Halloween: Part Three

Jonas has thrown himself whole-heartedly into this holiday.

Before the Halloween party he was refusing to get out of his car seat to get his dirty pull-up changed he was so excited.

And Jonas woke up this morning talking about Halloween. 

He was so excited he wanted to put his costume on for some treats right away. 

At the mall he had wide eyes as he soaked up all the Halloween action and after a few bites of supper he said"Hat on please" because he figured out real quick that those ears were his ticket to treats.

I love Halloween.

But I feel like I did Halloween three times over.

So onto Christmas.

Tweedle-dee & Tweedle-dum

We're not saying whose who!

Bread Module 1

A  beautiful rustic loaf and it was so yummy! 

Hooray for no-knead, no-work bread that is especially well-suited to cheese fonduing:

http://www.sullivanstreetbakery.com/recipes

Matt's Mom's classic tortilla bread recipe which Karen's blog inspired me to try!

These are so delicious.

From Karen's blog:

For the easiest and most delicious flour tortillas, here's my Mom's recipe:

2c flour

1t salt

Stir in 1/4c oil, then add

3/4c warm water and mix until a ball is formed.

Let rest 15 minutes then divide into 12 portions.  Roll and cook on a hot frying pan.

I'm trying Aunt Elizabeth's pitas next:

http://sweetyellowbird.blogspot.ca/2012/03/homemade-pita.html

Baby Gourmets

Thanks to Aunt Karen my babies have tried every kind of squash there is including a couple I have never heard. And thanks to my friend Dani they are soon to try exotic foodie flavours like curry lentils.

As usual my opposite twins have opposite reactions. Harland is very slow and methodical, taking time to examine the flavours and swallow his food. Rhett is shaking his arms uncontrollably and rocking to and fro while doing shark bites at thin air. When I give Harland a turn to have a spoonful (for every three Rhett spoonfuls!) he lunges at Harland's spoon. Then he carefully watches Harland's reaction as though to be sure he is eating the same food and not something tastier.

As we say around here "Silly Rhettles!"

Halloween Part 2: Oishi!

Master Sushi Chef

Raw Tuna Fish Roll

Shrimp Sushi Roll

Side-Kick Sushi Chefs

Our ensemble of last minute costumes (thank you glue gun and iron-on transfer paper) at a family Halloween party last night. 

Left His Mark

I turn away from Harland to check on the pot of boiling water on the stove and when I turn back...

Harland is decorated like a little Hindu baby begging for money in the streets 

(and apparently having a good day, $5 could stretch pretty far for a baby's breakfast).

This is such a classic bewildered Harland face. 

He knows Jonas can't be trusted without parental supervision so he's thinking about whether 

this is okay.

If this was Rhettles he would have that open mouth smile that looks like he is silently laughing and that money would already be clenched in a little fist on its way to his mouth.

Halloween Part 1: Hunker-dory

The day I served dessert a bag of "Laffy Taffy" candy for dessert and we read the jokes on all the wrappers and laughed until tears streamed down our cheeks was the day I knew we would always be besties with the Hunspergers. 

There is no experience too commonplace that the Hunspergers can't elevate to uproariously fun.

We ran a 5K in the rain and snow, had our annual mini-golf tournament (the Hunspergers keep the trophy again- boo!) and picked plates of delectable sushi off the boats at Matty and I's favorite sushi spot, Sushi Boat

and it was just like old times.

Match-up

Jonas at 6 months:
Height: 28 inches (94%)
Weight: 17 lbs 8 oz (55%)

Harland at 6 months:
Height: 29.75 inches (above 95% percentile- HOLY SMOKERS!)
Weight: 14 lbs 13 oz  (in between 5 and 10%)


Rhett at 6 months:
Height: 27 inches (in between 50 and 75%)
Weight: 14 lbs (below 5%)

Just three months ago the twinners were virtually the exact same weight and height! Now I'm thinking by the time all three boys are teenagers that Harland will be the tallest (and skinniest)!

Good Costume, Bad Costume

Dressing up is my favourite part of Halloween. The past couple years I have issued a challenge to myself to furnish my own costume with ingenuity and a maximum budget of $30.

The catch about dressing up though is that unless my costume lives up to my imagination I would rather forego the whole dressing up entirely. Because as awesome as it feels to have a great costume, it feels awful to be stuck in a lacklustre one for a hours.

The Harker and Sommerfeldt clans have planned an "Alice in Wonderland" costume theme this year and I was supposed to be Alice (three guesses who Rhett and Harland are being). I've been Alice before. My dress was a high quality Disney affair (Nana must have bought it) complete with a beautifully stitched white rabbit holding a pocket-watch and exclaiming "I'm late". My hair was dyed white blonde. Everything was done very proper. 

Well I couldn't find "the dress" within in my budget and my hair is short and if I couldn't be Alice properly than I wasn't going to be Alice at all.

So I switched to the flower garden. And it was so fun to pick out flowers and glue them onto my skirt and shoe-clips (I still need to fill in the sparse areas with a few more blooms). And the effect was just what I imagined.

Well my other costume collaboration is not a success. 

Matt and I and our best friends the Hunspergers are conspiring to be team "Hunkers" for a 5K. We're going in basketball gear and we'll bring a basketball and run and walk and do basketball group stunts and drills and it is going to be a blast because hanging out with the Hunspergers always is.

