Conall's Harry Potter Birthday Party -- Lots of Pictures!

We had to reschedule Conall's birthday party for a week later than its original date because of ice and snow. Conall handled it much better than I expected, but after a week of "my party this and my party that" we were ready to have the party and get it over.

Conall wanted a Harry Potter birthday party, so we did our best to make it so. He was allowed to invited 10 friends, which considering the size of our house, probably was too many! Ten loud boys excited about Harry Potter is quite a sight!

We decorated the house in Harry Potterish items and in crimson and gold for Gryffindor House. We used our miniature Sorting Hat to sort the kids as they came in the door. They colored Harry Potter coloring sheets and then we moved on to the exciting part -- Stu as Dumbledore leading the boys in potion making. The boy who guessed the right number of jelly beans in the "Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans" jar got to keep the jar of jelly beans. The dry ice potion told the winner -- Conall's friend Anthony.

My friend Mandy Shoptaw has started her own photography, print and video design, and event management business. She took the photos at Conall's birthday party. If you get a chance, check out Mandy's web site.

The cake Conall asked Aunt Amy to make

Conall's cake -- chocolate frogs jumping out the Hogwarts Express window

Decorations, cauldron, and potion ingredients

The Hogsmeade banner from Conall's Mary Godmother

Waiting on Dumbledore

Calming the boys down with Harry Potter coloring sheets

Conall and his Hedwig picture

Listening to "Dumbledore"

Stu as Dumbledore

Conall and Kanton -- Kanton's birthday is a week from Conall's and he has lived next door to us since the boys were 1. Since we had to reschedule Conall's party due to the ice, his party was actually on Kanton's birthday. We had Kanton's parents bring Kanton's cake to Conall's party so we could celebrate both boys' birthdays at Conall's party.

Potions class with Dumbledore

Potions

Dumbledore putting liquid "gold" into the potion

Caitlin looking totally bored with the boys

The "potion" bubbling over

The potion bubbling with dry ice

Conall getting ready to blow out his candles

Conall climbing onto the table to blow out his candles

Conall with one of his chocolate frogs

Butterbeer (rootbeer floats)

Cheers!

Getting rid of some energy by playing outside in our yard and Kanton's

Mr. Opinionated

Conall is so opinionated -- sometimes it seems like he is a grumpy old man in a little boy's body. Of course, it also reminds me of his daddy.

Here are some of my favorites from the last few days. Add a sick, grumpy, sleep-deprived Conall and sleep-deprived parents and it gets even better.

Me: Conall, come over here and look at me when I'm talking to you. Why do you keep walking off?

Conall: You stink mommy. It stinks over here.

Conall to his daddy "Does the whole room stink or is it just you daddy?"

Conall, as we went outside to play earlier this week "I don't want to play outside" Me: "Why? We just got out here." Conall "It stinks out here. I want to go back inside"

Conall to me "You are fired mommy!"

Conall to me "I didn't have fun on the field trip today. You made me very, very sad since you didn't come."

Conall "I want you to break the door down to the school with a hammer. I'll help you." (he had to throw away his paper lunch sack and water bottle on the field trip today and he was convinced that they both were still at school.)

This is somewhat reminiscent of his daddy when he was little. He walked into Chief's barbershop (his maternal grandfather's) and told the barber "This place is a dump. You should knock it down and build a new one. Chief will help you."

A chip off the old block, don't you think?

"Inkspot Clean My Foot"

When Stu puts Caitlin to bed, Inkspot always comes and sits in Stu's lap with Caitlin. I think Inkspot is supervising since he doesn't do this with me. While they were sitting in the glider tonight at bedtime, Caitlin kept putting her finger at Inkspot's mouth and telling him to "clean my finger." When he licked her finger, she'd giggle and laugh.

Eventually, Caitlin put her foot toward Inkspot and said "clean my foot." Stu says Inkspot took his paw and pushed Caitlin's foot away. Then, the two of them glared at each other for a little while. Stu tried to explain to Caitlin that Inkspot didn't want to clean her stinky feet and was met with a glare as if to say "my feet don't stink." Either way, Inkspot didn't want to clean her foot.

