December: Random, Utah, Field Day, Gingerbread

Colby's hair is getting so long, sometimes I (or Kylee) spike it up into a mohawk just for fun. He really needs a haircut again, but last time it turned out so weird and uneven, I'm scared to try!

When grandma Karen was here for Halloween Skyler slept on my bedroom floor every night so she could have his bed. After she left he kept wanting to sleep there. Andy was still gone to Orlando so I let him. He slept there for more than a month! Finally when Andy got back we told him he needed to go back to his own bed. We kept putting him to bed in his bed, and then in the middle of the night he would sneak in with all his stuff and sleep on our floor again. Finally we convinced him his bed was much more comfortable!

In the first two years we lived here, I never once locked myself out of our house. In the last two months or so, it has happened THREE times. The first time was when we made the Mickey Turkey. My hands were full and I ran out without grabbing keys. I called the landlord and she came and let us in. The second time, I actually unlocked the front door like I was supposed to, and then we went out through the garage like we always do with the wagon to go pick up Skyler from the bus stop in the afternoon. As we were walking away from our house (as the garage was closing behind us), Ally says to me, "Don't worry mom. I yocked the fwont door." Nooooooo! I called the landlord again, and she came and opened it and brought me a spare key. I couldn't find anywhere to hide the spare key, so I finally put it in my phone case. Great plan. Except when we went to Disney World I took it out to give to my neighbor so he could bring in our trash cans while we were gone. And then before I put it back in my phone case, we got locked out again. I'm losing my mind! Anyway, my friend Liz lives close by and Andy was scheduled to be home in about 2 hours, so we hung out at her house (and she drove me to the school to pick up Kylee from track). Colby had a blast eating snacks in her cool chairs that attach to the table. 

On Dec. 2 we went to free zoo day. Andy had never been to the zoo, so he came with us this time. The kids loved it!

We made Christmas tree-shaped countdown chains. I love Andy photo bombing here!

A guy in our ward owns a franchise of Junkluggers. They basically pick up your "junk" and either donate or recycle it. He had this piano that needed a new home, so we got it. It's actually pretty nice, and even has a de-humidifier inside (which is something I would not have thought about, but is definitely needed in Florida!). I'm LOVING having a real piano. I've been pulling out every piece of music I own and playing and playing and playing. I've had a digital piano for like 12 years, but there's just something about a real piano that is so soothing to me. And with our 100% tile floors, the sound is great! I'm thinking our neightbors might not love it...but they're way too nice to say anything.

I took the older three kids to the Family Holiday night at the school, and they got to have their photo with Santa.

I was invited out to Utah for the Legacy Tree christmas gathering, and when I got my tickets they were so cheap I decided to bring the kids with me and stay for a week instead of making such a long trip by myself for just 2-3 days again (I've done that twice!).

It was a little crazy trying to get 4 kids and all the stuff from Florida to Utah by myself, but it turned out okay. On our first flight from Ft. Myers to Denver (with a stopover in Nashville), Kylee sat across the aisle and really nice guy and his girlfriend who were headed to Denver to ski talked to her and played games on her tablet with her pretty much the whole time. The guy apparently used to live in our neighborhood, and has an 8-year-old son of his own.

On the flight from Denver to Salt Lake it was Skyler's turn to sit across the aisle, but before we even took off the flight attendant asked me if I was by myself with all 4 kids, and when I said yes, she asked the other two people if they wanted to move to a different row so I could have all 6 seats going all the way across. It was sooooo great! Ally fell asleep on 2 seats on our side, Colby fell asleep on my lap...

...Kylee fell asleep on two seats on the other side...and Skyler asked the guy behind him to help him turn on his light so he could read the safety manual (again). He'd already read it a lot, but he is so intrigued, he wanted to read it again. If you ever need to know what to do in case of a crash landing, especially into water, ask Skyler. He's your guy!

Right before we left for Utah Skyler lost one of his two front teeth, and while we were there he lost his other one. So now he can really sing "All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth!"

