept chopping her and he doesn't even know the story.

(Slipping wig.)

Didn't you know the story of Little Red Riding Hood has a lumberjack terrorist?

When Chloe was four she wanted to be the Big Bad Wolf. We were so happy that she didn't want to be a princess that we granted her wish--even though the costume cost us $50 off ebay. That is why Stella had to wear it this year (even though she wanted to be a princess) and Fred will wear it when he is four. Then we will sell it on ebay. They were going for $75 this year.

Tablerock

Failed Christmas card photo.
This isn't as bad except for Fred.

Cousins

My kids loved having their cousins visit. We celebrated Chloe's birthday, went to the Discovery Center and mini golfing.

At the D.C.: bed of nails, animal hospital, grocery store.

Our kids do what we did when we were little--make up dances and plays. Ethan is a good sport. Here we have Ethan and Chloe in a dazzling display of precision choreography:

Can you believe they haven't received any formal training? Chloe would be really good at dance but we can't afford piano, a sport and dance. So, we'll stick to piano and soccer or gymnastics.

Thanks for the visit Gma & Gpa, Rachel, Ashton & Ethan! Come again soon.

Mermaid Party

Chloe told me she wanted a mermaid party before she got too old. I couldn't resist that.

It takes a village to throw a party. Rachel and her kids and my mom AND dad came up. They all helped clean and decorate. And Rachel made the awesome cake. My aunt Cheryl was in town and she and Rachel and two teenage girls from the neighborhood put make up on the kids.
They played with moon sand (mermaids probably make sandcastles, right?).

Played charades (Ariel lost her voice).

Hit a Sponge Bob pinata (he didn't seem to mind).

And found hidden treasure chests.

I took pictures of the girls in front of the beach sunset my dad painted. (They are supposed to look like mermaids.) Ethan is a crocodile. Stella is an Egyptian mermaid.
I sewed these tails. I am pretty impressed with how they came out because it took me four prototypes before I figured out this designs. They are basically aprons with a hot pad at the bottom--the fin is open in the back so they can slip their feet into it.

Rachel made the cake out of fondant, brown sugar for sand, hard tack candy for water and a scalloped fruit roll up for the tail. Poor mermaid was being swarmed by sharks. She survived the attack but not with her tail. She is now naked with legs.



Chloe is a really good helper. She is small for her age. And smart for her age.
She is good at following rules and instructions. School comes easily for her. She also loves any kind of art or craft project. She loves riding her bike (just not to school in the morning but I make her anyway) playing soccer, Barbies, Polly Pockets & dolls. She just started gymnastics and I think she is a natural. She loves dancing around to music. Her favorites are Fiona Apple and Miley Cyrus.

Happy Birthday, Chloe! We love having you in our family.

Thanks everyone who helped. Chloe loved it! Oh, and the crowns were behind the recycling in the pantry.

Footballs

Every year we let the kids design their own pumpkin face. Chloe even carved hers herself.

Stella's is on the left, Chloe's on the right.
I was really impressed with Fred's pumpkin. I told him to draw a circle for the eye then another circle. He was able to do this very well considering we have never taught him shapes. Then I told him to draw a line for the mouth. I carved around the line to create the mouth. I think it is a very charming pumpkin.

Mom's pumpkin on the left, Dad's on the right.

Next to Fred's plate is a pumpkin. (Yes, he's eating with his helmet on.) We picked out this football shaped pumpkin then Chloe painted it like a football. It screwed Fred up. He called all pumpkins footballs the entire Halloween season. We tried to correct him. "No, football!" he'd reply.

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Cleft continued

Fred doesn't NEED to get it fixed. The muscles in his lip and his palate are completely fine. It won't interfere with his speech. It is strictly cosmetic (though insurance covers it because it is considered a birth defect). I really don't imagine kids teasing him about it. Maybe in elementary a kid will ask, "Is that a scar?" And Fred will say, "Yes." "How did you get it?" And Fred can reply, "I was born with it." --or-- "I fell down some stairs when I was a baby." (I think it is more likely he'll get made fun of for missing teeth or being named 'Fred'.) I can't recall a time when a kid has inquired about his lip. Maybe I should start asking children what they think.

Ha ha. I just asked Chloe's friend if she had ever noticed Fred's scar. She tried to look but said she couldn't see it. So I pointed it out. Chloe said, "Whoa! I never noticed that." Neither had Stella or Annie.

I prefer to just leave it until he wants it fixed (and hope we have good insurance). Or at least until he's old enough to sit still and watch movies/color/play video games while it heals. Or until summer when I can ship off the girls. Or until we have money to cover the deductible. Or until we're about to lose our insurance.