Trick or Treat!

We showed off our costumes, but that wasn't the end of our halloween. And I wanted to show of my great Pablo pumpkin (I am very pleased with myself!)
We went out trick or treating as well!

This is the first year we've taken the kids out.

Katheryn LOVED it!
She loved every single part of it.

She loved running up to the house
She loved rinigng the door bell

She loved talking to the people
She loved getting treats
And she loved that she ended up with candy!
(Which is weird, because she generally doesn't like candy)

Nick didn't care so much about the people or the door, he just wanted the chocolate!

We did about a dozen houses and then the girls (my neice Madi) wanted to go home.
No tears, no fights, no crying and just the right amount of candy.

My hero! Happy Halloween

Back in August I was trying to figure out what to do for halloween costumes.

Then it hit me! Nick's knight! What a perfect costume, or a dragon and Katheryn could be the matching princess. So I asked Katheryn (because she cares) what did she want to be for Halloween (and this is back in August - I think she thought I was nuts - I know Kyle did).

I had images of doing a dragon or horse or something with Nick's walker. Yes, I did anticipate him walking with it, back in August. Little did I know how resistant he would be! Or how much he would hate it, and trying to find the right one.
Anyways...

Katheryn decided she wanted to be a princess. Then she saw me looking over all of the dragon costumes online and changed her mind and said she wanted to be a dragon. Luckily I know my little fickle girl. The costumes arrived (online shopping - thanks ebay!) A knight costume, a princess costume and a dragon costume. Also a dragon puppet for a prop.

Katheryn wore the dragon costume a couple of times, was upset that it wasn't green - her newest favorite colour. It was red, but she didn't really agree with mommy that all dragons are green, and red dragons are special.

So she started saying, very sweetly, that she wanted to be a princess. (imagine the head tilt and sugary voice "I want to be a princess for halloween). I did have in my head that we can have the whole family halloween costumes like last year. And have a queen and king, princess and knight. Or maybe a witch thrown in there, or the dragon puppet, or something.

But Katheryn has since said that she wants Daddy to be a wall and Mommy to be a potty. Umm, thanks Katheryn. I'm not sure what is worse (actually I do - who wants to be a potty?!)

So we've tried on our costumes, we know that they are adorable and cute.
We are ready to have our first time of trick or treating. We even have the buckets all ready.

Now all I have to do is convince Katheryn that she doesn't want to be a clown!
Maybe a clown princess?

But now halloween morning, everyone is all ready to get into their costume rules!
Including saving the princess and slaying daddy-dragon!

Just clowning around!

And no, these are NOT their Halloween costumes.
Their Halloween costumes have been thought about and bought for 2 months! Including the back-up costume.

This morning when I got home from work Katheryn told me that she wanted to be a clown today. I had just bought some face paint crayons, and thought 'why not?'

The kids thought it was great!
They LOVED posing for the camera.

I was saying to them 'say HA HA HA' and then they'd face each other and say 'HA HA HA'. Of course not looking at the camera!

Then Katheryn started to pick her nose. I said 'Katheryn, don't pick your nose.' Nick looks at me - gives me one of those smiles, and then the finger starts moving up...

Well they both thought that this was hilarious! (it probably did not help that I am taking pictures AND telling them not to do what I'm taking pictures of!)

It must be so great to be a kid. Clown faces, nose picking and silly, silly giggles first thing in the morning! (Actually it's not too bad being the parent either)

Big Boy (tear!)

I know a little boy who is going to be 2 years old soon (2 weeks - eek!)
So Nick wants to show you what he got!

And when I see him on Katheryn's bed and how much he loves it, we knew that it was time.
The time for the Big Boy Bed.

You know, the one where they have a little more freedom. You can't just pull up the side rail and walk away, tell them to sleep but know that he won't climb out of bed. Nope, Kyle and I thought it was time to give Nick a little bit more freedom. To show him that he could climb out of bed if he wants to. A little independence.

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only mom who wants my kid to get into trouble. Yes climb out of bed in the middle of the night, yes grab that toy you want, yes hit your sister back (oops did I just write that).

So the Big Boy Bed is kind of major.

Katheryn thinks the bed is great! She gets to climb into bed with him, she gets to bounce on the bed with him. And he gets to bounce on the bed with her!

We came up with the best idea! How to let Nick enjoy his new bed, but still give him the freedom to get in and out with his limited mobility?
2 levels of bed. The top mattress is a twin/single. Which gives Nick lots of room. Then the foundation or boxspring is a double/full. So Nick's bed has a step! A built in step.

We actually had to order the mattress and boxspring separately so when we had the mattress we just put it right down. But we got the boxspring all set up - it looks great!

We are working on getting him to back down the step (with the plain mattress he was going down face first). And I'm hoping that the conductive education and working with the plinth (the wooden table) he is getting comfortable pushing down like that.

So far, so good. Nick has been sleeping well in it. We even let him sleep in extra the first morning so that he could wake up and get himself out of bed!
He's such a big boy! (tear)

A Face of spina bifida

Guess who was featured on Cassie's blog as a face of spina bifida!

http://themclellands.blogspot.com/2011/10/faces-of-spina-bifida-meet-brianna-and.html

Cassie asked us to write about what we wished we knew when we got the diagnosis.

I wrote about Happiness!
Something I've learned alot about!

Please take a moment to read about the other faces of spina bifida!