Halloween 2009

You know what's a really bad idea? Taking your daughter to Joann's to just "look" at Halloween costume patterns. Because you're not leaving without a pattern and a promise, A PROMISE, to make your daughter a Snow White costume. That's what happened to me this summer. I've never made Laura a costume before, but luckily I was smart and started working on it a long time ago, took my time, and made it perfectly.

Okay, so obviously that is a lie. Yes, I bought the pattern and made the promise back in June, but I didn't start working on the costume until the 20th. Of October. It was really, really hard and I don't ever want to do that again. But somehow I managed it. The inside of the costume looks absolutely horrendous, but I really don't care. Laura seemed to really like it, and I thought she looked adorable. She makes a good Snow White. I really wish she could wear it again next year, but I don't think it will fit, and I get the feeling that I'll be making another promise this coming June.

Laura posing with our pumpkinsWith a better smile this timeMoxie didn't want to be left out, so she her picture taken while looking extra cuteWith Daddy at the local "Trunk-Or-Treat"Mommy and Laura getting excited about candy

Reenacting the hot dog photo from last year

We had a great time tonight and are now the proud owners of way too much candy. Also, for those who care, my hair is not black like the picture might have you believe.

No Time To Blog!

This has been a busy summer-so busy that I haven't had time to post much. But I have plenty of excuses! Such as, you ask? Well, let me fill you in!

Laura had a month's worth of this, although we missed several times

I did some of this

Moxie did this while I was painting

Then the Army Man did this for the whole deck and fence

We've been keeping our eyes on this new addition to our porch

Then Moxie had her first one of these at home, and wasn't happy about it
We've done this a bunch of times, to my stomach's great joy

Moxie has hung out by the A/C a lot

I've manged to make a new dress
And something else newThen yesterday we had some visitors!

They took a picture of us in our 4th of July outfits (the Army Man's was the best)

We met up with friends for fireworks
The Army Man and I enjoyed ourselves

Other things that occured lately but were not photographed were a visit from my cousin Lisa and her two children (so much fun!), a broken upstairs air conditioner (not fun at all), professional painters painting the stairs and master bedroom, and two seperate visits from my Aunt and her two girls (also great fun). Now things are calming down a bit-all we have coming up is a week long visit from my Mom (hooray!), pre-K starting on July 15th (more on that later), and Jury Duty for me on July 16th. No big deal, right?

It's Not Easter Without A Sumo Chicken

Somehow I managed to catch Laura's germs, and I've spent the last few days feeling horrible. I'm not sure how I managed to get sick, since all I did was lay in bed with Laura and clean up her messes while she was sick. Amazing how these things happen! I was shocked by the extreme pain-I expected it to be more of a nauseating sickness, but it was actual, legitimate pain. That made me feel even worse for Laura, knowing she had gone through all of that. I only share all that to explain why our Easter pictures are a bit lacking. We just didn't have too much energy this morning.

Laura loved her Easter basket, and we did our egg hunt indoors to keep it calm. Our Easter Bunny loves to bring toys and her favorite was a little toy fishing pole which she played with all day today. I even managed to find a pink version of the "Sumo Chicken" that I have bought for her Easter basket the last 2 years. The Army Man named these little chickens as such because while their size is deceptively small, they pack quite a punch. Especially when the thrower of the Sumo Chicken lies in wait, hiding, only to jump out at the last moment and throw the chicken at you while yelling "SUMO CHICKEN!" at the top of their lungs. That's not too weird, right? I've heard that other families do things like that....I think.

Laura with said Sumo Chicken. Beware if you ever come to our house!

Laura looks like she is trying to shot death rays at me with her eyes

Laura with her giant basket and fishing poleLaura and Mommy after church

Laura and Daddy

We hope you all had a wonderful day today! Laura's spring break starts tomorrow, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we both survive.

Christmas Photos

As promised, here are a few Christmas pictures. Most are self-explanatory, but please notice in picture number 2, Laura is attempting to give herself bunny ears, but to me they look more like devil horns, which may be more accurate. The very last picture is her reading a catalog to all of her new dolls, discussing all of the accessories they can get for the new doll house.

Christmas Morning

I know you all want a post from me about how our Christmas was, and I don't want to disappoint. I don't have too much time right now, but I do want to make sure to share this video of Laura when she first saw her presents. Surely we could not have scripted a better reaction from her. As for what kind of Christmas we had, as Laura loves to say: it was our favorite! Hopefully I'll be back soon with some pictures.

Merry Christmas!

The Army Man, Princess, and Claire wish you a very merry Christmas! Some of us are about to die from the anticipation, so I must go and attempt to calm that person. Before I go though, here are some pictures of the Princess in years past (2004, 2006, 2007 from top to bottom).

