Halloween greetings from the little-known but very ferocious Pirate Clan of central New York

We love Halloween! While the little cherubs are still small and malleable (and bribeable) I try to get our family to do a theme every year (we were bats 2 years ago, last year we did Star Wars), and this year we were a Pirate clan. Mostly, anyway. Noah has developed a very annoying stubborn streak and insisted on being a bat (fortunately I still had Connor's bat costume from 2 years ago that barely fit Noah). I insisted that he at least needed to be a pirate bat. Noah refused. Little booger!

To move this tale along (I'm wordy, I know), one of our favorite family Halloween traditions is attending our church's Trunk or Treat (where you decorate the trunk of your car and everyone trick or treats in the parking lot - typing it out makes it sound really lame, but it's actually kinda fun!). So, in keeping with our Pirate theme, I also transformed our SUV into a fearsome Pirate vessel, complete with sail on top and treasure chest inside, along with fun Pirate music blaring from the stereo. Pirate Mark ( I had envisioned the Johnny Depp/Jack Sparrow character for Mark, but the old Michael Jackson wig and my black eyeliner didn't quite get the job done, eh?) handed out the candy and regaled the kids with his HILARIOUS pirate-speak, though it appears here that he's actually sneaking a Snickers for himself:

Okay, now back to my dilemma with Noah - it turns out that not even the promise of wielding a sword could convince him to be a Pirate bat. However, by happy accident I discovered that he LOVED the Pirate music I downloaded, so I sneakily told him that he could NOT listen to Pirate music unless he was a Pirate bat. Convincing done! Noah became a Pirate bat with the aid of a sword, a gold hoop earring on his bat ears and a skull/crossbones eye patch.



And doesn't Shelby make the cutest little Pirate princess?

Grandma Davis from Idaho came out to visit and of course was recruited into our Pirate clan, under threats of making her walk the plank.



Now we have the boys getting ready to start their trick or treating, squaring off on our front porch for rights to the coveted "ghostie" trick or treat bag, as opposed to the nerdy pumpkin one.



Oh, and every year we drive around our neighborhood at least every other night looking at Halloween lights (another favorite tradition), and about 2 years ago this crazy Halloween family moved in and they go ALL OUT. I mean ALL FREAKIN' SCARY out. They were our first stop for trick or treating and we had a blast visiting their crazy setup in person (instead of sitting in the car looking out the windows like sissies) - you know, moving stuff in the yard, creepy sounds, people hiding in bushes, etc. They are my Halloween IDOLS! Anyway, Noah was not quite as brave as he'd planned, and grabbed Mark's hand as we approached the house and whispered, "Daddy, please protect me!"



I know this next photo is blurry, but it's so cute with all the kiddos practicing to be Pirates by practicing sword fighting in the living room. And yes, I KNOW, two of the swords are actually light sabers (obtained from a birthday party 2 years ago and the boys still love them- BEST props ever, Capone family!). You'll notice that Noah, however, has the real costume sword, and yes, seconds after this happy little photo was taken he whacked Shelby in the ear with his sword. Pirate fight OVER.




We also decorate our house crazily every year, inside and out (and darnit, I should have taken photos, but watch for 'em next year) and this is Shelby's first Halloween that she's aware of (well, that she became aware she'd been born into a crazy Halloween-celebrating family). It took a while for her to get used to it all, but in the end, WE GOT HER! She loves the shrieking mummies and talking skeletons and screaming coffins. Here she is pushing her favorite "skeleton baby" around in her shopping cart. How stinkin' cute is that (especially in her frilly little girlie flower pajamas)!??!! (oh, I also just noticed that she has adorned herself with a glow-in-the-dark necklace. Shelby's such a girlie girl!)

And what holiday would be complete without us posting ourselves in premade JibJab videos? So here it is this year, with Grandma & Grandpa Davis with the grandkids. Honestly, we entertain ourselves endlessly for countless hours every year, inserting ourselves into these videos and shrieking with laughter, and I'll admit that maybe they're not as funny as we think they are. Savvy? Anyway, I'll shut up now and present, for your watching enjoyment:

Oh, and by the way, next year's Halloween theme choice belongs to Connor, who has informed me that he wants to be a Greek family...so....ummm.....look for us wearing togas and sandals next year??? Yikes. Now THAT will be really scary.