Caitlin and Daddy in the Car

We are driving around town and running errands, when Caitlin kicked the back of Stu's seat REALLY hard.

Stu "Don't kick my chair Caitlin"

Caitlin "Ok. I won't. You drive."

Please Pray for Us and our Stupid Dog, Too

This is turning out to be one long, challenging, exhausting weekend. Caitlin woke up at 4 a.m. with her fever. Because it is so cold outside, the dogs were in last night. Molly kept pacing and wanting out, so I let her out to potty.

I refilled her water bowl and then went to get Molly, thinking she'd be right there wanting back in, since it is so cold. No Molly. You all know the escape artist that Molly is. I kept calling her name and looking into the dark back yard for her. I didn't see or hear anything, so I figured she'd taken off already. Caitlin is sick and has a fever and I had her to take care of.

About 10 minutes later I kept hearing a weird noise and the dogs in the neighborhood were barking. Our neighborhood is completely surrounded by woods, so at first, I thought maybe it was a wild animal. I kept hearing it. I looked outside and could see Molly trying to get back over the fence. She was stuck.

I put Caitlin down and woke Stu up, which also woke Caitlin back up. Stu went out with flashlights and came back in looking for wire cutters and asking me to call the emergency vet clinic. Molly had slipped in the snow and somehow got her leg stuck in the fence.

Stu and Molly are on their way to the 24 hour vet clinic. Molly's leg is rapidly swelling and she won't put weight on it. We think it is broken.

This really hasn't been a good weekend.

Weekend at the Cabin

Conall and his "cabin boots" -- one of my favorite pics!

Conall's school was out Friday and Monday, so Stu and I headed to the cabin this weekend with the kids. Other than trying to get Caitlin to sleep at night, which was an absolute nightmare, we had a great time!

Conall was on his best behavior and the kids actually seemed to enjoy playing together. The weather was perfect -- not too cold, not too warm.

Stu and Conall tried fishing one day, but the river was too high and the water was running too fast. We had some nice walks in the woods, saw lots of wildlife, enjoyed the fireplace at night, and just generally had some wonderful family time. Conall is already planning our next trip!

Here are some photos from the trip -- these are just highlights -- I'll put together a slideshow or post more later. Some of the photos have some funny stories that go with them.

Conall and Caitlin at a creek in the area

Caitlin on our "walk"

Starting out on the walk -- she wanted to hold my hand

Reading on the back porch with daddy -- you can see the river from here

Stu and Conall coming back from fishing
On one of the docks

Conall lining up the stuffed animals

Caitlin trying to climb up on the trundle bed

The kids looking out the side window

Walking in the Woods

On Thanksgiving, Conall got to go walk in "Inkspot's woods" with his daddy and godfather Ken. To Conall, this is by far the coolest thing he has done in some time. It is all he can talk about since and all he wants to do, day or night. He even drew a picture of the three of them walking in the woods (see below).
BTW: "Inkspot's woods" are the woods where Inkspot's feral colony used to live when he was a kitten.

Being The Bug

Here's a photo of Caitlin living up to her nickname.

Playing Football

While we were at Pop Pop's (before Halloween) Conall kept asking to play football with Daddy and Pop Pop. While I gave Caitlin a much-needed bath, they went outside to play. Conall was able to catch the ball a couple of times, which is an improvement. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a photo of that. Conall had so much fun playing that he wants to "play football" with his daddy all the time now and has started "playing" it with the boy next door, too.

Shopping with Caitlin

We took the kids to Old Navy tonight because they were having a sale on jeans and both kids really need some. Of course, the adjustable waist jeans in Conall's size were so baggy on him that it was ridiculous. On the other hand, the adjustable waist jeans in Caitlin's size fit great. They only had three in her size, so I bought all three. Grandma says Kohl's is having a sale, so I think we'll head there next for Conall -- so far, he's had to have the Levi's brand slim fit adjustable waist jeans in order to get the length he needs and to allow him to keep his pants up! I'm washing his jeans every other day, so I hope we find some more soon and that they are on sale (Levi's are so expensive).

