elle’s ~ bells

No creative homemade costumes here, but E and S were so excited to be their favorite characters Rapunzel and Lightning McQueen.  E decided she wanted to be Rapunzel when she cut off her hair at the end of the movie.  Like the frying pan?  That’s what she used to collect her candy!  I keep wondering though, why does Lightning McQueen race car driver have muscles? Oh well,  it did keep him warm.  We had a work Halloween party, church trunk or treat, and neighborhood trick or treating and WAY too much candy!

We went to a few houses on our street and then headed over to West Club Blvd where the good trick or treating was.  It was pretty cold out but we had fun seeing all the decorated houses and costumes.  S even found a Lightning McQueen twinner.  We only had two trick or treaters come to our house (granted we were out most of the night) and they were adults. Gotta love Durham.

Rapunzel and Lightning McQueen with a black eye (one of his friends wacked him with a toy)

Rapunzel with her frying pan!

Kachow!

Church Trunk or Treat.  (J was MC at the costume contest and had everyone dying of laughter.  So many people came up to me and told me he was the best MC they’ve had in years!)

I got a little lazy when it came to decorating our car!  But hey, the kids still liked the candy.

I have to admit I didn’t plan much for S’s 2nd birthday.  All my plans got thrown to the side once we found out we were moving to Raleigh, NC and it’s been a whirlwind of looking for a place to rent, getting our own apartment rented out, starting to pack, and J finishing up finals.

On S’s birthday we were in Durham, NC (just outside of Raleigh) looking for housing which is about the most miserable birthday anyone could wish on a 2 year old.  But, the last house we looked at that day ended up being “the one” and we celebrated by going to the park just down the street which miraculously was under construction.  This may seem like a bad thing, but for a 2 year old who idolizes trucks, machines, anything with an engine it was a dream come true.  There were dump trucks, motor graders, bobcats, and excavators just sitting there begging for a small boy to drive them.

We also took him out for pancakes (his favorite meal) and had a little birthday cake and ice cream with friends.  And despite all the non-planning it ended up being so much fun.  We are so grateful to have such a kissable boy in our life.  Happy Birthday S!Driving the Motor Grader

Checkin out the Excavator

His face when we started pulling him off the motor grader

Stylin’ big sister E

Riding the giant “tongue” slide

1. Ellie is in the bath, bites & drinks from a glow stick bracelet.

2. Starts screaming, tells me it’s burning in her mouth, now her tummy and now moving to her arms.

3. I’m alone with 2 kids. I fumble and drop the phone trying to call 911 and can’t get it to turn back on.

4. I’m hauling one wet, naked, sobbing 3 year old, and one squirming 1 year old out to the car while trying to get my phone back on.

5. I fix my phone, call 911 and They can’t tell me the number for poison control, don’t know if glowsticks are toxic, and can’t do anything other than be completely worthless.

5a. I’m cursing and praying in the same breath.

6. I’ve fought open car doors, thrown the kids in the back seat, no seat-belts, and am running red lights on my way to the ER.

7. I’m calling Crystal, my mother, anyone in my phone book trying to find poison control. Trying to avoid accidents.

8. I’m almost to the ER. Crystal calls, she got a hold of Poison Control, and they are freaking amazing. (It’s just a big irritant, not toxic. They just have us give Ellie lots of water and get her calmed down. They even call back in an hour to make sure she’s still ok.)

9. Then I almost start crying when, on the drive home, Ellie thinks I’ve been mad at her this whole time, and, in a tiny little sad voice, tells me, “I’m sorry, Daddy. I’ll never drink that again.”

10. I grab her up in a huge hug and let her know she’s the best little girl a dad could ask for, and get her home to sing her to sleep.

11. I am still angry at 911. I think they’ve hired high school drop-outs to man the phones because of budget cuts.

12. I hate that poison control’s number is impossible to remember in an emergency.

13. I am thankful to God that we are so tremendously blessed and Ellie is smiling, happy, and amazing as ever today.

J finally returned after a long summer in Australia!  E and I had fun decorating the house for his return – post-its with love messages for dad hidden everywhere, windows decorated with hearts, koala bears, lollipops, and E even spelled the word DAD.  We embarrassed him at the airport with way too many balloons.  We missed him so much, but I think he missed us even more.  We were so blessed that we all reunited safely and happily.  We had one week together before school started and J, of course, being the wonderful man he is, spent so much time serving his family – we were in heaven!

E and S were just all over him, they wanted him to do everything with them – brush their hair, dress them, read with them, all the things that i typically do, they wanted their dad to do.  I loved it!  And he loved it too.  He got up every morning early (like 4am as he was still adjusting to a new time zone) and made us these amazing breakfasts.  He did the laundry – he cleaned the house – did the grocery shopping and most importantly he gave us so many hugs and kisses.

It really is heaven on earth to have our family together again.  It makes me realize how sad I would be without one of my family members after this life.  Thank you Heavenly Father for forever families!