all treats, no tricks

Everytime I thought about writing this post I kept thinking about a joke that could start with "Two knights & a ninja walk into a bar." But I am not all that creative with jokes so it stops there. Maybe the abrupt ending with no punchline actually makes it funny? I'll proceed. My creativity with costumes ebbs and flows & this year it was at a dead stop! 

Here is the rundown on costume choices- 

1. Charlotte tried on my Kingwood Cougars cheerleading uniform last time we were in the Livable Forest & it happened to fit perfectly. This was a reminder that I was as unusually small 8th grader. I was also quite possibly the worst cheerleader. I reassured her that she was a normal sized 5th grader who looked fantastic. She brought it home & quickly decided she was too old to dress up but by the time Halloween rolled around she came bounding out of the house decked out for a football game. She looks too old : ( 
2. Eloise & Anson were obsessed with being knights. We learned about Medieval History last fall which maybe sparked their interest. We ordered two costumes, but when they arrived it proved to be laughably small on Eloise....especially the helmet! Gaga hooked her up with a ninja costume when we were at Target. It was perfect for her ninja like skills she is perfecting with Taekwondo this semester.
3. Owen wanted to be a praying mantis which was an idea from last year. The requested costume included spikes on the arms so he could quickly devour candy, hahaha! I told him that with 3 days notice I couldn't make it happen this year. He told me Gaga was coming into town. I had to break the news that she wasn't arriving with green leotards & razor blades. Once Eloise finally come to terms with the fact that the knight costume was WAY too small, Owen decided he would look pretty darn tough in it & that he did!
4. Anson was the die hard knight. He was committed from August on & I loved seeing his grin behind the helmet. 
5. Arlo, he is so easy to please. I basically laid out 5 costumes from the bin on the couch & he immediately picked up the fireman costume, put it on & never complained for a second. He was annoyed that the Velcro wasn't holding the accessories on very well but what could I do...it has been worn by many a Valentine. 

Our knights in shining armor..

Ninja girl & Kingwood Cougar circa 1990s ....

Weeeee-ooooo, Weeeeee-ooooo, here comes Arlo!

The Fab Five that keep us laughing (when behaving)

We enjoyed trick-or-treating in our neighborhood with a favorite family, the Hofmanns. We spend a lot of time together between school, church & living near by. Their boys are best buddies with our boys & their littlest adores Charlotte and truly dislikes me, haha!

Courtney & I are almost identical in size & hair color. We happen to have the same tastes in clothes, purses & shoes. Our littlest kids have grabbed the wrong mama's leg when not paying attention. Our husbands find it amusing. There was a Sunday that Courtney asked DJ if what she was wearing looked cute & he replied that she should just ask if it would look cute on Lauren. At this point if one of us buys something we joke that we should have just bought an extra to pass along. Even our wedding dresses look eerily similar! All that to say, we dressed up as each other. Sadly, she had just cut her hair & I wasn't up for bangs on a whim for a Halloween picture ; )

The whole crew & the Valentine crew....

I need to get my thinking cap on a little earlier next time but I fear that Charlotte won't want to dress up. Maybe that's not too bad, one less costume & I'll just promote her to the Assistant to the Seamstress position : )

Arlo turns four!

Well, well, well, we blinked and Darlin' Arlo turned four...sad face. We just want to freeze him at this age with the hilarious things he says, his facial expressions & very selfishly I want to keep him this age because he adores me, haha! He was delighted to have four birthday balloons in his hand & jokingly acted like he was going to let them fly away.

Grammy & Grandpa came to celebrate with us & arrived just in time for a last round of pictures before we headed inside for dinner. It is rare that we get a picture of everyone smiling AND looking at the camera at the same time, woo hoo!

Then sneaky Arlo tricked Grammy & Grandpa by saying, "Let's do silly faces!" but didn't do one himslef.

G Gran never misses a good party & came bearing gifts! Arlo received a Curious George stuffed animal carrying a backpack with $4 plus a set of books about that curious little monkey. For months we have checked out Curious George and the Chocolate Factory from the library. There have been moments of great sadness when another monkey obsessed child had happily taken the book home & we had to wait for it to be returned. He was bright eyed & excited to sit down & read.  You can't quite see his shirt but he got the hookup with a replacement tee that says "Garbage day is my favorite day of the week." For quite awhile he wore it every Tuesday & Friday as he stood outside to wave hello to his heroes. 

