Happy Halloween?

This Halloween was more challenging than the last few.  But in the end we have some great memory moments that outweigh the challenging ones.  Having two mobile kids who both have opinions and need attention leaves us feeling stretched in any activity or crowded events, but especially hit us this year around Halloween.

Our trick or treat times actually began two weeks ago.  It led to two late nights of mom sewing hems for ironman and repairing a butterfly hat early in october.  but it was nice to have their costumes set and ready, long before the actual halloween.

Harry, 15 months, Truck or Treat 2012
Wheaton, IL

We took the kids and met friends at a well run even out in the suburbs.  I was not feeling well, like basically sick on the couch the two days before.  So why would I drive the boys 40 minutes west, on a friday night with costumes?  Because I still can.  I am very conscious this year, as I apply and work hard to find a job, that I may not have too many more holiday and family nights where my schedule is up to my energy and effort and not a business clock.  I was grateful, even feeling icky, to take them to touch trucks and snowplows, meet super heroes and run around.

Halloween weekend 2012 began early with the annual Oak Park Halloween parade.  Its actually a two block long walk, followed by way crowded stores getting hounded by hundreds of trick or treaters.  but its always fun to meet up with friends for a kid photo. and nice to have harry in the shots this year.

Oak Park, IL 2012 Halloween parade

The parade morning was the first time where the harry/jude demands hit us. Jude wanted to keep up with his friends but harry needed a chance to walk/toddle/fall, out of his stroller.  Which means he moves 2 miles an hour and turns around a lot.  Greg and I tried to split the parent duties but we were unprepared to make coordinated communication decisions early on a cold morning.  Eventually we figured it out and both boys had some fun moments.  at one point butterfly harry was mobbed by several women from the local nail salon with cameras.  He seemed to take it all in stride.

Halloween itself began with a visit from Grandma Carole and Grandpa Chuck.  We took Jude to his preschool for their 'parade' and trick or treating.   The weather here is cold and windy. and the parade proved to be a freezing, frustrating trip around campus.  Jude wanted to go home and so did we, but we stuck it out to trick or treat a few offices.  Eventually letting the grandparents and harry sit in the warmth while we visited another building.  We are really happy with jude's preschool experience and the love and encouragement his teachers provide. But the group outing was a lot for us and the baby.

after recovery time the 'actual' halloween began...or so we thought.  somehow jude kept saying halloween only started at night and got teary eyed when we told him, this IS halloween.  yes four for jude was a challenge today.  he refused to put on his costume and happily passed out candy instead.  eventually he joined harry and kara outside, but not in a costume.  fortunately ironman jude reappeared for our trip the garfield park conservatory.

ironman meet snake, creatures of the night
garfield park conservatory 2012

We had a great experience with a halloween outing about 4:15pm. usually we are inundated with trick or treaters, so it was a nice change. and what a cool time we had.  garfield park conservatory, on the city's west side, brought in live animals amid the plants and water.  jude held a snake, touched a bat, saw a wolf up close, held a millipede, and looked at many other creatures.  even harry got in on the fun.

Harry, 15 months, Garfield park conservatory
Halloween 2012

We ended the night with an early dinner at Inspiration Kitchens. This amazing spot is right down the street from the conservatory.  The restaurant provides economic opportunity through job training and even housing for people from the neighborhood.  can i just mention how amazing the food was again?

glad for the fun memories and glad some of the halloween challenges are over.

Happy Halloween from the oak park baby and the millers.

a treat for trips

a quick note about my new favorite snack for our adventures.  I buy them ahead of time, and at $3 it is usually cheaper than buying treats at our destinations.

the Disney Foodles Crunch Paks (Foodles) come in mickey mouse shaped trays.  we can usually find one with grapes, apples and cheese, or apples, cheese and pretzels at our local store.  

Disney Foodles Crunch Pak

I've taken foodles to museums all over chicago.  I also find they are great for airplane rides.  The mouse tray is a fun treat for jude and the cheese is pre-cut into bite sized pieces.   now if only they'd make one with chocolate and wine for me.

harry napping at MSI in the stroller

The other big news about oak park baby adventures is that harry will nap in the stroller.  we never had much luck with jude.  but i admit we tried to be home for most of his naps anyway.  

a few times a month jude and i enjoy an adventure or park while harry snoozes in the bugaboo.

sleepy baby!

I still use my nursing cover as a 'shade'.  I figure harry is very used to spending time looking at the reverse side of that pattern.

happy adventuring!

birthday boys

we are all tired and happy here in oak park after celebrating baby harry's first birthday party today!  our little man is one!  more on that tomorrow.  but first we need to share two things...or the mommy guilt may overwhelm.

mommy's laptop is back from dell.  it is on the mend but not completely fixed. the laptop loss has taken a  toll on time to blog and we temporarily lost access to our photos.  i am sorry for not keeping up to date with you but wanted to explain.

second-- i cannot blog about harry's birthday without first reporting on jude's big day (see above about mommy guilt).  he turned four in may.  as readers know i had an amazing time watching everything come together for his event.  so let me remedy the delay now. i promise to share harry details tomorrow.

come with me back to may when dinosaurs invaded our backyard. along with a bounce house.

birthday boy

it was triceratops vs t rex on the cake.  i pulled some ideas from a circus cake on parents.com.  here in no particular order are the top ways i learned not to mess up a cake:

1. circus peanuts

those cheap candies make great boulders or blocks on cakes. the peanuts also made a great support for the frosting waterfall.