Just when you want to put 'em up for sale on eBay...

Connor had a seriously bad day (Which means I had a seriously bad day. Which also means Noah had a seriously bad day). I sent Connor screaming up to his room for 15 minutes. When he didn't come down (and the crying stopped unusually early) I figured I'd better check on him. *sigh* I found Connor and his beloved dolphin named Birthday taking a much-needed nap.


And now I want to wake Connor up to give him a big smoochy kiss and hug because he's so darn cute!

Mark & Estelle are delighted to announce the joyous occasion of their beloved daughter Shelby...

We'll be honest, we thought it wouldn't happen before she graduated college...

We feared that she'd turn into an old maid....

We were terrified this "problem" might have her living at home forever...


But that blessed event for which we've all hoped and prayed and wished has finally happened!
At the ripe old age of EIGHTEEN months...

Shelby is walking!!! (kind of)

Watch until the end of this next video and you can witness the famous Shelby Scoot for yourselves (one of the last times this freak-of-nature-event may ever occur and be documented). And as a bonus, you can also witness the even more miraculous event of Connor & Noah playing together without screaming or hitting each other:

So Long, Farewell

We're hitting the road for a few weeks on a last-minute summer trip to Idaho/Utah, or Udaho as Mark cleverly (or so he thinks) calls it. And where we're going may be the last place on earth (the mountains of Cache Valley) that doesn't have internet access, so here's a few updates to remember us by while we're gone (in case anyone misses us):

A fun day trip where we went to find windmills (FAIL) but found Chittenango Falls by happy accident:

NO, Shelby's still not walking, but we had to save her pants - I mean, seriously, I am so tired of sewing up holes in her pants tushies!! I'm about to just leave her in her diapers and let her scoot around and let bum-rug burn finally motivate her to walk. Anyway, here's Shelby's new form of transporting herself around. It works great until Noah decides he's too lazy to walk around and shoves Shelby off of it.


Noah likes to get himself dressed lately. This was one of his latest ensembles. He insisted he was as dressed as he needed to be and pronounced himself "handsome."


Connor earned his karate Yellow Belt! Bravo! Where soccer failed for Connor, karate has succeeded. He's already calculated the time it will take him to earn his Black Belt - right around his 8th birthday in less than 2 years. We're very proud of Connor! (Not to distract from Connor, but look at Shelby peeking around the corner and wearing one of the boys' discarded socks - she LOVES socks.)


On a sad note, we had to put one of our dogs, Holly, to sleep. She was 14 years old and had developed more tumors and it was just time now. Noah was particularly attached to her, but he happily reminds us every day that Holly is in Heaven now and is playing and happy, along with our other recently deceased pets (4 pets in 18 months is tough to handle). We'll see you later, Holly. (And yes, Noah puts his own pajamas ensembles together, too - I take no responsibility whatsoever for his "handsomeness.")


Noah has made peace with his green birthday car and now loves it (see our April post about Noah's birthday for the whole story - it's worth reading!). He and Shelby can happily tool around for hours in the backyard now, although Mark is getting disturbed by the trails that are getting worn into our grass (since Noah drives the exact same path over and over and over and over again).



We've called Shelby our Bling Baby for several months now, as she LOVES shiny things. She got into my gift-wrapping box, got out the silver ribbon (the shiniest, of course), and proceeded to decorate herself with it and scooted all over the house, happy as a little bedazzled clam.



More of my failed attempts at the perfect children photo. Shelby looks like the perfect pretty princess that she is, but her brothers....UGH! Yeah, nice legs, Connor. And look at the second photo of Noah...we think this is EXACTLY what he's going to look like at 16 years old, Mr. Too Cool.



