Kid Catastrophe Battles Shyness

Quisqueya is so shy that little old ladies and old men will talk to her and she will turn her head. If they persist, she will start crying. I try to tell her they won't hurt her (and even if they did I could break them over my knee!) but she still cries or hides. This usually happens when we are out alone. She's braver when she's with her brother, but still not near as friendly as Vance. Is this a phase, or will Crying Shyness be a weakness her whole life?

Danger Boy Doomed to Break Hearts

I'm going to ask Vance when he's older what he wants to be when he grows up, and he'll just look at me with a meaningful look and then say

"Mom, it's pretty obvious that I'm going to marry some gorgeous rich girl and be able to sponge off her for the rest of my life!"

And will I be able to disagree with him????? NOOOOOO!!!!










Ok, and this last picture was just funny to me because it looks like Renae is a vampire carrying her tiny vampire baby with her ;)

Danger Boy Birthdays - Tired Mom Fishing for Ideas

Danger Boy turns FIVE next month, and I am doing a Diego theme for his birthday. So far, I am making Panda Bear cupcakes (I got the recipe from a magazine, and it looks pretty easy), but that's about it. I'm looking for more ideas for: food, decoration, and possibly presents (though we got his main present already). Here's what his past birthdays have looked like to give you an idea of what I can do:

2nd Birthday, I made a basic castle cake with blue balloons and streamers, and a starry blue table runner and blue table cloth to go under the cake.

3rd Birthday was a Clifford theme. I made the cardboard Clifford on the chair, and bought red balloons, red streamers, and some Clifford napkins, plates, & party hats. I also splurged on this one and bought a Clifford Cake (not really worth it, in my opinion). We also got him Clifford books.

4th Birthday was a Curious George theme with yellow cake iced cake with little yellow marshmallows (again homemade), with CG plates, cups, & napkins. I also cut out bananas shapes into yellow tissue paper and draped them around the room. I think the tablecloth was just a basic balloon design and I got yellow streamers & balloons.

The Adventure of the Halloween Treasure Hunt

The Halloween season started early this year with a party at John & Liz's House (Uncle John & Aunt Liz as known by Vance). After all the kids got to the party (all nieces and nephews or honorary nieces & nephews of John & Liz) there was a wonderful, scary, fun treasure hunt!

Liz gave them the first part of the map, and the first clues.

Vance has so much fun carrying around the only flashlight, and the only shovel, as the kids searched for clues and pieces of the treasure map.

They started out with only one little piece, and they found clues that led them to other pieces. John helps Lydia tape together some pieces.

They had to descend into a deep & scary gorge to get more clues and pieces of the treasure map.

And Jonni was barefoot!

They found the cursed skull!

Jonni took off towards the woods as they found more clues.

You can't see "her" very well, but they also had to consult with a witch to find more pieces of the map.

They had to go into some pretty scary wooded areas after they consulted with the witch.

The younger kids opted to stay and wait while the older kids consulted the ghost in the haunted house (or haunted garage)

The ghost led them straight to this grave which just happened to be in John & Liz's back yard.

Lydia started out digging.

While the little kids watched.

Uncle John took over to help the kids with digging up the treasure.

And, finally, the treasure was out!

Lydia got to open it once they were inside.

Then the kids went crazy!

And divyed up the candy and other treasure.

Sadly, the excitement of the treasure hunt made Renae go crazy.

The Fairy Family- Fairy God Cousin, the Purple Fairy, The Fairy Dragon, & the Pink Fairy

We got dressed as the fairy family to go the Young Sever's Halloween Party. It was great fun, and I will chronicle the party & treasure hunt in the next blog post.

Even before the party, the kids were having great fun in their costumes, with their wands, and their various accessories.

The Pink Fairy kept trying to wind things in the tendrils of her wand. It was cute.

The Pink Fairy showed us the "grumpy fairy" side of her personality in this picture.

The fairy daddy looking cute with his cute daughter.

The Fairy Dragon was being camera shy in this photo.

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This is a better shot of the Fairy Dragon (Faerie Dragon.) I thought he would get sick of his costume, but he kept it on until we got caught in a traffic nightmare on the way home from the party. Two and half hours in a car was not the way I would have chosen to end the evening.

Dangerous & Catastrophic Pajamas--Bedtime for Superheroes

My little super heroes are their cutest at night. So cute & cuddly in their pajamas, with pillows, and blankets. I like to snuggle them on the our big bed while we read books and say prayers. I cuddle Kid Catastrophe just a little longer since Paranoid Dad takes Danger Boy to bed first. She eats it up, and protests most nights when PD comes back for her turn to be taken to bed. I think I protest too, inside, because I want to snuggle her just a little longer every night! She seems to enjoy the snuggles more than DB, or I would try to hold onto him as well.
Random photo of Danger Boy actually asleep somewhere that is not his bed! One of his super powers being the ability to stay awake on almost any couch, chair, or soft surface, no matter how long his day has been!