Today was the start of our Christmas celebrations. My parents went to Christmas Eve mass with us and then came over to the house for dinner. They left just before we put he Shecklets to bed so the house could get prepped for Christmas morning.
Nana and Papa are coming over tonight after we all go to mass. The Shecklets are baking Papa’s favorite gumdrop cookies for dessert. (Great Grandma Fran’s recipe.)
“I’m doing a good job feeding [Little #4]! I’m a big girl feeding [Little #4]!” said a very proud Little #3 this morning.
The kids got a good laugh out of seeing themselves as Lego figurines tonight.
My first attempt at Lego-izing us had Little #4 symbolized as a pink stroller, but I like my second attempt below, better. In reality, she hates wearing hats, but it’s winter (absolutely freezing right now!) and she has very little hair – so a hat it is!
Little #4 crashed out on her big brother’s lap this afternoon while visiting Nana. Little #1 is so good to his siblings.
First time for Little #4 in the kid seat of the shopping cart. She wasn’t thrilled with getting buckled in at first, but after she realized the freedom associated with it, she loved it.
Little #4 is officially on the move. We can no longer sit her down and know she will stay in one place.
Let the door closing and step watching commence!
The 3 older Littles love playing with the dress up clothes/costumes in our basement. It’s not surprising then, that the idea of collecting candy just for dressing up is sheer brilliance in their minds. I’m pretty sure that the level of excitement doesn’t stem from the possibility of eating everything they bring home. They purely enjoy dressing up, greeting the neighbors, collecting, combining, and then sorting what they were so generously given.
This year, our Littles went as a mummy, baby dragon, cowgirl and a gnome. It was so much fun seeing Little #2 wear the mummy costume that Uncle Tony wore as a kid. Little #4, the dragon, was the third Shecklet to don the warm, fuzzy, green outfit. (Little #3 was too little her first Halloween and too big her second.) We put a pink bow on her head to make her a “girl dragon.” Our cowgirl was a superhero with her pink mask, and our garden gnome was grinning from ear to ear, but you couldn’t quite see it through his long, white beard.
Trick-or-treating began after school when we stopped by “the loft” to visit Papa, Mr. Eric and Uncle Tony. Auntie Kristin also came by and brought the kids a treat. From there, we went to Nana & Papa’s house to run up the front sidewalk and ring the doorbell. After a few group photos and adding non-edible treats to their buckets/bags, we loaded back up and drove home to get ready for round three in our neighborhood.
Two of our friends joined us for the fun. The guys walked the kids door-to-door and the ladies took turns holding Little #4. Little #3 joined us back home after making it around most of our block. From what I was told, the boys made mad dashes between houses as they went around the rest of the neighborhood. It was cool and slightly misty out tonight, so I’m sure running helped keep them at least a little warm.
Upon their return, Little #1 & Little #2 dumped their candy into one pile. Little #3 didn’t want to be left out, so she added hers to the mix. Then, being the organizers that they are, they set to work on sorting the candy by type. Who knew that Halloween could double as math exercise?
We ended our nightly prayers by praying for the people who handed out candy tonight. It was a great way to talk to the Littles about what generosity means and how we can in turn be generous to others – and not just when it comes to candy. I love to see their little hearts so open to such a concept.
We have four kids. That means we “had” to buy four pumpkins. Based on previous years’ experiences, I had a feeling there would be much excitement prior to carving pumpkins, but not as much when it came to actually cleaning out the pumpkin guts. I was correct…times four. *Sigh*
But like any committed mom, I took the silver serving spoon and scraped the pumpkin insides bare and dumped out the orange seedy contents onto the baking sheet on the table…times four.
Then I attempted to follow the drawn on lines of the pumpkin faces…times four.
After just over an hour, we had jack-o-lanterns for the Littles…times four.
And they couldn’t be happier…times four.
P.S. you’ll see Little #4’s pumpkin has two bottom teeth just like her 🙂
It’s a cool, misty morning and we had an unsuccessful trip to Menards, but none of that matters. These two brighten my day 🙂
