Tricks and treats

I can't believe they stood
still for this picture.

It's Halloween! Here's our holiday in review:

Two months ago: Kalina decided it'd be fun if we all randomly startled each other, and especially at mealtimes. We've kept the game going, and even Elise joins in with the cutest little "Boo!" you ever heard.

One month ago: We chose costumes. When we first asked her, Kalina wanted to be a sign that says, "Don't touch any signs." Since then, she changed her mind to "A duck!" and stuck with it. Ebay brought it home. Kalina then decided that Elise should be a dog, Mommy should be a bunny and Daddy should be a balloon. Unfortunately, she was overruled and Elise received a fluffy bunny costume in the mail (the baby loves bunnies, as well as ducks, but ducks were taken. She does, however, adore Kalina's costume and often tries to hug her when she wears it.). The three-year-old was disappointed and a bit surprised when she learned Mommy and Daddy wouldn't be dressing up, but got over it.

Two weeks ago: We headed to the local farmer's market for pumpkins and other fall goodies! See previous post.

Kalina helped frost these.
And then I helped re-frost
these. Yum!

Kalina and I scooped and carved each
of these little "snack-o-lanterns."

One week ago: We began preparing for the costume playdate we'd (I'd) decided to hold for our friends. It took us all week, but we managed to make two snacks and two crafts, clean one story of the house and be almost into our costumes when the doorbell rang, three days ago.

Twins! And no, they did not
call each other (neither did
their mommies).

Nine children attended, and Kalina the Duck welcomed them happily, although Elise the Bunny was more likely to join in their play. This, by the way, was when Halloween began in earnest, as we'd never tried to put Elise into a costume before (she slept through the holiday last year). But she wore it willingly enough, and did not even seem to mind sitting on her poofy, yet rather solid, tail.


Two days ago: In fact, the young toddler must have really enjoyed being a bunny, as the next day she carried the costume over to Daddy and lifted up her arms as though she were asking him to dress her in it. And how could he refuse this request? Theorizing that she'd enjoyed its warmth, he pulled it over her fleece sleeper, put up the hood and put the paw thingies over her hands and sent her in to "see Mommy" so I could get a good laugh. Which I did, and then removed the paw thingies, and so the baby happily played in it for a good hour before we had to remove it for naptime. Except her costume wasn't quite complete, apparently--Elise later insisted on wearing sunglasses with it. And so we entered the "hilariously cute" stage of child-rearing.


We also carved pumpkins at this time. I hadn't counted on Elise doing much more than watching, however, she became a very active participant. She enjoyed "carving" and "scooping" every bit as much as Kalina did, although Kalina's help was a bit more concrete. Elise did show a natural aptitude for lid-fitting, while Kalina excelled at pumpkin-goop-removal-with-spoon. Daddy, for his part, carved cute, unique faces in each pumpkin in record time, while Mommy proved her worth by stopping Elise from tumbling down the deck stairs, and keeping her from falling on a pumpkin carver. All in a day's work.

A trick: Kalina trying to put pumpkin
goop onto Elise

Today: We prepared Kalina and her friends for Halloween. The kittens eventually decided to dress up as dogs for Halloween (or was it flowers? Or balls?), while Lamby decided to be a cat. Kalina relayed her plan for them to go door-to-door saying trick-or-treat and accepting candy, but they did not actually do this: the only friend who went along with Kalina was, appropriately, Little Duck.

To foster a festive spirit, we doled out a few treats during the day, and made some pumpkin crafts. Even without these, Kalina was pure sunshine and rainbows--I'm not sure I've ever seen her in a better mood. I let her get away with only 20 minutes of downtime, seeing as we'd started sewing a dress for Lamby together and I was as excited to finish it as she was.

However, Elise had other plans, and celebrated the day by skipping her afternoon nap (maybe she was jealous that her only treat so far had been watermelon? "I'll make my own treat!" she decided.). I counter-celebrated by loading both girls into the car to spend a gloriously beautiful afternoon at a surprisingly empty park. Lamby's dress will have to wait until tomorrow.

After a rushed dinner and a flurry of costumes, we were ready to head out into the neighborhood, along with our friend Lucy (age 1 1/2) and her dad. Kalina took charge: our shy little girl became bold indeed when faced with candy. Elise was content to chew on a candy wrapper (with the candy safely sealed inside), and Kalina, for her part, happily quacked and flapped at the smallest request, at times using Daddy's crow call for a more realistic "quack."

