It’s no secret that fall is my favorite time of year. It’s also no secret that fall can either be really nice or really crummy in Alaska, and goes by really fast. In fact, now that snow is on the ground, I feel a little bad I haven’t finished writing our fall update, and that it’s been so long since I posted something…I will try to highlight in order of events.
It’s always a weird time when fall evenings turn dark and cold, but the barren ground isn’t yet reflecting that cold, white stuff to lighten things up. We managed to get in one evening fire pit, with smores and sparklers, before winter joined us. Bonus points for the neighbors and their dry kindling for the fire! The girls ran around the yard with sparklers, devoured marshmallows, and then insisted it was too cold outside to continue to participate.
I take a million outdoor adventure photos every year. It is getting easy to be out and about and not concerned with wildlife taking on a kid whose run off- the girls take great direction out in nature and are getting better at being aware. This is the first year we explored the lower side of Flat Top by myself, and we return unscathed! It probably also helps that we aren’t the quietest bunch…so those pesky moose and bears don’t want a triplet sandwich 🙂
As per the usual, we made multiple trips to the you-pick farm this year, and even made it to the fall festival. Did we eat our body weight in picked zucchini in October? You bet we did! The snow peas were less plentiful this year, but that didn’t stop Reagan from digging through piles of plants to find some, and then eating them for a few days. All three also “adopted” the large zucchini and gave them faces, named them, and they participated in family events and playtime for the next week.
The girls attended their first football game, to watch Juneau Douglas play West Anchorage. It was pouring down rain, and while that didn’t impress the girls (or the parents); they did make it through the whole thing and held up their custom made signs and screamed Go Chatum! They spent the entire night prior carefully making those signs and coming up with custom cheers. Go Chatum, he’s our man, if he can’t do it, no one can! It was also fun to listen to them ask Jaren football questions at the game, and insist they wanted to see Chatum score a goal, even after discussion about touchdowns.
Our annual photoshoot in the woods for mom went incredibly easy this year compared to years past. The girls humored me, climbed on trees and did ring around the rosie full of giggles, and then played in the stream for a while before we returned home. Boy, they are getting big!
Pumpkin carving was quite a process this year, mostly due to the number of purchased pumpkins sitting in our house. We had small ones, medium ones, and massive, very-hard-to-cut-threw extra large ones. One small set was decorated at the NICU reunion earlier in the month, and all the others were carved with the girls, who chose their own facial expressions and helped a little with the knives this year. Oh and that remind me… Grandma Sue also taught the girls to pronounce all works that start with “kn” like k-now, so the girls are continuing to point that out consistently!
Fall break from school prompted a short visit from Grandma Sue, and with that lots of baking and crafts. Doesn’t that potato dough look delicious? The girls excel at helping cook these days, and it isn’t all with licked fingers and utter flour explosions anymore! Not going to lie, I do somewhat miss those days now, but not the post activity clean up.
Trunk or Treat at the girls’ school was a must! It was cold and windy but not frosted as some years prior. A quick hello and trek around to some of their teachers and friends was done in record time. For this event, we had an Elsa and Ana from Frozen, and a “wedding girl” and oh, two cold parents!! Did I mention this was after TWO birthday parties earlier in the day? Yep.
Halloween was a hit this year. With numerous outfit changes, I can’t even recall what everyone was for each event but for the actual day Harper was a pink mermaid, Emerie Elsa in blue (no coat!), and Reagan was Chloe Charming from Rise of Red. While Reagan stayed the same for school that day, Harper was a bride with pink heels and Emerie was Glinda from Wicked, in purple! We finally had a year with temperatures in the 40s and no snow, which prompted strong rebukes to wearing coats, but acceptance of gloves. We made it farther than ever before in the neighborhood, and Emerie’s headache prompted Craig to get the four wheeler for a fun ride the rest of the way. Tyler and Papa Cliff joined us again this year -the girls even let Tyler be Tyler this year and not a full fledged princess- and we also did a few houses after meeting up with their teacher. Tons of candy and a fun night!
