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November 25, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving! (I guess it's time to get around to posting the Halloween pictures!)

Here the are before they went out. Both kids really really enjoyed Trick or Treating this year. It was drizzling a bit and we were afraid our fun would be short lived but in the end, the weather held out for us. We went around our cul-de-sac and managed to get all of three neighbors to open their doors. Well, actually four but the one neighbor (new to the neighborhood) opened just to tell us that they don't celebrate Halloween. As we walked away Shaeleigh says, "Well THAT was a bummer!" Hehehe... welcome to the neighborhood.
And so... we got into our car and drove to the next community over. We'd been admiring their Halloween decorations for weeks and figured they'd be a bit more festive. And they were. It was the kind of neighborhood where the adults have beer and wine stands set up on the corners as you walk by. Everyone was out and pumpkins were carved and set up on every doorstep. It was awesome. Chance LOVED it. Shaeleigh LOVED it. It was just like I remembered Halloween to be (except for the beer and wine stands - that was a bit more like college but whatever....)
I did run into one of my co-workers which was a bit awkward as she said, "I didn't know you were my neighbor" and I'm trying to decide whether to smile and nod or cop to having driven to her neighborhood to go trick-or-treating.

Well worth it.
Chance has since slept in his Spiderman suit on several occasions.

Oh when the Saints..... Here's Shaeleigh in her Lady of LaVang outfit. Shaeleigh put baby Jesus in a dress and declared, "My Jesus is a girl." I think that would make a nice bumper sticker.
In honor of Thanksgiving we were given 3 hour early release from work today so I decided to make good use of the bonus time and do some Christmas shopping before picking up Chance. And so I headed over to Target and managed to pick up almost everything I was looking for at pretty good prices. It didn't take me that long - in fact I ended up having to spend some time just wandering about because it was early yet (not a good idea to pick Chance up during nap time) - and as I got up towards the registers I was feeling pretty good to have gotten so much done. There I was second it line when the fire alarm went off. I did a quick scan for the nearest exit (very close) and then picked the register closest to the door figuring the alarm would stop shortly. It didn't. Instead, a voice from the ceilings informed Target Team Members and Guests to "move to the front of the store" and it was quickly apparent that this meant, "move outside of the store" and the next thing you know we are all outside bemoaning our carts full of Christmas present left inside without us.

Then the fire engines came swarming in - all sorts - and they started putting up ladders and opening the hydrants. It was pretty exciting. I was actually stuck for about 45 minutes as my car was blocked with activity (of all days to get a "good" parking spot"). I will have to check the paper tomorrow to see if Target is still standing. Meanwhile, I ended up re-creating my shopping online this evening. I generally like to see what I'm purchasing so it was still a trip well spent since I changed my mind about a few items after seeing them. Santa will not be bringing Chance the "Handy Manny Talking (way too loud) Toolbox" - he will be bringing the "Handy Manny Doesn't Talk At All Toolbox with the working (quietly) flashlight."

Shaeleigh looks twice her age in this picture. This was from our "Lucky Day." It was raining so we went to the mall to burn some energy. I wasn't particularly in a mall mood but staying in the house was not a viable/healthy/survivable option. When we got there it turned out that they were having some kind of event with vendors lined up and down the mall. AND they had a balloon animal guy. Shaeleigh got a golden lion. Chance didn't want one. AND they had the most awesome face painter. See above. Chance didn't want his face painted. Chance was actually really enjoying his day (singing, making faces) just didn't want anything. Shaeleigh kept saying, "Chance isn't doing anything. Chance isn't getting anything" She really couldn't grasp his lack of involvement but the he was having a grand time. At one point he was walking around growling at no one in particular and the guy at the pretzel stand looks at me and says, "That's an angry young man." Pretzel guy was serious too. I wasn't sure what to say because sometimes Chance is an angry young man but at that particular moment he was being happy.

At anyrate, we had been given a card with different vendors' names on it and we had to find them to collect stamps. Along the way we collected various freebies and to add to Shaeleigh's good luck day, she pulled a lucky duck from one of those duck pond games and won a stuffed snowman. To add to my good luck day, Chance only won a rubber penquin finger puppet and for whatever reason could not have cared less.

Finally we had all of our stamps and we turned in our card so that we could be entered into a drawing. Turned out the drawing took place as soon as you turned in your card. Shaeleigh pulls a card from this big hopper and what the heck - the kid wins a pearl necklace from one of the vendors! Sometimes, you just need a day like that!

Speaking of which, lucky day aside, Shaeleigh has had a rough week or so (various adjustment issues we think) but on Monday, just as the day was going particularly badly, we discovered she has her first loose tooth. She is thrilled! She's been waiting ages for a loose tooth. She was eating breakfast and said, "my tooth kind of hurts," and it was like magic - I knew - and as soon as I said, "hey! Is it loose?" her eyes just lit up. We've been reading "Ramona the Pest" before bed and the very day of her loose tooth discovery, we started the Chapter about Ramona's first loose tooth. How perfect was that?!

I have reaffirmed my love for Beverly Cleary. Loved her as a kid. Love her again.

This is Chance's favorite new shirt (the wings are just the accessory of the moment.) He picked it out himself. When he wears it he walks around saying, "Look at my cool shirt guys. Hey guys, hey guys, look at my cool shirt."
Chance actually has an amazing vocabulary. He uses some really big words such as: "yeahIbrokeititwasanaccidentsorry" He uses that one a lot.

He cracks us up. When I picked Chance up from daycare yesterday - it had been Thanksgiving Feast day so I asked him if he ate turkey. He says, "Yeah... I didn't like it. I spit it out." I think it's his tone. You'd think he was just talking about the weather.

Both kids made paper versions of themselves the same week.

Happy Birthday Babcia! 101!!!!!

Perhaps you needed to be here for this photo but as I mentioned, it's been a rough week or so. This was a rare moment of peace and quiet.
And finally I leave you with this bit of wisdom:
We're sitting about watching TV (Dora the Explorer) and Dora asks us to repeat something, "Say 'dog house, mountains, playground'" and so I say, "dog house, mountains, playground" and Shaeleigh looks at me and says, "You don't really have to say anything. It's just a tv" and then she just turns back to watch.