happy halloween!

I suspect this year is one of the last years -- if not the last year -- that I'll be able to persuade the boys to do themed costumes.* So we made the most of it with one of their favorite subjects: Mario Bros. Liam and (especially) Max love all things Mario. They know all the names of all the creatures, they discuss what happens at each level of the game (even when they're not playing it!), they draw pictures of the various levels. Their love affair with Mario dates back to last Christmas, when I got New Super Mario Bros. Wii as a gift. And even Henry loves it. Whenever we turn it on, as soon as he hears the first few bars of the music, he perks right up and starts making the excited noises that he usually reserves for cat sightings.


So this year we were beyond excited to find a Mario costume in Max's size. A couple weeks later, we went back, and they had a single Luigi costume -- in Liam's size! Perfect. The only thing left was to figure out Henry's costume since the only other pre-packaged Mario character costume was Princess Peach (we tried to talk Klaudia into getting that one, but she was having none of it). And then my mom came to the rescue again. We decided on the character Toad (a mushroom man who is a servant to Princess Peach and often assists Mario and Luigi) and I printed out some pictures. Then Marlene worked her magic, and a few days later, we had a wonderful little Toad hat and vest to go with his basic white shirt and light tan pants. Perfect!



Of course, when the big night came, it got pretty cold, so we had to rethink Toad for that part of the trip. Instead, Henry wore Max's old monkey costume, which was nice and warm and had a hood. We walked around trick-or-treating for about half an hour, then Max abruptly decided that he was done with all the walking and just wanted to sit at home and hand out candy to other kids. I was flying solo because Mike had a mandatory weekend work shift (boo!), but luckily I worked out a trade with Laura: Liam accompanied her, Kelsey, and Emma, while Max and Henry stayed home with me and cousins Jimmy and Gracie. And everyone was perfectly happy, except for poor Charlie,** who did not enjoy the comings and goings of so many strangers. After a while, Jan*** and the Holiday kids dropped by, and once the official trick-or-treat time ended, we headed to Grandpa's house for one last treat for the night.



On actual Halloween, we went trick-or-treating to Bethany's house, where the boys collected sweet bags full of toys and treats, and to my mom's house, where they got non-edible but fiercely coveted Kung Zhu pets. Whew!



*Full disclosure: Liam had two costumes. He went as Darth Vader to his school's fall festival, but went trick-or-treating as Luigi.
** Charlie was persuaded a few days earlier to wear a costume of his own. That post to come.
*** Janis had the best trick-or-treat strategy ever: Head to Laura's house, then sit down and enjoy a beverage and the Notre Dame game while her kids scoured the neighborhood. Then head to my house and repeat the routine, minus the beverage and football. Genius!

vacation: all we ever wanted?

A couple of weeks ago, my aunt Chris sent out an email inviting the adults in the family to head to Vegas for a big family trip, some gambling with Grandpa. We, however, already had plans for our first-ever family vacation, so we had to decline. Chris offered me some parting advice: "You're in for a treat traveling with the brood. I speak from much experience.... Hint: you'll need a personal vacation after the vacation!"



As usual, she couldn't be more right. We packed up the people mover and set out on the 5.5-hour drive to Wisconsin Dells Thursday morning. Since Chicagoland was about at the halfway point, we stopped in Schaumburg to check out the Legoland Discovery Center, which I have to admit was pretty awesome. They had a miniature Chicago all made of Legos. Plus plenty of other impressive creations. The boys were positively giddy running from place to place. They even went on a roller coaster ride (in the middle of the building!) with Mike. We actually managed to time it just right so that we got there in time to have lunch and run around the place before it got too crowded, then got back in the car just in time for all three boys to crash out for some long afternoon naps.







So, the "resort." We booked the space suite as an extra treat for the boys, and it turned out to be, um, much less than we expected. The boys didn't seem to notice that the whole place was held together with black electrician's tape and magic marker, and they were definitely impressed by the four-person jacuzzi tub. They were more impressed with the brand-new indoor waterpark, where we spent most of the day Friday. There was a zero-depth entry where Henry and I mostly hung out (though I did manage to go down a water slide or two myself), some shallow water with fountains and squirters and tiny slides that was perfect for Max, and a big climbing area with all sorts of shooting water and different tall slides for Liam. Liam was also a big fan of the croc walk, a thing where he had to swing from pad to pad to get across a pool. We took a break for lunch (in a cafe inside the waterpark!) and then Mike, Liam, and Max went back for more watery fun while I took Henry back to the room for a much-needed nap.