He requested a monster truck cake & I was inspired and excited to be old Lauren for a day & go all out for the first time in awhile. 2020 is going to be the year of comebacks....I can feel it ; ) I will admit, it was really enjoyable to make & seeing that he absolutely loved it made me smile. 

Not only was it cute but it was tasty too! 

Everyone was mad that I didn't let anyone help with the baking. He was a serious little guy! 

Birthday morning is always our favorite. We worked together to make the perfectly decorated table with everything from the boys' closet to the crafty cabinet. The four big kids personalized it with pictures & names. They drew one where flames were coming out of the back of the car & someone wrote "toot" just to get me to roll my eyes...I admit that it was clever & funny. I love that at the top of the picture on the right you can see "oh my goodness" in Charlotte's handwriting. They LOVE him!

The Fab Five ready to party!

Sausage balls & cinnamon rolls were served to this smiling boy who was quite pleased with the monster trucks everywhere!

He is fully convinced by no convincing of our own that Daddy's Jeep is called a Jeeper Beeper, so of course I had to make him a shirt to go with his new cap. 

The classic game of Hi-Ho Cherry-O was played a million times throughout the day thanks to Uncle Scott & Uncle Kyle. I referred to the cherries as apples EVERY time I talked about it. Arlo liked correcting me....just like the rest of my little students ; ) 

 I am not sure how an entire birthday goes by with multiple cameras & we don't get a picture of us with the birthday boy on his special day! Here are a couple recent snapshots....

Remember how I said he adores me? I am rejoicing that it is mistletoe season & he wants to smooch me multiple times throughout the day. He loves his Daddy too : ) In fact today he came inside SO grumpy & said in his mean voice "When is Daddy coming home from stupid work!" When stupid work ended for the day, he was a happy & giggly four year old. He is just the sweetest caboose for the Valentine Train. Happiest of Birthdays Darling Arlo. 

Turning SIX times two

Wow, those twinkies had a great time ringing in being SIX year olds! Sad to say but they had never had a birthday party with friends so this was a big deal.  They are easy to please unless we are at the dinner table ; ) We invited a bunch of boys & a couple big sisters over for the big bash. 

Delcious donuts + a dinosaur craft + an obstacle course = happy boys

Arlo the explorer did the inspection of the yummy treats...

You know you have big sisters when you request a craft at your birthday celebration. I suggested this fantastic Pinterest idea & it met their approval & our bank account's approval too! Lots of dried pasta, black construction paper, glue & chalk.  With a few examples the kids went to town designing their own....

Next up, obstacle course time. We set it up first thing that morning, tested it multiple times & were ready to roll by the time the contestants arrived! On your mark, get set, GO!

Action shot of the O-Meister!

He stuck close by his mama....

We kept a stopwatch going & recorded each race. They had SO much fun & were great at cheering for each other, especially when the 3 year old brothers had their turns.

When I say "we" kept the time, I mean the 4 big sisters, Charlotte, Eloise, Daphne & Hera. They kept those boys under their command. I saw so much of myself at 9 years old as I was observing that role. The runners & jumpers never voiced a complaint against the judges so I just went with it!

Every minute was full of playing & noise, just as it should be!

and the whole bunch... for such a crew, it was easy peasy!

We enjoyed our morning & evening celebrating with our family too. The girls & I worked on some homemade dinosaur décor & it was mostly great minus table bumping & knocking down trees. 

The video of the candle blowing is so hilarious. A few of us have asthma & we joke that due to that condition, our lungs don't work as well as they should & it takes twice as long to blow out candles. Poor Owen, he was quite the source of laughter that morning! 

 Silly siblings.

Some gifts they received were walkie talkies, fidget cubes, Battleship & Uno. There were more but my memory is lacking and I am about to fall asleep while typing.

Wouldn't it be fun to have another picture like that when they turn 66? Just 60 more years : )

It was a busy day with lots of visitors. Paw Paw came then Auntie Deb joined him. Our beloved babysitter Alison stopped by with a mini Bop-it game for each of them. They were quickly hi-jacked first by siblings then by parents where we worked hard to blow any record out of the water. Thanks Alison!

 Speaking of BELOVED, GGran stopped by as well. 

Grandpa & Grammy were happy to play a game of Battleship, Uno & of course offer a cozy lap to sit in.

We had to squeeze in a hug at the end of dinner. We just love those birthday bubbies to the moon & back. Six has been a great year & seven is just around the corner come 2020!