Hallow's Eve

Despite being one of the oddest holidays we celebrate, Halloween has turned into the second most celebrated and enjoyed holiday in our family. According to wiki, we really should be celebrating the dead Christians, but it's turned into quite the pumpkin and candy extravaganza that is a blast for my inner music teacher and my kids.

Despite not really having a larger purpose than fun, we have really loved the month of October this year.

Allie has dutifully worn her 3 halloween shirts at least three times each week:



 We revisited slide haven at Cox Farms' Fall festival, 



and have... no slide pictures. Jackson is now scared of large hill slides... (among other other things), so I was on all the slides with him.


We went to a gorgeous pumpkin patch way out in the boon docks, that had the coolest pumpkins for .50$ a lb.

It made me want to get all Martha Stewarty and create a gorgeous mantel place center piece. 

I suppose we celebrated some part of the Christian roots by attending our church's halloween party. I LOVE having a good excuse to dress up and be someone else. This year, the kids and I are sticking to a nursery rhyme theme (Miss Muffet and The Spider + Old Mother Hubbard), and Mark went... in a different direction:




Don't the kids look like they're having a blast!?

Jackson has continued to talk about trick or treating this entire year, and he can't wait until Thursday, when we go re-meet our neighbors who will give him candy. Hopefully all the other crazy costumes out on the streets don't add to the list things we're scared about right now (I'm guessing the candy will chase away most fears).

And perhaps next year we'll find a larger purpose for the holiday. Family History? I'm sure we have a lot of very interesting dead Christians we could dress up as.

Just a Phase

Phases are one of those parts of parenting you understand before kids, after kids, and especially during child rearing. Unfortunately it's so hard to remember anything is a phase if it happens for longer than 2 days. Minor issues become potential character flaws and major emergencies that must be fixed now (especially with the first kid)! I think this is because they can be oh so draining, and as a parent you dread the idea of dealing with it for the long term. 

But, in the long term they are pretty funny, so here are some to remember

Phases we are potentially over (we hope):

-Allie waking up in the middle of the night to eat (hallelujah, and knock on wood)
-Jackson collapsing to the ground moaning of leg pain any time he is asked to do something (it is always his leg, and immediately upon request)
-Jackson banging his head on the ground in frustration

Phases we are currently working through:

-3-7 poopy diapers a day (Allie)
-3-7 teeth coming in at once
-Extreme twists and screaming to accompany diaper changes
-Jackson's further explorations with diaper changing materials (maximum strength Desitin!)
-Allie's interest in rearranging every household item--baking soda to the toilet paper, she knows best where everything should go
-Jackson's shyness manifested with a slow turn of his head (looking away from whoever is speaking to him) and a stone face that says, I'm not listening to you right now
-Allie banging her head on the ground in frustration

Phases that will likely stay around:

-Allie's new obsession with electronic devices (I am NOT going to sacrifice my phone that's hanging on by a thread--even in moments of desperation)

-Jackson sprinting through the house throwing and kicking balls
-"Silent" book reading for both (woot woot!!!)
-Mark and I looking for new ways to channel our own frustration--banging heads could be a viable option

Learning Quickly from the Best

It seriously took Jackson 2 years to get used to the idea that we were going to brush teeth every night. 

 Allie has been begging for a tooth brush for months! She finally got one, and cannot give it up.

The best part is, she actually brushes her teeth--instead of just chewing on the bristles.
 

This is one eager little sister, who loves learning from her bro.

Now if we can only keep her from learning his less desirable qualities...

Polarized Sameness

I've decided the human condition gravitates toward polarized sameness. Same, as we all share so many of the same goals. Polar, because there are so many different ways to get to that goal. We're all made up of the same chemical compounds, which are made up of the same basic atom. And yet, we all have those ever repellant electrons working hard to maintain so much of their own space within that atom.

I see it poignantly right now in politicians--really most politicians want the same thing, they just have different views on how to get there.

I see it clearly in marriage. I am so good at finding what could go wrong, or another view, or taking the other side in an argument--when really, half the time, I completely agree with Mark. 

I also see it in my kids. So much of the same, and so different. So many laugh-a-thons, and more and more fights.

Inevitably, this polarized sameness is how we are strengthened--if we can learn how to deal with our crazy repellant electrons and appreciate what they create as a whole.

So here are my two little atom-filled kids.



It is so much easier to take pictures in non-crisis moments,

which helps perpetuate a longing for happy times in the past.

  But when we can capture and remember the more repellant times,

we can attempt to recall and recreate how we worked through past tantrums,

to eventually create unique, repellant, but beautiful wholes.