A Whole Lotta Punkins

I believe if you have little ones you are required each fall to traipse through a pumpkin patch at least once, sometimes more. It's an annual photo op...even if you can't get all your kids in the same picture.

I still remember baby Athena's first pumpkin patch trip in Kentucky like it was yesterday.

Even though Bakersfield does not have fall, per se, and in October it's still 90+ degrees in the shade, we go and traipsed around the dry brittle vines in the baking sun.

Check out poor Jack's flushed, hot cheeks.

The day after Zoe's birthday, while we still had our Jen and Stu around, we went to the mega pumpkin patch/Fall festival Family Farm thingy with the whole crew.

They had a hay ride, and a big, bouncy pillow, face painting and a corn maze, as well as a massive pumpkin patch that kind of looked like like they just dumped a bunch of pumpkins on the ground to make it look like they grew on the vines.

***

And then, later that week, Athena had a school, field trip to a different pumpkin patch with her class. I volunteered to drive and we were paired up with her best boy -uhhh- friend, Wyatt.

Wyatt is, apparently, the Macaroni to her Cheese. She luhhhhhves him.

So, um notice a certain closeness here?

So, yea...uh...hmmm. They held hands the entire, frickin' time, I kid you not. Actually, it was more like both Athena's hands on one of Wyatt's but he didn't seem to mind.
Luckily he comes from an excellent family.

****
So with all those pumpkins gathered it was time to get them carved. Our total take this year was seven pumpkins, too many to carve all of them and, in fact, a couple were just too small. We picked the biggest three to cut open and painted the rest.

Athena had no problem digging out the guts this year.

Jack wanted no part of it. "Yucky" he said.

And the end result! A funny face, a "scary" face and a pirate. Just in time for Halloween.

Zoe's 5th Birthday Extravaganza

No birthday goes unnoticed in this house, and especially not a 5th birthday. The fifth birthday symbolizes so much. It seems as if Zoe has grown overnight, no longer my sweet, chubby little baby, Zoe's a full on kid now.

The morning began with tears, mine. I cried all through her "Happy Birthday" wake up song then reached in for my first five year old Zoe hug and kiss. After waking her up at the crack of dawn with singing, we had a birthday breakfast of "Yia Yia" cake and presents, as is our tradition.

Everyone loves birthday breakfasts, especially Jack! He thought it was a great way to start the day.

With her new purple swede boots, from fellow boot lover Auntie Mimi, and her birthday outfit, off she went to school!

For dinner, my birthday princess requested a "brinner" of eggs, toast and bacon and
then chocolate chocolate cake with scads of sprinkles.

The next day, Zoe's Daddy (who prefers to give experiences over "stuff") took her to Disney on Ice for her special birthday present from him. Just the two of them, a Daddy Date. As luck would have it, Disney on Ice this year was Toy Story 3!! Zoe's favorite movie series - she drank it in and got a Jessie hat as a momento.

***

Then it was Saturday, the day of Zoe's birthday party! We've been planning her Sock Hop party for months. I can't even remember when we had the idea first. I think it was during one of the umpteenth times we watch Grease over the last year.

It made me feel a little bit old that Zoe asked "What is it?" when I showed her the prototype of her handmade birthday invitation. "It's a record, sweetie!" I answered. "What's a record?" she asked. It made me feel even older when I explained to Zoe's BFF's 27-year-old Mom that we were have a Sock Hop because Zoe loves the movie Grease. "What's Grease?" she asked me.

Yiayia and I made adorable poodles skirts and shirts for Zoe's Sock Hop 5th birthday party. That was the whole reason to have a Sock Hop, you know, poodle skirts. Yiayia cut and pinned and sewed, I traced appliques and glued ribbon and sparkles. It was a labor of love and I think they came out special and amazing and about ten times less than what we would have paid in a costume shop.

Seriously, how cute is this?

and The Dude was simply dreamy as a little Greaser.

So much of the success of the party goes to my fellow lunatics, especially the "Soda Jerks," who gamely played along and made my Sock Hop vision complete. Chris and Stu even got haircuts for the occasion.

