INTRODUCING...

Our High School Musical Cheerleader!

Our Lightning McQueen Pit Crew!

And the cutest Mickey Mouse a very biased mom has ever seen!Honestly didn't plan the red color-scheme!

As if we didn't have enough candy in our lives already, our 21-month old really needs this!Lighting our pumpkins after trick-or-treating! And no, honestly didn't plan their jammies to match their High School Musical and Cars movie costumes!The kids all had a super-fun time, and lasted really well for almost 2 hours! After the excitement died down the kids were gently tucked into bed, and are now fast asleep! My favorite time of year...TIME TO RAID THE CANDY BUCKETS!!!

LAST SOCCER POST, I PROMISE!

Nicole and Max had their last soccer class of the session today! It was a very small class (presumably because of Halloween!) but it was the best by far! After the kids scored their final goals, they ran through a tunnel of parents, and went to the coaches to high-five them and get their soccer certificate of participation. I can't wait until another session starts...

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Grandma came to watch today, and she helped entertain Jack!No, Jack is NOT dressed head-to-toe in black because he is trying to be ME for Halloween...it is part of his costume! Really!

BEST FRIENDS

Max had a halloween party and parade at preschool today, and posed for a picture with his best friend, B. This is their third year of preschool together, and we are already talking about how hard it is going to be next year when the boys are in different schools...

They came together over their love of Lightning McQueen, and they have bonded over so much more in the ensuing years!

PUMPKIN GUTS

Time to carve the pumpkins! The kids had been talking all day about carving their pumpkins tonight when daddy came home! The excitement was palpable---but waned almost as soon as the event started. Max ran off after about 5 minutes to play with Jack (who had only marginal interest to begin with) and Nicole stayed clear of the direct carving area once the pumpkin guts started exiting the pumpkin. She declared them gross and disgusting, and wanted to watch from 10 feet away at all times!

Happy Halloween!

HERE KITTY KITTY!

Nicole's dance studio is having a Halloween recital this year, and she is very excited to be dressed up as a black cat, dancing to "Stray Cat Strut." Her class (5-6 year olds) has been combined with the 3-4 year old class for the recital, and she was very happy to meet up with, and get partnered up with, some friends in the other class! Credit has to be given to all the young girls for learning a dance in the 6-7 weeks since dance class started this year! Unfortunately, most of the pictures of the dress rehearsal came out blurry---much movement and too much light---but since we aren't allowed any flash photography at the actual recital, this may be the best we will have!

Ta-dah!

KNOCK KNOCK...
In my entire life, I have never really gotten the humor in a "knock-knock joke." I get the puns and plays on words, but I just never found them funny. I don't think a knock knock joke has ever made me smile...until last night.

A little history...I don't know how Nicole and Max started telling these jokes, but it has been at least a few years that they have been doing them. One will say "knock- knock" and the other says "who's there" and then the first will look around the room and say any object they see, like "spoon" and the other will say "spoon who" and the first will focus on another object and say "spoon lamp." And they will both go into an hysterical frenzy of laughter and then the second one will start the joke and do the same thing. "coffee pot lightbulb" (laughter); "phone doll" (laughter). So, not only do I never find a "real" knock-knock joke funny, but I certainly haven't heard anything resembling funny in this house for a long time! (Lest you think I am mean, I DO laugh with the kids as they tell their jokes!) Anyway, I am sure Jack doesn't really get the knock-knock jokes, but he sees that they elicit a good response---laughter and happiness!

Last night, Jack woke up in the middle of the night. I have never been a good middle of the night person, and so when my kids have gotten up in the middle of the night (and thank goodness it is pretty rare!) they won't find me very receptive. Kurt went in to see what was up, and tried to get him back to sleep. He cryed out again a little later, and I went in to see what was going on with him. As soon as I walked in to his room, I said in a firm voice that it was night time, that he had to stop crying and that he needed to be asleep! I didn't make eye contact with him and didn't mince words. He knew I wasn't too happy. He didn't say or do anything for some time and then thinking fast on his feet, he tried to instill a little humor into the situation. I heard "mommy knock-knock!!" and he started laughing hysterically. I suppose he thought this would elicit the laughter that it did with Nicole and Max---and it did, but I did manage to hold it in until I got out of the door of his room!

A BUSY WEEKEND

This weekend flew by--as they always do when the holidays approach! No time to get anything done!!

Nicole and Max had another fun soccer game Friday night.

My daughter IS the only girl playing soccer in a skirt, week after week! After soccer, I whisked the kids off to the gym for Kids Fun Night---and Kurt and I, Jack in tow, got out to a quick and casual dinner in West Chester.

Jack was invited to a Costume Ball on Saturday morning---his first invite without big bro and sister! The only time he left my side the entire party was to have a little face time with Elmo! Another little boy may have wanted to have it out with Jack over face-time with Elmo, but in the end, they realized that Elmo's arms could hug two little kids!

Saturday night, we went out as grown-ups! We met some old friends and new friends (who are old friends with our old friends!!) in West Chester for cocktails and dinner.

Very fun Saturday night, not so fun for me Sunday morning when the kids were, of course, up at the crack of dawn being loud and making demands!

HE'S SO NOT MY BABY!

Here is an exciting new first for my baby boy---A FIRST HAIRCUT! Finally! Jack really has been getting more and more girl comments and I knew I had to take the plunge and cut off those adorable baby curls that I KNOW will never ever ever grow back!

Seeing how excited Jack was for his first haircut, the stylist made me sit in the chair with him so he wouldn't jump down and run out screaming!

What did she put in his hair to make it stand up like that? Nicole was CRACKING up during this. Good thing Jack found he could watch TV--otherwise he certainly would have run out screaming if he saw himself then!!

