Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone had a fun Halloween! We had fun once the trick-or-treating started. It was a process getting Ethan and Mia's costumes on because they were so crabby. Riley put hers on with no problems. Ethan was an elephant, Mia was a duck, and Riley was a ladybug. My niece, Janai, was a karate fighter, Noah was buzz light year, and Jude was a pig. They were all so cute.

I started out having to carry both Ethan and Riley. (My arms are so sore!) We went up to the first house, and they really had no idea what was going on. The person dropped a candybar into their pumpkin baskets and Ethan looked down and saw it. He gave me a look like, what's going on? We went to the second house, they got even more candy, and they were SO excited. They caught on quickly. Mia was really giddy. She was laughing and jabbering the entire time, especially when she got even more candy. It was so funny. We went to one house, and an elderly man answered the door. He gave everyone candy and Mia was the only one left. She started jabbering and it sounded like she was almost chewing him out for not giving her any candy. We overheard the elderly gentleman say, "Don't worry. I'm not going to forget you. I'll give you some." I wish I was recording her!

After we filled up their buckets, we headed over to a Halloween party. They had lots of cute decorations and treats for the kids. The kids were kind of crabby, so I'm wondering if we're going to get invited back. :) We stayed there for a couple of hours and called it a night. We were all pretty worn out! Overall, it was a fun night! I can't wait for next year.

Putting crabby boy's costume on. He threw a huge fit when I tried. Mike had a hard time too.

She's starting to say "cheese" when I take her picture.

What a cute, happy piggie!

A guy handed out fruit juice. The kids LOVED it. Maybe we'll do that next year.

A miracle. They are all looking--at Sarah, but I'll count it.

My three goblins at the Halloween party. Notice how they are all hanging on my leg?

I think this suits her perfectly!

Buzzing off sugar. I let them eat all the candy they wanted, which wasn't the best idea because they were up really late.

The Weekend Begins

Mike is taking Ethan and Mia to Chamberlain for a couple of days to go fishing. Riley and I are going to stay behind. The thought of fishing in cold weather with the wind blowing on the Missouri River does not sound fun to me. Plus, I haven't had a night alone in our house for as long as I can remember. I won't technically be alone since I'll have Riley, but I'm still counting it. I have no idea what I'm going to do--probably a whole lot of nothing!

Mike is coming back Saturday morning because we have a baptism. Our good friends' daughter, Brenya, will be baptized, and we are the godparents! I think it's really cool they chose us! I have no idea what we're going to do the rest of the day. I think Mark is bringing Ethan and Mia back either Saturday evening or Sunday morning. We have a Halloween party to go to on Sunday evening. I'm looking forward to getting the kids dressed up and taking pictures. And of course, letting them pig out on all the candy they want to eat. I'm a bit of a pushover when it comes to stuff like that!

Mia peed and pooped in the potty chair today. Way to go! She did not want to. She kept bringing me diapers to put on her but I kept putting her on the potty chair. After 3 hours of this, she finally went! She was disgusted when she pooped in it. It was pretty funny. I'm hoping to get her done in a few days. I can't imagine only having one in diapers. I know it will be a long time before Ethan and Mia will be completely free of diapers (nap and bedtime), but I'm thrilled nonetheless!

Ethan and I had our "date night" last night. I met some good friends for supper and he came along. Before we left, Mike asked me if I thought he was going to have fun listening to the "three of you yak all night?" I had to laugh. I brought the portable DVD player and I must say, that was an excellent idea. He was very good. I do think he had fun. He had a root beer which is a rare treat! We went to Target after dinner and I let him be out of the cart. He liked running around but stayed pretty close to me. He got to pick out a toy. We went up and down the toy aisles a gazillion times and he finally chose some spiked balls that are made for babies. I didn't care at that point! We went home and that was our together time!

I have two very persistent 3 year olds wanting some attention and this has gotten pretty long. I hope everyone has a good weekend and safe Halloween!

Carving Pumpkins

Uncle Mark came over Saturday and carved pumpkins with Mike and the kids. I was sleeping since I had worked the night before, so I missed out on all the fun. Bummer! It sounds like they had fun and the pumpkins turned out great!

Mike said that Riley scarfed down her food on Saturday morning and then turned around and puked on him. I wish I could have seen it! He also said that Mark had to turn away when Riley puked. What's with these weak stomachs? :)

I had a work meeting last night, so Mike had the kids again. Ethan had to poop and waited a little too long to run to the potty chair. He pooped on the steps, the hallway, the kitchen, and finally, all over the potty chair. He said Ethan had poop from his waist down, and Riley had it all over her hands. Yuck! I'm glad I missed out on that one!

I've been working with Mia some more to go on the potty chair. What a process that is! She knows when she has to go because she'll run and grab me a diaper to put on her. I sat her on the potty chair a gazillion times yesterday, and she finally peed. We jumped and clapped, and shouted. She was pretty proud of herself. We're back at it today! I'm hoping she catches on really fast because this is exhausting!

Riley likes to copy everything the twins do, so yesterday, she wanted to sit on the potty chair. I took her diaper off, sat her on the chair, and she peed! I couldn't believe it. I think it was a fluke though. Right after she peed in the potty chair, she went into the hallway and peed. She came and told me she peed though. (She calls it poop.) Maybe I can do Riley along with Mia. Ha. Only in my dreams!

