Parent Snack.

Right before Thanksgiving, Alec's preschool hosts a Parent Snack in which parents are invited and we all eat snacks (applesauce, goldfish, popcorn, and Skittles) and then watch the kids do a short, quite adorable performance of singing and playing on the rhythm sticks.

(Loyal readers of the blog may feel a sense of de ja vu when looking at the pictures below because Alec wore the same exact shirt in last year's Parent Snack blogpost.  I liked last year's shirt so much that when I found it at a Gymboree outlet I bought it all over again. Last year's size: 3T. This year's size: 6. The kid grows scary fast.)

So after the snack and before the sticks performance, some of the kids were running around and generally being four years old.

I texted Dan and wrote: In case you are wondering, the kid doing the pretend Ninja fighting by himself is your kid.  And the half-inch-too-short pants he's wearing are not adding to his overall coolness factor. (See scary fast growth comment above.)

Dan's response: So proud. So proud.

It was really cute and the headdresses are always a challenge for Alec.  But he did great and wore it at the appropriate times.
And he rocked on the rhythm sticks. And good musicians are always cool.

The Ninja, the Witch, and the '80s Girl.

And before we knew it, it was Halloween.

This year we had a GI Joe Ninja (which is an unfortunate choice when you have speech issues and can't clearly say the "g/j" sound... I had to translate the answer to the What are you going to be for Halloween? question quite a few times), a witch, and an '80s Valley girl in our house on October 31st.

(When I told Michaela that girls I went to school with regularly dressed like this in Middle School- not as a costume- she kind of rolled her eyes at me.  But then again, half of what I say to her causes her to kind of rolls her eyes at me.)

In my opinion, any year I can keep Michaela from wanting to be a "sexy nurse" or "sexy vampire" or "sexy anything" is a rousing victory.

Another fun thing we did this year (and last year- a tradition is born!) was go to the house of an older couple in our church who set up an absolutely amazing Dept. 56-themed display all over their living room and dining room.  You can stand there for hours taking it all in.  Both girls brought friends this year to show it off.  Amazing.

Pumpkin carving time!  As the girls get older, they want to be in charge of more and more, and I have to admit it's kind of nice.  I drew the design on the pumpkin and I was still in charge of the knife, but they cleaned it all out and did some touch up carving with close supervision.  Overall, there was much carrying on about the guts of the pumpkin by all three kids.

Sometimes I think that Jenna is my own personal American Girl Doll and I get to dress her up for holidays and show her off.  Michaela does not let me do this anymore. Sniff.  And I can't believe that Alec will really ever let me put Halloween-themed curly hairties in his hair.

Halloween was also great this year because Dan took the two little kids out trick or treating and Jenna's best friend went with them and I got to stay home with her mom and gab the whole time.  Treat for Mommy, as well!!  They stayed out for about an hour (the weather was a bit cold and sleety) but got enough candy to declare the evening a success.  Michaela went with her usual trick or treating crowd and was successful but did not beat her record-setting haul of last year.

There's always next year, my love.

Birthdays!

With fall and all of its yumminess comes great celebrations of my big girl Michaela and my baby boy Alec.

We once again paid Michaela to not have a friend birthday party- an arrangement that we are both thrilled with- and Alec is not quite ready to have a birthday party as he can barely name any of the kids he plays with at school.  But we had a blowout family party for both of them with friends and relatives and great Italian food for everyone.  It is one of my favorite events of the year... having everyone close at hand, laughing and playing and talking and eating.  Because it is hard to find party themes that would be agreed upon by a 12 year old girl and 4 year old boy, I went with a Halloween/ black and orange theme, mostly because we've already done SpongeBob parties about three times.

Alec had a party in his preschool classroom and like his sister Jenna gave me very specific instructions about the cupcakes and decorations.  He got to wear his yellow crown all day and seemed to enjoy his school party.

For gifts, Alec asked for Legos, Legos and more Legos and was pleased with his haul.

Michaela is in middle school so school cupcakes were out of the question but since she had confirmation class that night I made cupcakes for her confirmation class.

Michaela asked for a Pandora bracelet and a birthstone charm and we were happy to get one for her.  They are so pretty and a great personal gift.

