Positively Defrightful

Halloween is probably one of my kids’ favorite holidays. I mean, they get to party, dress up, run around the neighborhood half the night, eat a bunch of candy…what’s not to love, right? To be honest, I think it’s fun too. I enjoy making a creepy themed dinner and creating fun costumes. And taking my parent tax out of their trick or treat bags. As a food allergy parent, the whole trick or treating thing used to stress me out, but my kids are so smart about the whole thing that I don’t really worry any more. We just help them go through their bags and swap out off limits treats for safe ones. And then the big boys get to eat all the rejected confections so they are pretty happy about the whole thing as well.

This year I fed the kids worm sandwiches, brain Jell-o and Jacked up veggies before sending them out the door.

Daniel went to a party and didn’t really do a costume this year so he is not part of our photo lineup. Malia was Ariel in the pink princess dress, but really looked like a standard princess because she didn’t want to wear a red wig. She was super excited though and even let me get her a hoop skirt to wear with her dress.

When we started the costume discussions last month, Matthew didn’t want to dress up at all. I think he wants to be a young man and not a boy and sees dressing up as something for little kids. But we turned to pinterest and found a non-standard costume that he was actually super excited about. Honestly, what’s not cool about being a pedestrian crossing sign?

Nathan didn’t have any grand plans, but he wanted a costume anyway. He really wanted a cape, Phantom of the Opera style, and I was happy to help him sew one. By help, I mean I helped him pick a pattern, taught him how to use a pattern, guided him in his selection of fabric and then acted as sewing advisor. He did all the actual cutting and sewing himself. He was enormously proud of himself, as well he should be. And he loved the whole swirling of the cape thing.

Since he didn’t have anywhere to go, Nathan invited a few friends to gather at our place for snacks and a movie. Unfortunately, only one person came, but they had a great time nevertheless. We made caramel popcorn and ate it all warm and sticky, so Nathan followed my lead and ate his with chopsticks to avoid the super sticky fingers. Honestly, I don’t know what normal people do without chopsticks. I use them for all kinds of non-Chinese food things. In fact, I use them for all kinds on non-food things...

So Happy Halloween y’all. Hope you had as much fun as we did!

Princess for a Week

It has been princess central around here for the past ten days. Malia has had a birthday and this year was the year we threw a princess party. In fact, we invited her friends to come to princess school so they could all learn to be royalty and earn their tiaras. We practiced waving a wand, dancing, making a bracelet, kissing a frog and defending ourselves (against a piñata). The girls wore their fancy gowns and they did, in fact, all earn their tiaras. Malia’s cake of choice was a super simple strawberry cupcake cake, but she was very pleased with how it turned out.

This month’s birthday table day at the elementary was on Malia’s actual birthday which made it even more exciting for her. School had not started for Nathan (though it had for everyone else), so he got to attend as well. We took her a lunch from Carl’s Jr. and even though she was totally hyped, she managed to eat up all her food.

After lunch, Nathan helped me pick out some balloons for her, and I think she was pleased with our selection:

Her presents from us were given that evening. She was happy about the princess Lego from Daniel and Nathan.

She was spazy about the tiara from Kevin and I.

(Yup, that’s my girl-equal parts girly girl, tom boy and spaz.)

The musical jewelry box from us was also entrancing.

But Matthew totally won the “who can choose the best present for Malia” award with his selection of a scooter of her very own.

This past Sunday was her cake day at my parents’ house. She opted for the blueberry cupcake cake for this one. She was also excited to be able to celebrate with her cousin Kate since Kate had been out of town for her princess party.

Even Jolly has had an opportunity to be royalty for a day.

I’ve about had my fill of princess stuff for now, but Malia has loved all of it. She’s such a perfect blend of interests that I’m happy to indulge her inner princess from time to time knowing that she’s going to alternate princess time with baseball time or football time or scooter time…she’s well rounded and a perfect fit for our crazy family.

Here is a translation of Malia’s birthday interview in case your reading of phonetic writing is rusty:

My nicknames are: Squeaker Pants
If I could change my name, it would be: Dot
When I grow up I want to be: a mom
My best friend is: Raylee
My favorite thing to do with my family is: Play games
This is what makes me happy: Playing house
This is what makes me sad: Falling
My favorite thing about school is: recess
The thing I’m best at is: the weed (??? When I asked Malia about this, she couldn’t even remember what it was supposed to mean. She decided her new answer was “to read” which is probably a better answer because I’m pretty sure child protective services would take her away if she was really doing weed. 😉)
If I had a million dollars I would: cheer
If I could go anywhere, I would go: To Space
If I had one wish, I would wish for: I want to be anything
For breakfast, I like to eat: cereal
My favorite thing to do outside is: ride my scooter
My favorite thing to wear is: dresses
Before I fall asleep, I think about: is I read books
My favorite birthday present was: a singing bird