But I'm less excited about my shoddy basketball jersey (if you see it up closer there are blurry lines, smudges, and I've already spent as much time on it as my skirt).

Favorite Moments

My favorite moments from this week:

• I left Jonas on the potty to make a clean underwear replenishing trip downstairs when I heard some loud shrieks upstairs. I go into the baby room to find Jonas buck-naked lying in the crib next to Rhett, who is absolutely delighted to have been woken up, and they are both smiling and squealing at the top of their lungs. Rhett has a special adoring look especially for Jonas. It seems to say "you are the bestest older brother a guy could have" and "I want to be you when I grow up" simultaneously. They have this chummy relationship that is so sweet to watch (Harland is getting there but he is a very observant little baby and I think he's observed a little too much reckless behaviour to have full trust one-on-one with Jonas yet).

• Matt and I were sitting next to each other with Matt holding Harland when I look over and see Harland looking at me with the widest grin on his face. He then proceeded to hide in face in Matt's chest and then quickly whip back towards me and to do another huge grin, delighted I am still there. He repeated that twenty times. He was playing hide-and-go-seek which I have only tried playing with him a couple times and not recently. It was melt your heart adorable.

• Jonas precariously standing on the arm of the couch with his back facing towards the couch shouted "Wook Mommy!" And fearlessly launched his body backwards so that he fell back on the couch completely straight. 

• Today I pushed the babies in a stroller on the way to play group at the church while Jonas trotted at my side. It was a ways to walk and I was walking fast so Jonas was getting tired by the time we reached the church which was when he suggested a hug. So I gave him a little squeeze to my side. Then he asked for a "big hug" and I started to catch on that if I knelt down to give him a big hug he was going to get an iron grip on my neck until he was carried to the play group. Silly rabbit!

• Reading books with Jonas for over an hour and he still didn't want to stop!

Milestone

I've been able to hustle this crew out of the house every weekday, except the day it rained, the past two weeks for an hour or so excursion by myself.

This is a milestone. And a much needed miracle.

We are mobile.

And it is doing wonders for all of us to get out at 10:30 a.m. or 3:30 p.m. everyday.

(Their faces look a lot happier once the walk begins).

Sweaters

Words cannot tell how much I love putting my boys in Grandma Harker's hand-knitted creations.

I can't wait to have family photos of the boys in their sweaters next weekend!

Right Here Right Now

Potty training is now in session.

Harland was biting his

fingers in anxious anticipation of fasting for his surgery

but the ear tubes are in place and all is well.

Matt and I thought

this Waterpark poster provided a pretty accurate glimpse into Rhett and Harland's future.

I seriously picture the boys looking like this seven years in the future and that is such a Rhett face!

It gave us a good laugh.

Funny Water

I planned for Jonas to have a bath this morning . I had all his clothes off and he was going "pretend potty" (he's sat on his potty a lot but has never actually"gone" while on his potty). He was all ready to jump in when I remembered I needed to grab some clean laundry from the basement. I told Jonas I would be right back and ran downstairs. 

When I came up Jonas kept repeating "Funny water!" "Funny water!" as we walked towards the bathroom. Suddenly a thought occurred to me that drew me up short.

"Show me where" I said.

So Jonas pointed at a dripping wet mark on a basket in the kitchen bookcase which culminated in a puddle on the floor. 

When I heard him proudly declare "Spray!" I connected all the dots.

The funny water was urine and Jonas had discovered his hose.

I love basking

in the light and love of my boys, all four of them.

Trippin'

At last the long awaited day...

24 hours without children!!!

Matt and I's parents generously watched the boys so we could get away for a whole date day. We were giddy with excitement! But it did feel eerie to travel with a completely empty backseat!

We slept at Bri & Ashton's because their guest suite is better than any hotel I've stayed at!

And then we raided their kitchen to make a gala breakfast.

We had one of those rare shopping days where we found almost everything we were looking for, at  sale price and within two hours.

The dreaded swimsuit picture. I've lost 15 pounds. I need to lose another 15 by January.

Moving on.

Then after riding all the slides at West Ed I slicked my hair under a baseball cap (I've smoothly evaded having to choose between being a poser or following a baseball team by choosing a vintage team, the Chicago Whales) 

and we headed to our favorite Indian restaurant- Zaikas!

Then I got my haircut in Red Deer by Tarilynn who is a hair wizard.

I doubted temporarily when I saw her using scissors like a razor in my hair, convinced this was a 

wear it straight only cut.

But Saturday I let it airdry to survey the damage and...

my hair dried in an hour and a half!

and I liked the way it looked a lot!

and it looked even better a little later when I took a half hour walk with my boys in the wind!

That is magic.

I have never had such low maintenance hair in my life.

I seriously can't recommend her enough.

Matty and I took the boys to the Calgary Zoo where we met up with Karen and Eva, Amy and her boys and my parents.

It was 6 hours of fun which we paid for with grumpy, overtired children who wouldn't nap 

when we got home.

But it was worth it, especially for the penguins!

None of our children travel well. 

Matt and I finally caved and wore earplugs to soften the ringing Harker chorus in the back on the ride home.

But even that wasn't enough so we had to stop for a park break to let wiggles out.

Then we came home even more exhausted than when we left.