Happy Birthday & Merry Christmas!

It has been a whirlwind around here with Dorothy's 1st birthday on the 24th and then Christmas the next day.  Here is a little of what we were up to.

For Dorothy's birthday, Kevin and I got creative and built her a play kitchen.  I wrote about making it in my other blog here.  She is too little to pretend to cook, but she loves taking things in and out of the oven.



Here is what the kitchen set looks like:



I had big plans to make Dorothy a new dress for her birthday. I had bought the fabric, and knew exactly how I wanted it to look. We were down to the wire to finish her kitchen, so I did not start on the dress until the evening of the 23rd. I was up late, and it still wasn't finished. I sewed the arm hole shut and added the button holes and buttons the morning of her birthday. I'll take better photos of the dress and tell the story in full detail in my craft blog soon. For these pictures, the dress had been complete for about five minutes.


She was a little unsure about how to go about opening her presents. Luckily, she has an older brother who was more than willing to help her out.


She really liked the curly ribbon.


The other bows were silly too.

After presents, it was time for cake!







After the birthday festivities, it was time to move on to preparing for Santa. This was the first year that Malcolm was old enough (and I wasn't in the hospital) to leave cookies for Santa.


He carried the plate very carefully while I carried the glass of milk.



I took pictures of the tree and stockings that night just in case someone went downstairs before we were awake and helped himself a bit.



We almost had an early catastrophe when Malcolm claimed Dorothy's and my stockings as his own. Once he started looking in his though, all was forgotten.

While opening stockings, we also ate some danish which was a real treat for both kids.




Dorothy begged for lots of danish and Grandpa was more than happy to accommodate her.


Malcolm got two ornaments which he put right on the tree. One was a red tricycle and the other was this red tractor. He later opened a red scale tractor scale toy that is just like the one he got to drive this past summer with uncle Ted.


We all received little retractable tape measures in our stockings. Malcolm enjoyed measuring everything in sight, including his sister's head.


It was a big day, and Malcolm enjoyed having a little quiet time reading with daddy.

Sugar Igloos

We have an advent calendar with little doors.  This is the first year that Malcolm has been old enough (and I've been organized enough) to do it.  Behind each door is a little piece of paper with an activity written on it.  Some are elaborate and some are simple.  Yesterday was the first day, and it said to read a Christmas book.  I pulled out 3 or 4 books and Malcolm chose Fristy the Snowman for us to read.  Later, he asked daddy to read him The Night Before Christmas.

Today's paper said to build igloos out of sugar cubes.  I dumped a bunch of sugar cubes on his little table, gave him two kinds of sugar tongs, and turned him loose.  He really enjoyed stacking and building with the cubes.




Stacking cubes, using the tongs. Please excuse the crazy, after nap hair.




Checking out our joint creation.

Thanksgiving Feast & Stone Soup

The week before Thanksgiving, Malcolm's school had a Thanksgiving Feast where all of the kids helped prepare the meal, and then performed a play, "Stone Soup."

Kevin got there before I did and said that Malcolm was sitting all by himself eating.  The notices said that parents were welcome at 12:30, and we were there a little before that, but it seemed like most everyone else was already there.  Luckily, this did not seem to bother Malcolm at all.

The kids made turkey, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, lettuce salad, three kinds of fruit salads, corn muffins, and pumpkin and apple pies.  Malcolm gorged himself on fruit salads, but also had some macaroni & cheese and a corn muffin.  There was plenty extra that they were trying to get rid of, so Dorothy had a lot of turkey.



We asked Malcolm if he helped make anything and he said, "No."  The other mother sitting at the table told me that the kids did make everything.  Based on things he said later, I think he might have done the flower arrangements for the tables.

After the meal, was the play.  If you had asked me ahead of time, I would have guessed that Malcolm would be the one just standing there frozen, not doing anything.  He tends to do that when he feels shy or uncomfortable and I wasn't sure what he would think about singing and dancing in front of a large group.  I could not have been more wrong.  He didn't sing every song, but he sang what he could, and did all of the actions.  That was nice and we were very proud of him.


Growling like a monster because their tummy is grumbling.




He did not have any speaking lines in the play, but that did not stop him from shouting out after every song, "Mommy!  Did you hear that?" with his hands held up to his mouth.  He must have done it 5 or 6 times.  The first time, everyone giggled, by the end all of the parents were laughing really hard and turning around to look at me.  After the first 2 or 3 times, everyone was just waiting for it.  Unfortunately, I didn't know when the ends of the songs were, so I only caught the very last one, at the end.  You can't really hear him because the audience is clapping.  Every other time, he waited for silence before shouting to me.  I am hoping that someone else from the school will send me a copy of their video with him shouting.  Unfortunately, I am not able to upload videos right now, so I can't show it here.


We had teacher conferences later that night, and his teachers said that several parents asked them who the little boy shouting to mommy was.



Dorothy really liked watching the kids during the show and even took a short break from snacking.

