Attack of the Sugar Monsters

Episode 2011

Attack of the Sugar Monsters

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

In a time of unrest because the sun is going down and it is

time for trick or treat, the natives are getting restless. {our star wars clan} Oh yes we are nerds and dressed our children all up in star wars costumes. Just to clarify it started with Bubba wanting to be Darth Vader. He started requesting Darth Vader back in August. Then when Rosie was asked what she wanted to be, she wanted to be a girl Jedi. So my thoughts are if two kids are going to be Star Wars characters, they might as well ALL be Star Wars characters. To clarify I am the nerd NOT Nate, which will be hard to believe I am sure. ;-) Rosie started off as Ashoka (a real girl Jedi) she has this crazy headpiece and red skin. But the costume I ordered off the Internet came in way too big, so after sending it back I decided Queen Amidala would just wield a light saber. I know, I know not true to character but it made everyone happy! Beth was able to bring the boys costumes too so we were able to see the boys in their cute outfits as well. If I would have been more well prepared I should have gotten them Star Wars costumes as well. I could see Luke skywalker and R2-D2 costumes in the future!!

{Lincoln and Mason} This is Lincoln's "cheese" face. He was trying a little to hard... but sooo cute!

{queen amidala} Some people thought she was a storm trooper but I think she pulled off the white jump suit really good!!!


{Princess Leia}
{Yoda}
"Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size do you?" Lil Miss was obviously Yoda even though she got called shrek a few times. And apparently a baby in a Yoda costume needs to be a boy. Because the kids kept correcting all the people that said... "look at that little by dressed up as Yoda!"


We tried to get a nice group picture ... but Lincoln wasn't feeling it. The giraffe is adorable though. Now that I think about it, I could have transformed the giraffe into Jar Jar Binks... okay now I have been watching WAY too much Star Wars... I need an intervention.
The weather was chilly but not raining so I think it was a great Halloween night!!!

Everyone we passed loved Princess Leia's hair! And Yes, it is a wig, her hair isn't quite long enough to pull this off yet.

{me and yoda}

We had to interrupt trick or treating to play out a battle.
This is before scarfing into the sugar.... candy monster is going to have to get some of that candy and hide it for safe keeping!!! Oh wait... i think the candy monster is here now and is hungry for some snickers..... uh oh.

Birthday Bash!!!

So it was Lil Miss's Birthday week. On Tuesday night, we celebrated it as a family. We even had grandma Pam skype in on the cake eating and gift opening. Lil Miss loved every minute of attention. We also went to the dr this week and got her 12 month checkup (more on that in a later post) but we started her on milk and the last couple weeks we have been working with a sippy cup. :-( All these milestones make her grow u so fast. She's not a little baby anymore, we now have a toddler! Yikes!!

{big milestone drinking milk.... she is a big fan of cow's milk} She is taking to a pro on drinking out of a sippy. She is such a big girl and has just started to get upset when people eat food in front of her. Before she didn't seem to mind, but I have a hard time giving a snack to Gigi if Lil Miss sees me.

{jack o lantern pizza} Birthday Dinner was provided by Papa Murphy's, their jack o lantern pizza. The kids loved it!!

Baby girl was all ready for the cake portion of the evening. We sang happy Birthday and the kids helped her blow out her candle and then without even saying "may I" she dug right it. She truly enjoyed the icing... not even sure she got any cake. :-)
{I think she likes it!} This face says it all. She can't believe her mommy is letting her do this. Daddy on the other hand was freakin out! It's all good because the carpet is being replaced soon! Yeah!

{first gift she is opening} The gift portion of the evening lulled a little because a one year old opening gifts, well takes a while. Bubba was really patient with his sister while her sisters were shouting in the background... what is it! what is it! Hurry up!!
Grandma Pam got her a baby and a stroller! She is a whiz at pushing baby around the living room.

{loving her new chair and ottoman} She has her own little space now in the basement. She relaxes with daddy and puts her feet up. On Wednesday, the kides and I got ready for the counter tops to be installed. Nate had spent the weekend tearing out the existing counter tops and getting everything ready. It was 4 LONG days with no kitchen sink, counter tops, pretty no Kitchen. The kids loved eating out or getting take out but Mommy wanted to be able to wash bottles out and not have her house a mess.
{what are they doing in there?} Lil Miss was intrigued at what they were doing in the kitchen.
{My fabulous countertops} Tada!! Here is the final product. Now if you squint your eyes you can imagine tile floors installed soon, right? okay that is a project to be done too. but I have to take it one step at a time. This is a VAST improvement from what was there previously.

{breaking the board} Some other excitement from the week was that Bubba broke his first board at Tae Kwon Do. It was so cute to watch this little guys kick with all their might.