One of the most terrifying days of my life occured a few weeks ago when Noah came into my office and showed me that he'd painted his fingernails. OH. MY. GOSH. I swear I jumped over chairs, pets, pillows, playpens and anything else in my way and ultimately landed on Shelby's Happy Singing Bear to save my nail polish (and my couches, floors, tables, and everything else in the living room where Noah had conducted his operation). And of course, Noah didn't pick my clear or pale polishes, he went for the reds and the black vampies. His hands looked like they were dripping blood. While several bottles of polish were open and tipped over in my nail polish caddy (I'm serious about nail polish, okay?), it was NOWHERE else to be found. To this day, *all I know is that in my childhood I must have done something good*, in order not to have my beloved (and Limited Edition and no longer available for less than $50 on eBay) vamp Chanel Feu de Russie nail polish spread all over the living room furniture and floors.


As if that weren't enough, later that day Noah got his hands on some GooGone and sprayed it all over, around and actually INto the litter box. While I appreciate the thought that GooGone might miraculously make cat poo disappear (can you imagine how RICH I'd be???!!), messing with the cats litter box is very much akin to messing with my nail polish. Don't. DO. It. Indiana & Pequop protested by going the bathroom NEXT to the litterbox for the remainder of the day (until I discovered the Goo Gone problem late that night).

Fortunately (for him), later that evening in the car, Noah redeemed himself by asking to listen to Mamma Mia songs. There's nothing like Abba songs (and the sound of a cute little 4-year old voice singing Super Trouper) to make all the bad things go away!

A-ha! Here we have the perfect family children portrait: Yessssssssssssssss!


See ya in July with updates from Lava Hot Springs, Yellowstone, the fountains of the Gateway, and all other great things that Udaho has to offer!

Shelby's Long Lost Friend

Here are a few facts you should know about this story:

1) Shelby is not walking yet. Yes, she is nearly 16 months old. As her pediatrician tells us, Shelby is simply content. She has taken a few crawls, but still prefers to scoot on her tushie.

2) Because she's not walking yet, Shelby still gets carried a lot. Yes, I realize that this is probably why she isn't walking. Not only is she content, but she's a little bit lazy and knows her Mommy will carry her.

3) Most of you have been to our house and you know that our walls are covered with artwork. Bright, colorful artwork that's hard to ignore.

4) Shelby has been carried around in front of this artwork for the past year now and has never paid attention to it.

Well, a few weeks ago I was carrying her down the hallway between our master bedroom and master bath, and all of a sudden she swiveled around in my arms and starting pointing and making agitated noises. I turned around to see what was going on, and she was pointing and chattering away at the picture of Jesus Christ we have there.

This has happened several times now. So now, every time we go down this little hall, she loves to "visit" and say hello to Jesus. And when I'm getting ready with makeup or showering or whatever, I usually put Shelby in this hall and open the storage closet and let her play with the stuff in there. Her particular favorite is my box of...uh...feminine hygiene products.

Anyway, that's neither here nor there. The point is, that lately when she's playing there I put Jesus down to "watch and play" with her. And I discovered that she loves to hold this picture...as a matter of fact, she actually put her cheek next to His and was holding it and swaying back and forth smiling! Naturally I sprinted down the stairs as fast as I could to retrieve my camera (being sure to lock the baby gate, of course!), but when I came back upstairs she wasn't doing that pose anymore. HOWEVER, I got several other good shots:





I should mention that I have caught Shelby actually sitting on the picture a few times, and that she's not always hugging it or dancing with it or looking adoringly at it. But as I tell Shelby, "It's okay, Jesus doesn't mind. He just likes to be with you, sweetie." Even if she's sitting on Jesus and sorting tampons and maxipads. It's all good.

Oh my gosh, I just can't get over how cute and sweet this is!! Maybe there IS something to this religion stuff, huh?!?!

Spring Break Shenanigans

Well, Spring Break 2009 arrived and we found ourselves sitting on our tushies with nothing to do. We'd talked about going to Orlando but in the end decided it was too expensive (and who wants to go to Disneyworld over Spring Break with 8 billion other people, anyway?). And of course, Mark's SU spring break did NOT align at the same time as our school district, so being gone for a week wouldn't have worked anyway.

