Let It Go

Yes, I know it was the totally trendy thing to do this year. Yes, I knew there would be about five billion Elsas running around. But it just worked so nicely! And, to be honest, I really enjoy the movie. I could watch the first half over and over again (second half, meh). Plus, Jon was supposed to be out of town, so I needed something that I could do with or without him. And so Frozen it was!

Prince Hans loves Olaf

Not sure about that face in the top one.

He was doing it all night. Cracked me up.

Elsa, on the other hand, refused to smile.

She loved her costume, loved her sparkles and makeup.

But you wouldn't know it from the pictures...

This was before she rubbed off all the mascara and looked like a sparkly raccoon.

Olaf likes to eat rocks.

Who knew?

The only way Jon was willing to cooperate was because of this costume: 

Coolest Marshmallow ever.

Check out the glowing eyes: 

He managed to thrill the older Elsas at the party and 

terrify the youngest ones.

My Anna dress.

Possibly the first time I've put more work into my own costume

than I put into Jon's. The details on the skirt were killer...

Frozen Bloods

The only way to keep Olaf happy was to feed him suckers while Anna passed out candy.

He ate an entire Tootsie Pop (full-sized!) and started on another.

He and I were a disgusting, sticky mess by the end of the night.

Lohr's Orchard

My favorite fall field trip and my favorite apple cider both come from Lohr's. 

We love our annual tractor ride field trip!

Seth loves carrying Aaron around.

Aaron tolerates it in very small doses.

Jon took off a half-day of work to come with us.

That's how awesome this place is.

Sometimes it's a good idea to listen when Mom mentions that you 

might want your hair put in a ponytail. 

Aaron doesn't care about tractors: he cares about his ball.

I couldn't find his pumpkin shirt, so he wore Seth's old X-files shirt. 

The Seth's pumpkin

The Aaron pumpkin

The "No, I don't have to go potty" pumpkin 

Picking pumpkins

Pumpkins are great.

They're like giant orange balls that make a great sound when you whack them!

Pensive Seth

Aaron is alternately adorably cute, 

or he has 15 chins.

Enjoying a delicious apple

October Means:

Making Halloween cookies:

The end of soccer season:

Seth & his buddy, Gabe

This was Seth's first year playing soccer and he had a great time. He loved playing goalie and was pretty good at it. He wasn't the most aggressive player, but he was a good listener and did whatever he was asked. 

Also, we should probably buy the kid some soccer shorts instead of basketball shorts.

Pumpkin Carving

We were disappointed this year to find that Catherine's pumpkin was rotten inside. It was still carve-able, but I deeply regretted the loss of pumpkin seeds. 

Neither of them wanted to pick out the seeds.

I told them no carving until the seeds were picked.

Catherine with her pumpkin and Catherine with matches.

Yep.

Seth actually carved a decent chunk of his pumpkin.

Next year he's on his own.

Elsa

Minecraft Jack-o-Lantern

Two beautiful pumpkins

Not Kidding

During costume-making season, I sometimes tell people my house is a total wreck. These people will smile and say, "Oh, my house is always a wreck!" So here is the proof that when I say "total wreck", I mean that every surface and most of the floor is covered in either costume-stuff or food from the kids scavenging. A TOTAL wreck.

Bounce

Sometimes, Mom neglects to read the extremely fine print on a Groupon and ends up with a pass to the bouncy place that expires three months after purchase. So, instead of enjoying it during the winter as planned, we hit it up mid-October. The big ones were thrilled--even Catherine played independently this time!

Aaron was not so thrilled with the sliding stuff, though: 

Scruffy-looking Nerf Herder

One time, we were invited to a couples-only Halloween party. Sadly, due to a recently-born Aaron, we had to decline the invitation. But we waited with anticipation for the next year.

I was surprised at the early date--who has a Halloween party on October 3rd? Turns out it was due to the impending deployment of one of the hosts--completely understandable. But didn't leave much time for costume ideas/making.

After spending 2+ hours scouring the internets for ideas, I stumbled across an idea that I knew would be one of our best costumes ever. A little sewing, plastering, and silver spray-painting later, we had our costumes:

I've been trying to get Jon to do Star Wars for years, but he's always rejected the idea, claiming it was overdone (true). But Han Solo in carbonite is definitely a novel idea. Jon was totally on board. 

Pretty darn proud of this gem.

Now to find a home for it in our tiny storage room...

Our genius costume idea did the trick: 

we came home with the oh-so-coveted "Best Costumes" trophy: 

It will be displayed in our home triumphantly until next year.

I was a little surprised that we won--we have some great friends who love Halloween as much as we do. One couple came as a very accurate replica of the American Gothic painting. Another was dressed as Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy, complete with beautiful, authentic clothing she sewed herself (they got my vote for best costumes). 

Now to see if I can actually get the next round of costumes finished in a timely manner! Happy Halloween (round 1)!

Ballerina Class

I signed Catherine up for her first ballet class in August and made the mistake of telling her about it. Since classes didn't start until October 1st, it was a LONG, LONG wait for a little girl. But the day finally arrived! Catherine celebrated by drawing red stripes up both arms (see above picture). None of the other ballerinas were so gorgeously tattooed. 

