Halloween At Granna and Zeke's

We spent Halloween with Granna and Zeke this year.

Pumpkin carving,

toasting pumpkin seeds and

trick or treating on the golf cart.

I remember doing this with Dad as a kid.

Not a huge fan of the goop.

This picture gives me warm fuzzies.
I know that it is one that I will look back at and cherish...
I mean...just look at them!

Chloe wanted a puppy pumpkin and Eli wanted a spider.

Kevin worked very hard on both of them and came up with the idea for the felt ears and tongue for the puppy. Cute, huh?

Their choices are reflective of what they both are into right now.

Chloe loves anything 'puppy.'

Eli, spiders. He has a spider book that we read several times a week. We are discovering that he prefers informative books. Encyclopedia type books. Books he can memorize.

He can name each kind of spider in the book:

'Trap door spider, comb-footed spider, black widow spider, jumping spider, wolf spider, orb weaver spider'...'this one is molting,' 'this one carries it's babies on it's back,'
It is fascinating to watch.

(even if I get the heebie-jeebies each and every time we read it...)

E. L. I.

"E. L. I. That spells Eli!!"

He's figured it out! He chants this throughout the day...so proud of him!

(Won't mention that everything 'readable' says E. L. I. according to him...absolutely all letters spell Eli in his world. Hello, egocentricity.) :)

Fall Festival

A few pictures from our Fall Festival:

Uncle Dale was in town for awhile from Japan. It was a blessing to have him visit with us.

Love this picture of him.

Eli got to join the Moore Family Toy Story 3 theme as Buzz Lightyear.

(He LOVED it!)
...and look at Little Bo Peep!!

They won 'Best Costume!"

Great idea, Steph!

Sweet Princess Chloe...so fitting.

We will let her dress up as a princess for as long as she wants to!

E says the darndest things...

Some pretty adorable things coming out of Eli's mouth these days...so many things...right after another...trying hard to remember them.

A sample:

"Mommy, don't wash off my statue." Statue = temporary TATTOO.
"Mommy... when I was a little kid..."
"Do you know how old I am? I'm 5." (completely convinced of this.)

Many opportunities to remind him 'who is in charge.' To which he frequently replies, "No. I'm in charge." (ok...this one is a little less cute...)

He uses the phrase "I must..." quite often. "I must wash my hands." "I must get my trains."

and also, "Not quite yet."

Wandered around the house this morning repeating "Nice to meet you, Tiny." (from Dinosaur Train.)

* November 5, 2010:
We get a lot of sun on our kitchen table around lunch time...
Today E asked:
"Can somebody turn off the sun?"
We pulled the blinds down for him. Yep, we can 'turn off the sun.'

* November 16, 2010:
After waking up before the sun..."Mommy, is it time for the sun to wake up, or the night to go down?"

Bemember = remember

These don't do his cuteness justice...I must write them down as soon as he says them. :)

Fairy Tooth Princess

I have to tell you that the Tooth Fairy (or Fairy Tooth Princess as Kevin kept calling her...) was a bit unprepared...she thought she had at least a week once the tooth started to wiggle. Not so, Betty Jo.

So...tooth lost, letter written:

Front of card:
I (heart) U Tooth Fairy

Inside:
Dear Tooth Fairy,

Can I keep my tooth?
(I want to start a tooth collection.)
Love, Chloe

We were shocked and super pleased to find out that Tooth Fairies respond to letters!!

Ours writes backwards...you have to hold her response in front of a mirror in order to read it. (SO. COOL!)

Her response:
(with a $1 gold coin...inflation...geez!)
,EOLHC RAED
!HTOOT RUOY PEEK NAC UOY ESRUOC FO
(!TSEB EHT ERA SNIOTCELLOC HTOOT)
,EVOL
YRIAF HTOOT RUOY

(I don't think that translated super well via typing...but you get the idea.)

The card was sprinkled with glitter...which I think may have been scraped off of some glitter stickers...we may never know...

Chloe was through-the-roof excited...

"Mommy!!! Tooth Fairies are REAL!"
"I can't wait to tell my friends!"
"You mean we have our OWN Tooth Fairy?!?!?"
"So?? My Tooth Fairy carries a pen!?!"

So. cute. So. excited!

How many more times is she going to visit?? Can she keep up the hype?

P.S. Spell checker is none-too-happy with Tooth Fairy's letter...just sayin'.

I thought it would be fun...

...but it wasn't.

These were Chloe's words, through tears, after she lost her first tooth.

For two days prior she was tooth obsessed. OBSESSED!

Wiggle. wiggle. wiggle. whine. whine. whine.

Finally on Friday night dinner was too painful. I even cut her pizza up in little pieces like I remember my parents doing for me...which made me think...how many times in our lives do we require our food to be cut up in small pieces...babies...tooth losers...I digress.

It wasn't enough.

The tooth was so loose that it made my stomach sick to see her push it with her tongue. I tried to muster up the strong Mommy who can pull wobbly bloody teeth...but the heebie-jeebies won out.

Thankfully a friend was here...who happens to have 6 children...and therefore is well-versed in the art of tooth pulling...she did it for me. (Thanks, Song!!)

I was relieved. Chloe was shocked.

Lots of tears and fears of what her friends at school were going to say. Were they going to make fun? Comfort. comfort. comfort.

We distracted her with thoughts of the Tooth Fairy.

Letter written. Still present teeth brushed. Off to bed.

I will write about our Rockin' Tooth Fairy tomorrow. She knocked it out of the park as far as Chloe is concerned!