My 42 Week in Droid Pics!

I need to stop calling each week's pics "late" and just accept that I post them after the weekend.  Then when I actually do it on time, it's "early".


This week was a huge blur.  I took on way too many projects, and I'm trying hard not to be sad about the ones that I ran out of time for.  But at least we had a lot of fun!

Sunday

Our local pumpkin patches suffered a lot of damage after the hurricane, but we enjoyed a hay ride & some roasted corn!

 Monday

O's 1st birthday!  He got a lot of fun toys, and JD even let him play with one!

My boy loves to eat, but he loves flirting with waitresses even more.

Peaceful playtime while JD napped

His 1st cake.  He was a little confused at first, but he dove right in after his first taste.

 Tuesday

Everybody is helping get the house ready for the party.

 Wednesday

My day off!  And I cut my hair again.

O had his well visit, and both boys got flu shots.  O ended up with 3 shots total (no tears at all), but Hubby had to take JD to the car because he was screaming so loud & scaring the other kids.

 Thursday

JD's Halloween party at school was the cutest thing ever.  I hope to get video of his performance of "5 Little Pumpkins" up soon.

We are nearing the weight/height limit, and I'm really going to miss this convenience.

 Friday

We put finishing touches on our front steps.

Painting & carving didn't happen this year because the pumpkins were rotting already.

 Saturday

aka PartyDay

I turned these

into these.

One hour before your guests arrive is a great time to put cookies in the oven.

 Sunday

We were up with the sun & enjoyed a snowy day at Sesame Place.

Did you take phone pics?  Head over to Amy's & link up!


I plan to have a post up tonight or tomorrow with pics form O's party.  I hope everyone is enjoying Halloween!

Flashback Friday: Vintage Halloween

This is the time before a party when I should be scrubbing toilets or something, so when I heard Suzanne & Amy were hosting a Vintage Halloween Blog Hop, I jumped at the opportunity to spend too much time digging through old photo albums.

Growing up, our Halloween costumes were usually pieced together from dance costumes & random accessories. Mom didn't sew- she was known for stapling our girl scout badges on (which is genius by the way).  My sister and I played dress-up a lot, so my memories of Halloween costumes are all mixed up with dance recitals & dress-up.

But one of my favorite Halloween memories (which I unfortunately don't have a picture of) is from a church youth group costume contest.  I think I was in 5th or 6th grade.  A friend & I made our own Mickey & Minnie costumes and won a free large pizza... which we then ate entirely by ourselves.  We were very proud- which is the opposite of how I would feel now if I ate 4 slices of pizza in one sitting.

Anyway, here are the pics I found.

I'm pretty sure I wore these ears later as Minnie.

I have no idea what I was supposed to be.  Some kind of angel/fairy/princess? But my sister, the bumble bee, is adorable.

Mom, please tell me the bangs were a part of my costume.  At least they weren't crimped.  I remember puff painting all over that sweatshirt.  It's a shame you can't see it in the pic.  I'm sure it was a work of art.  And again- the adorable little sister.  Her bangs are straight. 

This is fun.  Go visit Suzanne & Amy, read everybody's cool Halloween memories, and link up your own!

Halloween Party Crafts

Now that we know Saturday is going to be FREEZING and possibly rainy, I've been racking my brain trying to figure out how we're going to keep all of these toddlers occupied in a crowded house.  I'm hoping most of them hang out in the playroom (with the babysitter & a parent or two of course), and to keep them there once the toys lose their luster, I bought some crafty stuff today and set up a station.

JD "helped" set it up.  He couldn't tear himself away from the stickers. Stickers! Sparkly! I was actually impressed with his ability to sort the colors & shapes.

On our old coffee table, I set out craft paper, googly eyes, streamers, random shapes cut out of construction paper, a glue stick, paper plates, and glittery foam stickers.

JD created this mummy & friendly ghost.  We're going to make them some friends to decorate the room & inspire our guests.

Please share your easy, not-too-messy ideas!

Reflecting

O turned one today.  

Every time I look at this pic, I can't get over how much he looks like Hubby.

We I have spent a lot of time over the past few months thinking about today.  Aside from the party this weekend totally taking over my life, I have also been losing sleep over the idea of my baby becoming more "toddler" than "baby".  I've been feeling the baby fever creep back (which isn't helped by the fact that I had to buy JD new sneakers AGAIN this weekend- in a size NINE!  I have no idea how I can possibly have a kid old enough to have feet that big.)


What I did not spend enough time thinking about was how hard today would be for JD.  Looking back, I guess I should have realized he would be jealous and wouldn't really understand, but he made the day difficult, and I was so torn between feeling bad for him and feeling bad for O and feeling like I just wanted him to stop screaming so I could get one peaceful snippet of video.  