I was a little disappointed that parents aren't allowed to watch the class. They have a closed circuit television broadcasting the class, but it's a pretty terrible picture. But at least I can see that she's having fun. "Ballerina class" is the highlight of her week. It's also a great motivator: "Unless you're a good girl in your preschool class at co-op, you can't go to ballet." (Thank heaven co-op and ballet are the same day!).  

My little ballerina

Science Co-op

I am loving getting to teach science at Seth's homeschool co-op. Granted, it has been a little crazier than the original plan (one family had a family situation that has taken them across the country until at least January, leaving us short a teacher). Instead of just teaching Seth's class, I'm also teaching the older class now, too. It's a lot of fun for me, but a whole lot of not-fun for the poor moms in Pre-K trying to deal with my monstrous whiny baby. 

This was from one of our latest classes: the layers of the atmosphere and layers of the earth. I found the idea for the playdough earth on Pinterest (what would I do without Pinterest???) and the kids LOVED it. We talked about each layer as we formed it, then used floss to cut it in half. Despite my fears, they all turned out beautifully!

Seth and his earth

All the layers inside

It is a lot of work every week, but when I'm actually in there teaching I love it!

Sara the Catherine

(notice the Nutella on her face? Fairly standard)

What can I even say about this little girl? One of my friends recently called her a "free spirit." Perfect. 

I never know what I'm going to get out of my Catherine. Some mornings she comes down the stairs bursting with something to tell me. Some days she only grunts and refuses to make eye contact. Other days she'll come down fully dressed and announce that we are to address her as "Cinderella" today. 

(notice the Cinderella shirt?)

Here's Catherine at three-and-a-half (ish):

*thinks she's a Sunbeam. She apparently decided one week that she hated Nursery and simultaneously fell in love with Sister Williams, the Sunbeam teacher (kindred spirits, those two). Stephanie says Catherine is a joy to have in class and actually one of the best kids in there. Hope this bodes well for January!

*loves insects. All insects. Despite her decent allergy to mosquito bites, she still calls mosquitoes her "friends" (and all other bugs). But her true love is caterpillars. We are currently the happy owners of a large furry black caterpillar named Zombie (thank you, Seth), which she adores. In fact, she adores it so much that I'm not actually sure the poor thing is still alive.

*a tragic caterpillar story: during Seth's soccer practice this week, Catherine found a "boo-full" white furry caterpillar. Of course, she picked it up and proudly carried it over to me. But just a few minutes later she was crying, screaming, and trying to stop the itching on her hands. Turns out she'd picked up a Hickory Tussock caterpillar.  Poor thing ended up with blisters on her hands and a rash that spread over her entire body. No more white caterpillars for us!

*anything that happened before today happened "asterday."

I've decided her hair is actually a perfect metaphor for her personality:

beautiful, wild, and cannot be restrained (even with hairspray)

*while I'm not at all serious about her "school" right now, I am starting to work on numbers and letters. But Catherine doesn't make it easy. If she senses I might be trying to teach her something, she refuses to participate. I have to very sneaky in my approach. 

*she is a very independent and resourceful young lady. Interpretation: she is constantly getting herself into various messes. Whether it's covering herself in every BandAid we own or dumping out all my jewelry, I usually end up with several unexpected Catherine messes to clean up every day (usually occurring while I'm trying to teach Seth). 

*A Facebook post from a few months ago: "Don't mind me: I'm just running down the middle of the highway to retrieve two little pink shoes someone left on the hood of our van." The best part was when I climbed back in the van and gave her a serious lecture about never doing that again and how lucky she was that her shoes weren't ruined. She sweetly responded, "But you could just buy me new ones!"

*She LOVES shoes and is the proud owner of at least 15 pairs. But I don't really understand the desire since she proceeds to take them off about 30 seconds after we get in the van/to church/to the store. 

*She would live in her swimming suits if she could. If the swimming suits are unavailable, the preferred clothing is panties and panties alone:

Yes, this outfit was worn in public.

Several times, actually.

I pick my battles carefully with this girl.

*One evening while she was dancing around in her diaper (still in diapers at night), we heard a mysterious jingling noise. One to add to the "Things I Never Thought I'd Have to Say" list: "Your diaper is not a pocket." The coins were luckily retrieved before anything unfortunate happened.

*If you ever come to our house and see the sink full of seashells/rocks/worms, know that Catherine has been here:

Taken by Seth this summer:

Tut, tut! It looks like rain! 

(As I said earlier, "nothing but panties" is the preferred dress form most days):

Sundays, however, we wear Princess dresses.

We don't care if said dresses were supposed to be saved for Christmas.

Or if they're 1-2 sizes too big.

If they are sparkly, they are worn:

Notice the Cinderella hair?

And, most importantly, the shoes?

These shoes are worn EVERYWHERE.

Princess Sara Catherine Cinderella

Sweet Sara the Catherine, you are a true wonder. Love you.