Things That Go Buzz in the Night

So we have pounds of candy and memories of a great Halloween with family, neighbors, and friends. The evening was most certainly a treat!

Aunt Rachel made the DARLING tutu bee costume, and the warmer one was worn for a Trunk or Treat last weekend. Evie looked bee-utiful in both outfits!

Happy Halloween!

Oh, An Island Life is hosting a Post-Halloween Costume Contest! Click here to enter your own cutie!

Easy Halloween Decoration

Halloween is a big deal on Oakbriar Farm.

My next door neighbors go all out with their decorating. They have a graveyard, cute signs, orange lights, goblins on the porch, and a blow up haunted house. When we drive up, Evie yells out "Goblin! Goblin!"

Halloween night is full of fun! We get hundreds of Trick-or-Treaters, and hang out on the driveway (or in the garage if it rains,) handing out candy and "aww-ing" over all the children in their costumes.

But I'm not really all that excited about decorating. As Evie gets older, I am sure I'll do more. For the time being, though, I only decorate the door. I have a plastic Trick or Treat banner on the door, and a tiny ghost stuck into the planter. That's it.

So when I saw this idea at The Crafty Crow, I thought it would make a simple and cute addition to my Halloween door. Sewing Stars has a free printable template for this friendly little skeleton. You just print it on cardstock, cut out, connect with brads, and hang.

It was easy, and gave a little extra "oomph" to the door!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

So I was going to write a post about all the cute things Evie says lately. For instance, she has been saying "Hoe-dyou," for so long, and yesterday I just figured out what it means. "Hold you." As in, "Hold me, please, Mommy." And this one is gross, but she picks her nose and holds her finger in the air, saying "Got it!" (I have no idea how she learned this!)

But after dinner tonight, our neighbor Mia trumped all of Evie's sayings. Mia came bounding up to us, yelling "My mouth is on fire! Please, someone spit in it!"

Mia turns five tomorrow. It cracks me up to think of what Evie might be saying when she is Mia's age...

What's the funniest thing your child has said? I can't wait to read the comments on this one!

Bye Bye, Summertime!

We spent the afternoon at The Bucket Pool.

Today was the last day our pool was open. We've spent several days each week at the pool since Memorial Day, and it's become part of the story of our summer.

I was struck, of course, by how much Evie has grown in a few short months. First of all, she's several inches taller than she was at the end of May. She can stand in parts of the water that used to be too deep for her. Even her hair is different - if I spray sunscreen on her shoulders, it gets in the hair curling past the nape of her neck. It's grown so long!

At the beginning of summer, we spent most of our time in the Spray Pool. It is ultra-shallow and Evie had tons of fun playing in the fountains and bubblers. She filled up cups of water and dumped them on my feet. She had little toy boats and fish and watering cans that kept her busy.

But she's outgrown the "Baby Pool." Now we head right to the regular kid pool. She L-O-V-E-S playing in the big pool with Daddy. Evie splashes and jumps and "swims" on her noodle. She couldn't do any of these things (except the splashing) when we first came to the pool.

As things were winding down this afternoon, The Girls showed up at the pool. It was a perfect way to end the day. Evie played with them, and I couldn't help but think how lucky we all are. A man kept shouting "Life is good!" to his little son. I wanted to yell back "Yes, it is!"

We took one last ride on the Lazy River. My dare-devil daughter loves going under the waterfalls, so we went around a couple of times. Each time we went under a bridge, we sang out "Nine dogs on a moonlit night - Aoooooooo!" And Evie was finally able to touch the waterfall spilling out from under the water slides. She's been dying to do that all summer.

Bye bye, Baby Pool. Bye bye, Lazy River. Bye bye, Bucket Pool.

Bye bye, Summertime. Bye bye, Baby Evie. Next year when we come back you'll be a real girl. But remember, you'll always be my baby.

Wordless Wednesday

** 08/01 ** Added for the 5 Minutes for Mom Summer Fun Photo Contest. Click over if you'd like to have a chance to win $500, too!

It's not summer until you've purchased ice cream from a truck! I'm entering the bottom photo. As you can see, Evie is really enjoying her watermelon pop! It's almost as big as her!

America's Birthday

You know how I love our neighborhood. Well, two days in particular really make it stand out each year - Independence Day and Halloween.

I've always loved our neighborhood on July 4th. We have a perfect view of the Ellisville fireworks at Bluebird Park, so the subdivision is jam-packed with visitors. People drag their lawn chairs into the middle of the street (I have even seen sofas in the road,) and we all watch the fireworks together. The house on the corner provides a beautiful soundtrack of patriotic music as part of the show.

This year, we had a block party with all our neighbors. We had brats and beer and lots of snacks. The kids played together all night, helped along by a giant sugar buzz. The guys played Hillbilly Golf, and I talked and had several margaritas. GaGa hung out with us, much to Evie's delight.

Evie did so well! She ate and played until around 8:00, when the first "pops" started. She was sleepy and the noise scared her, so she snuggled up with me. She fought sleep, but she eventually gave in. I held her and watched the beautiful display. Evie moved now and then, but she slept for the most part.

I guess she'll see her first fireworks display next year!

Finger Painting

We had a lazy day today. We played outside in the morning, ate lunch, took a nap, played outside in the afternoon, ate dinner, and played outside again till bedtime.

We also finger-painted. I rolled a giant sheet of paper all the way across the driveway. Evie, Maddy, Lilly, Mia, and Olivia painted while the other moms and I watched. It was a mess, but now we have a giant sign for our 4th of July party! Our budding Picassos did a fine job!

The 'Hood

Evie is living a picture-perfect slice of American life.

Next door to us are "The Girls." Evie wakes up in the morning, and sometimes the first word she says is "shoes!" She puts them on and stands by the door to the garage, ready to go out, excited about the possibility the "grs" may be outside. We can't be playing on the driveway without Evie pointing to their house (or even walking into their garage.) She can say the names of all four girls, and although an outsider may not recognize it, the girls all know when she's speaking to them.

The best thing is they love her just as much. One girl will wander out into the front yard, see Evie, and dash back inside. I'll hear "Evie's out!" and one by one, the other girls will appear. They even think about Evie when they're on vacation, bringing a special souvenir back just for her.

Across the street is a sweet, tiny three-year-old. She speeds across on her Disney Princesses tricycle. She is so good about sharing with Evie, although Evie needs a lot of practice sharing back these days. A few doors down are "S-bn" (Evie's pronunciation) and her brother. They come over when we're out, and sometimes we go to them. They are the ones who taught us to paint the driveway with water and told us about the PBK Book Club.

So those are the major players. We play at sporadic times during the day, and always gather together each night after dinner. The parents sit in lawn chairs and have a beer, trying to carry on a conversation around the children. The kids blow bubbles, draw with chalk (my husband is quite the driveway graffiti artist,) and eat Popsicles and lollipops. They run all their "sillies" out, and bedtime for Evie always comes too soon. After drawn-out hugs and kisses, promises to play again tomorrow, and a wave "buh-buh," we are off to a bath.

Don't we have a lovely life?