They have already started working on another play that will be performed in a couple of weeks, and he is very excited.  He has been telling me that they have been singing new songs at school, but they are not Stone Soup.  Today, during our walk home, I asked him if he could sing any of them for me and he said, "No."  A few seconds later he informed me that he, "Has a song in my head."  I asked him if he could sing the song in his head and he serenaded me with The Lion Sleeps Tonight.  He told me that he had sung that song at school, so I asked if that was one of the songs they were learning for the play.  "No.  I was just singing it at school to the other kids."

Christmas Lights

I am going to try to catch up with the blog this week.  I have several posts where I have been trying to add video, but the videos are not uploading for some reason.  The next few posts after this one will go back in time a bit.

Kevin took Malcolm with him to Home Depot yesterday and Malcolm was just mesmerized by all of the Christmas displays.  He has been going on and on about how he wants to have, "Big lights that go dink, dink, dink," (said with little flashing light hand motions), and, "Little lights that don't dink."  I might break down and try to find some big lights that blink despite my dislike for them.  He's just so excited and wide eyed about it.

This is the first year where he seems to be getting really excited about the holidays.  Last year he probably would have been more excited, but with the expected arrival of his sister, we kept things small and low key.  We are really looking forward to having a nice family holiday this year as both kids are at such fun ages.

Doggies

Malcolm is saying so many funny things, but I can't remember most of them.  I'm going to try to remember to post a few of them here.  Here is a conversation I just had with Malcolm:

 

Malcolm: I wish we had a doggie.

Tara: You don't think doggies are scary anymore?

Malcolm: No. Only *some* doggies are scary. Like Bean is scary.

Tara: Is Bean scary because she is big?

Malcolm: No, only doggies who want to lick me are scary.

Trip To The Fire Staion

Today, Malcolm's school had a field trip to the local fire station.  They watched a terribly cheesy video with Little Richard, Gilbert Gottfried, and the guy who makes all the sound effects noises that was in the Police Academy movies.  The kids all liked the sound effects guy.  Fireman Mike talked to the kids about what to do if there is a fire and Fireman Tom put on all of the equipment and gear so that they could see what a fireman looks like.  Mostly, the kids just wanted to touch the axe.

Then they got to see a fire engine, fire truck (I didn't know there was a difference.  The truck has the big ladder, and engine does not), and the ambulance.  They got to walk through each vehicle and see them up close.


Malcolm (second from the right, sitting) with his class and few of their little siblings in front of the fire truck.

Then they got to see where the firemen live, eat, and sleep, while at the station.  The kids all liked the giant TV and the giant recliners.  The moms liked the beautiful kitchen.  After the tour, the kids got a hat and a sticker badge.  We asked if Malcolm could see one of the radios since that is what his daddy works on.  Fireman Mike was really sweet and took us back to the truck after everyone else had left, and let Malcolm hold the radio.  There wasn't anything going on right then to listen to, so Fireman Mike went to the other side of the truck and he and Malcolm used the radios like walkie-talkies.  It was really nice of him to take a little extra time with us.


Talking with Fireman Mike.

Trick-or-Treat!

The kids had a great Halloween.  Dorothy wore Malcolm's old lamb costume and Malcolm dressed up as "Red Blankie and Bubbles".  A month or two ago, that is what he said he wanted to be, and every time I would ask, he gave me the same answer.  "Red Blankie" is his little red security blanket that has tags all around the edges and he just really likes bubbles.

One of our neighbor's has a very elaborate set up that Malcolm said he was afraid of at first.  Once he saw the smoke filled bubbles though, he was hooked.  They haven't had the bubbles working the past year or two which was too bad.  He loved them as a baby his first Halloween and he and Dorothy both loved them again this year.  When you pop the bubble, a little puff of smoke comes out.


Ready for some trick-or-treating.




Dorothy spent most of the night wondering what was going on.


Red Blankie from the back, on our way to get some candy.


At the second house, our neighbor, Laura.  She just loves both kids

Malcolm did a great job saying, "Trick-or-treat" at each house and kept exclaiming that he was, "Just so excited!"  He preferred that I went up to the door with him, and I had to remind him to say thank you, but he did a great job.  We had lots of questions about his costume (understandably) and he very proudly told people what he was.  Of course, then they would look at me a little confused, and I would elaborate.  One guy chased Kevin down because he just had to know what Malcolm was dressed up as.  That guy's guess was some sort of molecule.


Of course, the best part is getting home and checking out all the candy.  Dorothy really got into that part.  She thought digging in the container and taking candy out was the best game ever.

First Word

I am pretty sure that Dorothy said her first word yesterday.  Twice, she looked right at Trip and said, "Ka!" (cat).

Pumpkin Farm

We headed out to the pumpkin farm for a little Fall fun.  Malcolm has been talking about the pumpkin eating dinosaur for weeks and everything he saw at the farm, he wanted to do.


First, we checked out the small pumpkins.


Then we checked out the slightly bigger ones.


Dorothy enjoyed the bigger pumpkins too.