Soon the dads took the "bigger" girls farther up the road while Elise toddled around the yard and I chatted with neighbors and manned the candy, which had been severely depleted. Elise found her gourd to roll around and was as content as a little bunny could be.

Kalina and Daddy returned and the three-year-old, who shows remarkable restraint for a three-year-old (and even for some thirty-year-olds), looked up at me with hope in her eyes that I couldn't let down. Right before bedtime, I allowed her her choice of candy.

The girl chose a grape Tootsie Pop:

Her: Can I chew it?
Me: Not yet, it's a sucker. But eventually it'll get soft and you can. That might not be until tomorrow, though (I didn't know how long it'd take for her to make her way through a lollipop).
Her: Now is it soft enough?
Me: Not yet.
Her: Now is it soft enough?
Me: Not yet.
Etc.

Just how many licks does it take to get to the middle of a Tootsie Pop? Eventually, after lots of dedicated effort, she made it. Crunch.

I also let Elise enjoy a bowl of Cheerios on the floor. She was super excited.

Happy Halloween!

It's the simple things.

Sometimes I worry about the future. It's just what mommies do. But it's not always a dread of the "terrible teens" everyone keeps warning us about, or fears about our kids getting food poisoning from the chewing gum they picked up off the ground (why is the stuff so darn colorful?!?). No, sometimes we wonder what our days will be like when no one is singing to us about kittens playing outside in the rain (and wearing their boots, of course), or giggling whenever we ask them were our nose is. What then?

After the initial "What did I get myself into and how many thousands of diapers will I change before this is all over?!?" freaking out is over, and we're up on our feet again, most of us mommies at some point realize that yes, time really does fly (all those grocery-store strangers were right after all!), and so we'd better make the most of it before we're all too old to make campy crafts and read about bears that talk and discuss plans for the kittens to tunnel to the other side of the world.

For me, that's meant that I've finally stopped hoarding stickers for that "rainy day" that never seems to come. We now go through pages of stickers for no other reason than to peel them off one sheet of paper and stick them directly to another. Makes no sense to me, but it does to someone. And what if one day no one wants to play with stickers?

It's also meant that we got our pumpkins not at the grocery store, and not at the giant pumpkin patch filled with bounce houses (and other kids), but at the local farmer's market. Ten minutes away means more time for the corn pool and ride-on tractors and the only swing Elise has ever liked at all.

And I even let Kalina pick her very own pumpkin, relinquishing her to Matt's care so that I neither put any ideas in her head about a smooth, round, pretty pumpkin or a certain price range I had in my mind. Daddy wouldn't stop her from bringing home a warty, scarred, misshapen one, I assured myself, cringing and smiling at the same time. So what if her cat pumpkin this year looked like it had been in a fight? (Because Kalina's always had a cat pumpkin--and has already asked for hers to be carved as such again this year.)

Kalina chose a large, only slightly lumpy one, to my relief. She and Elise then each picked a gourd apiece, Elise choosing hers for its resemblance to a ball, because what could be better to a 13-month-old? Unless it's a market full of pumpkins and gourds, each of them more exciting than the next. It was a good morning for both girls. And a good morning for Mommy and Daddy, too.

Elise paraded her gourd around the entire yard when we got home, even though it was too big for her to comfortably hold, especially since she was also hanging onto my finger for support over the uneven terrain. The poor baby had to stop every step or two to adjust the gourd in her other hand, propped up against her round tummy, lest it fall. I mentally noted that next time I take a 13-month-old gourd shopping, I should buy her one that's easier for tiny hands to haul. And that we should all be so happy with so little as a gourd.

Who needs toys, anyway, when your backyard is covered with leaves? Unless, of course, the toys help you rake. Or at least accompany you as you rake, because isn't raking more fun if you have friends along? Even if they're a bit cumbersome. And it's more fun with kids, too--even if they, too, are a bit cumbersome. 

Which brings us to the leaf pile, and the dilemma of, "Should I worry about the brown recluses, or should I instead worry what would happen if my children were never allowed to romp in leaves?" I'm happy to say--and so is Kalina, but not Elise, who did not trust the pile--that the leaves won.