Guest began to arrive, poses were struck, pictures were taken and the dancing begun. Many of our little friends came wearing their own bought or found or Momma-sewn poodle skirts.

We had a little "photo booth" in the nook of our great room so that pictures could be taken as our guests arrived, real 45 records hung from the ceiling, on the walls and made a
"Happy Birthday" sign on the fireplace, pink and black balloons and steamers were everywhere.

Zoe's Soda Shop was soon opened, with a customized menu (a la Jen) and pink and black flag sign. The soda jerks got to work making chocolate and vanilla shakes, root beer floats, sliders, pigs in a blanket and shoe string fries. My dream of little girls in poodle skirts belly up to our kitchen counter, drinking from vintage Coca Cola glasses with tons of whipped cream and a cherry on top was complete.

There was a moment of regret soon after the realization of this dream - thirteen five year olds pumped up on caffeine and sugar began to jump on my couches in the living room like a bunch of wild monkeys. So, time for some organized activities...

starting with the limbo...

and then musical chairs, hosted by those silly Soda Jerks...

and finally chocolate chocolate birthday cake and presents!

It was all worth it for this moment...when Zoe laughed and smiled, and actually blew out her candles, basking in the attention...which she has never, ever done before.

It was such a fantastic day, such a fun three days really, a great celebration with family as well as friends. Thank you to Mom, Mimi, Chris, Jen and Stuart for making it so much fun!

***
When I asked my little five year old what her favorite part of her birthday was, she said "Disney on Ice!" When I asked her what her favorite birthday ever was, she said "When Daddy took me to Disneyland!" Oh, well, I guess her Daddy's always going to be first with this little Daddy's girl.

Next year, she says she wants a Haunted House...already thinking...

In Her Own Words

The only thing you can count on with a family of three small children is unpredictability. Rarely does anything go as planned, but also rarely does everything go awry. Unfortunately we had one of those times the weekend of Stephanie and Kevin's long awaited wedding. I spent about a week being heartbroken by the turn of events but that was soon overshadowed by the big picture...

...the perfect wedding of the most beautiful couple, inside and out, who are deeply in love and at the brink of a wonderful life that I so look forward to watching unfold.

There were a few hiccups for us during the weekend - four incidents of throwing up, dead car battery three times, a closed road in the canyon that led to the church - but none for Stephanie and Kevin, everything went beautifully, and for that I am so thankful. Athena had an amazing time and as luck would have it bought a journal that weekend (with her own hard earned allowance) and wrote about all of it. Here's Athena's story of the wedding weekend, through her eyes and in her words (only slightly edited)...

I am in a hotel now while my Mom yells at Zoe and I just got this at Target. I love it so much. That I an writing in it all day.

We are going to Downtown Disney. It is very exciting. I can't wait. We are almost there and now we are. I can't wait. We had lots of fun. We went to the Rainforest Cafe. We went to Build A Bear Workshop. We went to Halloween Disney. We princess shop. At Rainforest Cafe I had Macaroni and Cheese for lunch. At Build A Bear Workshop I got a beautiful dress for Cinderbear. At Halloween Disney all we did is look...that's all. At the princess shop a lady put sparkles in my hair and a button. Then it was time to go home. I was very sad and then my brother went to sleep.

Then we went to the BBQ and I met a baby boy. He is the baby that I am going down the aisle with. Rex, he is so sweet. Rex was chasing us up and down the stairs. I spied on Rex.

Zoe couldn't find Stephanie. Then we found her and Zoe was happy, Stephanie read this to me.

And tomorrow is the wedding. I can't wait. I can't wait to be a flower girl. I guess it is going to be fun. My Mom read this to me. I have a dress for me and shoes and a purse and a crown. The purse have makeup and candy in it.

We are going to the wedding. I can't wait. Zoe is not feeling good. So I wish she feel better. So she can hold Jack's hand and I can hold Rex hand. If Zoe does not I have to hold both boys hands. I just got my hair did. A lady put my crown in my hair and I just got a hug from Stephanie It was a big hug. But, I like it.

