Hillbilly, Ninja and Hawaiian Tourist

Two days before Halloween Ben took Joel shopping for a costume. Two phone calls to me later, still no costume. Every costume came with a mask and Joel did NOT want to wear one. Joel finally decided on a costume -- one that I really did not approve of, but I kept my mouth shut because I was trying to not control the situation -- yeah, a first for me, but it was not a hill to die on. Anyway...the next night as Joel was getting into bed, he decided he hated the costume (it was uncomfortable) and he wasn't going to wear it to the school Halloween party the next day. I suggested I pick him up from school before the party, "NO." I finally came up with a "Hawaiian tourist" idea from things we had around the house. It worked; he liked the costume. For the school parade he even carried a surf board he had made months earlier out of cardboard. So it ended up being a cute, homemade costume. Yeah for Mom!

Then there was Evan's costume. About a month ago he came up to me and announced that he wanted to be a hillbilly for Halloween. I told him I didn't know what a hillbilly looked like and he simply looked at me and said, "Google 'What does a hillbilly wear?'"

He was right! I'm not exactly sure why, but there are several websites that answer this question. (Why in the world???).

So when Evan first dressed in his costume and went to school, he came home and told me the kids in his class thought he was a farmer.

He then gave me instructions that he needed patches on his overalls and he wasn't going to wear the hat. Here is attempt #2 at dressing like a hillbilly. I think Evan was right, this is a little better.

Drew: He wanted to be a pirate until the night before Halloween when he decided to be a Ninja. Thank goodness for Grandma and Grandpa White who have given the boys TONS of costumes in the past. Drew had SO many choices!

The only problem was that Drew had a 104 degree temperature yesterday and now he's trick-or-treating. H1N1 alert: Drew is running the neighborhood and looks like this:After trick-or-treating for 70 minutes, Joel came home and proclaimed that he was done. When I asked him why he didn't want to keep getting candy he responded, "I'm happy."

Good answer.

Meanwhile, the hillbilly and the ninja stayed out with Dad for two hours (apparently they weren't happy until they had enough candy to choke a snake!).

Evan came home and weighed himself after eating lots of candy. He was amazed to discover that he'd actually LOST a pound! I told him it was from all the walking he'd done. ??? Sounded good to me. :-)

Drew's On Two Wheels!

I am so proud of Drew -- he learned to ride a two-wheeler and he's only 4 years old! Yahoo for Drew!

Drew had been riding his bike with training wheels to school almost every day to drop off Evan and Joel, and then we would make the return trip in the afternoon to pick-up Joel. The total for each day is 3 miles! When he got really good at pedaling, I moved the training wheels up a little so that he had to balance a little more. Then one day I took the training wheels off completely. After chasing Drew through the house (he took off RUNNING when he saw me take them off), I grabbed him, put him on the bike, gave him a push and OFF he went down the street! I couldn't believe how well he did! As soon as he got back to where I was standing he said, "Can I show Kristen?" (our neighbor) and then "Can I tell Kaitlin and Whitney and Joshua?" (church friends). He wanted the world to know that he was on two wheels!

As Drew was riding around, Evan asked, "How many (old) was Joel when he learned to ride a bike?" Then, "How many is Drew?" Then came, "I should be able to do it too." So Evan got on the bike, grabbed the handle-bars and immediatly jumped back OFF the back. "Instead I'm not." haha! I guess peer-pressure doesn't affect Evan too much.

Here is Drew showing his "V" for victory sign

Evan's First Day of Kindergarten

Today was Evan's first day of Kindergarten. I am so thankful that it's only half-day because I miss him so much! Drew and I were sitting on the porch 15 minutes before his bus was scheduled to arrive and then the bus was 20 minutes late! Drew and I are just lost without our entertainer; he is the kid who comes up with the ideas for everyone else to play.

When he came home Evan told me he made another friend and this boy (Evan can't remember his name -- haha!) said that he only had three friends so Evan would be his fourth friend. Isn't that cute?

I just hate seeing my little birdies leave the nest. When Joel went to Kindergarten it was easier to send him off because all of this "school stuff" was new and exciting, plus I had two little ones at home that kept me very busy. But now that Evan's is half-way gone (he's only gone for three hours!) it's just so quiet. I will be an absolute basket-case when Evan is gone all day next year and then the following year when Drew leaves. Oh my...I'll probably have to get a dog! ha! (No way!)