For the last couple months, JD fooled me into believing he was genuinely excited about his brother's birthday.  He practiced singing to him, talked about what he wanted to give him, and screamed "for O's birthday!" every time he saw a Halloween decoration.  He helped me wrap the gifts yesterday, and woke up this morning happy to help carry them all into O's room.  Then it all fell apart.

"All for me?"

"Back up brother."

O fights back.

sobbing toddler

Hubby holding him down so O could tear one piece of wrapping paper without being tackled.

Some peaceful playing (because O wasn't touching this one- the Little People Halloween House scares him.  For real.  After I put the batteries in and showed him how the ghost pops up from the chimney, he FREAKED OUT and speed crawled out of the room.)

When I tucked JD into bed tonight, we talked about the day and what we were looking forward to tomorrow.  I told him that after school we could all play with O's new toys together.  I pointed out how O shares his toys with JD, just like JD shares his, and he said in his sweetest little voice, "O share nice".  


I wanted to give O a special day that was all about the things he likes: playing, following the dog, flirting with waitresses, eating yogurt melts, and snuggling with mommy.  I just didn't factor in how to balance that with the demands of a toddler.  As I look back, O did get to do all of those things, it just didn't go as smoothly as I thought it would.  I guess that's a part of having more than one child that I hadn't really thought about before.  Nobody's special day will ever be all about them.  


And this is the part where I ask for tips on how to keep JD from melting down at O's party. (I just had an image of O 20 years from now telling his therapist about how we had to sing Happy Birthday to JD at all of O's birthday parties.)  How do you handle this in your family?

My 41st Week in Droid Pics

I want to write something interesting here, but all I can think about is how my baby will be 1 in just 2 days.  ONE.  As in an entire year.  A year ago today, I was 5 days overdue and dancing at a wedding that I would have bet a million bucks I wasn't going to.  This week is going to be rough- and not just because O's big party is a week from today.  O is getting more & more independent and opinionated by the hour.  He already has a very convincing NONONONO.  Lord, help me!

Monday

O helped JD with the motor skills (AKA poking coffee stirrers through little holes).

 Tuesday

JD had his first field trip.

He wanted to feed the animals one tiny piece of food at a time, but we finally convinced him to just offer up the cone by telling him it was time to go to the playground.

"Show Mommy your cider donut."

And then we took O to buy more pumpkins.  BIG pumpkins.

 Wednesday

It was my "day off", so I treated myself to a mani/pedi.

The boy who has ALL the blankets doesn't like to use them.

The boy who gets one little blankie likes to snuggle.

 Thursday

JD got himself dressed this morning- including socks & shoes!  He was so proud he actually stood still, posed, and smiled for the picture.

O practiced the stairs at My Gym.

Got the proofs for JD's school portrait.  Wonder which pose I'm going to choose... Can I have head #2 on the body of #1?

O loved dinner.  Or making out with his Elmo plate.

 Friday

Racing down the slide.

O LOVES the ball pit.  And every time he's in there he only grabs the orange balls.

rattles at storytime

Our Moms Club had a cupcake decorating playdate.

mmmmmm (He licked the decorations off & left the cake behind.)

 Saturday

Today consisted of thinking about all the things we need to do & doing everything else.

like rearranging kitchen drawers

and finally doing that Ikea spice rack/bookshelf thing.

Did you take phone pics this week?  I'd love for everyone to get on board.  Visit Amy for the code & link up! 

Healthy-ish Caramel Apple Muffins

I'm still practicing all the food for O's birthday party, and these are too cute not to share.  They come from a big mix of ideas & then I winged it.  Putting caramels in the center came from a Gordan Ramsay recipe, the frosting came from a Disney Family Fun article, and the muffin itself is a basic apple muffin with some healthy substitutions.

This is all you need + plain yogurt. (I was not getting it all out again for a new pic.)

For the muffins, you will need

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoons baking spice
• pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 2 large-ish or 3 small-ish apples, peeled and chopped
• 6-8 soft caramels, chopped

Preheat oven to 400.

Wisk together the dry ingredients.

In another bowl, wisk the eggs, applesauce, & yogurt.

Mix it all together with the apples until blended.

Fill muffin cups 1/2 way. Sprinkle caramel pieces, and then fill the cups the rest of the way.  (Makes 12)

Bake for 15 min (until a toothpick comes out clean).

While they are baking, prepare the frosting.

You will need

• 8 oz. of softened cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon of maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• food coloring
• chopped nuts
• craft sticks

Mix cream cheese, maple syrup, and vanilla extract with a mixer.  Add food coloring to achieve a caramel color.  

I played with yellow, red, and bit of blue.

Frost each muffin, coat the edge with chopped nuts, and push a craft stick into the center.

mmmmm