And our whole family had been sick the previous week (throwing up stomach flu sick - ewwww, and the first time that Noah & Shelby had ever thrown up - yeehaw for first times!), except for Mark who escaped it all by going to Washington DC. Uh huh, how's that for timing. Whatever.

And we talked about going to Mystic, Connecticut, to see the dolphin exhibit that was on loan from Chicago, but that never materialized for some lazy reason (and because I didn't want to drive that far). So, on a boring normal morning, on a day we thought would be just any other ordinary day, we found ourselves 1 hour later packed up and heading to....ERIE PENNSYLVANIA!


And yes, you read that correctly. Erie, Pennsylvania. Not exactly the Spring Break capital of the world, but that was the whole point! Sneaky sneaky, we'd discover it before anyone else did. And yay, I LOVE last minute trips because they're always the BEST!

Actually, the real truth is, that we ended up in Erie because:

1) Connor's been begging to go to a "normal" hotel (i.e., NOT the Roxbury, which you've seen me post about before and is the most awesome hotel ever). Why Connor would want to go to a normal hotel after staying at the Roxbury is beyond me, and I'm honestly beginning to wonder if he was switched at birth or something.

2) Connor's been begging to go swimming. He loves to swim.

3) Connor has been wanting to go on a trip to Pennsylvania. I have no idea how that got into his head, but he simply wanted to go to Pennsylvania. He's been to the IKEA north of Philadelphia several times, which he loves (the playland, anyway), so maybe that explains his affinity for Pennsylvania. UURRGHGHH! Okay, if I have to type Pennsylvania one more time I'll get carpal tunnel syndrome. You all know what PA means, right?

4) I had Westin hotel points begging to be used, and I remembered a recent email about a new waterfront Sheraton opening in Erie.

Well! 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = Erie, PA!

After a long 5 hour drive (yes, we probably could have gone to Mystic CT in 5 hours, too, I realize that, thanks for mentioning it), we finally arrived. Oh, and Connor is officially at the age of asking "Are we there yet?" every 3 minutes. Fun times. Thank goodness for "Estelle's 80's Hard Rock Favorites" CD. There's nothing like a little Def Leppard to drown out screaming kids.

The room was clean and nice, and the view was great - here's the boys (with their swimsuits already on) admiring the view (that's Presque Isle on Lake Erie).


After convincing the boys that they really did NOT want to swim in Lake Erie (it was 39 degrees outside), we got them to the swimming pool. And oh, the fun that was had in a pool that overlooked the lake. It was PERFECT! (Hint: Click on this first photo to enlarge it because Noah looks so darn cute!)




This was Shelby's first time in the water (other than her bathtub, of course!) and she's a natural, just like her Mommy, I'm so proud! I love to swim, so it's fun having water babies like Shelby & Connor. Mark and Noah, not so much. Anyway, she floated happily for hours.


Spring Break pointer tip alert: NO ONE was here! We had the pool to ourselves for hours! Which came in very handy when both Shelby and Noah threw up (Shhh, don't tell the Sheraton management, and we cleaned up after ourselves). We didn't think it was the stomach bug coming back and that maybe they just injested too much chlorine, but I got sick AGAIN two days ago (how much does it suck to be me these past 2 weeks!!!), so who knows?!? Anyway, better the Sheraton pool than in our car, right?!? That's me, always looking on the bright side of things!

Mark forgot his swimming suit and was in his sweat shorts swimming, so it was good on that point, too, that we had the pool to ourselves (both that afternoon and evening and the next morning). Yeah, let's move on from that thought...cute Shelby!


Here's Shelby modeling her cutest-of-all-cute swimsuit:


After the swimming marathon, we ordered up room service, which the boys didn't think was nearly as fantastic & magical as I did (I love me some room service, now THAT'S a vacation!), and we all watched Bolt. Yippee, right. Well, the boys loved it, anyway, and that's what counts. And besides, I had my new InStyle magazine to read, so I was a happy camper.