2. food spray paint.  

i coated the boulders with my other new favorite cake decorating product- food spray paint.  it made them look old and the rest of the cake have grass.

birthday cake wars: triceratops vs t rex 

3. the crumb coating

after minutes of expert research online i learned the magic of crumb coating the cake.  bake the cake then freeze it. pull the frozen cake out and spread a thin layer of frosting over the entire thing.  work fairly quickly or it may thaw and get more crumbly.  put the crumb coated cake back in the freezer.  later you can take it out and put a thicker, pretty frosting layer on it. it sticks like glue and tiny cake crumbs do not get into your pretty frosting layer.  also when i frost i now run the spatula right off the top edge a little, leaving a glob of frosting.  then i smooth the globs straight down the side. it makes a nicer top edge.

dinosaur cake after candles out and wishes made

note, party hats are very popular with the four-year-old set. i was unprepared and only had a few grabbed from our storage box. there were tears.  don't let this happen to you.

jude's triceratops party had guests digging for fossils.  i found a great kit from lakeshore learning DinoDigKit.

digging for fossils!

for jude the most popular activity was the bouncy house.  the picture below shows how and his two friends from preschool spent most of their time.

wrestlemania

we had a quiet book corner with stories on dinosaurs (thanks oak park library). this is also about the only picture we captured of harry that day.

and then there is the pinata. learn more about how amazing finding this green and orange triceratops was in the earlier post here:  the pinata story   it was a hit!

one of the cute moments came just after kids had their turn to take a swing.  jude's friend owen told his mom this was the best birthday party ever! (probably because at three and four, most of them haven't seen a pinata, let alone been encouraged to hit something really hard with a stick with the goal being to break it!)

dino bites

we also served pizza and tyson dinosaur nuggets.  to boost the health factor i added a big bowl of apples, some grapes and carrots to the table.

it was a fun day for our four year old.  he is still enjoying the generous gifts and fun memories.

now for the hardest part-- opening the packaging on toys

harry's turn

it is amazing to watch another person learn to stand on their own.  here in oak park, baby harry is flying through stand up school on a self directed, very focused mission.  unfortunately he's also a frequent student in the school of hard knocks.  learning to get down is the hard part.

now i pull up high

each day he seems to grab and go up somewhere new.  yesterday morning he did an elaborate pop up with his hands through midair to grab the coffee table top.  this is both terrifying and fun to watch.  you see kid number one took his time, a long time to crawl, pull up, basically move.  harry is now happy to help himself to anything he can grab. and by help himself...we mean stick it in his mouth.

speaking of mouth, check out the drool drop on this chin!

drool face

we finally have two more teeth popping out on top after weeks of heavy downpours.

harry is already starting to reject baby food sometimes.  he loves pasta, cheerios and soft vegetables.  i hope for his sake more teeth arrive soon to match his desire for independent eating.

as for the rest of our house, our favorite four year old resumed summer preschool this week. he proudly told everyone about his three birthday parties.   a simple one at preschool where mom brought in a train cake that the class helped make, the kid pinata one, and a nice time with the grandparents and uncle todd.  kara has an article due next week so its been difficult but necessary to delay the posts from florida and the birthday bashes.  but here's a quick look at the aftermath.

yup that's one tired out partying dinosaur. he had to stand on two cakes

I am happy to say that the miller movie night tradition is back on. tonight it was the muppet movie and dominick's take and bake pizza.  we loved the film.  jude however is still trying to understand what the bad guy wanted to do to kermit and his friends.

raise your glass

the miller family journeyed back to ye old times.  in one of the better "hey honey i have to do this thing for work" moments, greg took kara and jude to medieval times for the matinee lunch and show.  i am an adventure person so i was excited.  and i will say, i really enjoyed the experience.

our knight is the red and yellow knight

jude began the two hour castle visit a bit overwhelmed, refusing to wear the crown for at least the first hour. and definitely not eating our dragon legs, i.e. chicken.

is this ok?

the medieval riders delivered a fun show with an impressive mix of lights, music and sparking sword fights.

our medieval crowns 

our medieval meal

we attended the educational matinee program. so they spent the first several minutes explaining the history of knights, using colored lights, and axe and sword wielding guys to help kids pick the right answers.  the rest of the show included jousting, lots of horses, sword fighting and of course a fight against the bad guy and his evil henchmen.

go blue knight go!

now...if only greg could work for the harry potter world at universal......well a girl can hope.

i don't remember the boom

they say march comes in like a lion, out like a lamb. the weather has been kind. but life is roaring for the millers this week.

what began as a road trip with two kids to grandpa henry and grandma nancy, ended with a totaled car and a trip to the er.

be assured both boys are ok. in fact here is mr harry this morning, trying his high chair for the first time.

seven months of yummy

we already see his personality shining through. harry wants to help with the spoon, something jude never did. contrary to expectations, high chair does not = less messy eating than bumbo.

wearing my carrot apricots with pride

jude is also fine post crash. here's our handsome boy wearing lace-up shoes for the first time. note: he had nothing to do with tying them. but its a start...

jude dude

we recently cut his hair much shorter. our 3 1/2 year old still looks handsome. but the shorter do should save on the frequent haircuts required to keep his longer locks tamed.

so here's how we spent our saturday night.

after the accident

one minute you're driving along, discussing how you can dinner splurge with your gift card, the next minute your vehicle is sliding across the highway on black ice. kara was in the passenger seat. thankfully she doesn't remember the boom.

one week later she has a multi-colored black eye with bruises of various shades along the left side of her face. the ribs are still sore, but everything will heal.

the car, the chevy blazer that joined us a few years after moving from new york, is no more.

the search for a new car is unexpected and unwelcome. but at least we are finding fascinating moments in it--who knew every car now has dual air controls?

here's hoping the lions go away for the rest of march.