I got sidetracked. The reason I'm writing the post is to tell you a funny story about Caitlin. She loved the shopping trip. While I hunted for the right size jeans, she found a pair of golden/taupe colored ballet style flat shoes. She wondered over to the next wrack and found a purse her size in coordinating colors. We had to carry both to the dressing room and back out, with the purse on her arm. She is so girly sometimes that it is scary. I'm afraid she'll be one of those girls who has to have everything she's wearing coordinate, which translates to expensive!

Update: Stu reminded me that after she had picked out her shoes and purse, Caitlin went over to where daddy and Conall were playing football in the store with a few other boys. Caitlin played football, too. She is definitely her own type of girl!

Pumpkin Carving

Conall's class carved a pumpkin today, which he named Thomas. He's been wanting to carve our pumpkins since he brought them home, but we have told him that we had to wait until closer to Halloween. So, when Stu came home tonight, we sat down and carved two of our big pumpkins. One of them was starting to get holes in it where rot was beginning, so we knew we had to carve it really soon or toss it.


This is the first year that Conall has actually wanted to help scoop out the seeds and goop. He also helped his daddy saw through the pumpkin (with a really small saw from the carving kit) and pull out the cut pieces. Caitlin really wanted to help, so I put her to work sorting out pumpkin seeds with me. The camera battery died just as we got the first pumpkin open, so I don't have any photos from beyond that. But, that's ok, because Aunt Amy is planning on coming over tomorrow after work to help carve the other large pumpkin and maybe one or two of her own.

Conall making a funny face while talking about pumpkin guts

Caitlin looks a bit in awe, doesn't she?

Conall digging out the pumpkin insides

Caitlin trying to figure out what they are doing and help

Caitlin beginning to sort pumpkin seeds, she tried to eat this one

Closer to Being Well

Conall is closer to being well. He had a little fever today, but it was lower. He took a long nap this afternoon. He is as grouchy, bossy and nasty as he's been through all of this, but the negative is diminishing. Of course, now he thinks he needs to test us to see if the rules still apply. And, he wants to be babied to a ridiculous extent. But, he is getting better and nothing major (other than his attitude) is wrong with him.

Unfortunately, Stu now thinks that he is getting sick. I really hope not. Other than the obvious not wanting my husband to be ill, I'm also at the end of my rope as far as patience goes and really need a break. I've been looking forward to the weekend and knowing that someone else would be around to help. I'm hoping it is just the lack of sleep and stress we've had all week that is affecting him. Please pray that no one else in our family get this stuff and that we stay well for awhile. We really need it.

Puppies

Caitlin has a new favorite movie. We checked out the Disney animated version of 101 Dalmatians at the library last week when we were there for story time. Caitlin loves the movie! She calls it "puppies."

When we watch it, she makes comments. When Cruella (the villainess) comes driving up in her car, Caitlin says "uh oh, car" or "uh oh, car crash" or "mean." When the thugs throw something or break something, she says "uh oh" or "oops!" She gets worried about the puppies when the bad guys are around and says "puppppiiiiieees" and runs up to the screen to make sure they are okay. I have as much fun watching her watch the movie as she has watching it.

Today she was feeling really bad when she brought me the DVD box.
Caitlin: "Puppies."
Me: "Yes, puppies"
Caitlin: "Watch puppies"
Me: "We've already watched that today"
Caitlin: "Want to watch puppies"
Me: "You want to watch it again?"
Caitlin, very firmly "Want to watch puppies."
Of course, we watched puppies.

Stu asked me today when it was due back. I told him it was a library movie, not a rental. He said, yes I know that, but when is it due back? I told him we had it for another 2 weeks, which is what he said he was afraid of. I have to admit that I'm getting a little tired of the movie, especially since we've watched it so much while Caitlin and I have been sick. But, she is so cute when she watches it!