{Rosie before school} Rosie is still growing like a weed too. She has been looking so grown up these days, I need to check her height and see just how much she has grown because before too long she is going to be passing mommy.

On Friday, the kids didn't have school and Daddy stayed home to get the house in order for the big birthday bash/ football party. The countertops were installed Wednesday, the sink got FINALLY put together right on Thursday night, so that didn't leave mommy a whole lot of time to get the kitchen and house in order. But with every one's help we got everything in tip top shape. My sister, brother in law and mom were even here for the festivities of the weekend. I was so excited for the two babies only 7 days apart to have a joint birthday party. It was really picture perfect. {making birthday cupcakes on my new countertops!!!} After the cleaning was done, I got to do my favorite things...get decorations put together and cook! I even got to prepare the food on my new counter tops. I am in love with my kitchen.

{my little helper, cooking the hamburger for chili} We prepped all the ingredients for Saturday.... sandwiches and munchies for lunch and chili and cornbread for supper. We had alot done on friday so saturday morning we got to spend a little time playing with my nephews and catching up. It takes a while for my nephew Lincoln to warm up, but by the middle of the day I had him playing peek a boo in the club house and jumping in the bounce house. he makes me smile! he has grown up so much in the last 2 years, I can remember his first birthday party and making his cake for him to enjoy. I don't think he had as much fun then as the two little ones did on Saturday.

I HAD to make a few fun things to make the house look birthday party ready. I saw a balloon wreath on pinterest that I wanted to make so I got the supplies and the kids help me put it together. Even Lil Miss tried to help by blowing up the balloons. She was trying to imitate her siblings. The balloon was covered in baby slobber. still adorable though...
{finished product} I think it came out as nice as the original. It was so simple and I am going to reuse it for all the kids birthdays. Hanging it on the kids doors on their birthdays to surprise them when they wake up.

{working on decorations for party} I also made a 12 month garland with pictures of both babies each month in the last year.... this I plan on turning into a quickly album for each of them as a keepsake.

It was a cute accessory.

{Birthday Kids all cute in their matching outfits}

I think the older kids were more excited on Saturday. Rosie kept talking about her friends from ottumwa that were coming up for the party, Bubba talked about the chili (he eats it by the bowl full!) and gigi was interested when we were serving cake. The kids each had a birthday cake, so it was double the fun. We sang Happy Birthday to the babies, and then they dug in. {mason digging into the cake} He was a little tentative about how to start, but was a pro by the end. Lil Miss on the other hand had done this a few days ago, so she knew the process. Stick your finger the Icing and lick, lick, lick.

{she looks content}

{yum yum yum}

{the aftermath of Mason's cake}

{Lil Miss's cake after being eaten}

{Mr. Mason} This little boy is ready to run, literally. He is running circles around our little girl. But he needs a thing or two about going down stairs from Lil Miss. After all the sugar from the cake and icing the two babies went down for a looooong nap or went into a sugar coma.

{birthday girl was all smiles!!}
{opening gifts} Of course, she was spoiled rotten once again!

{baby races} They chased each other and the dogs. Mason especially liked chasing the puppies around the house. Looks like he wants a puppy for chirstmas Beth! ;-) They played nicely together. To bad we don't live closer to one another so they could play like this more often.

{little playmates} Even Lincoln was playing nicely (most of the time). Lil Miss doesn't know what its like to share because she is given everything on a silver platter by her siblings. She needs to have toys taken away from her more often.

{playing in the colored rice} All the little kids playing in Lil Miss's new colore rice box. This will be a fun winter activity to keep Lil Miss and Gigi busy over the winter when there is snow on the ground.

Licoln had a blast playing in the rice. I made the rainbow rice for Lil Miss this week. It was as simple as taking long grain rice (bulk) and adding 3 T of rubbing alcohol and 3 T of food coloring. The kids helped me before and after school and we were done. They helped me mix the colors in the bag.

Here is the green rice getting spread out on the cookie sheet to dry. It was dry in a couple of hours. I just layed it flat on the cookie sheet in the sun and before you knew it, a project was done.

Rainbow rice!!! It was pretty all seperate, but that only lasted a few seconds...... but I like the confetti look too!
{does it get any more precious than this? I think not}Daddy already knows he is going to be in trouble with this look that he gets from her!!!

{bubba and lincoln } Before my family left on sunday we were able to play somemore and the boys got into a light saber fight. bubba had an unfair advantage standing up!

{tears to go home} Lincoln was all tears sunday afternoon. Unfortunately these tears aren't because he is leaving but because mom and dad went outside to load the van without him. Someday there will be tears when he leaves Aunt Lynnie's house.... but not this weekend. We miss you guys already. And thanks to all our friends who made it out on saturday. You made a special day even more special. It was fun to see our friends here and from Ottumwa. We missed you all and can't wait to see you again soon.