Bows Are 4 Year Old Bliss

Someday, if Laura accuses me of being mean to her, or not understanding her, or not making sacrifices for her, or whatever it is that teenage girls cry about, I’ll just show her this picture to prove my love for her.That’s right. You can measure my love for my daughter by these 79 cent ribbons. I personally think they’re tacky (no offense to any readers who may decorate with them!), but Laura is just in love with them and HAD to have some for our house. They seem to be the most popular Christmas decoration in our neighborhood, and every time we pass a house that has some, Laura just sighs with envy. On our run on Sunday, she kept pointing out the houses with good Christmas decorations, which inspired us (or guilted us-you decide) to do some decorating of our own. The Army Man did his manly thing on the ladder, and now we have some lights on our house. I did my womanly thing and wrapped some garland, and now our porch is decorated.

But the exterior of our house was not complete without the bows, so yesterday we went to three different stores in search of some. Finally, finally, we found some. I put them up today while Laura was at preschool, and she was thrilled when we came home. That's how much I love her-I will happily put up tacky bows to make her happy. And now we’ve got some Christmas decorations that rival our fantastic Halloween decorations. It's a win-win situation.

The Pilgrims Are Coming to Celebrate

Well it was the Army Man to the rescue last night! My computer is fixed and now I can post a picture from Laura's Thanksgiving feast. Too bad when I promised a picture I didn't realize that all of the pictures I took turned out horribly. I guess the lighting was bad or something. But I figured I'd post the best one anyway, so you can see Laura in her feather headdress and the shirt she decorated. Each child got to choose a Native American name, and thus Laura became "Princess Flower". I thought it was pretty appropriate. Her class learned a short song which they sang for the parents. And by sang, I mean they all stood there and whispered, looking shy. I don't think Laura said a single word. Which is interesting, since her teacher told me after the feast that Laura is her most dramatic kid, and provides most of the daily classroom drama. I guess that just doesn't translate into stage ability.I got to hear the song (very loudly) all day long after we left school, so there was no question that she actually did know it. We reenacted the song this morning, which I caught a clip of. Of course, the second I turned on the camera, the singing became much quieter. Turn up your volume a tiny bit and enjoy Laura's singing!

Halloween

Halloween has come and gone and we all lived to tell the tale. There was laughter, shrieks of happiness, lots of candy, and a colossal temper tantrum. I’ll give you all the details so there’s no confusion over whose temper tantrum it was.

Overall, it was a great day and a huge success. Laura got to wear her costume to school which was essentially heaven on earth for her. At school they made spooky masks (just the ticket to complete the overall spookiness in our home) and got treats from their teacher. Then Laura got to spend the afternoon with her friend before going to a trunk-or-treat at a church near our house. This was the scene of Laura’s victory for the night: she ate an entire hot dog (with mustard). I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Laura actually finish a meal so this was big news for our family. Laura got to do some trick-or-treating from car to car (hence the trunk part of the trunk-or-treat) and even played a few games. We ate some popcorn and then headed back to our neighborhood for even more trick-or-treating.

Laura and the Army Man went out together and left me in charge of passing out the candy. There were lots of good costumes-my favorite being a kid on a skateboard in regular clothes. He was a skateboarder of course! Laura stayed out a long time and collected a lot of candy. She had so much fun and really enjoyed helping me pass out candy once she got back home.

For those who guessed that the temper tantrum was courtesy of Laura, you are of course correct. I’m guessing that Laura became a victim of the old standby of too much excitement. That turned Laura into a screaming, stomping, yelling demon child who actually held onto a doorjamb in an attempt to avoid being bodily removed to her bed. But let's not focus on that. Instead, here's Laura in her spooky mask being cute.

Our Spooky House

The excitement over Halloween began at our house quite a while ago, even before Laura's birthday. Laura preferred counting down to Halloween rather than her birthday, and seemed momentarily disappointed on her birthday when she learned it was still over 3 weeks until Halloween (that disappointment ended once she started receiving presents). Our conversations are filled with details about Halloween-what costume she will wear (Sleeping Beauty. No, Ariel. No, Sleeping Beauty. Yes. Sleeping Beauty. Probably). How much candy she will get (lots). Which houses she will trick-or-treat at (all of them). But one crucial detail was almost overlooked.

One day while in the bath Laura casually mentioned to the Army Man that our house was going to be very spooky this year. The Army Man, who has some weird notion that I am aware of everything going on in our lives and that I have a reason for doing everything the way I do, almost didn't mention this minor detail to me. Maybe he figured I was just about to pull out all the stops and he would come home from work one day to a full-on haunted house. Thankfully, he decided to ask me about my plans for making our house spooky and I promptly began to panic. I had no idea Laura had expectations of spookiness at our house. I thought she was too young and WAY too chicken for spookiness. I had no idea how to make our house spooky!

In the end, a trip to the Halloween store was enough to convince Laura she didn't really want too much spookiness. We settled on some cobwebs and pumpkin lights. I did pretty lackluster job of putting it all up, but whether because she recognized that her mother's pathetic attempt at decorating was all she was going to get, or because she was scared by the prospect of the screaming skeletons from the store, Laura humors me and tells me on a daily basis just how spooky our house is and that it is the best house in the neighborhood.

I think that it was these pumpkins in particular that really upped our spooky factor. I bet the neighborhood kids will run screaming from our house tomorrow night. Don't be embarrassed if a small scream escapes your mouth as you look at this picture.

It is finally time for all of my hard work to pay off. I'm ready to scare some kids tomorrow.