Guests!

Grandma and Grandpa taking
the girls for a ride at the
local park.

One of the best parts about moving to a new place is that everyone wants to visit. At least once. Often for consecutive weekends. We've been having lots of fun seeing everyone and showing off our new place.

We've also turned it into a learning opportunity for Kalina. She now knows (in theory more than in practice, but that's okay!) how to properly "take care of" visitors, from offering them something to drink to sharing toys. Her favorite part, which she usually skips to after greeting them at the door, is giving them a tour of the house. She does occasionally remember to show them the guest room on the way back downstairs from her own room, and I should mention/warn you that everyone planning to visit our house for Christmas will most likely be deposited there, according to one of her enthusiastic plans. ("And all of the guests will sleep in the guest room!") It's not a big room, so we're anticipating standing room only. Hope you can all sleep like horses/bats.

Early Nebraska fans!

Grandpa Hanks was the first, and he arrived in time for Elise's birthday. He goodnaturedly submitted to being the test subject for the new mattresses in the guest room, sharing a small bathroom with the kids, tuning out our kids' poor sleep habits and surviving our somewhat sporadic hospitality.

Thank goodness he was a good sport. The girls both came down with colds, which soon transferred to Grandpa (he was still fighting it when he returned 10 days later). What's more, they were waking up at all hours of the night/early morning--loudly. Especially Elise, whose bedroom is right across from the guest room. And to add insult to injury, we didn't even own a coffeemaker--so he had to survive all of this without his beloved brew (along with the cold, he also brought a coffeemaker 10 days later).

Elise and Angela and a turtle
statue.

He'd deny it, but we're pretty sure Grandpa must've been glad to leave when he did. Fortunately he enjoyed some nice pampering the rest of this trip (visiting family and friends throughout the midwest), which may have softened his memories of our house because he did actually return on his way back through rather than just staying in a hotel, as we probably would've.  Even better: Uncle Tom and Angela came too! We were all able to catch up and take a look around our corner of St. Louis and sitting on sculptures of stone turtles in beautiful weather.

Uncle Tom was reclining on the rug.
Elise decided to snuggle up to his beard
for long enough for us all to grab a
camera.

The baby, by the way, enjoyed the attention--but only in small doses and on her terms. When it all got to be too much, she resorted to playing peekaboo games that outlasted any of our attention spans, and in this way, hid from the world. Really, peekaboo was an incredibly tactful method of gaining a little privacy--cute, but effective. It generally took her about three full days of quality time before she'd consent to let anyone pick her up. Or, in Uncle Tom's case, before she'd snuggle into his beard as he was lying on the floor.

Elise "mooing" her heart out.

Next, it was Grandpa Les and Grandma's turn to visit! By now, we had the guest routine down to a science and both girls demonstrated excitement appropriate to their age level: Kalina bounced up and down and did tricks to show her joy, while Elise watched and giggled.

Feeding chickens at the bird
sanctuary.

The grandparents showed equal amounts of excitement, as proven by the fact that they drove fast so as to arrive a bit earlier than expected. We rushed home from Target to greet them--and ended up following their car through the neighborhood to our house. I couldn't unbuckle Kalina fast enough, and she was soon gleefully dragging them inside to show them the most important areas of the home: her room, Elise's room and the basement.

Kalina showed Grandma and
Grandpa how to fish.

We thoroughly wore out all the big people, but the girls by visiting parks and other popular sites, many involving animals of some kind, and all outdoors as the weather couldn't be beat. And even when we were ready to come back to the house, there will still crafts to make, coffee cake to bake, puzzles to put together, toys to strew about the house and stories to read. I suppose you could say our kids really know how to entertain!

While everyone else fished,
Grandma, Elise and I got
to spend some quality time visiting
farm animals. Here's Elise setting off
on an adventure of her own.

One thing that's particularly fun about having guests visit is that while others are keeping my older child happily engaged, anyone who's left gets to follow Elise around. At a small farm, for instance, Elise got to pet super-soft miniature horses, point to ducks and wander around aimlessly to her heart's content, without a big sister on a mission leading the way. This happened at home, too, where the baby decided all of a sudden that she wanted to take baby-sized piano lessons. Grandma was happy to oblige.

