Right of Passage

When I was pregnant one of the big fears was that you might be boys and I'd have to make the circumcision decision, so as I learned you were each girls I had a sigh of relief and moved on to the next big decision...when would your ears be pierced?!?! There are SO many opinions out there, some parents do it when girls are babies, some at a certain age, some when a specific goal is met, but what to do, what to do? For each thought, there are plenty of people out there to judge and criticize. Personally, it's a little strange for me to see a baby with ears pierced, so my thought was always that we'd set some goal, and when it was met, you could pierce your ears. One of the challenges of that, is that Me Too, I mean Parker, has NO concept of the fact that she's two years younger than Payton. I knew it would be heartbreaking for Parker to watch Payton get it done and not have her own, but I was prepared to handle it. For a long time I set the goal for you, Payton, that when you stopped sucking your thumb you would be allowed to have earrings, assuming that would entice you. To be honest Parker, I hadn't to date given it much thought as to what yoru goal would be, just figured there would be a "right time" sometime. It took me a couple of months to realize that you Payton, in fact were afraid to have your ears pierced because I was also honest and told you that it would hurt. You had zero motivation to stop sucking your thumb with this as the reward. So I dropped it and instead just occasionally mentioned the ear piercing idea and each time you'd grab at your innocent little lobes and scream "NOOO! It HURTS!!!" In doing this, sometimes I'd turn to Parker and as if she wanted to have hers done. Usually she'd grin and say no as well. Until Christmas break this year. We were hanging out with Frances and Paxton at Miromar one evening and walked by a shop, I tossed out the idea, and Parker said "Yes!" I was a bit surprised, but by the time we were ready to head inside to do it, she'd decided that it wasn't gonna happen, so we moved on. A few days later Parker woke with a sparkle in her eye, and announced that "Today I want to get my ears pierced." Sure thing I thought and went about the day. But she was persistent, and even got Payton on the bandwagon. We headed out to run errands, and I told you we'd also go back to the mall for ear piercing if you still wanted to. I was certain that you'd back out once we were in the parking lot, but you didn't. Then I thought well, they'll quit now, we're walking toward the store. Nope. Finally we're there, and no one's backing down. Crap, I better call Daddy; we hadn't really talked about this. I started trying to reach him, but he was in a meeting. Upon arriving at the shop we find a mob of people, including a family of 10 with two little girls, probably around 7-8 ahead of us. So we wait, and wait. I keep thinking you girls are gonna tuck your tails and run, instead you watched the other girls and held your ground. Not to say you didn't have a few moments of hesitation, but overall I was impressed with your determination. While we're waiting I learn that at this shop earrings are buy one get one 1/2 off, so if we're going to do this, you both have to be on board because ear piercing isn't as cheap as I remember it being as a kid! I'm still trying to reach

Daddy, and as you're sitting down in the chairs he finally answers. It was a little too late for me to drag you out, so we're lucky he didn't have any major objections. I'd decided that we'd be best off if Parker went first. A few reasons. Payton's a drama queen, so if she went first and performed her typical hysterics Parker would be too scared to go through with it, heck, anyone would be. Secondly, even if Parker cried, she'd get over it quick, AND, there's no way a big sister could walk out with her baby sister having accomplished the mission. And that's pretty much how it went down. Parker choose some darling pink crowns and Payton sweet white and yellow daisies. I was so nervous for them, but they took it like champs. There were some tears initially, but over all I was very proud of my girls!
So why didn't I hold to the original plan of setting some big goal? Well, on that day, you guys had the courage and the excitement; it was fun for all of us. It wasn't something you were stressing about, I wasn't pushing or suggesting, you came up with it and were able to show me how brave you could be, together. You were proud of yourselves and excited to do this together as sisters. I feel like it was a bonding moment and I'm happy that we were able to have fun doing it. You guys have been good about reminding me to clean your ears and making sure we turn them.

We have had two hiccups in the whole thing. First off, the crowns Parker picked out are a bit of a nightmare. They have these cute little tips that get caught in everything - towels, washcloths, clothes, blankets, pillows, you name it. But, three weeks in, we've all learned how to be careful and we're having a lot less run-ins than we did the first couple weeks. The other hiccup was that earlier this week you girls were wrestling on the floor after school one night and somehow Parker's hair got caught on Payton's ear and ripped the earring out of her ear. Luckily, it didn't tear the ear, but we couldn't get it back in that night and it hurt a bunch. Everyone was crying, I've honestly never seen Parker shaken up so much because she felt SO bad for hurting Payton. I think Payton stopped crying long before Parker did. So today we had to go BACK to the shop and they put the earring back in with the special tool. Today was way more traumatic than the first time, although I think ultimately it didn't actually hurt, you were just scared that it was going to. When we walked out you were fine and never spoke another word about it.

