Happy (belated!) Halloween

Last week was Halloween, and the kids had a lot of fun deciding what they wanted to dress up as this year. Thankfully, we spent less than $10 on costumes this year! Oliver wanted to be a spy, which was easy since he already had camouflage pants, Buttercup wanted to be a cowgirl, and Theodore ended up wearing two costumes that we already had from previous years. :-)

At some point, we realized that this was the first year that Buttercup chose to dress in a girl-specific costume -- in previous years, she was a lion, a robot, Thomas the Tank Engine, and Luigi (from Super Mario Brothers).  Ha ha!  

The kids decorated foam pumpkins with Halloween stickers and glitter this year, and I love all of them, but I think my favorite is this eyeball-covered pumpkin that Theodore decorated! He loved the googly eyes and he even found an eyeball sticker to add to his decorations! 

 We also decorated more mini pumpkins. This one of Buttercup's is my favorite -- it reminds me of a globe. :-)

And we also made mummies out of mini pumpkins. I think they came out really cute! 

Easter egg hunt

This morning we had our egg hunt at home!  Oliver and Buttercup were so excited and couldn't wait until it was time to get started. This year we decided to do 3 separate egg hunts for the kids. We started with Theodore first, and he was so excited to hold his basket that at first he didn't even care about looking for eggs. :-)  

We put his eggs out in the open, but he needed some help from his sweet big brother to find the last two. :-)

After Theodore found all of his eggs, it was Tootie's turn! She made short work of hers, although she did need some help finding a few of them. :-) (I don't know why I have so few pictures of her!)

Then it was Oliver's turn. Dennis and Granddaddy hid them very well and made him work for his eggs! It's fun that we get to use good hiding places for him. :-)

Toward the end of the egg hunt, I noticed a ladybug in the grass. Theodore came over to investigate it and poked it with his chubby little finger . . . 

. . . and then he stomped on it. :-/

Dyeing Easter eggs

This week I bought some cute Easter egg decorating kits at Target, and the kids couldn't wait to use them! This morning we were at home by ourselves, so it was the perfect time to test them out. :-)

(This was the first year that Oliver and Buttercup pretty much took care of the egg-dyeing by themselves, with very little supervision! This was also the first year that I finally got wised up and used a towel to protect our countertop . . .)  

I can't believe how tall they both are now. Neither of them needed a step stool this year. :-(

To my surprise, Theodore didn't ask to be involved with the egg-dyeing process! He was content to watch and smile for the camera. :-)

I did end up giving him an egg to hold, which he thoroughly enjoyed. 

This is when he tapped the egg on my camera lens, ha ha!

And . . . this is right before he threw the egg across the kitchen and then threw a massive tantrum because I wouldn't give him another one. :-)

Imagine these next few pictures with a screaming toddler in the background . . .

This is one of Buttercup's eggs. :-)

These next two are Oliver's eggs. It's interesting how Buttercup was so careful about making her eggs look exactly like the ones in the picture, and Oliver was more abstract with his. :-)

This is one of the eggs that Oliver dyed. I'm not sure how it ended up looking like this, but it was really neat! He wanted to save it as long as he could (before it went bad), but then he dropped it on the floor, so it ended up being the one that he ate first. :-)

Buttercup's finished eggs.

Oliver's finished eggs.

Christmas pictures!

Our Christmas, in pictures!

Dennis made us yummy fried eggs, bacon, and sausage on Christmas morning. Oliver said the eggs were so good, they tasted like chocolate. :-)  

The tree, before:

Getting ready to open gifts:

During:

I didn't take an "after" picture, but there were 7 kitchen-sized trash bags full of wrapping paper and empty boxes after we were finished opening presents!! 

The kids really enjoyed their gifts! Grandma and Grandpa gave Theodore this ride-on giraffe, which he LOVES.

Grandma and Grandpa also gave Buttercup this Baby Alive doll, and she was so excited when she opened the package! We learned pretty quickly that you have to hold the doll just right when you give her a bottle, otherwise the liquid will leak out of the baby's head, instead of going into the diaper like it's supposed to. Just like a real baby! Ha ha ha. :-)

Dennis and I gave Oliver a snap circuit set this year. Dennis (and Aunt Anna!) helped him figure out how to get started, and since then he's been working on the projects by himself! He pretty much spent all of Christmas putting things together -- either with his circuit set, or with Legos. :-) 

  

(Theodore has gotten used to my big camera.) :-)

Dennis and I gave Buttercup this cat family to go with her dollhouse. :-)

Of course, we had to decorate more cookies on Christmas! The kids were decorating these for our sweet neighbor. 

Watching Elf, for the 40th time. :-)

 This is a toy that Oliver had been wanting for a while, a remote-control vehicle that can travel on any surface and even in water! It was pretty chilly outside with a steady wind, but of course that didn't deter Oliver from going outside to test it out. In flip flops. :-)

We all ended up outside in the late afternoon, and the wind was very strong and very chilly!!!! Buttercup's face sums it up: 

Oliver was pretending to be blown away by the wind:

Brrrrr, and Merry Christmas!