She also checked out the fancy varieties.


Then it was time to play on the train and other wooden structures.

There was a new feature this year called the "Jumping Pillow" and as soon as Malcolm spotted it, he had to do it!  I have no idea what it was made out of or how it kept its shape, but it was a little like a thick rubber dome that the kids could jump on.  Luckily, they divided the kids by height so that the little ones were less likely to get hurt.

Malcolm's pants were a little big in the waist and we were sure he was going to bounce right out of his britches.  When they blew the whistle that is turn was over, there were some tears because, "I just want to do it some more."



After all his jumping, we took a little cider and doughnut break.

Dorothy was determined to steal daddy's doughnut.

Malcolm remembered Pumpkin Eating Dinosaur from our visit last year and was incredibly excited to see it again this year.  When we went to go see it, it was moving its head around, roaring, and blowing smoke a bit to attract a crowd.  He got within a few feet of the fence and stopped.  He didn't want to miss it, but he also didn't want to get any closer.  Even Dorothy was leaning back and trying to maneuver Kevin between her and the dinosaur.

The dinosaur is hard to describe.  It is so cheesy and tacky and over the top that it crosses into being interesting and entertaining.  We did get to see it eat a pumpkin, which was the highlight of Malcolm's day.  He wanted to see it eat more pumpkins, but we weren't able to time it right.

Here is the dinosaur in all its glory.

Finally, we head off to see the animals.  Being a farm, you would expect to see cows, pigs, goats, chickens, and other farm animals, which we did.  This place also has quite the exotic collection too which is great, but also feels a little strange.  Yay!  Let's have a nice family Fall day at the pumpkin farm, and see the giraffes, zebras, bears, and tiger cubs.  Yeah, it just doesn't go together, but it is really neat to see so many unusual animals up close.


Malcolm wanted to feed the animals, which he has only wanted to do on two other occasions.  The carrot sticks were much easier for him to feed than the little seeds.


Dorothy eyes a goat, and you can see the back half of the pumpkin eating dinosaur in the background.

Apple Picking

Last week we went to the apple orchard as part of a field trip with Malcolm's school.


Malcolm's first order of business was having cider and doughnuts.  I have to say that I don't even like cider, but this was really good.



They had a big kids' play area with a fire truck, play house, pirate ship, and tractors to "drive."  There was also an animal barn and pony rides, but he had no interest in those.




Malcolm was most excited by the prospect of picking his own apples, so we headed out to the orchard part.

He had a great time picking the apples that were down low.


Dorothy got to hang out and play with an apple while Malcolm & I did all of the work.


The kids check out the apple we picked.

I had Dorothy in the stroller and Malcolm was walking.  What I had not planned for how I was going to carry the basket of apples and push the stroller by myself.  Luckily, a staff member had come back to help an elderly couple with their baskets and offered to push Dorothy while Malcolm and walked back to the car.

It was a really nice outing and we plan to make it a new fall tradition.

Are Your Ready For Some Football?

We went to the NIU vs Temple game today.  We picked an early October weekend, thinking it would be cool, but not too cold for the kids.  Instead, it was about 90 degrees and we were all over-dressed.  Malcolm was up bright and early and upset that we were not leaving immediately after he finished breakfast.

I embroidered a shirt for Malcolm and made Dorothy a jumper to wear.  Malcolm's shirt turned out well and Dorothy's jumper was cute, but I made it a little too big and learned that a thinner fabric would lay better.  I used fleece so that it would be warm, and it would be quick to sew up.  I think it will still fit her next year since there isn't much shape to it, so maybe she will get a little more use out of it next Fall.


Dorothy went for a little walk while Malcolm spent some time bouncing in the inflatable bounce house they had set up for the kids.  He was very excited to bounce for a while after the car ride.


Dorothy checked out the Husky mascot.  Malcolm was a little apprehensive about the giant dog though.  We couldn't get him to even give the husky a high five.


Malcolm did great watching the game, but had lots of questions.  The guy sitting next to him kept cringing as I was trying to explain football to him in very simple terms.  Eating peanuts out of the shell and watching halftime seemed to be his favorite parts.

It was so hot that we ended up stripping Dorothy down to just a diaper and her hat and tried to keep her in the shade as much as possible.  Lots of people commented that they wished they could strip down to cool off too.


By the end of the game, Dorothy was very tired and ready for it to be over so that she could nap.  She was out cold within 5 minutes once we were int he car.

Both kids were very good despite the heat.  The only melt down was in the fourth quarter when I took Malcolm out to get an ice cream treat.  The vendor had just closed and sent us to another location and said they were still open; they weren't.  After promising him ice cream, there were some very big tears when I could not deliver.  Big time mommy guilt.

We promised him that if he kept being good, that we would go get ice cream after having a nap at home.  We walked down to Dairy Queen and by the time we were done there, it was dinner time.  We decided to walk up to The Village Squire and have some dinner.  It had cooled off, so we sat out on their patio and had a wonderful evening by the river.