I’ll wrap this overdue life story with our official fall photos, which hit on a gorgeous fall day, and half the valley was in the same spot with the same idea. The girls did more than humor the photographer, they giggle, held hands and hugged without much instruction, and look so very grown up this year. I am certain they will have to do fall photos for me every year well into adulthood, because they turn out so great.
And now onto winter things…and Thanksgiving, and Christmas. So many things to do!
Well…to no one’s surprised, winter is here! And not only is it here, but it decided to take over in epic force and beat us into immediate submission, breaking a couple records within the first two weeks. In fact, one more inch and it will be the snowiest November on record for Anchorage; this doesn’t even consider that the month is only halfway over. While I should be impressed and awed by the continual snow filled clouds that are sharing their joy (too much?), the lack of plowed roads in our neighborhood makes navigating very difficult, with many distressed vehicles and public school closures. While I don’t generally don’t mind the beginning of winter once it starts- I’m definitely over it by the end though- this year began with quite the bang and dropped two feet on us at a very expedited rate. Was it beautiful? Absolutely! Did it take FOREVER to stop falling? Yes. But we live in a winter state, so I guess we should try to embrace the chaos…as I’ve done in other parts of my life!
I had planned to give a brief update on our Halloween fun last month, and now it feels strange because the level of snow makes it feel like fall ended months ago, not two, short weeks ago. Halloween night weather was much more amenable this year but as usual, everyone wasn’t feeling their best, including me! Harper opted to be Ariel, Reagan continued as Jasmine, and Emerie as Alice in Wonderland. Harper, with her extreme cough and two-hour afternoon nap (which showed she really felt sick!), meant she was the first to want to go home; she made it a few blocks farther than expected before asking to go back. Reagan followed her sister and Craig and opted to go back home, while Emerie and I ended walked a few more houses along our street before heading home. The girls were happy Tyler drove in again this year and walked around with us, and overall the night was pretty uneventful.
Unsurprisingly, the girls don’t see an issue with all this snow. Well, maybe a little if we boot them outside in their winter gear when it’s not their idea…but they will survive and it’s good for them! When Emerie peeked out the bedroom window after a couple inches of snow finally stuck overnight, she instantly hollered at me it’s snowy! That means it’s almost our birthday! Once I calmed down that reality, which is still five months away, she was contented to know the change in weather meant Christmas would be here soon, and all we had to list off all the family’s upcoming winter birthdays. Harper continues to ask when we can put the Christmas tree up; if we get another foot of snow this week, I might just cave in to her request!
With winter comes daylight savings time, with fall falling back and prompting a dramatic shift to darkness in the evenings. The girls are much more attentive to the change this year, and have asked multiple times why we are going to bed before dinnertime, because it’s so dark out they assume it’s time for bed. Luckily the time shift didn’t mess with sleep routines much, but this is more attributed to the lingering cough, fevers and need for more sleep to combat it. As we slowly creep out of the current illnesses and winter plagues, Emerie and Harper are back to being content to sleep in their bunk beds, surrounding by a thousand stuffed animals, blankets and nightlights, and Reagan still makes it about half the night and then ends up in bed with the parents.
Emerie living her best life!Harper checking out the back deck. Look at that railing!
Everyone is thrilled to ride with Craig on the four wheeler and “help” plow the driveway. This snowfall is extremely heavy and very difficult to push with a shovel (especially as I still recover from my lung infection!) and so Craig broke out the four wheeler to clear as much as possible using the plow. He immediately broke out the new-to-us inter-tube and pulled the girls around the neighborhood. For the moment all three can snugly fit on it together and we will definitely have to invest in a larger one as they get older. Buddies Kaden and Oaki came over after the first snowfall and were excited to drive the kid wheelers, with the girls riding on the back of Kaden’s for runs down the street and back. In a moment of bravery, Emerie hopped onto one and proceeded to do an unplanned donut as the adults chased her, shouting to let go of the accelerator. She thought that was just hilarious.