The kiddos had fun playing at the park by grandma's house.

The last day before Christmas Break was field day at school. Skyler's class won the trophy for Kindergarten tug-o-war...

...and he was so excited he was sure he and his friend Pasquale (red shorts) were the ones that really made them win "because they were in the back and pulled super DUPER hard."

We've always known that Skyler is NOT a runner...and that's okay! In the 40-yard dash I think he took last place in his heat, but then they were short on kids for the last heat so his teacher had him run again. He's convinced that means he won because "only the kids who win get to run again, mom" (which is true - they eventually narrow it down to one winner by having them run again and again and just keep taking the top 2 from each heat - but he was just a fill-in so there wouldn't be only 2 kids in the final preliminary heat). I'm not going to bust his bubble. Good job, Skyler!

Kylee's class made it through round 1 of the 5th grade tug-o-war, but they lost in round 2.

However, in the baton relay, her 4-person team took first place, so she was excited about that. She really loves running!

We had some friends over to decorate "gingerbread" houses, and the kids had a blast!

Colby still can't walk, but he's really good at pushing his little walker around. He'll push it all the way down the street, and then when he gets tired, he walks backward and drags it behind him. I think he could probaly walk by himself if he really tried, but he just doesn't care to, and that's fine with me! Our tile floors are just waiting to crack his head open!

November: Colby Turns 1 - Disney World - Thanksgiving

On November 13, Colby turned one! He's really tall for his age - like over the 100% percentile, and he weighs about 22 lbs. He loves to eat anything we put in front of him, and he's a pretty calm and happy baby. He started sleeping through the night as soon as Andy left for Miami because I finally got him out of our room and into his own!

We had his birthday party on the weekend before his birthday because Andy was assigned to Orlando and wasn't going to be home during the week, so he would miss Colby's actual birthday.

I asked the kids what we should do for Colby's cake, and they decided that since we live in Florida and Colby was born here, we should make a beach cake. So here we go. Not the greatest looking beach in the world, but the kids thought it was perfect, and Colby dove right in to grab some before we could even light his candle!

When we gave him a slice to eat, he first just smooshed it all up. He didn't seem to understand that he should EAT it.

Finally he tasted some, and then he really liked it.

He got a couple of presents and the kids helped him open them.

Also in November Skyler finished playing t-ball. It was a super short season because of the hurricane, but he had a fun time!

The school did the usual "disguise Mr. Turkey" activity, and we forgot all about Skyler's until about 2 minutes before it was time to leave for the bus on the day it was due. So...we made our turkey look like Mickey Mouse. In record time, too! We didn't even miss the bus.

On Colby's actual birthday I tried to take some photos of him, but I snapped a few with my cell phone, and then when I went to get my real camera, he had a poosplosion all over his clothes, so that was the end of that.

Kylee is running on the after-school girls' track team again, and we had to do a practice 5k in preparation for the real one in December. It was Andy's turn to be her running buddy this semester, but since he was in Orlando I did the practice 5k with her. I pushed Colby in the stroller and Skyler and Ally ran around on the grass. Glad the coach isn't opposed to having kids there!

One day we took a family bike ride down to 7-11 to get some slurpees, cuz you can do that when you live in a place that rarely drops below 80 degrees, even in winter!

Ever since our Disney World passes expired (over a year ago), we've been planning to go for one more week-long Disney World trip after Andy graduates. However, a while back I was looking up ticket prices and I realized that since we get a Florida resident discount, it would actually be cheaper for us to buy weekday (M-F only) season passes then it would be to buy 6-day passes. And then I realized that Thanksgiving week was NOT part of the black-out dates associated with the cheaper weekday passes. And THEN I found out that Andy got Thanksgiving day and the day after off. So, it was basically a no-brainer. Andy was already working in Orlando anyway, so I drove the kids up there on Wednesday afternoon, and when Andy got off from the hospital (at like 4pm), we headed over to Disney World. We went Wednesday evening, Thursday, and Friday, and it was so much fun. We really love Disney, and are going to miss it when we move away!

