Category Archives: Celebrations

October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone! This is such a fun holiday for the little ones – cute little kids in warm fuzzy costumes and sleep-deprived parents sporting zombie-like circles under their eyes simply blend in with the crowds.

On this first Halloween for the muppets, they will be helping me hand out candy to the slightly larger little ones traversing the neighborhood in search of fun-size goodies. Our celebration was yesterday.

With lions and tigers and bears – oh my – a number of moms gathered to watch our progeny dive headfirst into a massive sugar high (and ball pit provided for toddler entertainment). Chaos ensued. There were Buzz Lightyears and Jesse the Toy Story Cowgirl, a skunk, giraffe and butterfly. Sadly, the jovial atmosphere was dampened when Mickey Mouse took a bite out of the bear (literally). The bear spent the rest of the afternoon running amuck in his undies – judging by the pattern on those, I suppose he transformed into a fire truck.

But, of course, kings of the jungle were the lion and the mischief-making monkey.

Search

Destroy

Destroy was my little lion and Search was mommy’s monkey. I grew up collecting stuffed animals – I have containers full waiting for the boys and still more stored at GrammaJ and GrampaTavo’s house. Today, my million dollar miracle muppets were by far the cutest and cuddliest stuffed animals to ever exist.

(Momentary tangent: I was completely unsuccessful in my attempts to locate muppet costumes for tiny infants. Apparently they only come in size six months and up, which is too big for the muppets even if they were term size. I figure I have at least one more year of getting to choose their costumes. Who among my loyal readers is crafty enough to create the perfect muppet costumes for Halloween 2011?)

One little boy was wearing an oversized “My First Halloween” onesie. He was one week old. I looked at the tiny man, who weighed in at a hefty seven and a half pounds, and exclaimed, “He’s so tiny!” I had become so used to my little perfect preemies that I hadn’t realized how quickly they were growing up. Not only are the muppets no longer the youngest kids in the crew, they are no longer the smallest!

I was thrilled to actually feel a baby (full term) was small. Look how far we’ve come – and that realization was the best “costume” of the day.

We’ve all had a great time during our first official kickoff to the 2010 holiday season. And Search thinks this weekend’s adventures have been hilarious.

Trick-or-treat!

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October 26, 2010

Tiny Disguises

This weekend is the muppets first holiday. Technically, they’ve already celebrated Independence Day and Labor Day – but this is the first holiday with muppet-specific planned events.

Perhaps it’s the weather. It’s chilly, slightly gloomy and very blustery. We’ve got a pumpkin on our porch and some very decoratively enthusiastic neighbors. Leaves now litter our tree-lined street and the arbor skeletons beckon to spirited children.

Halloween is here!

This is the first time in a very long time I’ve been so excited about All Souls Day. Two years ago, I was thrilled because we had a house and I was going to get trick-or-treaters. And even though they’re still a bit young, we have our own little monsters this year.

As several people have pointed out, yes, the muppets are too young to appreciate dressing up. Yes, I am aware of this and no, I am not driving the sport utility stroller door to door in a citywide search for fun-size candies. However, they will be participating in a parade at my work and attending a costume brunch on Saturday. Sunday, they’ll be home helping me hand out candy to the local disguised tricksters.

I issued a pop quiz to Gramma J – what did Paul and I dress up as each year of our childhood. She responded, “Are you kidding me?”

If my memory serves, I spent my childhood as a clown, witch, Barbie, angel, rabbit, Phantom of the Opera and, my personal creative favorite, a yellow Crayola crayon. My brother was a pirate, Indian, dinosaur, Care Bear GI Joe, and Ryne Sandberg.

I’m not sharing what the muppets are dressing up as just yet. I know many of you already know – but for those who don’t, let’s save the surprise for the big day. I’ll give you a hint. Despite my best efforts to procure the costumes, the boys are not going to be muppets.

I’m excited and eager for the memories. They grow up so fast.

See?

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October 4, 2010

Getting Trashed

Fall flew in with a fury today. Crisp air tinged with a cool breeze swirling the falling leaves from the tree in our front yard greeted me when I left the house this morning. A far cry from last week’s (and the whopping seven days of “summer” in 2010) heat wave.

Luckily, the muppets and I closed out the dog days of summer partying the weekend away.

We kicked off the fun on Friday night – heading to a friend’s birthday party. The shindig was at a small café. A small, small café. Even before I arrived, I was that mom. “Scuse me, pardon me…” all the way down the sidewalk towards our destination.

We almost took out a Golden Retriever. Although, I’m pretty sure said puppy lived with his own muppets. Instead of jumping or snapping when we got a wee bit close to his tail, the pooch simply turned his head and looked up at us with an expression that said, “Oh brother, this again.”

We finally got to the café. It took four people to get me and my pint-sized minions to the back of the restaurant where the party was underway. Two people each took an infant seat and corresponding infant. Two more of us collapsed the land-yacht stroller and dragged it through the European ambiance.

Now, before you question why I was going through such hullabaloo, I am well aware that the celebratory invitation only included me so that I could transport the muppets. As a fellow attendee asked me if I was going to leave the boys in their car seats since they were starting to wake up. But the birthday girl was already removing them from their restraints to say hello. Don’t worry, she assured me – she’d also already liberated my sanitizing gel from the diaper bag.

The boys stayed awake, drinking in all the attention, and the constant stimulation from their adoring fans kept them awake late into the night. We stayed out and up until 10 p.m.!

When we finished sleeping off our adventure (7 a.m. Saturday morning), we had to start getting ready for our next party. There, we got seriously trashed.

The boys friend Peyton was turning two at a Waste Management themed party. There was a bouncy house and bubble machines, but the muppets were completely pre-occupied flirting with the other moms.

By the end of the afternoon, Search and Destroy were sleeping soundly. I was exhausted, but seriously impressed that I’d managed to get us all to these parties – and more importantly all three of us returned from the parties. A group of us took a photo with our babies (toddlers not pictured). They’re so small right now but, before we know it, they’ll be all grown up. So, we cherish these hectic moments.

And then Mother Nature steps in to tell all us crazy moms it’s time to cool down.

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