So many parties, so little time

We at the Libutti house had a jam packed weekend, full of fun and exciting events! Our weekend kicked off with the arrival of the Winterhoffs- our former Pastor and his wife Linda- to my parents' house on Friday night. We were sooo happy to see them and the girls had a ball talking and playing with them. We ate yummy snacks made by my mom and the girls polished off all the red Lindt balls (red= milk chocolate) and left all the blue ones (blue= dark chocolate... not as pleasing to the unsophisticated two and six year old palate) from the bowl my mom had put out. We visited and laughed and generally had a great time.
The next morning was supposed to be Michaela's last soccer game but since it was pouring out, the game was cancelled and we just had our end of the season pizza party instead. The players were thrilled to get their trophies- a soccer player kicking a ball and the joints really move! The kids had fun running around afterwards (helped by the Popsicles, cupcakes, cookies and lollipops we gave them) while the parents talked and then we all wished each other well until next season. By April, when the Spring session starts, two of the moms will have new babies so we are all anticipating that.
After the party we went back to my parents' house to spend time with the Winterhoffs. Michaela read a Curious George book to Linda and Pastor showed the girls magic tricks to their great delight. "How do you DO that???" For dinner we all met with about 15 other people from church at Mercato's and had a nice dinner. One of the couples at the dinner offered to have dessert at their house so the plan was we three would go home and M would stay with my parents, having weaseled her way into a sleepover. As we were walking across the parking lot, Jenna started wailing, "Gammie... wait for me!! Wait for me!!" and sounded so pathetic that we decided to go to the dessert party as well. We had lots of fun... the girls loved checking out a new house, Danny watched football and baseball games, and I talked with friends. Perfect.
Sunday brought Sunday School and church and Sara and Moe's baby boy Ryan was baptized during the service. I love watching baptisms- such a special event. Ryan was perfectly behaved and didn't say a peep. During the service, I was able to look over and see Pastor and Linda there and it felt so comfy and nice!! After the service, we went to a beautiful luncheon at Normanside, where we had my dad's surprise b'day party and Beth's baby shower. It was so fun and yummy, too... as soon as we walked in, there was a huge tray of chocolate chip cookie bars. That's my kind of party! We had a great time and the kids were all having a blast together. The only sad part was saying goodbye to Pastor and Linda. :(
We brought Michael Strauss home with us for a playdate and made brownies and did some Halloween drawings in the afternoon while Dan raked leaves outside. At one point, all the kids were jumping in the piles... you know, 'helping' Dan. Then the rest of the Strauss clan came over for a quick and child-friendly dinner of hot dogs and tater tots (I didn't say it was healthy) and then we all went to the Annual Kleinke Barn Party!!
Michael was Superman, Aidan was a knight, and Michaela was a black cat... Jack and Jenna chose to go costume-free. The Barn Party is something we look forward to every year... we have pictures of Michaela and Michael as toddlers all dressed up. They have goodies and face painting and games and cider doughnuts and a hayride around their cornfields (complete with scary grandchildren who hide in the corn and say "Boo!") and lots of fun Halloween-themed decorations and toys. It's just so much fun.
By eight o'clock, we were totally pooped so we headed home to warm baths and our jammies. The kids were dead asleep by 9:30pm. I took tons of pictures, of course, and I will post some highlights soon!

Pumpkin picking!

These are pictures from a few weeks ago, when Dan and I took the girls to a local farm that sells beautiful pumpkins. The farm is a mile or two up the road from our house and when we go there it is hard to believe we live so close to such a pretty place. It is run by an older man, seen in the pictures, who hand-washes each pumpkins he sells to you. The girls had a great time running around and preferred smaller pumpkins to larger ones. We have gone for a few years now and get excited when we see him put his signs up around town in the fall saying the pumpkins are ready!

Halloween Costume- First Attempt

This is Jenna as Elmo... a costume she picked out and has obviously changed her mind about. I think we're going the Princess route instead. I think it's the hood that freaked her out.

Language Development

After listening to Geoff and Giselle's wedding CD for about 9 months straight, the girls have finally branched out in their car- riding music. We did listen to The Roches' Moonswept CD for a few months and now are in the interesting mix of songs from the Disney Princess CD and Dan's Jock Rock CD. (Sometimes the transition between the Aladdin and Jasmine's "A Whole New World" and James Brown's "I Feel Good" can be a bit jarring.) Jenna likes to request songs as well and sometimes it is a challenge to figure out what she's saying. She uses y for l, can't say s, k, and uses the d sound alot. She really likes the Jasmine songs and will say "Dammin!" when she wants to hear one. For the longest time, Dan and I thought she was saying "Dammit! Dammit!" in the back seat and couldn't understand what she was so upset about.

In a similar vein, Michaela overheard Dan say a bad word that starts with s and ends with t while watching a Yankees playoff game (who can blame him?) a few weeks ago. She promptly went downstairs where he was ironing and said, "Daddy, shickt is not a nice word."

Walking to Soccer Practice: Part II

On Friday the weather here was not great... threatening skies and cold, damp wind. I checked a few times to see if the soccer practice would be cancelled, but since it's run by men, it was still on (Ohhh....cheap shot! But I did discuss this with a friend of mine and she agreed AND had proof: their son's t-ball league was run by a woman and they would not play if the weather looked bad).
We trudged out there, Michaela and Jenna and I, with jackets and chairs and water bottles and blankets. After forty five minutes, it was raining pretty hard... hard enough for 6 year olds to put their hands up in front of their faces to shield themselves from the cold rain. We packed up our stuff and headed back.
This is the scene: I am carrying my chair on one shoulder, holding Jenna so we can make it home before sunrise, holding the umbrella which twice blew inside out like you see in cartoons (I didn't know umbrellas really did that!) in between my chest and Jenna's chest, carrying two full water bottles in my front pockets of my sweatshirt, carrying a fleece blanket, and every 15 steps or so picking up one of Jenna's shoes that had fallen off. Yes, Jenna had chosen to wear her Dora the Explorer play clogs which are too big for her, so every time we took a big, hard step or swerved to avoid a puddle, I and the umbrella, blanket, chair, waterbottles and 25 pound child had to bend down to retrieve it. After this happened twice, I shoved the shoes in my pockets as well.

Needless to say, I brought the BIG stroller to the game on Saturday morning. Lesson learned.