On the school front, the girls are greatly advancing on their letter recognition. They are starting to read television show titles and can rapidly rattle them off; and frequently ask what words the letter spell out. We now have a new game to spell the letters on signs and buildings and they all want to do it at the same time. Kids learn so quick! They are also improving on sounding out what words start with and answering their own questions when encouraged. With the turn to cold weather, more time is spent coloring than in the summer time and that includes tons of inquiries on how to spell different words on their creations. I’m starting to think that we may spend a great deal more time than other families using markers, paint, sparkly or gel pens and combing through thousands of coloring book pages, while sitting at the table, all coloring and making creations together. This is a main activity in our house year round, but even more-so when we are inside during the cold darkness. Reagan is still my top coloring kid and takes the time to think out how she wants to design something, spending a lot of time perfecting it. Harper is still on her rainbow kick and brings many papers home with a rainbow theme. Her people sketches are also greatly improving and I love to see who she draws and the interpretation of who they are and why. The girls also enjoy using their school scissors to destroy my house with tiny bits of paper- ahem I mean make art- and cut out grass on their flower drawings. Emerie enjoys making Santa bracelets, no clue why she calls them that, and will sit on the floor and cut out strips of paper and tape them together into a colorful chain. They are popping up all over my house and she is very proud to do it all herself. We will certainly make some to hang on the Christmas tree this year!
Reagan’s drawing for SantaHarper’s creation: Mom, Harper & Grandma Sue
All three have already started drawings for Santa and were overly concerned at our lack of fireplace. If anyone asks, Santa can and will deliver presents through a dog door…just go with it! Reagan interpreted my response a bit more graphically than I intended and told me the other day that Santa turns into a dog, goes through the dog door, and brings our presents through the door! Not sure that is accurate…but who am I to argue!?
Concentrating faces
In the midst of all the fun weather, the girls successfully made it on the ice skating field trip this week. While the majority of students in Anchorage are still doing remote learning because the buses (and normal vehicles) can barely get around the neighborhoods, we’ve been lucky to have no school closures and only one day we decided to keep everyone home instead of venturing out. Craig took the afternoon off to help shuffle kids out on the ice rink. I mean, who wouldn’t want to spent an hour out on the ice with fourteen five-year-olds?! That concept aside, it sounds like the event went well and everyone had fun.
I’m looking forward to starting the holiday festivities and getting all the decorations up around the house. We shall see if I can hold out through Thanksgiving to put up the tree and I’m doing my best to hold on out the Christmas pajamas and fancy dresses. Two more weeks!
As pretty much all parents of young children know, Bluey is life. What is Bluey? An Australian children’s television show that supports morals and raising good humans, in the form of blue and tan puppy dogs. While it may be repetitive and get stuck in your head, the story lines nevertheless are wonderful and support good family values, sibling love, creative and respectful play, and good life lessons. We managed to avoid Bluey marathons for at least three years, knowing that the girls considered it special when preschool turned it on, and kept it that way. Eventually, as all parents do, we caved and this show now plays SO MUCH. Even more so when everyone is sick and confined at home until fevers reduce and energy returns. The show has actually grown on me and some of the girls’ games are now played after certain episodes are watched, like “Keep-ee-Upie.” In layman’s terms, this is known as keeping a balloon off the ground. I’m pretty certain a few of our chickens have names based on characters in different episodes on the show (Diddums is a favorite, and Telemicus).
You know they are sick when they snuggle in and don’t move!
One of my favorite words to emerge from the show really fits with our current #tripletlife lifestyle. Harper is on a kick of saying things are difficult: people, sisters, parents, a task, everything. It turns out there is an episode on Bluey where Bingo (the little sister) uses the word “trifficult,” and I’ve decided this fits well in our household that deals in everything triple. It’s meant to be tricky and difficult combined, hence trifficult. We have a lot of bedtime routines that I would call trifficult to a tee; so, very, trifficult. Some evening conversations go like this, as the girls are lying in their beds resisting the urge to finish the day and go to sleep.
Harper: Mom, where do narwhals live? (narwhals became quite a discussion after Craig’s return from his Juneau work trip, where he found a pink, purple and teal one)
Mom: They live in the water. (It’s bedtime, so don’t be descriptive or long winded)
Harper: But what kind of water do they live in?
Mom: Well they live in the ocean.
