Finally two!

I say "finally" because it seems like it's been a long two years. In some ways, it's hard to believe Isaac's already two, but at the same time, it's hard to remember a time before he was born. I could always consult the blog, of course, to remind myself, but you know what I mean.

Anyways, we decided, somewhat last minute-ish, to have a birthday party with some of Isaac's friends. I don't know why we do it - it always stresses me out and then afterwards I need a huge dose of alcohol to chill out. But these are the things memories are built from so...

Mark and Isaac hanging out in the basement with some of the guests. Mark is notably clean-shaven, although you can just make out the shadow of his Movember Mo.

Once his guests arrived, we played some old-fashioned party games, including this old classic with a new twist: pin the chick on the barnyard scene! Note how Gabrielle tries to help Naya (who is blindfolded) by pointing at the place she should aim for.

And the results! Not bad, kidlets. This game took all of 10 minutes to complete. It's a 2-hour party! Gulp - what's next?

Get the kids dressed and send them outside for a little hunt - we hid some matchbox cars in our side yard, one per kid. You kids have fun trying to find them!

Yeah... real fun, rummaging through Mark and Belinda's trash...

Baby Alix just wouldn't cooperate so Chaughan had to pick her up and literally shove her nose at a hidden car.

Fun game - total elapsed time: 7.5 minutes.

Now some portraits of some old friends. Hold still kids!

No, I mean it, look at me.

OK, I got the shot. Sorta.

OK, let's eat.

Time for cake.

I might have overdone it on the blue dye in the frosting.

Yeah, I think I might have.

Yup. But blue frosting makes me feel soooooo happy....

As does opening presents.

A fun party. Happy birthday Mr. Mister!

You boys have fun now

Gabrielle and I had some work to do on preparations for Isaac's birthday party so the boys went out for a bike ride and the girls stayed home and frosted cupcakes. We run such a 1950s household.

They had fun. Isaac kept commanding Mark to go faster. He's a bit of a control freak, our little one.

Halloween happiness

Always the drama, leading up to Halloween. First of all, and most importantly, costume choice. What is Gabrielle going to be? And what about Isaac this year? He probably can't tell me what he wants to dress up as, but he sure can tell me what he doesn't want to wear. How many costumes will I have to return to the store?

Given the potential for disaster, it all ended up going very smoothly this year. Gabrielle had been talking about being grapes for many months. Easy peasy, I thought, just blow up a bunch of purple balloons and attach them (somehow?) to her shirt. So leading up to Halloween, I kept asking her every couple of days and she kept saying grapes. Grapes, grapes, grapes. And then one day she said fairy. Well OK then.

I went to a secondhand store and found a tiger costume for Isaac. He loved it. Oh and did I mention he especially loved it when he realized that dressing up in the thing meant people would give him stuff. He really loved that part and has been wanting to go trick or treating every night since.

This is funny. At this house, the person just held out a big bowl of chocolate bars. The kids actually combed through them, looking for ones they wanted. Seriously, do you guys know the difference between a Caramilk and a Mars bar?

My little fairy: one of only a hundred or so we saw that night. Well, some of the fairies we saw were actually princesses, or princess fairies, not just regular fairies, so maybe there weren't that many fairies out. I'm just saying there was alot of tulle and wings out on the street.

Our little man, walking the streets and checking out his loot. He was pretty great at trick or treating - really exceeding our expectations. People would open the door and he would yell "trick or treat"! Then if they said "oh, a tiger" he'd say "tiger, yeah, roar!" and then open his bag up wide and smile.

There were some good haunted houses. I took Gabrielle and Isaac past this house every day after school leading up to Halloween. We would examine the decorations and touch the various ghouls and goblins and determine they weren't real. It seemed to work - I don't think they were quite as terrified as they might have been otherwise.

Even tigers need to be carried by the end of the night...

Shhhh.....

I've always been scared of sleeping children but these ones aren't so bad.

Hopefully, this will be the last ever photo of Gabrielle with a susu in her mouth. We made a deal with her (a.k.a. a fat bribe) that we would buy her a toy kitchen if she will voluntarily stop using a pacifier. Otherwise, we are confiscating it on her 4th birthday. Today, she asked for the toy kitchen and I told her she knew what she had to do. Unfortunately, it wasn't clear whether she made it through nap time without it. It was lying next to her in bed but she swears up and down she didn't put it in her mouth. Also unfortunately, she doesn't always know the difference between "joking" and "lying," so I told her she had to make it through the night before I'd go get the toy kitchen. She is uncharacteristically focussed on that toy kitchen and insisted on going to bed without her pacifier. If she makes it through the night, we order the kitchen tomorrow. Stay tuned.

*UPDATE* Mark just checked in on her and she is snoring away. This is the first time in years she has slept without a silicone nipple in her mouth. I'm very proud of her for doing this on her own. I mean, she's doing it for the kitchen, but you know what I mean...

They said it would get easier...

...but I didn't expect it to happen so soon!