Elise's new favorite activity is playing
the piano. Grandma was happy to indulge.

Kalina was management and Grandpa
labor for this puzzle.

And so, if you can look past the early mornings, occasional sniffle and high-energy household, we think we make a great destination for your next trip. Relaxing we are not--but adorable we are (well, at least two of us). Who wants to come next? 

A dinosaur ride for both girls!

Despite really long and frequent
games of peekaboo with Grandpa Les,
he became a real source of hilarity
by days three and four.

A nice rest during a park picnic.

Storytime with Grandma! 

Settling in

When I last posted about our move, we had unpacked most of our boxes, we'd done some exploring and we liked our new place.

And now, two months in (only two?!?), we've made a ton of progress. We've unpacked most of our boxes, done some exploring and like our new place.

Really? That's all? You know it's not. Here's the rundown:

Chapter 1: Exploring (and lack thereof)
Shortly after my last post, both girls contracted some sort of horrid midwestern virus and spent the next week scaring us with high fevers, snotting, coughing and feeling generally miserable. Matt and I avoided the whole thing (the virus, that is, not our kids' snot), most likely due to our own midwestern childhoods that must have rendered us immune from previous experience.

Unfortunately, this was the week we'd earmarked for trips to the zoo and various parks and museums, it being Matt's last free week before beginning his new job. Sometimes we can drag the kids out when they're sick and they do just fine--but not this week. We instead furniture shopped on Craigslist and with very quick trips to furniture stores, completed a few final house projects, and hoped each day they'd be feeling better.

We found a new fishing hole! Only 1
sunfish so far, but we will be back!

Monday morning, they were--but it was too late to benefit Matt any. I, on the other hand, was turned loose in a new city filled with free family activities with two mostly healthy kids to help me explore. This time, the only obstacle was my terrible sense of direction. Over the next few weeks, our "Let's go check out a new park/store/ice cream place!" was soon followed by, "Oops, I don't think this is the right way," which was always soon chased by a dozen questions to the tune of: "Are we going the right way, Mommy?" and "Are we lost, Mommy?" and "Will we ever get home, Mommy?" which you can imagine were lots of fun to answer in a patient, calm, upbeat voice while dodging  traffic in an unfamiliar part of town (which is pretty much all of it).

Nevertheless, we've managed to discover an amazing kids' museum, a small farm/park/fishing spot, the library, a farmer's market, a craft place akin to the one back in Durham, a wonderful nature center, a top-your-own yogurt place, a bird sanctuary, and much more. What we haven't yet discovered: the zoo, the mall (with the kids, anyway), a coffee shop with a play area (we miss you, Bean Traders!) and anything else more than about 15 minutes away, as there's been no reason to leave our immediate area.

And we haven't done it entirely alone, either!

Elise loves the plastic bunnies at the
local kids' museum. She often snuggles
up to several at once.

Chapter 2: Meeting people

Moving with kids can be incredibly challenging, but they make one thing easy: meeting people. I suppose if I chose to drag them through dress shopping at Nordstroms, or along to a pedicure or out for a late dinner this would not be the case--we'd be more likely to alienate other people than strike up a conversation. However, those pursuits are hardly on my schedule and instead we find ourselves in places where other mommies and small children find it reasonable to congregate, too.

I'm not very outgoing, but I have learned that most other mommies at the park will at least tell you their kids' ages and possibly some random fact about their recent escapades, eating habits or cute outfit. Even if we don't exchange email addresses, it's at least nice to chat.

While Elise snuggles bunnies,
Kalina is just around the corner
serving ice cream.

Not so for my child, though, who I must consider in the process of making friends. The other mommies' 3- or 4-year-old daughters soon single Kalina out as a target for play, and I surreptitiously apologize  for her standoffishness even while gently nudging my girl in the other girls' direction. "Maybe you could make leaf soup, or play chase!" I encourage. Then the other mommy inevitably tells me how her daughter is very outgoing and will talk to anyone, and I can never relate. Apparently, all the other quiet, imaginative girls are at home giving their kittens baths and whatnot.

And then there are those who take pity on us in our "just moved, know no one" state and invite us out to do things. And for knowing almost no one, we really do have some great friends so far!

