Happy Halloween 09

Everyone was very excited for trick-r-treat this year so pictures were not taken until we got outside. A little dark but still, you get the idea - Optimus Prime, Belle (Beauty and the Beast) and a triceratops (three horn dino). Dylan HATED the hood/head pieces for his costume. Mostly because it wrapped around under his chin and then velcroed together. We ended up getting it on his hat and he wore it that way without issue. Once he had his bucket, he quit trying to take the dino head off of his hat.

We had a great time trick-r-treating. Dylan walked the whole way around our circle with help on driveways and stairs. We took the stroller but didn't use it until later to finish the neighborhood. Impressive. Pete and I were reminiscing about Gavin doing this at the same age and for those little legs to go that far is amazing. Nora was on a mission for trick-r-treat. She was smoking Gavin most of the time. She did run out of gas sooner and Gavin kept going with Papa. [Pete was on call].

Nora was shining the flashlight on her Roseola cheeks in this picture. She wanted to be scary. Gavin just wanted to get moving. He wore his mask some of the night but because it was hard to see he ran right into another dad during trick-r-treat while he was running down a driveway.

Front...

Back...hehe...such a cute little dino butt and tail!

I'm out of here...see ya next year!

Looking for a flashback...Previous Halloweens: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Happy Halloween 09 - Preparation

Poor Nora, she deserves a break. She has had a terrible head cold and is very sick of a sick nose. Add on her ear infection from last week and now...Roseola. [Note the rarity of the disease in patients older than 4!] Poor girl hasn't felt very well since last Friday (10/23). Kids got their flu shots and I chalked it up to this. Gavin had a mild fever early in the week with no other symptoms. She had been irritable this week but again, head cold and ear infection - I cut her some slack. Either way, she woke from her nap on Friday afternoon with a rash which proceeded to continue to come out through Saturday morning. After an unplanned trip to Pittsburgh to visit our pediatrician, which is only in the city not the suburbs on the weekend, we knew what we had. I was grateful to have to go to the emergency room. Thank you GIL Pediatrics.

We actually were concerned that it was Chicken Pox on Friday evening. There was a little boy in preschool with Nora diagnosed this week but I quickly knew we had some thing else. Why would I know that? You might say, Nicole, you aren't a MD. Well, it wasn't because she was vaccinated, that would make too much sense. No, it was because I had Chicken Pox when I was 20. The memories are too vivid. We were also very worried because Pete and parents have no recollection of him having Chicken Pox as a child. Of course I discovered this when I was 20 and didn't see him for a week or so. He lucked out (??) at that time because he hadn't seen me in a few days when I was contagious. My numerous dorm-mates took care of me since they were normal humans that had experienced this terrible disease as carefree children unlike me and Pete.

So, after we got home, Nora picked out her pumpkin design and thanks to Papa, she too had a Halloween pumpkin to enjoy (kitty face).

While Nora and I were at the pediatrician's office, for the entire Saturday morning, the boys were home with my house full of people. Gammie, Papa and Gpa and Gma Vitale were all visiting. Daddy held down the fort and Papa carved pumpkins. It was a rainy, wet day so all the guys hung out in the basement and garage. Somehow...Daddy's desk chair ended up in the garage so the boys enjoyed a seat together. I guess Dylan thought that was funny.

Dylan's pumpkin is on the left and Gav's on the right. Gavin drew a face for Papa on paper and Papa did his best to recreate it in pumpkin form. Awesome job guys.

BOO!

Idlewild HallowBoo!

We had a great time at Idlewild HallowBoo. The Halloween event at Idlewild is well done. Due to the fact that weekend weather in October to date has been...bad...we along with the rest of western Pennsylvania that had been trying to go all month, went on Sunday. Oh well. We got to Idlewild early enough in the day that the line to get into Storybook Forest wasn't tooo long. We met up with the North Family for the day as well. [Note: we had planned to go the weekend prior but it was 45 degrees and rainy/windy, yuck so instead of having an outing for 7 wonderful families...whatever weather! The weather better shape up before Halloween!].

So, let's see. Gavin was Spiderman, Nora was a Tinkerbell fairy and Dylan recycled Gavin's lion costume with his own personal twist. We didn't use the new stuff because of the potential dirtiness factor and their desire to play hard. Nora and Gavin have wanted face painting all summer [we had successfully avoided, I mean held out.]. I figured today was the day. Nora was thrilled! Gavin let her go first so in the end, he didn't do it. He was sort of scared of it. Not sure why for sure. He had picked out a Hulk type face and then said that he didn't want the black lips. Oh well...Nora waited to quietly and patiently. She sat the entire time with her eyes shut and never moved.

For over a week, I have been trying to find the time to write a blog post called "at peas" = hat please. Dylan is OBSESSED with wearing a ball cap. He wears it all day with the following exceptions: sleeping, eating and at school. He wore the lion costume but only because he could wear his hat. He was Buckeye Lion.

