December!

Where did the time go? My apologies to my faithful readers for the major delay (again). I once again blame Facebook, my daily addiction  time-waster diary!, for taking all the spark out of blogging...so the quick round-up from the month so far is:

four births (one still to come): 2 girls, 2 boys (+ girl on deck)

Clara still enjoys chess club - in fact, she placed second in their end-of-semester tournament; Elfie has been doing dance and as far as we can tell, likes it...she's not so verbal about her activities.

Both girls are still enjoying Girl Scouts...they went to a campfire last week and did their first "swaps." The girls helped make felt pins for the event...

Clara traded a bunch of hers; Elfie saved hers (par for the course...she saves everything!).

We visited with the Grinch:

And went to a holiday party at Liam's preschool.

The kids did crafts,

and played in Liam's classroom,

...then paid a little visit to the guy in red:

(this one pretty much sums up what Oliver thought of Santa)

Maybe with the big kids?

Yeah right, think again, lady:

So what did the big kids tell Santa?

Liam wants a firetruck;

Elfie wants stuffed animals;

and Clara wants an 18" doll (think: American Girls).

Clara, the Candy Cane Reindeer :)

Today, Clara helped me finish my "hot cocoa on a stick" project...we added Whole Foods natural peppermint marshmallows and sprinkles for fun.

The "cocoa" is sinfully delicious - rather like fudge - and we haven't even tried it in milk yet...as-is was just too good!

Finally, Dan and I actually went OUT - like, without kids! - not just once, but TWO TIMES this month! The first, we met with the wife of my very first boyfriend (not nearly as strange as it might sound). They live in Houston, but she was in town for work, so we met at Tarbell's in Phoenix for a lovely dinner. The second event was the graduation celebration of another friend...we spent most of our time chatting and catching up with another couple with four kids, who attended the girls' old school. Look, I actually have photographic evidence of being OUT!

I'll be back soon-ish with more from the holidays! Hope you are all healthy and happy <3

A parade in November...seriously?

Another little perk to suffering through the inferno that is our summer: parades! In November - when much of the US is trying to stay inside - we flaunt our weather by shutting down streets and sending floats, marching bands, and groups of little kids down the middle of them to celebrate Veteran's Day.

The girls, newly enrolled in the Girl Scouts (Brownies for Clara, Daisies for Elfie), were in the parade this year, so the boys and mama camped out on the sidewalk enjoying the show.

Free flags for all:

Gratuitous palm-tree shot for the cold-weather dwellers:

Some snuggles as we waited for sisters to come by:

The troop float:

They saw us!

The downside? Candy-throwing must be no longer allowed, which really takes a lot of the fun out of spectating...a few parade folk passed out goodies, but not a single item was chucked at our unsuspecting heads.

Three Rs for Xmas

There really are advantages to having four kids so close in age...like being able to use the same holiday pajamas multiple times! I have this thing against tight-fitting and/or chemically-treated nightwear for my kiddos - which in this country means it's nearly impossible to find PJs. Once upon a time, Hanna Anderson sold "long johns" that were not only of high quality, but loose and comfortable...until the company was bought out and switched to the "don't let your kid catch fire" style. Well sneaky me...I bought Christmas stripey Hannas for the kids through the years, adding slowly to the collection thanks to ebay and thebabywearer.com sellers...low and behold, when the cold-weather bins were brought down this year, I discovered my collection included matchy stripes for all four beauties!

 

 

(next task: getting one good picture of all four kids...)

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle?

We like to get the most out of our once-a-year clothing! Three outfits in particular have had more than their "money's worth" with our gang.

First we have the Gymboree skeleton sweat suit: one costume, seven years, five Halloweens, four kids!

Clara at 1.5
(2003)

Clara at 2.5

(2004)

Elfie at 1.5

(2005)

 Liam at 2.5
(2009)

Oliver at 1.5
(2010)

(and it will fit him again next year, so don't be surprised by a repeat performance...)

Then there's the Gymboree pirate outfit, currently on its third year of use, all by Liam. We're hoping it survives one more night so Oliver can use it next year...

2008

2009

2010

(definitely Liam's last year in this one)

And finally, those overalls...

2008

2009

2010

(and you'll see them again next year, no worries!)

Endless Halloween

Once upon a time, in a far-away land, a little girl named Jenny spent every October 31 trying vainly to show her costume from under a snowsuit while she shivered her way from heated car to door, and back to heated car through the snowdrifts...

Fortunately for our crew, the climate here is much more conducive to costuming and begging for candy! On the downside though, partly thanks to temperatures in the 80s and 90s all through October, Halloween festivities this year were spread out over a few weeks...which really, it turns out, is too much for the adults in this house.

The kiddos started by digging into the Halloween bins to decorate and rediscover costumes.

Then we spent two weekends at the Circle C having a blast at the Fall Festival. The crew dressed up, had faces painted,

went for rides on a hay wagon, a barrel train, and a horse

dug for prizes in the hay stack

painted pumpkins

and minded the cousins (here's Lilah):

I decided to give the kids some creepy lunch one day:

  

(apple slices with almond teeth; carrot eyes with hummus and black olives; string cheese fingers)

(buffalo dogs and all-natural crescent roll dough)

(spinach hummus grass, carrot goblins and string cheese ghosts)

We started the second round of my decorated overalls (made them two years ago for Liam):

                                

The girls had a fall festival at school, all three "big kids" wore costumes and black-orange combos to school on multiple days, and the girls had a Halloween party with their new Girl Scout troops...

Dan carved a belly pumpkin for me (thanks to Rixa's template and inspiration)...but since I failed to take a picture of ours, here was the original, posted on Rixa's blog:

and finally last night (October 30), we tagged along with a friend to a "trunk-or-treat" and festival, complete with chili dinner, kids' carnival and the finale of the trick-or-treating around the parking lot at peoples' decorated vehicles.

In full Halloween regalia:

On the way (and I swear, Clara's seat belt is normally up on her shoulder - I caught this pic as she was scratching!):

Even Dan wore a costume!

The kids sorted their booty at home - and ate sick quantities of sugar, of course...

So now...I'm done...and we still haven't had HALLOWEEN. 

Sigh.