costume revelations

I cannot tell you how much it means to me that the Captain is mellow. He allows me to do things I wouldn't have thought possible with his incredible capacity to go with the flow. (This statement does not apply to sleep in any form..... but any activity that involves everyone being awake - I'm totally able to pull off).



And he was a pretty cute and snuggly bee today.



Sir O, it so happens, gave us a revelation today of why people go to all the work to celebrate Halloween. It was ridiculously fun to watch him revel in his costume, prance from house to house in the rain, holler "trick or treat" at the top of his lungs while knocking, peek in windows to see if anyone was coming, turn uber-shy once the door was opened, try to get away with helping himself to a fistful of candy, and then show us his booty with glee. The fact that he and his buddy Blake were carrying on conversations about being thirsty the whole time (and occasionally holding hands so they wouldn't lose each other) was totally a bonus. It was parental entertainment on par with Christmas morning. Mr Renn and I ate it up.



By the way, in the future, avoid costumes that have to be carried in part by three-year-olds. This sad horse is now very soggy, and has been strangled to the extent that he now has an amusingly floppy neck. (Akin to a dead swan). But Sir O was a trooper about lugging it around in the rain. Next on my radar: how to fairly deal with Halloween candy that is technically his, but is also the equivalent of way more sugar highs than I am willing to deal with.

Smother-fest '09

Family photos went about like this:


I don't know how Michelle managed to get anything this good.



Sir O was a maniac.



At least the Captain was on his best behavior.



More shots here.

Shoot me now

Our outing this morning did not end well.



It ended with poop.
Lots of poop.
Everywhere.
Anyone want a 3 year old?

Apparently the sweater of awesomeness

Quick, get yours before they're gone!

One year older

Mr Renn had a milestone birthday today.

He is officially old.
( I post video of my awesome "happy birthday" serenade to keep me humble)
To celebrate he wore his black scrubs and told me stories about pulling 14 teeth out of a man's mouth in one day (!?!)

I love my crazy dentist husband. Especially because he gets this excited about getting a Le Creuset dutch oven for his birthday.

"Fwowers..."

There are many many things I love about my life, but it's hard to top the welcome home I get from Sir O after a floral class.



He absolutely cannot fall asleep without both parents at home, so he's always up.
He rushes to see me with open arms.
He asks, "Did you get me flowers?"
And when I show them to him he oooohs and aaaaaahs like they were fireworks.
The whole interaction is positively dripping with warm fuzzies, and makes me want to swallow that sweet boy in a kiss.

(And this cute boy is beginning to stand on his own for moments at a time..... I am perpetually busy keeping him from busting his face on hard corners)

Spontaneous

This morning, after cleaning my bathroom (yeah, finally) I decided that Sir O was way too stir-crazy for his own good.
So I took us all outside.
Luckily it's a gorgeous day.
(Unlike Saturday, when we got rained out of our family photo session)

We went for a walk without a stroller.
Which really, for me, is kind of kamikaze.

Luckily we only had one or two instances of Sir O's bones evaporating, with much flopping and wailing involved.
(And unluckily the camera battery died after only two fuzzy photos)
But we made it back intact. (Albeit my left arm hates me now)
With a collection of leaves, sticks, and acorns.
I think a craft is in order.
Do I dare introduce Sir O to glue?

Freezing for Flowers

The high was around 40 degrees today, with rain. Perfect for an outing at Longwood, no?
No.


BUT... there was a WAFA tour going through, and I was going to miss it if I didn't go today. So we packed up (and yes - we finally have our own (secondhand) double stroller!) and braved the storm.

Oh. My. Cold.

But once we thawed out in the conservatory, the exhibits were super-cool.
Plus I ran into one of my instructors.... which can only make me look good, right?
(Not that it matters, but I have to find ways in which the freezingness was worth it)



These cute boys were so good.
People kept smiling at them and giving me compliments.
What they didn't know was that I had a secret supply of puffies (baby snack food) in my pocket.
It's amazing how eating can keep kids calm. Especially when done in a place where food is not allowed....



And now we are home, napped, and mostly thawed out.
This Noreaster may just mean that winter is really coming (shudder).
More photos here.

Mille De Fleur

Started my last core-class today.
Building "Mille de Fleur's" (Millions of Flowers...)
For once the class was not full of people who'd been working in flower shops for years.
For once I felt remotely capable of doing good work.
And my instructor liked it.


"It's gorgeous" she said.
It was a good night.

art nouveau in lilies

Another floral-filled Saturday.

My portfolio is very slowly fleshing out.

Traditions

(What, don't you have creepy-mouse-face-pancakes at your house?)

It's the little things you do together,

Do together,
Do together,
That make perfect relationships.
Not my favorite Sondheim, but parts of it stick to me anyway.

Last night after dinner (chili dogs!) Mr Renn, Sir O and I all had hiccups at the same time. How's that for a little thing you do together?

Do I worry?

Every time Sir O leaves his chalk within reach (which is every time he uses it), the Captain springs for it and chews on it like it's candy..... I can't decide if it's funny or deeply disturbing.

dress-up and brumbies

This being my 4th October as a mom, I have finally learned that Halloween night is not the time to introduce my kids to their costumes. It's foreign, they want nothing to do with it, we spend all evening trying to force them to keep the dang thing on.

I decided to get Sir O excited about his costume by introducing him to my brother's favorite movie. He now calls it his "{cousin}'s daddy's movie" and lurves it. We will be watching horse chases for a while methinks. Luckily I already have the soundtrack on itunes, so Sir O can race around the house like a horse to it (just like my brother did at his age).


And after he'd tried his own costume on, he decided to help himself to his brother's as well. It was quite the fashion show at our house.

Holes

I cannot seem to stay on top of anything lately. Not a good feeling.
In case I ever gave the impression that I had it all-together, let me disillusion you now.
This cute kid has spent most of the day crying, and being rudely awakened from naps (by guess who....).



This cute kid has been snooping in the fridge at every opportunity. Yeah - someone should tell him to hide the evidence better.



Dinner is started - good
Kitchen is a bomb - not good



Laundry is clean - good
Mountain of unfolded-but-clean laundry on my bed - not good



And Sir O's latest favorite thing is plugging in and unplugging small appliances. I've also caught him saying to the Captain, "I swear, child! You make me crazy!"

Um, yeah.

Saturday-palooza

Highlight of my day: Catching some fabulous snippets of General Conference. (And planning to catch what I had to miss via the wonder of the internet).

Lowlight of my day: being told my Abstract-Modern Design {that I tried largely to copy from an example} was only modern, and not abstract. I hate it when that happens.

Pseudo-gardens

Today was my turn to teach our co-op preschool/joyschool.
Wow - I wish I could bottle the energy that was in my house!
Because I'm INSANE.... I decided to put my floral "training" to work and venture a landscape design... in watermelon halves.... of a veggie garden.... for each kid.



It was actually pretty fun. The messy sort of fun. (And can you tell that Sir O needed a nap?)



And here's Sir O's arrangement post-mom-intervention, along with my example one. We used parsley for grass, and fruit-roll-ups for "water" - and all the tiny, cute-looking produce I could find, along with broccoli and purple cauliflower for trees and bushes. I may or may not have thrown some candy pumpkins and sourpatch kids in there just to defeat the purpose of the project.

everyday people

Mr "All my teeth seem to be coming in at once" has also learned to pinch with a vengeance.
I don't stand a chance.