Reagan: But mom, why don’t they live in the sea? Why the ocean? I don’t want them to live in the ocean! *whineeeee
Mom: Well, the ocean is bigger than the sea. They need their space. (this answer is based on no legitimate narwhal knowledge on my part)
Harper: Awwww, I don’t want them to live in the ocean! I want them to live in the sea *more whining. So then where do we live?
Mom: We live on the land, in Alaska. It’s next to the ocean. (the girls are well versed in their home state and a few cities where family lives)
Reagan: Well then why don’t we go to the ocean then? Why don’t you EVER take us to the ocean? WHY?I want to see a narwhal but you NEVER take us. (I now see the trap ensuing)
Harper: Yeah, we never go to the ocean. Why don’t you EVER take us to the ocean?!
Emerie (whose been listening thoughtfully the whole time): Turtles live in the water. I love turtles, they are my favorite. I want to go to the ocean. (Good diversion, kid)
Harper (taking the bait): Otters too, I want to go see otters. And the narwhals, since you never take us.
Mom: How about you just go to sleep.We will go to the ocean eventually.
Harper: My narwhal wants to go to the ocean now; she doesn’t want to sleep. Mom, she wants to go to the ocean. (and it went on from there)
And on and on and on….
Pumpkin carving this year was pretty similar to last year, other than the added enjoyment of Cousin Jaren and Savaya coming over to help with the activity. The girls thoroughly enjoyed watching everyone else clean out the pumpkin guts, but just like last year, Harper was the only one willing to use her hands. Emerie and Reagan “helped” gut with spoons and demanded the adults loosen the seeds to their satisfaction. Eventually they returned to playing and the adults finished things out. Jaren’s puking pumpkin was definitely the winner…if we were competing on designs. The girls thought it was pretty funny.
I also had the joy of watching my children knowingly torture their cousin this time around. For the longest time all three interchange their boy cousins names, but now they are starting to do it on purpose to get a rise out of them. Today in particular, all three whispered to each other go call him Tyler with a maniacal laugh, would shout hi Tyler, and then all run away in overwhelming giggles. It’s funny to know they are purposefully tormenting Jaren now. I wonder where they get that trait from?!
A few more Halloween activities led to more princess dress up and fun. The girls had their annual Halloween party at school, with snacks and goodies and fancy, carved pumpkins. Reagan came down with quite a nasty cough the evening before so she had to miss it, with the doctor telling us that day she had RSV (for the first time at age four…which is pretty good!). She demanded that I take photos of the classroom decorations and that her sisters explained what went down that day. One of the teachers’ aides kindly found a squishy eyeball for her to have like her sisters, which prompted much discussion.
Harper and Emerie gladly wore Encanto’s Isabella (Emerie) and Rapunzel (Harper) AND wore their dress up princess heels, which was very exciting since those are only worn at home. One of the teacher aides asked me what Reagan was supposed to be, which seemed like a strange question until she clarified. The girls were going around telling everyone Reagan doesn’t get a costume because she doesn’t sleep in her bed at night. Well not entirely true kiddos…she doesn’t sleep overnight in her bed, but her staying home sick trumps that! It’s funny how the girls perspective is sometimes.
While the weather temperatures decided to drop for the rest of our fall festivities, that didn’t stop us from attempting them anyway. Extra layers and warm, “cozy (fleece) pants” kept extremities warm long enough to enjoy Trunk or Treat at their school over the weekend. It was not nearly as busy as last year, but the girls saw lots of classmates and friends throughout. I heard a few comments from older kids that those are the triplets. Those triplets are the same age! And so on. I even heard one grade schooler comment that their parents probably never sleep. That’s pretty insightful! So their school celebrity status is still going strong.
Harper and Emerie opted for the same outfits as their school party (plus a pink cape) while Reagan begrudgingly wore Anna, only because she wanted a cape. I sneakily convinced everyone to wear princess gloves, to keep hands warm but also to accessorize! Harper requested her hair be down, which she does at school everyday no matter how it’s styled, Reagan had two braids like Anna, and Emerie rocked her Elsa braid ponytail clip.
