Halloween

I guess if there's an easy excuse to get back to blogging, it's Halloween!  Life is just crazy right now- the kids each go to school different days of the week, so it's been very hard trying to figure out a schedule.  Most days now I don't get a break from all of them during the day (at the same time), so blogging has therefore been very low on the priority list when I do have a few minutes.  Right now the boys are at school and Molly is sleeping, so this is my chance!


The kids had a super fun Halloween.  After school we went to say goodbye to the boys' buddies Josh and Willie, who moved to Knoxville this week.  Those boys just go crazy together and love each other so much.  I'll try to post some pictures later of all of them.

Then we went trick-or-treating in the evening.  We've always tried to go to a fall festival first, but we ran out of time and it always feels so crazy to do both anyway.  Here are the kids before going out:

Watermelon, Iron Man, and Captain America:

 (if you ask Drew, he says, "I'm Taptin Am-eh-wita!")

 I just loved this watermelon costume.....I found it at the Children's Place.  So many people out trick-or-treating said "oh, look at that cute pumpkin!"  So funny, since her costume didn't have a bit of orange in it.  But I probably would have said the same thing....you see so many pumpkin costumes that it's what your mind immediately thinks (plus it was dark outside for much of the time). 

 Drew was really into trick-or-treating this year!  After the first two houses, he said "can we do one more?" Then after each house, he'd say "just two more!"  Grant got tired and decided to stay in the wagon for the last few houses, but Drew just kept on going.

Molly didn't get any candy herself, but she had a blast pulling candy out of the boys' buckets and putting it back in.

She loves climbing up the stairs these days:

And speaking of, she is awake so I must run!

First days through the years

2008: Grant was 21 months old, and I was 35 weeks pregnant with Drew.  I sobbed as I left the school parking lot ("my baby is growing up!"), and Grant cried a lot in the beginning.  He only went to school for (I believe) three days before it closed down for Hurricane Ike, and didn't reopen until after Drew was born.  So much for all that pre-baby alone time for me!

 

2009: At almost three, Grant was still majorly attached to his pacifier.  I was shocked when his new teachers told him that first day that he needed to put his paci in his backpack when he came into the classroom.  I thought, "he's still a baby!  That's awfully harsh!"  But it was the best thing for him; a few months later he was hardly using it anymore.

  

2010: Drew was 23 months old and Grant was three and a half.  This time, I was 33 weeks pregnant with Molly.  Grant didn't want to go to school because he was scared about having new teachers, and Drew just had no idea what he was getting into!  But Grant did great and loved it from the beginning.  Poor Drew cried every day until, oh, about early May!  I kind of forget, but I don't think I cried this time....I was just so excited to have another chance at that pre-baby alone time!

 

2011: Yesterday!  Grant is four years, nine months old.  Again, he said he didn't want to start school "because I'm scared Ms. Tammy and Ms. Shelia aren't gonna be my teachers anymore."  But he did great!  I'm so thankful that he's so well-behaved for his teachers.  And now that he's in Pre-K, it seems a lot more like Kindergarten....he has a behavior chart and he is responsible for bringing home his folder every day.  He definitely seems to be in his element at school (I pray that I'm not speaking too soon, bragging on him like this!).

Molly (ten months) is going one day a week!  She's having a lot of separation anxiety at church, but her teachers said she did okay yesterday.  She cried off and on during the morning, but then totally fell apart after lunch, so Ms. Jessica took her for a stroller ride.  She fell asleep and was still sleeping when I picked her up. 

 

Drew has grown up so much in the past six months.  He turned the corner at the end of the year last year, and yesterday he had no fear going into his classroom.  Yay!  I'm so proud of my big boy.

 

 

Drew- making the most of sibling picture time

We went to a park in League City the other day so I could take some pictures of the kids.  Not surprisingly, it's almost impossible to get a picture of all three looking at the camera- at the same time- with a reasonably pleasant expression on all of their faces.  Here's the first try......Drew has been shutting his eyes lately when I ask him to smile for the camera:

  So I asked him to open his eyes:

And it just got sillier from there!

Finally, success!

The cost of a little bit of sanity

Dean and I have never done a monthly budget, but it's something I keep saying I'd like to do.  It's not that I don't know what we spend....every month our credit card bill is basically the same and we do an okay job of mostly just buying things that we need.  But I have no doubt that we could cut our spending if we'd only assign every dollar to a certain category, and just stop spending when those limits are reached every month.

So last night I was going through our latest credit card bill, and started figuring out expenses by category.  The amount spent on gas: $409.  Exactly a hundred of it was Dean's (driving to work and back), which means we put over $300 in the van.  That is ten dollars per day.  Holy cow!  But I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.....I spend many hours every week just driving around.  Sometimes in the mornings, we leave the house when it's time for Molly's nap....so instead of going straight to our destination, I'll let the boys watch a part of a movie in the car so she can get a decent nap instead of sleeping for only 10 minutes (plus it gives me a little morning break from the madness!).  Or we'll end up driving around when we've been out in the morning, and we end up too far away to make it all the way home without someone falling asleep (which means they likely won't stay asleep when we get home).  So I figure I'd rather get 45 minutes to myself in the car than no time to myself at all at home! 

We are starting to think about possibilities of moving to a little bit larger house, and where we might want to move....so I usually end up exploring different neighborhoods.  I have become quite the expert on real estate in the Clear Lake/League City/Friendswood area this summer!  And as long as it's 101 degrees every day here, I really don't care how much money I spend on gas, as long as we're cool and it allows my boys to take a break from fighting for a little while!

Stairstep

When the weather allows it (this time of year, usually this means before 9am and after 5pm), the kids have enjoying playing outside at their sand/water table.  Molly loves standing up and grabbing the sand, and the boys have a blast burying their cars and Star Wars guys.   Don't these first two pictures look like those AT&T commercials that show the bars in all kinds of creative ways (I'm so tired and I can't think of a way to explain this more clearly!).

Molly watches intently as Drew pours:

Sweet Drew.....he's brushing the sand off her arm:

Even though Molly rarely put anything into her mouth until about a week ago (and these were taken a few weeks ago), she stuck her finger in her mouth and must have decided she liked the taste of sand.  Weird!  She did it once, then again and again until I had to stop her.  She just licked it right off!

 The boys came inside while I stayed outside for a few extra minutes with Molly.  We walked in to find them sitting very quietly, watching one of those live-action British comedies on PBS.  You know, the ones where the main characters always seem to be old men?  It was so funny.....the boys rarely sit so quietly even when they watch their own cartoons, but they must have thought this was pretty intriguing!