And I'd be remiss not to mention the chance meeting of another nice mommy of two girls, aged 6 months and 2 years, who just moved here from Durham and who I actually have a few things in common with. We met randomly at a park, and decided to be friends.

The neighbors are also nice, with two girls a bit older than Kalina who are always happy to include her when they play outside, and occasionally  show up at our door wanting to play here. Kalina generally seems to tolerate, and occasionally even enjoy, their presence, and Elise thinks they're pretty entertaining.

Elise and her new birthday bean bag
chair! She was so excited, she couldn't
have it in her bedroom at nap or night
time for a while.

Chapter 3: Finding a grocery store

After finding friends, the next most important thing is acquiring food. This has, in fact, proven to be more of a challenge than friendships, as I was decidedly spoiled in Durham by my nearby grocery store that offered a wide variety of good food and all my favorite brands for good prices.

That aside, here's the process of finding a grocery store in a new town with kids:

Step 1: Acquire a list of potential grocery stores, and map them in proximity to your new home. Without internet access. I used our GPS. Choose the one that's closest, because you have to try, right?

Step 2: Write a giant grocery list, since you spent the previous week using up all of what you had, or packing it (and the truck hasn't arrived yet), or giving it away.

Step 3: Load kids into the car. Follow the GPS directions to the store, fiddling with it so it doesn't make you take the interstate (who wants to use the interstate to get groceries? Blech.).

Step 4: Arrive at a peaceful neighborhood exactly where it says the grocery store is supposed to be.

Step 5: Drive around a bit. It's got to be here somewhere! But it's assuredly not.

Step 6: Accidentally turn onto a really busy road that looks like it leads directly onto a fast-moving interstate, that will whisk you off who-knows-where. Freak out a little. Sing to the children and hand back toys to them.

Step 7: Take the first turn off of the really busy road. It's a gas station. Ask directions the old fashioned way. Acquire a few necessities, just in case.

Step 8: Realize you have to give up because you no longer have time for a big grocery run, considering you haven't actually located the store. Stop at McDonald's. Vow to try again soon.

Step 9: Leave kids home with the husband. Find the next-closest grocery store. Marvel at its wide aisles, clean floors, delicious selection and cheerful workers. Spend a fortune. Cross it off the list.

Step 10: Find the next-closest store, which isn't all that close. Drag the kids through it a good 2 1/2 times before finding (almost) everything on the list. Spend a fortune. Cross it off the list.

Step 11: Stumble across a budget grocery store that didn't appear on the GPS but isn't all that far away. Drag kids inside thanks to the promise of a racecar shopping cart. Find lots of things you need, but determine they don't stock several of your favorite products. Darn. Bag all your own groceries while pacifying squirming, impatient kids, because this is, after all, a budget store. Spend almost a fortune, but not quite. Decide that of all the options, this is probably  the best bet.

Step 12: Shop at Target in the meantime and decide that it would be your favorite grocery store if it only had a fuller meat/produce section.

Step 13: Miss your old store.

But enough about the grocery store challenge: while it confronts me in a big way at least once a week, it is one of the few we've faced.

Well, that and the spiders.

Chapter 4: The spiders

You may remember from a previous post the fact that we'd discovered brown recluses living in our house. Yikes! Well, we took some measures and they disappeared for some time--until we turned off our air conditioning, that is, and the air vents were there's to roam in again. (cue creepy music)

And then one night, Matt decided to turn in early. He brushed his teeth, donned his pajamas, which live under his pillow during the day, and took out a book for a little bedtime reading. That's when he felt a tickle near his armpit. What was that? Before he could rule it out as being "just my imagination," he felt it again. Pulling off his pajama shirt, he shook it out and sure enough--a spider dropped to the floor. He gently squished it before it could get away (gently for identification purposes--otherwise it would've assuredly gotten a full whack).

Even as he was identifying the spider as a brown recluse, he caught sight of a tell-tale welt on his shoulder. The spider had, indeed, bitten him. And real-life arachnophobia seeped into our household as he faced not one, but two emergency room visits, a couple medications, a systemic reaction, and a full week of hives, not to mention random aches and itches from his scalp on down.

He was given by one doctor a referral to a plastic surgeon, just in case, as brown recluse bites can wreak all kinds of havoc on a person's skin. Fortunately for Matt, his has done little damage beyond the hives.