Craig prepped the decorations and then headed over early to set up. By the time we showed up, he was pretty cold, and I was sweating getting everyone dressed and into the car! Cold or not, the car looked pretty great and mermaid like. The girls were certainly impressed and tried to grab handfuls of the candy from our bowl, that we were trying to get rid of! So. Much. Candy.
Craig’s fancy truckIsabella, Anna and RapunzelIsabella and Rapunzel @ school
The rest of Halloween weekend was spent at home, resting up from the coughing, RSV ridden and very tired kiddos. We attempted to walk around the neighborhood a bit on Halloween night, simply because the girls were so hyped up about it and have asked me for about 364 days when we could next trick or treat. It was a pretty cold night but mostly snow-less, with the neighborhood really picking up by about 6:30. The cold, crisp air was not doing us any favors; after about a block Emerie and Reagan were blustering continuously and we decided it wasn’t worth the effort. They turned around with Cliff and Craig while Harper and I went a couple more blocks. She is fearless, even without her sisters in tow, and did quite well going up to front doors on her own and ringing the bell. Toward the end of the excursion, she was turning candy down and informing unsuspecting folks she needed the packs of M&M candies from their bowls and nothing else. Silly girl. We trekked over to the fanciest decorated house (with a dragon) and then turned around and came home to warm up the appendages, which were quite cold at that point.
We definitely ended the fall season and threw ourselves straight into winter illnesses with a bang. If we are lucky this will be the worst of it for the year, but since we’ve had snow less than a week and temperatures continue to dip, I’m not optimistic that will happen. I am thankful that this is our first diagnosed bout with RSV- it must be so terrifying for folks that have tiny babies coughing and wheezing like this. It was definitely something we worked super hard to avoid when the girls were still considered preemies, and then with COVID, managed to avoid it until age four and a half. Now let’s avoid it for a few more years please. The week spent at home really displays how much the girls have matured and now play with one another or creatively alone, something they didn’t do nearly as well last winter and definitely didn’t last as long. Not sure how Craig and I would have handled the past week a year ago, so thank goodness we didn’t have to!
We made it through the rest of our sick week with dozens (hundreds?) of Bluey episodes and a lot of princess movies, continuous dressing up (from pajamas to princess dresses and accessories), and a lot of down time. We finally convinced the girls to watch a non-animated movie, Maleficent II, and they didn’t react to the scary bits as much as I expected. And we’ve watching it at least a handful of times; they really enjoy seeing the fairies and all love Maleficent and no longer believe she is the villain of the story.
Craig and I continued to brutally step on the dozens of tiny rocks, ahem “crystals”, that litter the floor of our house from Miss Reagan, who adamantly collects them and using them for everything. If we aren’t stepping on rocks, then it’s the tiny plastic jewelry and sharp edged glass beads that are lying in wait for crushing (skin crushing, soul crushing, stepping on them hurts!). Emerie especially loves to accessorize and the house is covered in beaded necklaces, rings, shoes and other head wear and I can’t for the life of me keep that $hit off the floor!
Reagan now knows what bedtime looks like on the living room clock and will argue if it’s not right at eight when we scoop everyone upstairs. I don’t believe she knows what 8 P.M. actually is, but she knows where the hands sit when it’s the right time. So that’s superrrr fun with an overtired preschooler(s). Other intellectual discussions occurred while at home, and I continue to try to remember to write down Harper epiphanies, simply because they crack me up. The only one documented so far this month is related to the poor kitten getting her tail slammed in the door. Harper’s response? If she doesn’t have a tail, she will no longer be a cat and she will die. Ummm ok? That sounds a bit rough and dramatic. When asked what she would be instead, Harper looked me square in the eye and levelly answered, well she wouldn’t be a cat. Touche kid, touche.
I have to say, watching winter occur from the confines of my own home is far preferable to being out and about in it, so we timed the impending illnesses well for that. The yard looks so beautifully white and undisturbed, mostly because the girls hack up a lung when out in the cold for any amount of time. That and they have no desire to be out there until they feel better, other than for the occasional bundled up four wheeler ride, which is met with just as much excitement so far this year as last. Craig and I are back on the mend and the girls seem to have crushed the fevers, with the cough letting up for the most part. I am really hoping for bedtime to smooth out a little, because triple coughing children after ten days is rough on the sanity, for both the kids and the parents.
