Halloween

Halloween pictures up less than a week after the fact! Hurray!

The oldest three were ninjas, and Brandon put their costumes together. Hurray for a creative dad. I sure don't enjoy doing stuff like this, so I'm glad he does. I love their intense poses.

Liam


Andrew


Colin
(So maybe his pose is more cool then intense?)


Aidan got it into his head somehow that he wanted to be a bird. Never mind the fact that we had a cool dinosaur, skeleton, Power Rangers, or multiple other costumes to choose from. Luckily our next door neighbors saved the day with this get-up. He insisted on carrying a sword while trick-or-treating, so we called him a Bird of Prey.

Logan was the usual blue dinosaur. He loved finding Nerds boxes. He didn't want to eat them, just carry them around and shake them.

We had a fun day, with dinner and trunk-or-treating at our church, then dinner and trick-or-treating with cousins (notice TWO dinners there? Put with all the candy, I'm off to a bad start for holiday weight gain!!).

Long Ago in the 70's

Colin at our ward party, August 2007

As I was driving with Colin the other day, he saw a horse.

Colin: Mom, I really love horses. I bet you really love them too. I mean, you used to have to ride them to get around.

Me: Uh, no, not really. Grandpa had some on the farm, but I never really rode them much. We had cars, just like today.

Colin: But I thought you were born in the '70s. Wasn't that a long time ago?

One Little Monkey Falling Off the Bars

This is what can happen when you lose a contest to see who can hang onto the monkey bars the longest during recess:

The first aid person at school didn't think anything was really wrong, and I was told over the phone that he put an ace bandage on it just to make Colin feel better. When he got home it was apparent, though, that he was really in pain. In his own words at the time, "It feels like nothing will ever be the same."

After giving him some Motrin and waiting a few hours, I ended up taking him to the doctor (where Colin refused a sucker), who then sent us to the hospital to get x-rays (where Colin refused a sticker), which then showed that he has a fracture near the growth plate on the thumb side. He also told everyone when asked that he does not like Batman (why on earth would they even think to ask?). It sounds like he was being contrary, but he was really just being overly serious.

He really wanted to go to the library to get a book he had seen that looked cool, but when we got there it was closed (drat Columbus Day!). Instead we ran to the grocery store and got donuts and cinnamon bears--enough to share with everyone. That seemed to work just as well.

The angle of the break makes it more complicated than the pediatrician's office wants to handle, so I'll be taking him to an orthopedist in the next few days and we'll have the first cast ever in our family. I guess I forgot to knock on wood one of the times I told someone that we've never had a broken bone or stitches (knock on wood!) in our family.

At least he's getting lots of love & attention from his brothers!

p.s. This would happen just a few weeks after he started violin lessons!!!

Books Have Saved Me!!

We have had some gorgeous weather over the past few days. The boys have been able to get outside and jump on the trampoline and ride bikes. However, the winter weeks leading up to this were rough. The boys have been (literally at times) bouncing off the walls. And the noise. The noise! Do you know how loud five little boys can be when they're all playing and wrestling at the same time? Logan has already learned that he has to be very loud to get any attention. The thing that has saved my sanity at times has been books. Both Liam and Andrew love to read, Colin is becoming a very good little reader, Aidan loves to look at picture books, and Logan loves to chew on them. So when things get too crazy, I holler, "Go read something!" In a few minutes, blissful silence...for awhile.

Last week: Brandon and Colin are listening to Harry Potter together, while Andrew and Liam enjoy their own books. Ah, sweet silence!

Out on a Limb...

Not a limb exactly, but my neighbor's roof. The other day Colin came running to me after playing with his friend Adam and excitedly said, "Mom, we were up on Adam's roof!!!" I'm not sure what kind of response he was expecting, but he certainly didn't get a "Good job, son!" for that. You can go here to read more about this adventure.

First Day of Kindergarten!

After waiting a whole week after his brothers started school, Colin had his first day of kindergarten today. As far as I could tell, it was a success. He had two recesses and got to dance the Hokey Pokey. And, of course, that's what it's all about.

Conniving Colin

What, me?

The other morning, Colin asked for milk on his cereal--again. This is highly unusual behavior for him, since he generally prefers it dry (don't ask me why). After several mornings of this, I commented that he must have decided he now likes milk. He said, "Mom, do you know why I've been asking for milk?" "Why?" I ask, somewhat suspicious now. "If I have milk on my cereal, we'll run out of milk faster, and then we'll have to go to the store, where we can buy more Pokemon cards."

Aha! It all makes sense now. The problem for me is that things like this are fairly routine for him. He just thinks things through and then connives to get his way. I don't even want to imagine what this could mean for the teen years. (We did buy more milk, but his milk sacrifice was in vain: he was out of money for more cards).