Halloween Fun!

What a fun....and exhausting Halloween we had! M&M had a ball in their costumes, minus the head gear, and laughed and laughed at the sight of each other. Michael was a monkey and Mary Ellen was a butterfly.
Like I said, the head gear gave them fits...it was a love/hate relationship actually. Mary Ellen tried all night to chew on her antennae...so did Michael. And she also pulled on Michael's ears all night while he just tried to pull it off. They were so cute though! It always amazes and delights us how they interact with each other.

The picture above makes me crack-up every time I look at it. Michael discovering Mary Ellen's antennae and Mary Ellen finding Michael's monkey-belly-button! This was serious business for them :-)

We went trick-or treating to a few houses in our neighborhood handing out Halloween cookies. And then to another neighborhood where a few other friends lived. So it was quite exhausting for Mama and Daddy, but worth it. We actually had several trick-or-treater's when we got back home too, which was fun.

I wanted to add a picture of M&M last Halloween to emphasize how far they've come. They had just been discharged from the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). Mary Ellen was still under 5 lbs. and Michael around 8 lbs. They were Clemson Tigers for their first Halloween. Papa and Mama Jo (Andrew's parents) had these little outfits made for them. My what a difference a year can make!

My sweet little Monkey!

My pretty little butterfly!

When Life Gives You Lemons....

We've all heard the saying,"when life gives you lemons...make lemonade". Well in my case, "when life gives you butternut squash...make jack-o-lanterns!" I've searched high and low for big round orange Halloween pumpkins to no avail. There are lots of squash-looking-gourd-like vegetables here but no pumpkins! Probably best because if I could find one it would no doubt cost $100!

So I decided to take some big butternut squash and carve my designs anyway. Happy Halloween everyone and stay tuned for the costume post! You're not going to believe how cute M&M are!

Anonymous Comments

Some "M&M Report" followers have questioned why they couldn't post a comment if they weren't bloggers with an account. So just wanted to update you.... I've changed the setting so anyone can post a comment. Just click on the comment link at the bottom of the post and check the anonymous circle and post your comment. Look forward to hearing from you!

Still Enjoying Pool Fun

One of the great up-sides to living here is the nearly year round hot humid weather. OK yes, that is also one of the down-sides to living here. But when it comes to the pool we have enjoyed it. We've taken to visiting the indoor pool, not because the weather has cooled much, but because we don't have to slather M&M with sunscreen and the whole preparation process is much quicker. More time at the pool!

Mary Ellen is deeply engrossed in the inner workings of blowing up the tweety boat. Really any excuse to be right next to Daddy! Isn't she a doll in her little cherries one-piece?!

Michael practicing his boogie boarding techniques before we leave for the pool.

Now if this isn't the cutest little boy you've ever seen...I don't know who is. Could be a Baby Gap ad!

Lounging after a tiring swim with Mama and Daddy. The secret reason for the pool trips is that they sleep so well afterwards. They are sporting their new beach towels they got for their birthday from Ms. Julia and Col Kevin. Michael's is a robot and to Daddy's delight, Mary Ellen's is a tiger!

Today's "NOOOO..." Moment

Some days I feel all I say is no. Shocking, I know, with the sweet beautiful miracles I call my children. My latest hair-pulling moment is that no matter how small, Mary Ellen seems to find every tiny foreign object on our carpet and put it in her mouth! Now I know that she's just done it, when I look over...usually from blogging or my Facebook page...and see her chewing something. As I scream "Nooooo" as mean as I can to hopefully detour later snacks, she merely smiles at me like "what?".

Things I've now dug out of her mouth...

• Small food crumbs of who-knows-what.
• Wood shards from their toy baskets
• Chips of paint...and I used to make fun of those people who worried about lead paint. I'd piously think, "just don't let your kids eat your walls, big deal!" Live and learn.
• Long strands of my hair.
• Tiny balls of fuzz.
• and the grossest of all...ants! This has happened twice...one time it was on her chin, nice and moist. They are dead ants however...she doesn't hunt them down.
• But most are truly unidentifiable and so small they can barely be seen with the adult eye.

The sad thing is, we have a maid. So I win no Mother-of-the-year awards this week. Must do more vacuuming! Something tells me this may just be the beginning :-)

Little Picasso...OK, More Like Pollock

I thought it would be a fun activity for M&M to use their new crayons and big drawing pads to color their first masterpiece. Now whatever genius decided to market crayons to one year olds, either didn't have kids or did not raise them up through toddler years. No matter how short, chunky, and ergonomic they are constructed, a one year old is going to spend much more time with crayons in their mouth than on the paper. So we live and learn. I promise you that the crayon package said 1+. And I don't want to hear from any of you Mommies out there that your little "Tommy" was regularly drawing trees and sunsets when he was one. I won't believe you!

So they can't really even scribble yet, but I did learn that Mary Ellen can do a pretty good job of turning the pages of her pad on her own. Which is a great pre-literacy skill. This was the one upside to the afternoon adventure.

Mary Ellen contemplating the next grand stroke of her purple crayon.

Michael; the red crayon tastes best!

Ahhhhhh....masterpieces!

Going for a Walk With Dee

It has started to get cooler here. OK, so most people won't think that 90 degrees is very cool. But when you've spent 4 months in upwards of 115 degrees with 80% humidity, 90 is comparatively a cool Fall day! So it was actually possible for us to take a walk around our neighborhood while Mother was here and not completely melt. M&M love to be in their side-by-side stroller and be able to look around at all the flowers and palm trees.

This was our first walk when Mother was here. We all enjoyed it and we even got slightly lost in our compound. That tells you how little we've been able to get out and walk in our own neighborhood this summer...thank heaven for the malls!

This was right before Mother left and we went out for another quick walk to deliver thank you notes to friends who came to their birthday party. It was a bit hotter this day and Mary Ellen didn't like her hat at all. Tough luck...she had to keep it on!

M&M loved having "Dee" here. Every morning when I'd go in to get them up, they'd look around me and watch for Dee to come in the room. I'm already "old hat" I guess! Love & miss you Dee :-)