My mom had little birthday celebrations with presents and cake at her house for each birthday child.  My kids love these mini-parties because she always gets them great stuff and makes them feel special!

 

All in all, we enjoyed great celebrations of two great kids!

Alec J. Libutti, Soccer Star.

Well, not quite.

While it is indeed true that we signed him up for soccer this fall, calling it "playing soccer" was a bit of a stretch.

What he did do- quite repeatedly and with great gusto- was wave and wink to us fans on the sidelines, making us laugh and smile.  What he didn't actually do was kick the ball, pass the ball to another teammate, score any goals, ever have possession of the ball, or really understand what EXACTLY he was doing out there.

But man, he looked cute.  He would run around with the other kids, usually a foot or two behind the pack (no need to actually come in contact with anyone!) and any time he sensed he was near us, he would point and wave like he was the Grand Marshal of the Bethlehem Rec Soccer Parade.

He would cycle out so he could rest and drink his iced tea out of his Thomas the Tank Engine water bottle.   He usually distainfully skipped the halftime oranges but always enjoyed the post-game popsicle.  But he did it and generally had fun.  We were really proud of him.

A Quite Tardy Birthday Letter to my Big Girl.

Dear Michaela,

Happy 12th birthday, my sweet girl! As I look back at the last 12 months of living with and loving you, the overarching theme of being your mom was this: you are FUN.  You are a fun kid.  You are profoundly funny and have a well developed sense of humor.  You love to make us laugh (even when you don't mean to) and always watch our faces carefully to see the reaction you were looking for. You watch funny shows, look at funny blogs, and seek out entertainment everywhere.

You are on the cusp of being a teenager and we can see all the changes happening in you.  You grew three and a half inches this year (finally!) and your doctor says you have plenty of growing still to do.  Looks like my wish of you standing at least five feet tall will come true after all.  Your face is getting more grown up, you were horrified at the first little zit that showed up (and yes, despite your dramatic reaction, it was very little), and your promptly outgrew all of your clothes once school started.  Best of all, the mood swings started that cause your father and I whiplash: you are our little, regular, happy ol' Mimi one minute and a silent, brooding, defeatist force of miserableness the next.  And then, just as quickly, something helps you snap out of it and you are back to your old self again.  It's mesmerizing, really.

We are getting a better sense each year of who you are as a person and what a joy you are.  You do very well in school and do even better if I am 100% on top of you from the quarter's start to finish.  You have really lovely friends and a wide variety of them.  You seem to want to be a good girl, which makes me happy.  You still enjoy Girl Scouts (even though you have clued me in that it's not entirely cool anymore to be a Girl Scout), and enjoyed playing softball in the spring and fall.  You love all things popular culture but seem to be able to separate bad messages from good messages. I think you know more bad words and more grown up things than I think you know, but you indulge me into thinking you are more innocent than you actually are. (And I thank you for that, as well.  I don't need to know everything.) What makes me happiest is that you appear to have a good sense of self and can let things easily roll off your back, which was a skill I am not sure I have developed as an adult quite yet.  I think, so far, we've done pretty well together.

You are a wonderful sister to Jenna and Alec and are a huge help to me in lots of ways.  You were a tremendous source of comfort to me this summer and I am thrilled to see that you seem to have taken everything in stride.  Best of all for me, you demanded in the kindest way possible that I still be your mom and be present and take care of things when all I wanted to do was stay in bed.  Thank you.

I am grateful for you in so many ways.  I am grateful that you are the joy that you are; I am grateful that you still want to lay down with me; I am grateful that you still want to be my favorite kid.  I am grateful that you still talk- really talk- to me.  I am grateful that we still have the same connection we have always had, even if its only for a few more months or years or however long it is until you decide that I am, in fact, a complete dork and idiot.  I know that day is coming.  Like a freight train barreling towards us.

But for now, know how much I love you and cherish you.  Yes, you are intense and exhausting and a force and full of energy and ideas and suggestions, but I wouldn't change one little detail about you. Those qualities are all what makes you Michaela.  They make you the awesome daughter that you are.

Be safe this year, be well, grow in every way possible, and be confident in my unwavering love for you.

Love, Mom