This year’s month of October didn’t exactly go according to plan, with some fun fall activities canceled and a two week quarantine with kiddos. It turns out catching the “rona” toward the beginning of the month meant we didn’t miss all Halloween weekend activities and the girls didn’t miss their classroom party and crafts.
Last minute I ran around town to find big pumpkins we could carve while Papa Cliff was here. Megan, Alyssa and the boys joined us for a fun evening spreading pumpkin guts and seeds all over the dining room and corralling toddlers to smile for a couple photos. Harper “helped” Alyssa carve a cool Olaf design into her pumpkin, Reagan and I worked on a bat together, Craig and Megan finished up Emerie’s and the boy’s designs (when they ran off to play). Emerie preferred coming and going to check out our progress but in no way wanted to help, Reagan was happy to sit on the table to put the pumpkin guts into the bowl IF they were handed to her, while Harper was the only kiddo willing to put her whole arm into the pumpkin and get messy. All in all, every design turned out great and the girls all enjoyed putting the fake lit candles inside.
Harper
Emerie
Reagan
Cheeeese!
The weekend festivities continued on Saturday, with the girls excitedly wearing princess dresses to dance class that morning. No one else in their class got that memo and we were the only ones dressed up, which was still cute. Harper did amazing for the entire hour and didn’t wander off a single time, while Emerie and Reagan kept switching out who had to take a break and promise to behave. Dance class is rough each week…
Matching Elsa’s!
After dance we came home and spent a couple hours playing and driving cars and bikes down the street and back, over and over again. The new John Deer tractor from Papa Cliff is well loved and everyone is now steering (more-or-less) down the street, making it a little easier on whatever adult is chasing them. I’m thoroughly impressed at the improvement on steering, and all three now want to try. Earlier in the summer Emerie was very timid about it while Harper wanted to speed and Reagan wanted to just ride with Kaden or sit behind the steering wheel.
Once everyone warmed up from the blustering afternoon, costumes were donned and we ventured over to the girls’ school parking lot for some trunk or treat fun. Everyone chose their own costume, with Emerie and Harper both Elsa from Frozen and Reagan insisting on Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. Since it wasn’t the warmest afternoon they all wore color coordinated hats, gloves and warm pants underneath, in true Alaska style. Luckily the sunlight meant they didn’t have to wear coats the whole time! It took them a few minutes to warm up to the idea of walking up to strangers, but eventually they braved it and enjoyed adding new treats into their buckets. I believe the comfortable atmosphere of their school definitely helped them acclimate. We enjoyed hot apple cider (and spilled it all over the picnic table), watched a few minutes of the Peanuts film on the projector in the gym, and hung out with Rapunzel (Paris) and Auntie Janelle, Megan and the boys, and saw a teacher or two.
On Sunday we spent two hours at the local jump park, which we haven’t visited all summer, staying until everyone was demanding to leave and didn’t want to exhaust any more energy running around. The afternoon was again spent playing on bikes and toy cars, coloring and playing with trains, until it was time to neighborhood trick or treat. Pap Cliff stopped by and then Cousin Tyler, Emily, and Uncle Will joined us, walking around the neighborhood for over an hour with the girls. We had FOUR beautiful princesses with us, including Aurora (Reagan), Frozen’s Anna (Harper) and two beautiful Cinderellas (Emerie and good sport Cousin Tyler).
After a bit the girls were mostly willing to go up to the front doors with Tyler encouraging them on, with the sibling battle of whoever gets there first has the distinguished honor of ringing the doorbell. Our poor neighbors definitely received multiple rings as the adults caught up but no one was snarky about it in the least. One house Emerie ran smack-dab into a driveway reflector and Reagan, resulting in lots of candy on the ground while kid number three kept on running to push the beloved doorbell. It was hilarious. By the end of the hour, the girls were losing steam and ready to head back home. Buckets were overflowing with candy and those poor toddlers insisted we had to carry them all the way back home. Everyone enjoyed a piece (or three) of candy at the kitchen table and immediately fell asleep in their beds afterwards, before Craig even finished reading a bedtime book.