My Favorites
Food: spaghetti
Holiday: Christmas
Book: Another Monster at the End of This Book
Toy: doll
Treat: cookies
Song: I Am a Child of God
Animal: tiger
Movie: Narnia
Color: red
Sport: football
T.V. Show: Sophia

Once Upon a Dream

This morning Malia told us that she had a good dream. She was a princess and the prince was the fuzzy guy from Monsters, Inc. They danced and danced which is why it was a good dream and they liked each other. Now the princess part is not at all unexpected, but the part that cracks me up is that Sully was her Prince Charming. That is definitely the sign of a girl who is well rounded, open minded and has three older brothers. ;-)

BFF

For almost the past year, Malia’s best friend has been Raylee. They have been in preschool together and although they weren’t in the same primary class last year, they were this year. When Malia discovered that fact, there was a fist pump and a “Yes!” involved. These two girls have gotten along amazingly well. Their personalities are very similar, they like the same things and they just love being together. I’ve only had to intervene in a moment of disagreement once in the past year and that one was just to suggest maybe they could take turns. Other than that, they have worked everything out on their own and have had surprisingly few moments of conflict. As far as a couple of 4-5 year olds go, that is pretty much a mini miracle. Raylee has even taught Malia some of the finer points of being a princess. Malia can be pretty rough and tumble (having three older brothers will do that) and Raylee has helped balance that out. I couldn’t have asked for a better first girlfriend for Malia.

Raylee and her family have been living down the street, with one of her sets of grandparents. Her dad was finishing up his last year of medical school and they didn’t know where he would be assigned for his residency so they didn’t want to buy a home or anything like that only to be there less than a year. Because of that, we’ve known all along that they would be moving, we just didn’t know where. When they were given their assignment a few months ago, I started prepping Malia for the fact that Raylee would be moving. I figured if she knew what was coming and had an idea of what it really meant, it might be easier on her. By the time Raylee left last week, Malia had a pretty good idea what moving meant.

Raylee moved last Saturday. They were able to spend a good chunk of the last couple of days together and due to our in-advance discussions, Malia has handled it really well. She’s only asked when Raylee would be living down the street from us again once. I was just about Malia’s age when my parents moved to their current home and I met a group of girls, some of whom became besties and one of whom I still keep in touch with. (This is a shout out to Lisa-my life long bestie!) Luckily for us, Raylee has only moved to Provo and her grandparents still live just down the street so while I’m old enough to know things definitely won’t be the same, at least Malia will be able to see her from time to time.

Raylee drew a picture for Malia by way of a parting gift. Raylee is on the right dressed as Rapunzel who is currently her favorite princess. Malia is on the left as Snow White which is what Malia wants to be for Halloween this year. I thought it was a sweet way of letting Malia know that the friendship goes both ways.

In moments of loneliness or boredom, Malia will sigh and say, “I wish Raylee was here.” You know what? I wish Raylee was here too.

Celebrity Sighting

Kevin has been at his job for nearly a year now and we have discovered that there are some perks to working for Adobe. One of the many is the occasional family movie nights they host. They blow up a big inflatable screen and play a movie outside. They provide treats and it is just a fun time. Last night was one of those movie nights and somehow they got permission to play “Frozen.” Don’t ask me how. Last year they tried to get permission to show “The Incredibles” and were turned down. Anyway, Kevin took all the kids to see the movie and I stayed home to get some peace and quiet and to baby a migraine. Daniel was inclined to stay home as well seeing as he is 13 year old boy and not a 3 year old girl and therefore not completely in love with “Frozen,” but Kev made him go so I could have a little me time.

They did not actually end up seeing the movie because it was so windy they couldn’t set up the screen, but the night was not a total bust because Malia got to me a couple of very special people:

When they got home she told me, “Elsa hugged me!”

The Birds

A couple of weeks ago whenever she happened to notice a bird, Malia started holding out her hand, palm up, and telling me she wanted the bird to land in her hand. I was a bit perplexed by this seemingly random desire until I started thinking about her fascination with all things princess. As I began to recall some of the movies we’ve watched recently, I began to notice a theme. Cinderella: birds singing, washing, sewing, etc. Beauty and the Beast: a handful of birdseed=bird in the hand. Mirror, Mirror: a bird hops in the window and eats a seed right out of Snow White’s hand. Enchanted: yup, birds all over this one. So it seems that Malia’s innate desire to be a princess has led to an intense desire to hold a bird. However, I’m pretty sure that if the seagull or crow that she thinks she wants to land on her hand actually did so, the result would be more Hitchcock than Disney.

In other news, Malia is terrified of spiders and I swear I did not teach it to her in spite of the fact that spiders rank right up there with mice on my loathing scale. She does the whole girly shrieking with terror thing. If I didn’t find spiders so off putting myself, it would be kind of funny.