Here is Evan's teacher, Mrs. Klagg.

How To Make Applesauce

Evan and Drew wanted to make applesauce today but I sure didn't want to do it so I told them it is something you do in the Fall (and I was secretly hoping they would forget about it by then). So then they asked if we could get the "cooking books" out. I pulled out the kids' cookbooks (thank you Grandmas) and they started looking through them for ideas on what to make today, but they never got away from the idea stuck in their heads to make applesauce. So after much prodding and whining (it was ME doing the whining!), they finally convinced me to try it. So I got online and found a recipe and believe it or not, I had everything I needed.

So, we started peeling...

Drew said that peeling the apples was too hard which prompted Evan to say, "The little guy's right, Mom."

And cutting...

And boiling...

And mashing...

Note: I don't have a real masher so I used a bacon press! haha!! Who in the world has a bacon press but not a masher?

And tasting...

And reviewing...

Yeah for me! I was so proud of myself!

Breaking the Ice on New Friendships

In my last blog entry I mentioned being sad that Joel didn't have any friends in his class this year. But, I'm happy to report that he came home today talking about a new friend!

At school the kids had indoor recess today because of rain and Joel came home telling me about playing a game called "Break the Ice" with Devon. I acted shocked and said, "What?! Is he a new friend?!" Joel grinned from ear-to-ear as he said, "Yes -- and Devon said he wants to play the game again on Monday."

Of course this is when I pulled out the "I told you" phrase (because I told Joel on Wednesday that he would have a new friend within a week), and I was happy to do it.

Now I'm praying for rain and another indoor recess so that Joel can literally "break the ice" with his new friend. :-) Yeah!!

3rd Grade!

Joel and his over-loaded backpack full of new school supplies!

Joel's first day of 3rd grade was yesterday and I'm in HEAVEN with just Evan and Drew home all day. Evan starts school on Monday and I'm dreading it because he and Drew play SO WELL together. I played with them a little bit today, but only because I wanted to -- not just to keep the peace. :-) They play and play and play. But without Evan, Drew is just lost. I am so thankful that kindergarten is still only half-day; Drew and I will have our noses glued to the front door waiting for that big yellow bus to drop off Evan at 11:30.

So far Joel likes his teacher, Mrs. Nicholson, but he says none of his friends are in his class; this makes me a little sad for him. I told him to give it one week and he'll have a new friend.

I think 3rd grade is going to be hard on Joel AND me -- on the very first day of school they started learning cursive! Wow! I've always heard that the "odd" years are the hardest (1st, 3rd and 5th); with learning cursive and multiplication, it probably will be tough this year. Math is easy for Joel, but handwriting...well, that's a whole different story! I guess he takes after his parents -- neither Ben nor I have nice handwriting but it sure didn't hold Ben back. Maybe with Joel's bad penmanship he too is destined to be a doctor. haha

Joel and Mrs. Nicholson

It's a LONG Way Down

Two of our boys learned to jump off the high-dive at the pool this summer! BUT before they could jump, the life guards require them to take a swimming test and BOTH boys passed. I didn't think Evan could do it, but he was so determined to jump off the diving boards that he swam like a fish (it wasn't a "pretty" stroke -- he still doesn't know how to breathe correctly while doing the freestyle so he just brings his head up in front to breathe).

After passing the swim test, both boys started jumping off the low dive. I told them that if either of them got the idea to jump off the high-dive to come and get me first so I could watch. But did they listen? Noooo! I was lounging in my chair catching some rays...oops, I mean I was busy playing with Drew and teaching him how to swim...(cough, cough) when Evan came running over to me. He was breathless with excitment telling me how he had done it. Joel was very excited for Evan, but Joel admitted that he had climbed up the ladder and then back down. :-) Evan, quite the saleman, was finally able to convince Joel that it was fun and Joel finally took the plunge too. Now they are expert jumpers and are trying "cannon balls" and "can openers."

Now I just need to get Evan off his bicycle training wheels...oh yeah, and teach him how to tie his shoes. But isn't jumping off the high-dive much cooler? :-)