I just got dressed with the big girls. I felt like a princess. I got my picture taken . We rode in a big truck. I was dancing in it.

I walked down the aisle. I had lots of fun. We are going to get our picture taken. We are listening to music the music says in love, in love, in love, in love, in love. Everyone is taking pictures even Jack. Jack is giving candy to everyone.

I had fun. I danced with Mark. There was a chocolate fountain. I rode in a taxi. My Mom got sick in a taxi.

All in all it was a lovely time with our wonderful family. Athena had a blast, and as for the rest of us, well the memories of the rough parts are fading quickly replaced with the lasting images of a lovely, beautiful wedding. We will all remember it always, but it will be especially in grained in the memory of our Princess Athena.

Success!

Getting three kids up and ready for school each morning is no easy task. Getting three kids up and ready for school on Picture Day...near impossible! But, thanks to the wonderful support of friends and family...I claim this round of picture day A SUCCESS. Even with a slight mishap with the individual picture of our littlest, they all still came out darn cute.

Take that Picture Day!!!

Picture Days

So was the curse actually lifted? With the help of the collective memory of friends and family, I actually remembered to a) dress and b) prepare my children for picture day so there were no sad, disheveled and surprised pictures like last year.

Friends reminded me on Facebook, Stu texted, Mom nagged (repeatedly) and Robert, oh Robert, created a Facebook event for me and even provided the visual reminder above which I think finally did the trick.

Picture days (emphasis on dayzzz) was not without its hiccups. Although I had Athena, Zoe and Jack dressed and prepared for their respective individual and class picture days. I failed to present the prepared envelope with payment prior to the individual picture day for Jack's class AND, as I learned, they don't just take individual pictures of all the squirmy babies (Jack's class is the last in this category) only the ones whose parents have told them they will pay for the pictures prior to the picture taking. So Jack, although a part of his class picture, did not get individually photographed in his cute aqua blue polo and plaid short ensemble.

Instead, the teacher informed me as I offered the payment envelope two days late, we could do a make up picture, today. I looked down at Jack smiling up at me, the one day I let him dress himself and he was wearing a Giants tee shirt and matching Giants hat. "Do you want to take a make up picture?" the teacher asked. "Sure." I said. "With the hat?" "Oh why not."

When I told Chris what had happened he had one word..."Awesome."

So, Grandparents, when you get the trio of wallet sized photos of Athena in her favorite pink polka dot dress, Zoe in a fancy white frilly top and matching purple flower headband and Jack beaming from underneath the brim of a black and orange baseball cap, now you know why. Sigh.

Soccer Superstar!

Zoe is a soccer superstar!

She played her first ever game on Saturday after only one short practice last week. We had no expectations, especially since Athena was so unenthusiastic on her soccer team, we just wanted her to have fun. But Zoe was amazing! She blew us away!

Our standing rule is that each of our children are allowed one activity at a time. It's really all we can manage, especially with Jack starting activities soon. Activities usually mean bi-weekly events, registration fees, outfits, parent volunteer opportunities, and with three kids it adds up. So one activity at a time please. Athena, of course, chose ballet and Zoe chose soccer for the Fall season.

The whole family woke up early Saturday morning to cheer Zoe on at her first game.

And although there were too many kids on her team for her to play the whole time, when she was playing she was always in the thick of it. She had control of the ball several times, was always near the front of the pack, could out some of run the boys, and never once burst into tears or get frustrated because she couldn't get the ball (as many many of the other players did).

She said later her brain kept saying "kick the ball....kick the ball...kick the ball..." She ran and ran and ran, barely breaking a sweat, and was very good at getting to the ball. Of course, it probably helped that she's the tallest girl on the 4-5 team, a head above many of the boys even.

Athena was quite content to watch from the sidelines.

We cheered and cheered and cheered, yes we've made fun of these parents before, but its a much different game when your child is actually playing (not dancing in the sidelines and looking for butterflies). Zoe almost had a goal, too. She kicked the ball into the goal just as they called the game, granted it was right at the feet of the goalie, but...

We celebrated like it was a goal and she got lots of congratulations from her big sister.

She was pretty darn proud of herself too.