At this moment...

Noah is laying face down on the hardwood in the middle of the dining room floor...who knows why...maybe because the window is open and a nice breeze in coming in?  It probably feels good to have fresh air - he has 'The Flu' - ugh.  Millie, is walking around flipping a pair of my (clean!) underware in the air...guess I should go find out where she got them.
That is what I get for trying to get some work done.

Too Sweet...

Noah has started a new collection - framed pictures.  He takes them from the lower shelves of our bookcases and moves them to his nightstand.  When I found the first one in his room (the family picture), I asked him how it got there.  He said he put it there because he likes to look at it when he wakes up in the morning.  I melted.  Over the past few weeks the collection has gradually grown to the four shown here.  I think that will be it...those are the only ones he could reach! 

Double Trouble

We actually don't have very many 'time outs' in our house...maybe one a week?  Not because I am a softie, but because Noah is pretty laid back overall and doesn't really push me to sending him there (which means either sitting in the hallway or sitting on the stairs - depending on where we are at the time). That being said, one action that will send him there without a warning is throwing things...especially hotwheels...especially at his sister.

Aparently she felt guilty about instigating...

Halloween 2009

I have always enjoyed Halloween and it is especially fun now that I have children, but man oh man it can be a lot of work. Noah talked about being a 'Scary Green Monster' for the past two months and I looked for a pre-made costume for some time...without any luck.  There also doesn't seem to be a demand for patterns for monsters...so after close to TWENTY 'mom-hours', most of the time spent at the sewing machine pulling black fur out of the needle, I managed to put together a green monster costume that he was happy with and that withstood the test of two days at school and an evening of Trick-or-Treating.

Noah, the one-eyed, scary, green monster...ready to scare his classmates.

I volunteered in Noah's class on the day of their Harvest Party.  It was so fun to see how he interacts in the classroom setting...even if it was a little crazier than normal that day!

Millie was a little neglected this year when it came to the costumes. I had great intentions of making her an owl costume, then I was going to use the extra fabric from Noah's costume to make a matching monster costume to Noah's but with pink fur instead of black...

...and as you can see, in typical Tonya fashion...she is not an owl or a monster.  She is a ballerina, that I threw together at the last minute.  Sorry Millie, next year can be your year!

We walked around the neighborhood with our neighbors and each of their girls - a ladybug and a pony (both adorable!) - and pulled them around in our wagon.  Noah walked with Lilli (one of his 'best girls').  My parents were in town so my dad came along and helped corral the two big kids.  It was pretty chilly, but still very fun.  After about an hour we headed back and Jon and my mom had made a delicious dinner for all of us!  Yum!

Needless to say, things got a little crazy with 5 kids and 8 adults in the dining room.  Toys and candy were scattered everywhere, but it was just a sign of a good time.  In the midst of the chaos, Millie enjoyed playing with her treat bag.  She hasn't eaten any candy (exception: one sucker), but she loves to dump it out and put it back in the bag.

I hope everyone had a very happy Halloween!