Thursday, October 31, 2013

Halloween

We had a quiet, stay-at-home Halloween this year. That did not dampen our evening, though. Harper and I carved our pumpkin (thank you Schmidts!) and toasted the seeds while we waited for Brad to come home from work. After dinner we had cookies, popped some popcorn and enjoyed It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown in costume while Harper savored her sole lollipop. Then it was (relatively) early off to bed.    


Our "scary" pumpkin. Harper was very specific about the design. She wanted an exact replica of a school drawing.

Harper insisted on going as "Dinosaur Bones," which I interpreted as "An Articulated Dinosaur Skeleton Exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History." She is an Apatosaurus and Will is a Tyrannosaurus Rex (obviously). I was going to go as the museum curator and make wall plaques for them but never got it together. Stupid sleep deprivation.

Dinosaur cuddles.

Sometimes simplicity is just what the doctor ordered. Have a wonderfully spooky Halloween from the Bookers!


Sunday, October 27, 2013

Fall Festivities

So today we went to this:


We were lucky enough to be able to coordinate with all of the parents from our Mommy/Daddy/Toddler playgroup and everyone, including the spouses, showed. The kids have all been friends since they were just a few months old so they really miss one another if they don't get to see each other on a regular basis. After a crazy summer it was so much fun to catch up and spend the day together.

All by herself!

Harper had a ball. There was face painting (an owl on Harper's cheek to match her owl T-shirt), pony rides (which Harper is becoming an expert at), a bounce house (two trips), an extensive exotic petting zoo (everything from an agouti to a zorse), some sort of barrel-train, a picnic lunch and the day ended with a hay ride. In the end we were too pooped to hit up the pumpkin patch, so that will have to be a separate trip later this week. It was the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon! 

Fiona, Harper, Ethan and Zoe (I cannot believe we got them to all sit still for this photo).

Now we're ready to bring on Halloween!

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Three


Today is for celebrating my wacky, sweet, creative, brilliant, adorable daughter. Happy third birthday, Harper! I am so lucky to be your mommy. You are a joy to us every day.

Brad's parents left this morning. Last night we went to the park for one last attempt at some family photos. We ended up with a couple of cute ones after all.











Due to an unfortunate camera incident I’m still getting the photos from the Birthday Extravaganza together, so the official party post will have to follow. In the meantime, please enjoy two anecdotes featuring our favorite toddler.

***
Harper likes to do everything her best friend, Zoe, does.  I mean everything, including following her into the bathroom at potty time.  So Harper and I had a talk about how using the bathroom is something you do by yourself because going potty is a private time. She really seemed to like the idea that she was doing something so special that she had to do it alone. Since then she has been informing me when she has to use the bathroom and solemnly observing what has become her new potty time ritual.

Then, last night after dinner, while Brad, my in-laws and I were enjoying some conversation around the kitchen table, Harper announced very importantly and at full volume, “I need some personal private time!” dropped her drawers and shuffled to the bathroom across the entire length of the house as fast as she could with her pants around her ankles.

I think the definitions of “personal” and “private” have eluded her.

***
This morning I walked in on Harper as she was role playing with her (exponentially accumulating) dinosaurs when the following exchange occurred.

Baby Dinosaur (yelling): “No! I do not want to clean it up!”
Mommy Dinosaur (calmly): “Do you want to go into Time Out?”
BD: “No! I do NOT want to go into Time Out!”
MD: “You have to go into Time Out.”
BD: “Not yet! I’m not ready for Time Out!”
MD: “OK. You can go to Time Out when you are ready.”

Clearly this occurred in some sort of magical fairy land because I do not recall any conversation in real life ever progressing in this manner.


Sunday, October 20, 2013

Birthday Wish

Brad's parents are visiting this week. Brad's father hadn't met Will yet and so they scheduled a trip to Florida to coincide with Birthday Weekend 2013 (more on that to come). 

The thing I want to do more than anything while they are here is get some family photos: Brad with his parents, the grandparents with the grandkids, and, especially, Brad, me, Harper and Will all in the same photo. Dare to dream, right? 

Well, here's the first installment of that dream. It is three generations of Bookers in the same place at the same time. For some reason it reminds me of Grant Wood's American Gothic (only more stoic). 





It was painful to get everyone to stand still for the pictures, and more than one participant complained about how long the process was taking. But in the end, not only did I get several usable photos, but I pestered them enough to get them to put their arms around each other (if only for one brief moment). Success! 

You can really see the family resemblance, can't you? Harper and Will are all Booker and no Bauer, at least phenotypically. So much for my so-called "dominant" traits.    

Afterward I snapped a couple of pictures of Harper showing off the pretty owl dress Nana and Pa gave her for her birthday. Isn't she adorable? I think The Year of the Three Year Old is going to be a lot of fun.  





  

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Birthday Bite

We celebrated Harper's 3rd birthday today. I took a bunch of photos but several have mysteriously disappeared off of our camera, including the blowing out of the candles and photos of the (spectacular) dinosaur cake. I am a little heartbroken. Stupid camera. 

If any of you who attended got photos would you please forward them to me? I am not above begging. 

I'll do the official birthday post in a couple of days after the conclusion of Birthday Weekend 2013 (as it will be referred to hereafter). In the meantime, here's a little taste of today's shenanigans. 


Monday, October 14, 2013

Growing

It's birthday time again! 

Harper will be three years old this week and, in celebration, Brad's parents are coming for a short visit. We are also gearing up for one heck of a party extravaganza (dinosaur themed, of course). More on that in the days to come.

In the meantime, Will continues to grow out of everything. Unless size 9-12 means nine to twelve weeks he continues to be a little on the large side. Exhibit I follows:

(Left) What Will wore home from the hospital (it was a little big on him). 
(R) What he is wearing today, 9 1/2 weeks later. 

He is also in an astonishingly good mood considering he is suffering through his first cold. As evidence I submit for your consideration Exhibits II-VIII.








Now that should ward off any case of the Mondays. Have a nice week! 

Monday, October 7, 2013

Pigtails!


I was beginning to think it would never happen, but today we were able to put Harper's hair up in pigtails! She was so stinkin' cute and proud of them and asked if I would take her picture with them in. So I took the kids out on the front porch for a couple of photos.

Seeing her today made me realize just how much of a little girl she is now... you can hardly see the baby in her at all anymore. 

She cried when I took them out at bedtime, so I had to promise her she could wear her hair in pigtails again tomorrow. 

Our lovely little girl.
 
Look how lanky she's getting! And that stance is trouble.

Making a run for it.

Little Yellow Kitty, our beloved neighborhood stray/mooch, stopped by for a quick bite.

Harper and Little Yellow Kitty have a love/hate relationship. Harper chases her around and tortures her with exuberant affection once she's caught...

... but they always work it out in the end.

Sibs.

Will was just enjoying the show.

He's happy doing just about anything so long as he's where the action is.

Don't grow up too fast, Harper.


   

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

8 Faces of Will

Will is eight weeks old today. That's TWO WHOLE MONTHS. They say time flies and boy, they are right. 

To commemorate his eight week birthday here are eight adorable photos of our baby boy. Enjoy! 


Sweet face.

"I'm not buying it."

There's a smile!

"Oh, my heart!"

Disapproving baby.

Being upside down is so scary!

He is just dying to suck his thumb but hasn't quite figured it out yet. 

Got it!

The other man in my life. (I just LOVE this picture!)