Dylan's favorite ride at Idlewild are the motorcycles. We were tooling around in Raccoon Lagoon and he spotted the bikes. He was bouncing in the stroller so excited. Trick-r-treat was a blast. It was way cool to see Dylan get right in there with the big kids. He was a big fan of his bucket and quickly caught on to the concept. Just don't try to take away his bucket, no, really.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=463264364805%3A66544883

Kids Birthday Party

The party was a success! There were 18 wild indians, I mean children (including Gavin and Dylan). All from preschool and Salem Crossroads Daycare. Nora and Thomas were happy to share their big day with a good friend. I think that the turnout was high because it was shared party which was really nice too to have so many friends. Nora and the other girls wore fairy wings for the party and wands to take home. The boys had pirate hats, hooks and eye patches. This was all in the theme of Peter Pan, Tinkerbell and Captain Hook.

Hilarious...Dylan and Nora "riding" the roller coaster ride. Arms up, Whoa!

Daredevil Dylan must have jumped in the ball pit (a.k.a. the hot tub according to Daddy) 50 times! He would jump in like a cannonball and like it was a pool. He also wore his hat ALL DAY!

Train ride!

I think that the cupcakes were a hit. Thank you Christa Stoves, Thomas' Mom, for dreaming with a little pixie dust. The girls had pink petal cakes with center green cakes. Flowers and Tinkerbell were on each one. The boys had blue and brown cakes with skulls, pirates and a ship. As you can see, the green icing was a little tenacious.

Now, don't get me wrong - we were all exhausted by the time we got home. Even me and I didn't have to cook or cleanup (only a little). The kids and I took a nice long nap. After nap, we opened Nora's presents. It was quite the take! She was thrilled. We had a really nice evening, early bath and movie night. Thought Dylan might join in for movie night too, but despite his nap he went to bed on time.

Lots of October pics!

Insane - maybe

20 kids (including mine) will gather at Seabase tomorrow to celebrate Nora's birthday. She has wanted this friends party since Gavin had his in February early this year. She is very excited. She is sharing her party with a friend from school - Thomas Stoves. It is great to share this experience and all the daycare parents get a two-for-one! With that said...insanity, chaos and craziness are eminent! Pray for us all.

We are using Peter Pan/Tinkerbell as our theme. This allows for fairies and pirates in the mixed birthday kids and birthday party attendees. I found fairy wings and wands for the girls and pirate hats and hooks (with wrist bands) for the boys. They will be way cute!

Tang Soo Do

Gavin has been doing a form of Martial Arts as of late. The program is through his school and is a DARE program as well. He is learning Tang Soo Do which is a Korean martial arts. He loves it. It is a 6 week program, twice a week. Excellent teacher! She is young, enthusiastic and loves the kids. Gavin's attention wanders a little, but he is 5! He is learning a lot. We'll see if he wants to continue this journey when he is finished.

Happy Birthday Nora!

Four years gone by. Memories, hugs, kisses, hugs, snuggles, yells, tears, cheers, you name it! This little girl is a ball of energy. She has remained fearless and happy and bold since her birth. She challenges this family and brings great joy to us all. She has no trouble at all having two brothers sandwiched in age around her - she gets her share! She would have it no other way, even if we didn't try. She does need solo Mommy time though to gather in the girl time. She enjoys being in her room with books, puzzles, and dolls sometimes to be able to left alone. She wants to dress up in pretty things, have pretty hair and enjoys nail polish. She is quiet, pensive and serious when she is alone. She is loud, bouncy and bold when she is around her brothers and friends. She holds her own but can crumble when the right button is pushed.

Nora loves a lullaby at night after you tuck her it, kiss and hug and hug again, turn off the light and then a quiet song of her choice. She tucks her "girls" in at night so they aren't cold (girls=Li-Li and Pink Bear loveys). When she can't find them in the morning, it is an even worse morning for her. She is NOT a morning person. She sleeps in and we normally have to get her up during the week for school and she sleeps late on the weekends. - much later than Gavin for sure. It takes her awhile to get going. Look out when she does.

Nora loves horses, ponies and all related. She has various horses, My Little Ponies and random related horses. She loves animals actually. The pet begging has begun by the way - not anytime soon. I have been stalling on fish let alone something more serious! She is fairly fearless with animals. She enjoys petting zoo stuff, horse/pony visits and visiting zoos. She would really love a behind the scenes day at the zoo - maybe next summer.

Well, we had a wonderful birthday with her. She picked the menu for the day: pumpkin waffles for breakfast, grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and lasagna for dinner. Not bad. I also made her a pony cake. She loved it. It was really easy thanks to the Betty Crocker website and endless templates for this type of thing. They provide the template and everything. It was a really fun day - just home with her, nice evening. She opened presents before dinner. It was great.

Enjoy the walk down memory lane...Birthdays Gone By: Nora's Birth, Nora's First Birthday, Nora's 2!, Three Already?

Early October Fun!!

Happy Birthday Grandma!! We had a little celebration for Grandma on her birthday during the visit. Cupcakes, candles and presents!!

The Delmont Apple and Arts festival is always the first weekend in October. We actually went both Saturday and Sunday for a time. This year, they had pony rides and Nora was all about that! She stood in line with Daddy for some time "patiently" waiting for her turn. Yes, there was whining, spinning, fidgeting, etc, but she did wait. She was so thrilled to ride and she told me that it was bumpy and that she hugged her pony before she got down.

Grandma and Grandpa celebrated Nora's birthday a little early during thier visit. Nora got to open presents on Sunday and she was thrilled. They gave her a wonderful play show pony. We are still trying to convince Dylan not to "ride it". She was also looking very beautiful in her black flower dress that day!