Girls' Day Out

Mike and I are trying to spend more alone time with Ethan and Mia. Last night, I decided to take one of them to the movie, "The Legend of the Guardians." It was hard for me to decide which one to take! I decided to take Mia, and as I was getting her ready, Ethan looked at me and said, "I go, too?" as he pointed at himself. It about killed me to leave him behind, but the point is to get some alone time with each one.

We bought some popcorn and pop. Yum! We were the only ones in the theater which was kind of nice. I wasn't worried about making too much noise. Mia wouldn't wear the 3-D glasses, but she still enjoyed the movie. She liked the baby owls, although they must have looked really blurry to her! She would watch some of the movie, eat some popcorn (I couldn't believe how much she ate!) and then get up and walk up and down the stairs.

After the movie, we made a quick trip to Target. I made the mistake of going down the toy aisle. Mia is in LOVE with zhu zhu pets. Target had almost an entire aisle devoted to them. I let her pick one out. She picked Rocky, a black hamster. She couldn't take her eyes off the accessories, so I guess I know what she's getting for Christmas!

Mia seriously smiled the entire time we were gone. It was fun to spend time alone with her. I remember when my mom took us to do special things by ourselves, so I hope that this is a special memory for our kids!

Mike is planning on taking Ethan to the movies tonight. I know he'll have a blast going! He loves popcorn and of course, pop. I think they're going to the owl movie too. I'll let you know how it goes. Oh, by the way, when did the movies get so expensive? $8.50 for a 2 year old? Seriously?

Bucky is 19 Months!

Riley is a feisty but loving little girl! She loves to follow Ethan and Mia around and copy everything they do, especially Ethan. Those two are a lot alike. They either get along extremely well, or fight like crazy. Riley isn't afraid to get in there and pull his hair, hit him, push him, or scratch him. I have to watch him because he gets rough with her. I don't think he means to be so rough, but it's the boy coming out in him. What's funny is when Riley yells at him. It always makes me laugh. She yells, "ETHAN" as loud as she can. I need to try and get it on camera.

Riley and Mia usually get along pretty well. There can be a lot of fighting over toys which includes some hair pulling and scratching. Riley likes to tackle Mia. Mia will be walking in the living room and Riley runs behind her, grabs her around her middle, and down they go. It's so funny to watch. Mia either laughs or screams bloody murder. I guess it depends on what kind of mood she's in. Those two wrestle around on the floor too. They weigh the same but Mia is taller, so she has a little bit of an advantage.

Riley has been talking quite a bit. I think she talks more than the twins did at her age. She says, pop, juice, shoes, poop, pee pee, Ethan, Mia, Elsa, kitty, Mama, Dada, open, hair, drink, butt etc. There are more but I can't quite remember them all. Riley is very persistent when she wants something. If she wants something to drink, she'll say "drink juice" over and over until I get up.

She still takes one afternoon nap. Riley usually sleeps for 1 1/2 hours. She goes to be between 9 and 10pm and sleeps through the night! I can't tell you how good it feels to sleep through the night. My body is trying to catch up for the last 3 years!

Happy Friday!

I'm glad the weekend is here! It's been a long week and I'm looking forward to maybe doing some shopping?!? That's if I can get out of doing some yard work. We've been enjoying the nice weather, especially since we know it's going to come to an end soon.

-Halloween is right around the corner. I'm going to be cheap and have them wear the same costumes as last year. It's going to save me $100, and they have no idea! Ethan is going as an elephant, Mia is going as a duck, and Riley is going as a ladybug.

-Ethan's speech session went okay. He is back to whispering for half of the session and then finally starts talking out loud towards the end. I can tell he's learning a lot because he's saying and recognizing more words. He'll have another session on Monday to make up for the one when Laura was sick.

-Mia almost gave me a heart attack yesterday. We went out to eat and the restaurant was on a busy street. We went to get into the van, and I thought she had ran to the other side of the van. I got over there, and she wasn't there. I looked up, and she was standing on the side-walk with cars speeding past her. My heart dropped in my chest. One wrong move, and she would have been hit. Her guardian angel was obviously right there.

-We went to the eye doctor today. It was something. Let's just say I'm glad we don't have to do it anytime soon. Mike, Ethan, and Riley needed their eyes checked. (Mia and I had ours checked a few months ago.) The eye doctor said he could hear Ethan screaming from a few doors down when the nurse was putting the eye drops in. The good news is is that the kids checked out fine. The old man needs some stronger glasses, however. ;)

Jude's 1st Birthday

My niece, Jude, turned one on Saturday. I had to work this weekend (go figure--why is it that every weekend I work, there's something fun going on?) I woke up early so I could go to the party for a couple of hours. My sister, Sarah, had a pinata FULL of candy. The kids had a blast when it finally broke open. All three of our kids stuffed themselves full of candy. (Mike said that they were jumping off the walls later that night!)

My favorite part is the birthday cake. I love watching little kids dig right in. It didn't start out so smooth. Steve set the cake in front of her and then lit the candle. Janai and Noah blew it out before Sarah could get a picture and make a wish, so Steve re-lit the candle. We could see Jude staring at the flame and before any of us could react, she reached up and extinguished the flame with her chubby little fingers. It took her a couple of seconds to realize that it was super hot, and she started screaming. Poor thing!

I didn't get to see her get really messy with her cake because I had to leave for work. I did get a couple of good cake pictures though. It's always fun to spend time with family!

Mia, my little hoarder. She took a pile of candy and sat by herself on the step.

Mouthful of candy.

The birthday girl chewing on cardboard trying to get nerds.

Yes, I would love to pick you up while you're holding a sticky sucker.