This was Colby's first time going, and he wasn't sure what to think most of the time, but he did great! This is us on the Dumbo ride.

He loved his first ride on the caurosel.

People Movers is still a favorite of all the older kids. Colby didn't love it. I'm not sure why?

The photos below are Ally, almost a year apart, on the teacups. The one on the left is from September 2016 (the last time we went before our passes expired), and the one on the right is from this trip. It's crazy how much more grown up she looks! And also...is this the same teacup? It might be!

This was the first time we'd ever been there that it actually drizzled for most of one day. It never RAINED rained, but it "misted". It actually almost looked like it was snowing because the rain was so misty. Didn't detract from the fun at all. We always have ponchos, just in case!

October: Colby's 1st Haircut & Halloween

About a week before Halloween we decided that it was really time for Colby to have his first haircut. The back was getting long enough to touch his collar and the sides were going over his ears. He was really wiggly during the process and it ended up looking pretty choppy...but at least he didn't have a mullet anymore!

One day Ally walked up to me with the magnadoodle and said "Wook mom! I writed my name!" Umm...yep! I wonder who taught her to do that? She claims I did, but I only remember helping her with Y. Maybe Kylee?

Colby is discovering a love for the kid museum. He likes to "shop" in the China exhibit.

The local hardware store did a free Frankenpumpkin activity, and the kids had fun decorating their little pumpkins with old keys and bolts and stuff.

Colby got to be the lion this year, and I think he looked super cute!

One day at like 8:30am Ally came walking up to me and said, "Mom, can I have some of this?" I looked down to see her holding the ice cream, caramel, and hot fudge. How do you say no to that after she already got it all out? So she had ice cream for dessert after breakfast. 

Kylee still loves to braid my hair, and she's been practicing making a straight part all the way down. She's getting pretty good!

Skyler was picked to be Student of the Week and he got to bring home Mr. Caterpillar to visit for the weekend. He had so much fun!

Skyler also started playing t-ball, and Colby loved his first experience with real grass. This may be one of the only fields in all of Naples that isn't crab grass!

Every night before bed I go in to check on the kids. I always find Ally sleeping in the strangest positions!

We had our ward "fall festival" (aka Halloween party), and when the kids were doing trunk-or-treat, a guy walked up to me with a lid on this bucket and said, "Hey Sister Costin, will you stick your hand in here and tell me what this feels like?" I know that he's known for being a trickster, so I said NO. But he was like, "No, please! I need someone to stick their hand in here and tell me if it feels like snakes. I tried to make it feel like there are snakes in this bucket, but I need someone to tell me if it feels like snakes before I start having the kids put their hands in." Anyway, idiot that I am, I totally fell for it! He lifted the lid a little bit, and I stuck my arm in there. Yep. REAL SNAKES. I might have screamed a little, and maybe even shed a few tears. Later, after my heart stopped pounding, he invited me to scoop up the snakes for real, on purpose, so I wouldn't go home and have nightmares about it. I could see the logic there, so after much hesitation, I did it. I reached into a bucket of 15 baby snakes and scooped them all up to hold, and then let them slither off my hand one by one so I could convince myself they weren't too scary.

A few months before Halloween Skyler decided he wanted to be the hotdog again. I told him he couldn't because it was too small for him know, so he decided he wanted to be a Happy Meal instead. I tried and tried to convince him to pick a normal costume like a doctor or a fireman or an astronaut...but he had his heart set on being a Happy Meal, so I made him a costume out of a Home Depot moving box, and he (and everybody who saw him) loved it. Ally was the hotdog. Kylee dug through my bucket of random costume stuff and came up with a super decent witch costume.

Grandma Karen came to visit for Halloween, and we went to the beach one day to play. This was the first time Colby actually got to be in the sand (usually we keep him up in the wagon or on the towels). I buried a bucket full of water and gave him some seashells to put in and out of it. He had a blast! But he also kept putting the seashells in his mouth, which was nasty. Ah, well. He survived!