The next day, a couple exterminators heard from me, and we had one out by Friday of that week. The day he came, I found another large brown recluse sitting out in the open on top of Elise's play blanket, and Matt found another in a sticky trap under Kalina's bed. I spent the rest of the day shaking out clothes, blankets and toys and trying to keep the girls out of the house as much as possible, as I no longer felt we were safe in it. We mentally replayed the list of houses we'd rejected before buying this one, and wondered if they'd have brown recluses, too.

The exterminator has now been out twice, and will be coming monthly until Christmas. The situation is much improved. We've warned all the neighbors, and they all look really surprised and consider calling the exterminator as well. Then talk turns back to the weather, which has been gorgeous.

Chapter 5: The weather

It amuses us that whenever we tell people we moved here in early August, they immediately say, "Thank goodness you missed the heat!" To which we can't help but reply, "You don't understand: we moved from North Carolina," as if they're hard of hearing, or understanding. .Neither of us can believe the fact that temperatures cool down in the evenings, and the humidity left when September began.

Next, people inevitably mention how cold winter was. I do believe we'll be in for a bit of a shock when January and February roll around, considering where we've spent the past eight years. But I'm hoping our entire childhoods spent in more northern areas of the midwest will provide something of a buffer against the chill.

In short, I think St. Louis will be milder all around than what we've both been used to, and so far, we're thrilled with the climate. But since weather is such a hot topic of conversation among new acquaintances, we will likely be discussing it many more times. That's okay: we are happy to discuss  weather as we stand in the midst of it with our neighbors, especially when it's so nice and we're looking for any excuse to stay outside.

Chapter 6: Our jobs

While I'm leisurely making smalltalk with the neighbors (and keeping Elise from making a beeline for the street, or toddling into the neighbor's sprinkler, or grazing, all while trying to persuade Kalina not to say out loud, "I don't want to play with those girls," (meaning the neighbor girls, whose names she knows, right in front of them), Matt's hard at work at his brand-new job. And how's it going for him?

All I know is that he comes home challenged, but cheerful every night, trooper that he is. Elise celebrated the occasion of his new job by shifting her wakeup times about an hour earlier, but Matt still heads to work without complaint (possibly relieved at times?). He likes the fact that he does real things, and people try to accomplish work instead of stop others from doing so. And he likes the work itself, and the company, and it's overall a very good fit.

As for me, my job changed little except the location, and you've already heard all about that. I will say that despite the extra cleaning, it's a lot easier to care for young kids when they have space to roam indoors, such as in an actual family room, a basement, or a bedroom that you can do more than turn around in. Not to mention a yard. With a swingset. And nice neighbor girls.

Chapter 7: The kids

In addition to the neighbor girls, in fact, Kalina seems to have acquired a handful of 2- to 4-year-old girl friends, and there are even a few within range of Elise as well. As many of these girls play in the same style as Kalina, or at least have something in common with her, we're slowly learning that other kids can be "funny" and even "nice."

Kalina has mentioned a few times that she can't remember the old house, but I don't believe her. I don't know exactly what she's trying to tell me, but I'll interpret it as, "I'm happy here and am not even looking back." She sometimes gets confused as to which familiar places are here versus Durham, but has not once requested to go back. As always, the girl is content as long as she has her family and animal friends around. Little Sweetie!

Elise has already begun to recognize the word "basement" as being a highly desirable place, and screams with glee and toddles over to be picked up, whenever we say the word.

Both girls enjoy watching the world (or the backyard portion of it, anyway), from our windows, seeing the mail truck arrive, and hanging out by the fireplace. They also seem to enjoy checking out the new sights around town, as many of them are cooler than, or at least equivalent to, what we had in Durham.

So, since we're having such a great time (spiders excluded), what do we miss about Durham? Our friends, for sure. Kalina still thinks of them fondly, but hasn't seemed to put it together that we haven't seen them for a long time, and won't see them for a long time. (Mommy, on the other hand, has.) A few places around town. The "feel" of the area. The ocean and mountains that we would be planning a trip to right about now.

Nevertheless, I think it's safe to say we're settled. Now to get some pictures on the walls. Maybe we'll settle for pictures on the blog for now.