Hey this TV show is great! I need to come get my hair cut more often!What do you mean my haircut is over---I'm not finished with my show yet! I am not posing for the camera, and I am not leaving until the show is finished!Gone are the baby curls and the baby face. My little man has arrived!

HE'S STILL MY BABY!

Last round of vacation pictures---just showing that while my baby was star-struck by Jasmine, I think he adored these friends a little more! He's still my baby!

He was so happy and tried to give kisses to all his Pooh friends! This may have been the most excited I saw him during the whole trip! Nicole and Max were surprisingly excited as well! So, if you're heading to Disney with young kids, book a meal at the Crystal Palace! The food was actually pretty good as well!

YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE REVISITED!
Is there anything worse than the endless viewing of someone else's vacation pictures??? Realizing that this isn't exactly falling under"hot topics" and that virtually nobody wants to read vacation posts, I am trying to make them as brief as possible. Dad? Sis? Are you still with me? Ok, let's look...

The kids went on a PIRATE CRUISE! How cute! If your kids fall above the 4-year old age cut-off, you too can get-ripped-off-at-Disney-one-more-time-and-pay-exorbitant-fees-to-drop-your-kids-off-for-a-boat-ride-and-lunch! They will even give you a "free" (ha) pirate hat! And make you sign a long-a** waiver saying basically that if your kid falls overboard, Disney is not responsible! Under any circumstances! If you can get past all that, you're in for a treat!

It was a really cute idea---they got them in pirate hats and gear, boarded the "pirate ship" and sailed away into the morning sun! From what the kids told me when we picked them up, they had a blast! They sailed to a beach (Nicole later pointed from a monorail to the beach at the Polynesian Resort, and said that's where they went) and they followed clues to find pirate treasure. Nicole found a piece of their pirate map scrolled up in a bottle on the beach---they all had to put the map together to follow the trail to the treasure! When they came sailing back two hours later, their bellies were full of PB & J sandwiches and other treats, and they had goodie bags full of a little treasure chest, "real" coins and jewels and other memorabilia! They loved it! And quite frankly, it was nice to be able to take it easy and enjoy a leisurely brunch for 2 hours with only one child talking at us, as opposed to the usual three!

Gearing up:

On board the pirate ship!Sailing off!

Breakfast with Jack and Grumpy (I mean Kurt!)The ship returns:Coming home with their treasure!

LIGHTNING MCQUEEN IN PERSON!

I thought this would be the moment Max had been waiting for his entire life! Anyone who has ever met Max will have first noticed his Lightning McQueen garb...then shoes, toys...and overall obsession with the Cars movie, which has not wavered since the day he saw the movie in the theaters, well over 2 years ago! When I was pregnant with Jack and on partial bed-rest (what kind of BS is that anyway, especially with two toddlers running around the house!) we put in the Lightning McQueen movie almost EVERY DAY. I don't even think it is possible to count to the number of times we have seen this movie. So, imagine my excitement when I was wandering around Disney with a sleeping baby in the stroller and I saw the "real" Lightning McQueen. I couldn't wait to reunite with Max (off on a ride with daddy and sis) to tell him! When I did, he was jumping and screaming and almost ran the entire way there. So, what happened when he actually got to see and touch him in person (after waiting patiently and excitedly in a long line?) Abstract indifference! We had to force him to touch the car! Barely a smile! Did I have another star struck child on my hands?? Does it look like he was a little afraid to touch him? I am still not sure what happened!

I NEED A VACATION!!

We just got back from vacation 2 days ago, and I am overwhelmed with the amount of catch-up I have! Suffice it to say that it feels like I need 2 days to catch up on every day that I was away! I'm never going away again!!!

Anyway, I haven't posted in a while because we went to Disney for a week. We had an awesome time! I was very concerned before the trip about how Disney would be with a 20-month old, but he was really a dream! He just went with the flow, did what we did, slept (in the stroller!!!) when he was tired, and loved every minute of it!

Character meals were the way to go--just to avoid waiting in those long lines when you encounter a character somewhere in the park! Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine, Cinderella, Ariel! I don't know whether it was Nicole or Max who was more overwhelmed!

And Jasmine and Jack had a little thing going on---my heart was broken when my little man's heart was stolen by Jasmine! One big kiss on the forehead from her, and he was star struck!
More posting tomorrow about more characters and fun!

MAKE-OVER

Needing all the help I can get, I signed up for a free "make-up 101" session at a local salon, Calista Grand, http://www.calistagrand.com/, sponsored by the Chester County Moms group. Kurt was kind enough to watch the kids, even during an Eagles game, while I relaxed with the ladies on a Sunday afternoon. During this very impressive three-hour session, I learned so much about what I don't know about applying make-up! We learned about make-up textures, colors, brushes, and about how much more I have to learn! There was a team of 2 make-up artists who, despite two very different approaches to make-up application, made some beauties out of the already-pretty ladies, by making them look natural with a little bit of something more! Knowing that we are moms, their intent was to show us how to put on a natural face in the 10-minutes-or-less time frame we are usually faced with, as we get ready to leave the house with screaming kids at our feet, competing for our "me" time...

I am so not used to wearing make-up like this, so I feel like every time I smile, the make-up cracks in all the places that my wrinkes are trying to get through (that's probably why I am not smiling in the picture!). I am going to learn to do at least a little more than I do for myself right now, so that I can be presentable.

I do have to say, though, that running errands this morning before the event, in a completely bare face, wasn't as horrible as I envisioned. I honestly didn't care what people thought of me, and that made me feel good. Notice, though, that I am not posting any pictures of that look!