Halloween

I am a holiday nut it seems. I've always loved Christmas, the spirit, the fun, the whole month of people being just happier than any time of the year. Your Daddy's always just kind of stood back and laughed at me and my crazy spirit although I think he even kind of gets a kick out of it. But as you kids get older and I do too, Christmas does get stressful with all of the activities, the parties, the gift giving, the spending and so on. We start shopping and Christmas activities the day after Thanksgiving, and by the time Christmas actually rolls around, I'm a wee bit worn out. Thanksgiving, well it's good too, but I really miss my family with a four day holiday that I never get to see my own parents and grandparents. I have great memories from childhood and time when I lived in Missouri close to everyone were we'd all pile into Grandma and Grandpa's 2 bedroom house with all of the cousins aunts and uncles for 3-4 days at a time, and start planning for Christmas.

Now I've clung onto a new spirit, it's Halloween Spirit, and I seem to have it bad, so bad that Grandpa Mark and Grandma Teresa ventured to Florida to witness the madness this year! Halloween's just a fun holiday, at most it lasts a week, and it's not one where people have to get fancy, no one really travels, so we get to hang out, dressed up silly with all of our friends and collect candy. When Payton was a baby, I started the tradition of coordinating a neighborhood party for all of the kids, and each year the party grows a little and runs a bit more smoothly. Last year, or maybe two, we started another tradition of hosting a (mostly) adult pumpkin carving party at our house on Thursday night before Halloween. Last year we also started preschool at the Lamb of God Church, and have added that schools Trunk or Treat to our tradition on Wednesday night with all of our friends from the neighborhood. You might notice the "tradition" list seems to be getting long. Just wait, I'm about to explain to you ladies what torture I've put your little butts through this year. You might want to sit down for this.
This year Grandma and Grandpa decided that they'd like to come down and celebrate with you girls and see what the fuss was all about. About the same time, Payton, you declared that you wanted to be a unicorn. Let me tell you, in all of the World Wide Web there are NO CHILD SIZED unicorn costumes to be had. There are a few baby ones, and some very falic looking horns that can be purchased, but no kid costumes. Super Mommy to the rescue, I put on my thinking cap and made you a costume for the first (probably last) time. At first you were okay with it, but to be honest, by the time Halloween actually rolled around you practically refused to wear your horn and mane. Your first outing with it was to Trunk-or-Treat at the preschool. You were both darling, Payton as a homemade unicorn, and Parker as the cutest little cheerleader ever. The fun thing about living in a small town is that at the events we see pretty much everyone we know, so even the parents have a good time because we get to catch up a little too. That could have something to do with why we lost Parker within the first 10 minutes and Charly 30 minute later, but all's well that ends well, as they say. Anyway, back to the timeline...I started getting excited for MY mom and dad to arrive, and planned our pumpkin carving party for the evening of their arrival, Thursday. I must say, a great time was had by all and once again we ended up with some fantastic jack o lanterns. Each year Collin comes up with a more elaborate sculpture and Bobby with a more gross one.

On Friday we woke up to another full day - day 3 of the insanity. Parker's class was to have a party both Friday and Monday, so as class mom I spent the week stressing about how to get parents to bring all the right stuff since the whole party idea had been sprung on me Monday. Thankfully, when I arrived at school that morning there were goodies galore and all was well. BSPFA decided to have a book reading themed day on Friday as well as a Fall Festival that evening, so that all the kids could show off their "Book Themed" costumes without calling it a Halloween celebration. Another mother and I decided we'd put together some little treats for the class. The treats turned into a full blown party, including book reading by Grandpa and cookie decorating. It turned out to be a fantastic party, probably better than any of us expected, and I'm 100% sure the other teachers were jealous of the event we pulled off and I'm 100% happy we did it!

But, the day wasn't over yet...that evening we loaded back up with the whole family, who hadn't had a good night’s sleep since at least Tuesday night, and headed back to school for Fall Festival in the rain. That event didn't go quite as well as I'd hoped since it was raining everything had to be moved inside and we had two very tired and cranky little girls. We only stayed for a bit, and after 12 or 15 meltdowns decided to call it a day. On Saturday we took a break from the Halloween activities, and headed to Naples for the Stone crab Festival, and boy oh boy was it worth it! We had yummy stone crabs, and had a blast watching Parker rock out in front of the bandstand all by her little self. It wasn't so long ago that Payton would have been right there beside her, but growing up makes a girl more aware of onlookers. I suppose it won't be long before Parker is self conscious too, but for now it was fun to see her just feeling the music.

Sunday was the big event, the 4th(?) Annual Lakes of Estero Halloween Party! Every year I love to put this together, but spend the week previous stressing myself out over it as if the queen herself would be judging my party hosting skills. I must say, this was the best yet. We had some great activites, including a photo station at the front door, an ooey, gooey station and of course cookie decorating and pumpkin decorating.
By the time Halloween finally arrived on Monday evening we were all about done. The weather man kept threatening that rain would arrive, and everyone was nervous. Alas, it held off, and we had sucessful night of candy collecting. Grandma and Grandpa got to witness the madness that is our Halloween tradition. We may have lost a kid or two, had a few scraped knees, maybe a unicorn missing a horn, but overall, it was a blast!