We finished up our mini Spring Break by stopping at Buffalo's Cheesecake Factory for Easter lunch on our way home...okay, now THAT was a big disappointment. The food was just meh, and at the risk of bragging (who, me?), Mark has actually won cheesecake competitions, so we're discerning cheesecake eaters (actually, I don't like cheesecake very much, but I'm still very discerning. About lots of stuff. Just ask me.). So let's be honest - Outback Steakhouse makes better cheesecake than the Cheesecake Factory. But the boys loved the "fancy pants" restaurant and had fun anyway (of course they did, THEY didn't have to pay the bill!).

At the risk of sounding like a fuddy-dud, I was hoping the excitement of our trip would detract the boys from wanting to paint Easter eggs, but no such luck. So here's a couple of token pics of the boys and their amazing Easter egg creations:



And to celebrate the last day of Spring Break, today was "Special Cereal Day." In other words, "Give-em-sugar-cereal-and-watch-them-destroy-the-house-and-each-other-and-live-to-regret-it-every-da**-time-day." Fruit Loops for Noah and Crunch Berries for Connor. And lots of Tylenol for Mommy.

Happy Easter and Happy Spring Break to all!

Noah's 4th Birthday!....BUST (aka "A Parable Learned")

April 6 was Noah's 4th birthday! Yay and woohoo, right? I was soooo excited for this day. Let's see the progression from okay, then bad....and streaking on to worse (those of you who read my blog entry about Shelby's birthday in January are going to start wondering about my birthday planning skills - still want me to plan your 30th, Amy?!?).

Firs thing on Noah's 4th birthday, Noah makes an astonishing and very dismaying discovery (to him)...he has freckles!!! In the morning, he looks in my makeup mirror (up close and with full sunlight), and shrieks, "MOMMY! I HAVE POLKA DOTS ON MY FACE!!!!!" I nearly stab myself in the eye with my mascara, his shriek was so loud. And then my mascara was running anyway because I'm laughing so hard.

Click to see Noah's polka dots up close

On to the birthday party - once again, we didn't manage our time well enough to make the car cake that Noah wanted. So, the day before his birthday, we take him to Wegmans and let him choose his birthday cake. He chooses an orange-frosting-ed heart Easter cake. It goes smashingly with the grown-up racecar-themed tablecloth, plates, napkins, etc., that I'd already purchased (2 months earlier, believe it or not!). Oh well. HOWEVER, Connor wakes up sick and throwing up the previous night (as did I), so that was a damper on the party. But at least, at this point, Noah is happy! He likes all of his small presents and is excited at the thought of "The Big One" coming later in the day.

Happy times that won't be here again...

Our next plan is for our family to go see the new kids' movie, Monsters Vs. Aliens. But with Connor being sick, half of us have to stay home. Unfortunately, Noah chooses lucky Mommy to take him to the movie. Bad Mommy Confession Time: I HATE kids movies.

So, we go to the theater, plunk down $22 for the 3-D experience of Monsters Vs. Aliens (which Noah assured me he wanted), and another $20 or so for snacks. I manage to carry everything (Noah cannot assist me because he has his hands full with his new 5-inch triceratops friend that was a birthday gift from Connor, "Topsy") and we get situated. Because we don't see many movies (3 kids, remember?), darnit if I'm not going all out and getting popcorn, a HUGE Diet Coke, and Raisinettes for me. Plus my handbag, Noah's coat, my coat, and Noah's movie happy meal. So yeah, I'm carrying a LOT. We DO have time to take a cute picture of us wearing our groovy 3-D glasses.

Yes, we make 3-D look gooood

HOWEVER, Noah then decides he hates the glasses and refuses to wear them. I know that 3-D movies are blurry if you don't wear the glasses, but DARNIT, I am NOT moving all of us and our junk food and general crap into another movie theatre. Or if I have to, I'm making Noah see Fast & Furious (in retrospect, I should have done EXACTLY this - fast, noisy cars for Noah and yummy Vin Diesel for me, and this whoooole day would have been so much better). Anyway, I make Noah stay. And I have to pick up !@$%!$@ Topsy from the gross movie theatre floor at least a half dozen times, groping around in the dark.