On the move!
Our four beautiful princesses 🙂
Princesses at dance class
When asked earlier in the week who Craig should be for Halloween, Harper insisted dad needed to be Cinderella and mom Olaf with a carrot on my nose. At that moment she wanted Emerie and Reagan to both be Sven (reindeer) and she wanted to be Mulan. When asked the same question, Emerie responded she wanted Craig to match her as Elsa and her sisters should be Sven. Apparently Craig needs to be a princess with Tyler next year! Reagan was too busy demanding to be Aurora to answer the question for me.
This year the girls loved seeing Halloween and fall decorations, especially ones that light up our neighborhood after dark. Demands on the way to school involved slowing down and stopping at a few choice houses, just so the ooo’s and aahhhh’s from the backseat had time to happen. We now have fighting over who is “allowed” to look out the other’s window at such things, and meltdowns from the middle seater who doesn’t have my own window, awwww, I don’t have a window. They also get very upset when everyone occurs out of one side of the car and not equally on both. I can’t wait to see how they react to the much more beautiful Christmas decorations this year; clearly we will have to place a kid in the back seat for those expeditions so they have their own window for sightseeing.
At Trunk or Treat
A couple other cute observations from this past week. I may be (extremely) biased, but my kids are SMART. We grabbed a super sized sled at Costco the other day and I asked Emerie and Reagan to hold it while I pushed the cart around and collected other items. After a few minutes they weren’t holding it and I realized Reagan had taken the cart seat belt and wrapped it around the handle on the sled and closed the clip, all on her own! Smart I tell you!
As we continue to work on bad words, with somehow seems a little improved this week although I don’t know why, Reagan looked at her sister the other day and said shut your body. When I responded that isn’t very nice to say, she looked me dead in the eyes and said shut your body doesn’t have any bad words. I didn’t say shut your mouth. Smarty PANTS.
Emerie constantly corrects us now with an I’m not Reagan or I’m not Harper, even when we are talking over her and to a sister. It’s hilarious…as of course the toddler believes all things are about them. Silly girl.
While this Halloween was pretty relaxed, it is still one for the girls’ “digital memory” book. Now that they are a little more tolerable out and about (even well behaved!), we chose the simple route and walked around the neighborhood for a short trick-or-treat.
Craig’s dad flew in from Juneau in the afternoon to enjoy the holiday weekend with the kiddos. He brought foam swords that were quite the hit with all three, producing a lot of giggles from kids and adults. Everyone was happy to see Grandpa!
Sword fighting Papa Cliff
Emerie dressed as Belle from Beauty and the Beast, Harper as a pink, sparkly fairy with yellow wings and Reagan as Ana from Frozen. The dresses fit a bit better than they did during Trick or Treat in the heat six weeks ago- I guess the girls will keep growing!
With the unusually warm temperatures in Alaska this year and the past month, outside trick or treating activities were actually feasible. If it was the typical high 30s and 40s, we probably wouldn’t have ventured out, but this week’s 50 degree weather allowed the girls to stay warm enough to have some fun, even with a little rainfall.
Craig put everyone’s coats and boots on under their princess dresses, with hoods up, and loaded them into the wagon with a Halloween themed blanket.
We made it to about ten houses. It was early enough that not a lot of other kiddos were out yet, but the sky still had some light. After a few houses we let the girls climb up the neighbors’ steps for the candy and they were pretty shy about grabbing candy out of the bowl. At the first house Harper grabbed a piece and threw it back in the bowl! After a house or two they didn’t want to sit back in the wagon so everyone walked a bit.
All in all, nothing too exciting, but everyone was a good sport. I’m sure we will be wearing Halloween outfits over the next week or two as new daily apparel.
We ended the night playing downstairs and snacking on some popcorn and ice cream. And, who remembers this spinning toy from waaay back in the day!? I found it at the consignment sale and the girls think it is quite hilarious. They don’t understand how to turn themselves on it…but definitely insist we push it for them.
The Douglets 