Halloween Costumes

Halloween is a brand new subject for Jeb, and the girls still don't have a great grasp on it, which made costumes easy this year! I explained that you could dress up like animals or people, and Jeb announced that he wanted to dress up like a puppy. Vivi, his shadow, wanted to be a puppy to, and Journey yelled "a kitty!" So that was that. We used sweat pants that we already had and bought shirts. We bought a kitty set that had ears and a tail for Journey, and I made ears and tails for the puppies with faux fur and plain headbands from the craft store. I used washable marker for their face paint since I knew they'd rub it on everything. Aren't they adorable?




Jeb wanted to have white ears and very short tail



Vivi wanted black ears and 'a little bit long and short' tail

My puppies

All the animals :)

Happy Fall!

Ethiopia doesn't have autumn like we do, it's sunny and warm all year. So this was Jeb's first experience with leaves changing colors and falling to the ground, and he has been loving every minute of it! I'm so glad I was able to capture his joy so well:

We jumped in the leaves, we threw the leaves, we took pictures in the leaves,  we buried the kids in the leaves, we raked the leaves, we crammed leaves into overpriced garbage bags with jackolantern faces on them, we drove cozy coupes into the leaves. I'm calling it a successful fall day!

Journey's new ocular shell

Journey got her new painted ocular shell a few weeks ago, what a difference!

As you can see here, it is painted to look just like an eye, and the pupil is clear to give her left eye a chance to see, until she's old enough to really tell us how well that eye works. There is also a small hole drilled in the lower part of the eye for drainage.


Putting it in and taking it out is no different from the clear shell as far as how to do it, but taking it out definitely weirds me out more now, because it looks like I'm putting a suction cup in and pulling out her eyeball!

"Ok baby, I put in your ocular shell!"


Here are a couple of before shots. The second one is a really good shot of her micro eye, please excuse the lunch on her face ;)

And after!

Jeb's birthday party!

We celebrated Jeb's 5th birthday with a party. It was an extra special day because it was also his first birthday celebration in America!

He's been to a few birthday parties since coming home, so he had a good idea of what things he needed. He was very specific at times :)

He doesn't like cake or ice cream, but he LOVES cinnamon rolls, so that's what he picked for his birthday treat.


Stuffing treat bags

Decorations

He was so proud that I filled a table with food just for his party

Mini cinnamon rolls for the guests

And I surprised him with a big Mickey shaped cinnamon roll for him, he loved it!

We played pin the ears on Mickey

Almost...

And had sack races, which he had played at another birthday party and was obsessed with!

He was embarrassed when everyone sang to him, but his eyes were sparkling :)


He got lots of great gifts!

And of course the whole family wore themed outfits! Eric and I got our shirts on our honeymoon to Disney World. The party couldn't have gone better, lots of friends and family, good food, and tons of fun!

Purple aids!

Journey got her hearing aids 3 weeks ago, and is doing great! She keeps them in, and can definitely tell a difference when she has them in. She always smiles when I put them in in the morning because she can hear better.

Here she is at the appointment, she had just gotten the first hearing aid turned on and put in her ear. She got really quiet and still for about 10 minutes, just listening to all the sounds. The audiologist was giving me information and telling me how to take care of them, when suddenly Journey said "Mommy...no talking!" The audiologist told me that for the first couple of days, her brain would by hyper alert because it was hearing sounds all over that she hadn't heard before. 

After she'd had them in for awhile she wanted to tell me something, but when she started to speak, it must have sounded funny to her because she started talking with a slow drawl, concentrating on every sound she made. It was really funny to hear! As we walked outside to go to the car a truck went by and she tapped her ear and said "loud! I hear a sound!"

And now, she is very proud to show them off and tell people about her 'purple aids' :)

She picked purple for the hearing aid (no surprise!) and then the part that goes inside her ear is clear with purple glitter. The yellow string attaches to the hearing aids...


And attaches with a clip to the back of her shirt so that if she is running around and one falls out, it doesn't get lost-what a genius invention!


All decked out with her glasses, ocular shell, and hearing aids. I don't even want to think about the $$ worth of equipment she has on her head!

Fall themed quiet activities

I always imagined that I would have a Montessori style play room-cute little activities in baskets lined on shelves. Pouring, scooping, sorting. But then real life happened, and Vivi, my anti-Montessori child happened. She's not one to sit quietly and scoop beads from one bowl to another-she's one to dump them on the floor and giggle at the sound they make. She never wants to do what is intended, always finding a different way to see things. Which is a good quality, but not really conducive to a shelf full of glass pitchers and 1,000 small pieces.

So I instituted 'quiet rest time toys'-toys that are kept out of reach during regular play time and are brought out during the big kids' quiet rest time (their alternative to napping), and the girls do them in the afternoons while Jeb does school work.

I found these red plastic leaves in the dollar section at Target, a box of them for $2.50. They are called 'table scatter', like for arranging among the candles on a table cloth. I don't know how many came in the box but it was enough for 2 activities and I still have some leftover. They also had white ghosts and I think purple spiders? But I thought that red leaves would last us longer than the Halloween themed ones. They also had these cute acorn bowls 2 for $1. We already owned the spoon, pitcher, green bowl, and the baskets, so for $3.50 I have 2 great themed activities that all three kids love!

Sleeping Cuties :)