Sick Again

Stu got a cold a few weeks ago and has been battling it ever since. Last week, he went to the doctor and the only helpful thing that came of it was a prescription for nighttime cough syrup. The doctor was convinced it was viral. Stu kept getting worse and worse and worse, so he went back yesterday and the doctor admitted it was an infection. He gave him a steroid shot and a prescription for antibiotics but was told to wait about a day and a half to see if he felt better from the shot before taking the antibiotics. Seriously, when did the medical community get so afraid of over-using antibiotics that they don't want someone with an active infection to take them?
Anyway, I now have his cold. On top of the sinus infection I had two weeks ago that didn't go completely away with my antibiotic (yes, I took all 10 days of it). I'm just praying the kids have already had this stuff and kicked it (they've both had some drainage issues the last week or two). It is 2 a.m. and I can't sleep because of the stuffy nose, drainage and cough. I so don't want my kids to get this.

A Chip Off the Old Block

There are times that Conall is so much like his daddy that it scares us all. Today was one of those days.

Stu and the kids went to the park this afternoon. Conall found a little boy who was about 7 to play with. The only problem is that the boy kept pestering Conall and telling him "you can't run faster than me" or "you can't go down the slide before I can" and other such "you can't" comments. Stu said he kept watching Conall to see how he handled it, and Conall took it in stride and kept on playing.

Next thing Stu knew, he looked over to see Conall standing at the top of the slide with his pants around his ankles and peeing down the slide. Stu immediately got onto to Conall for doing this and told Conall to come to him right away. Conall ignored his daddy and ran up to the older kid and said "I bet you can't go down the slide faster than I can." Before Stu could open his mouth, the other kid went down the slide Conall peed on and came back fanning the back of his shirt off asking when it had rained.

Making Applesauce at School

Conall's class has been studying apples this week. They asked the kids to bring four apples with them this week to use for counting, crafts and making applesauce.

The teacher asked for parents to volunteer to come help make applesauce with the class today. So, Stu watched Caitlin for an hour this morning while I went to the school to help out. Things ran really smoothly and the applesauce was put into a pot to cook all day. The kids get to eat it at snack time this afternoon.

Conall cutting up apples for the applesauce

The Princess Rides in the Car Cart

Yesterday evening, all four of us loaded up for a quick trip to the grocery store. Conall ran into the store, past the pumpkins (can you believe it?), looking for a car cart. There wasn't one with the other carts. He started to get upset and Stu went to the other door to look for one. There wasn't one and Conall proceeded to have a fit, so Stu left with him and took him to the car.

Caitlin and I used a regular cart and started our shopping. We were at the end of the aisle when I heard Caitlin say really loud "Hi Conall, Hi Conall, Hi Conall!" with all the exuberance of a little sister. Stu and Conall had come back into the store and Conall was riding in a car cart. We switched Caitlin to the car cart with Conall and finished our shopping.

As we were leaving, Conall was "driving" the cart. Caitlin started saying "Bye" to the checker and the store. She kept waving, without even looking back, like a little princess on a float at a parade. It was so cute! She is just the happiest little girl.

Being Goofy with Daddy

Playing Candyland

One of Conall's favorite games is Candyland. We usually play it when Caitlin is napping or in bed for the night. The other night, Daddy thought we ought to all play the game together. After the kids took their bath, we set the game up. Stu's plan was for him to hold Caitlin while the rest of us played the game. Caitlin had other ideas and was soon put in the playpen. Here are the photos from before she was put in the playpen.

Blue Car and Moon

Conall drew with daddy's watercolor pencils and his art markers today. He even got to use his daddy's big art board to draw on. He drew our car. The black area on it is a door to go in and out. He also drew a road for it. Then, he wanted to draw night, so he drew the black area at the top and the moon in the sky.
Because the picture is actually an 8.5 x 11, if you click on it you can see it larger and get a better idea of what it looks like.