Twenty minutes into the movie Noah starts standing up and complaining (loudly) that he wants to leave. I finally put down my popcorn & Diet Coke and hold Noah on my lap, hoping that he'll let me put the glasses on him and he'll enjoy the movie more. We make it another 20 minutes (Noah still sans glasses, however) before he starts yelping about leaving again. I give up, take 10 minutes to get UN-situated (though I am keeping my mostly uneaten popcorn and 75% remaining Diet Coke, even though I have to cart them throughout the whole mall with me). At least Noah has fun riding the Carousel!


Upon arriving home, we've saved Noah's BIG present for last. I've wanted to get the boys a big driving car for years now, and I finally talked Mark into getting one for Noah. He's obsessed with anything on wheels, and every time we go to Toys R Us the boys love to sit and play in every single car (even the Barbie ones). And usually we get nice, expensive gifts for Connor, and cheap out a little bit for Noah because he's so easily satisfied. But this year, I was determined to go all out for Noah. We even had to borrow the Lentz' Suburban and trailer to go pick it up (I ADORE my 40th birthday BMW X5 and it drives like a dream, but honestly, it's the most useless SUV ever invented).

So, I hide in the garage and Mark leads Noah out to the garage to lay eyes on the HUGE-BIGGER-THAN-YOU-PRESENT that we've been teasing Noah about all day. I'm hiding because I want to get that photo when he first sees it, that magical moment when he realizes he has the most FABULOUS gift in all of Ritchie family history! Here's how that turned out:

I know, right!??!?!?

He stares at it, then moves as far away as he can from it (again holding Topsy the Triceratops). He cries, "I don't like that car! I want this car!" and goes to stand by our SUV.

The standoff begins

In the interest of preserving these treasured family memories, I make Mark force Noah to sit in the car because I'm sure he'll love it once he sits in it. Well, he SCREAMS at the top of his lungs the entire time, clutching Topsy for dear life. We then put Connor in the driver's seat to drive Noah around. As Connor drives around the front yard, Noah screams even louder. I'm sure the neighbors thought we were torturing him. Noah shrieks, "It's too fast! My dinosaur is scared! WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Why did all 3 of my kid birthdays this year end up with them crying!??!

Another gift Noah actually did like was his new Peter Pirate Pop Up jack-in-the-box toy. So does Shelby. So does Connor. After the cute photo below, all 3 of them fought over it all day long.

The obnoxious Peter Pirate Pop Up
(Hint: Start humming the tune to Pop Goes the Weasel.
Ha ha! Now it'll be stuck in your head, too! I shouldn't have to suffer alone, should I?

We aren't going out to our family dinner at Bonefish Grill (Noah's choice, despite Connor's best lobbying for Chuck E Cheese), as per our original plans, because Connor was still feeling kinda crummy. So we decide to do takeout from Olive Garden and I insist we all go together to get the food, even though Olive Garden is a 20 minute drive away from us. I love family together time, especially in a car! *snort* Especially when Noah brings his Peter Pirate Pop Up and we have to listen to that wind-up-toy music the whole way there, and on the way home listen to the fighting over it and the eventual THUNK as it is thrown and hits the floor, and the subsequent screaming about why we won't pick it up. Why did I insist on family together time when I could have escaped the kids and driven to Olive Garden myself (the long way), listening and singing to Mamma Mia the whole way there, you ask? I don't @!@# know!!!

So, yeah, with us over $400 poorer, Noah is now officially 4 years old. I suppose $3 of that wasn't wasted as it went toward paying for Topsy the Triceratops. And Connor's thrilled beyond words that he has a new magnificent driving car and it's not even close to his birthday or to Christmas (though he had a fit this morning because I wouldn't let him drive it to his bus stop). And we DID get our money's worth from the movie popcorn, 'cause I'm eating it right now as I'm typing - I knew it would be a long blog post and I would need major sustenance.

And friends, when I'm planning Noah's birthday next year, I need you to remind me of what I stated earlier - Noah is easily satisfied, and please tell me, "Estelle, remember the Parable of the $3 Topsy the Triceratops and the $342 Big Scary Green Car."

(Oh, and sorry about the Pop the Weasel tune. If you still have it in your head, just tune in now to Jamie's blog because she always has great music queued up!) *All the single ladies...de da da...yeah!*