On the way home, we stopped at the best possible place for lunch and a traveling break: Mark and Katie's house in Wheaton. The boys were thrilled to see Linus and Leo again, and Linus was pretty excited to have some friends to wrestle around with for a while. We let them all run around until they were wiped out again, then piled back into the van for the rest of the trip back.



Overall, I'd say it was a pretty great trip for the boys, though Mike and I were flat-out exhausted from all the fighting, misbehavior, and putting out fires that you get when you travel with three small boys. It's definitely true that we are relieved to have them all back in school today, and that we could both use a couple of days to recharge on our own (sadly, that's not going to happen). But this trip was also partly a test run to see how they would handle the car trip (better than expected, especially Henry) and being away from home (again, pretty well) should we have the opportunity to take a longer vacation sometime down the road. I think in that respect we have a lot of ideas for how to tweak things to make them smoother. On the other hand, I think it'll be a while before Mike and I have recovered the mental wherewithal to do anything more than a weekend trip with these monsters. We'll just have to see.

bowl baby

Henry's got this habit of getting into every cabinet and drawer his little hands can reach (yes, we've really got to get on that baby-proofing thing). Yesterday while I was cooking, he managed to get the salad spinner out and take it apart, then we proceeded to do a little dance that went something like this.

1. Henry climbs carefully into the salad spinner bowl.
2. Henry laughs hysterically.
3. Henry realizes he is stuck in the salad spinner bowl and starts crying.
4. I pull him out and put the bowl back in the cabinet.
5. Henry works determinedly until he gets the bowl back out of the cabinet.
6. Repeat steps 1-5 until I give up and scoop him up, bowl and all, to take him outside to play.

fall cleanup

Sunday afternoon was all about getting the yard ready for winter. We've both spent some quality time with the leaf blower and rake this week, and Sunday Mike had three little "helpers" in his quest to collect seeds, cut back dead growth, and whatever else he needed to do out there. Liam and Max were very excited to each be entrusted with a pair of clippers and put to work. Henry was pretty content to just play on the deck and do some "raking" of his own.

the apples of my eye

There's nothing like waiting until the last minute, is there? This past weekend was the last weekend for apple picking at our closest orchard, so it was a good thing it was also the weekend I managed to get it together enough to plan a trip. The boys had a couple of friends over, and we all piled into the people mover Saturday afternoon and set off for a sunny apple-picking expedition. Everybody got in on the action. Liam and Max loved grabbing the low fruit and having their dad heft them up to get the high ones, and even Henry was pretty excited by the whole thing (way more about holding an apple than by trying to pick one, as you can see).






And the payoff came Sunday afternoon, when Liam, Max, and I made apple cake from my great-uncle Louie's recipe. We added a brown-sugar crumble topping, and it was delicious! Too bad we still have about 20 apples left to figure out what to do with...

thoroughly modern michigan

Mike asked for something wonderful for his birthday this year: for us to have a weekend away. And with the generous help of two sisters, a niece, and my mom, we were able to make it happen (if you're counting at home, this is only the second time in our seven-year marriage that we've managed to go away for a weekend without kids). So Saturday, we headed up Highway 31 and took what was possibly the best scenic fall drive ever to lovely Holland, Michigan, where the foliage is plentiful and the shops are hardly ever open. Seriously, we walked around the downtown shopping area at 5:30 Saturday afternoon, and everything was closed (tons of people around, though, very strange). We stayed at the CityFlats Hotel, which is environmentally friendly and really, really cool. We wandered around Holland, ordered room service for dinner (decadent!), slept late, woke up peacefully without anyone fighting, crying, or tugging at us, and had a leisurely breakfast at the Windmill Restaurant (where else?) before heading back.

But but but WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN??? you ask. How could we leave those poor, neglected boys on their own? Frankly, it was really easy (and we hope to be able to do it again every year). They got to go to see cousin Cassidy's football game in the afternoon. Avalon and Klaudia came to stay the night with them, and they got to stay up late watching a specially rented Mario movie (boy, was Max bitterly disappointed to learn that it had to be returned!) and eating freshly baked cookies. The next day, they had a picnic in the park then got to go to the pumpkin patch with their Yami. Don't get me wrong, they were glad to see us when we got back, but I think they could have been quite happy going on as they were for some time.

uh oh. we've got another climber.

I guess all these ear infections (we're now up to three in the past two months, if you're counting along at home!) haven't affected his balance that much. This brings back memories of turning a corner in the old Chicago apartment and finding Liam standing on his tiptoes on the dining room table to get the light fixture. And it was just as terrifying then as it is now.