Our Hobbit Halloween

First off, if you would like to see some non-blurry shots of our evening, along with a far more appropriate post title...Emily has posted her lovely photos here

Our Hobbit Halloween was an absolute blast, and while I never want to see another piece of brown craft foam, I had so much fun making these costumes (with the exception of Bilbo's waistcoat, which was all Nanny.) We had a little party the weekend before so the kids could play in their costumes to their hearts' content.

Kateri and Finn were my favorite...they are at that magical age where their imaginations are so vivid and they truly believe they look exactly like their characters.

I loved watching Kateri's dress float behind her as she ran from house to house in the dark on Halloween.

Thorin and co.

Those burchjerks sure know how to sell it. Audrey couldn't keep a straight face. I'll miss her singing her own theme music as she plays. She and Lucy were so excited about their costumes it was hilarious...instead of saying "Trick or Treat," they actually bowed and said "Fili and Kili, at your service." I'm sure they completely confused most of the nice people giving out candy one Halloween, but I guess it beats dressing up as a flirty candy-corn or whatever other abomination Party City is trying to market to eight year old girls...

My favorite part of this picture is how proud Finn is of the sculpey ring his mom made him...he reeeeally wants to make sure it gets caught on film.

Lili and Jack went as Mirkwood elves: Tauriel and Legolas. We only know Tauriel from the trailer for the Desolation of Smaug, so I am crossing my fingers that her character isn't lame. Come on, Peter Jackson, don't let us down! I kind of want to take Lili and Jack to the midnight premiere and let them dress up, but that might be taking things a bit too far. Plus they have school the next day. Plus they would probably get super embarrassed.

 

Bilbo having a chat with a hobbit lady-friend and mangling his pipe.

Let's not forget Smaug the Adorable

who was stolen by Tauriel for a few minutes, naturally.

 

Bilbo and Legolas, who is a big softie when it comes to babies hobbits.

 

I think it was our best Halloween yet...maybe we should retire. I hear Party City has some lovely selections to choose from.

It's the craftiest time of the year...

'I was recently given a hard time by one of the two people who read my blog about what a terrible slacker I've been lately. So, sorry, Uncle Justin...we've been using most of Isaiah's precious nap times to work on Halloween costumes. This year, we're continuing our streak of doing a group theme with the burchjerks, and it's The Hobbit. Since I've been in love with Tolkien since the 5th grade, I'm almost as excited for Halloween as Kateri:

Kateri is going to be Galadriel. I think she might be even more excited about this than when she was Astrid. She is totally convinced that she looks every bit as tall and willowy and gorgeous as Cate Blanchett in her getup.

But seriously, I love this time of year. I have hot glue gun burns all over my fingertips, and most days Isaiah seems to be succeeding in his campaign of household destruction, but it's the only time of year I force myself to make time for any sort of creative outlet. True, I probably waste way too much time poring over Lili's book of conceptual  art from the movie, and laughing at awesomely cheesy cosplay photos, but maybe forcing myself to draft patterns and try new techniques just might help me stave off Alzheimer's.

This has happened more times than I care to admit...over the past few weeks he has also learned to both climb and remove his own diaper, so our quality of life has taken a serious hit.

 

We still have a lot of work to do...

Isaiah at 1

Our baby turned one last week. I'm afraid to write too much because I know my words have the tendency to turn maudlin and sappy when reflecting on how fast all of my babies are growing. Instead, here is a little snapshot of our little man at one:

(enjoy my pinterest-fail-worthy cupcakes and our family's dirge-like singing)


P1030693 from Allison Speier on Vimeo.

continued here:


P1030694 from Allison Speier on Vimeo.

As much as I am mourning the baby months that have flown by too quickly, I am loving the toddler months, in all their messy, hilarious, infuriating, accident-prone, snuggly, adorable glory!

Kateri

 The week before school started, after I had written tiny initials in Sharpie on approximately 3 billion back-to-school items, I looked at Kateri sitting at the dinner table and had a little mini panic attack about her leaving me forever starting half-day kindergarten. Heart palpitations, cold sweat, nausea...she just still seems like a baby to me...maybe because of her Elmer Fudd speech impediment, or because her daily necessary quota of snuggles is still pretty high.
Anyway, I got a grip on myself, and my little girl went off proud as can be with her big sisters for her first day at school.

Thank goodness for Mrs. Hundelt. If Kateri had started school with any lesser teacher, I probably would have been sobbing into my coffee after I got home. By the way,  don't let Isaiah fool you in this picture. He might look like he is posing agreeably for a family photo, but I am fairly certain he was scheming about how much destruction he could wreak upon those nicely organized shelves before we grabbed him.

The following week, Kateri turned five. I feel a little bit guilty that we have never had a party for her, but she was so happy about the blobby cake we made together (avert your eyes, Aunt Katie) and her new pink boots, I don't think she minded. Happy birthday, sweet Kateri! Thank you for making our lives that much brighter for these past five years!


P1030666 from Allison Speier on Vimeo.

Well, I'm back.

I've had a hard time getting around to blogging about our summer, partly because I was mourning  Scituate and freedom from school and routines, and partly because I was using Isaiah's precious nap time to scrub our grout. The grout was really bad, and barricading him out of the sections I was working on just didn't work. He is a wily little guy.

But our summer was lovely as only a Scituate summer can be. We are so lucky to be able to get away to such a beautiful little corner of God's Creation.

I don't know what I am missing more: the garden, the beach, our after-dinner walks,

...or my family. The Bird family reunion portion of our stay was a blast. There were 21 of us under my parents' roof, which I half expected to feel like this:

...but even with the heat wave, it actually felt like this:

The little cousins are growing up so fast and it is so much fun to watch their personalities evolve into such unique and lovable little individuals. My girls are still laughing about the time Leah asked to get taken out to the sandbar, thinking it was some type of snack bar, and then was terribly let down when we explained it to her that there were no fries out there...just hermit crabs. 

There was also plenty of one-on-one time with Nanny and Papa: drip castles, Stratego and fishing with Papa; baking and tea parties and gardening with Nanny. (They sound like caricatures of perfect grandparents, but they are for real.) Isaiah fell in love with both of them...it was a wrench to tear him away and stick him back in our little house in the desert.

The kids and Nanny at the beach on one of many gorgeous evening walks:

 

 

While we were gone, my crawling baby turned into a toddler...(sob)

 

...and my big girl turned eleven...(double sob)
 

We also had lots of nice time with our little nuclear family since Luke came back to travel home with us. One of the things I love about being there so long is that the girls have only each other for playmates...which I think is good for fostering sibling love. Here they are on one of our hikes at the Norris Reservation, (pretending it was Mirkwood of course.) It was a little too green and lovely to be a convincing Mirkwood, but it is as close to a deep dark forest as these kids are likely to get. Audrey kept asking to be Bombur, so she could "accidentally" fall in the North River and then pretend to be asleep while we took turns carrying her. Oh Audrey.

 

 

Here's Luke, our anti-Mr. Banks, flying a kite with Kateri.

 



The girls came home with tanned skin, bleached hair, and horribly scraped up knees from their  dangerous hobby of riding scooters at breakneck speed down sandy sidewalks.

 

I came home with my introvert batteries recharged.

 

We all came home full of happy memories,

 already dreaming of next summer.

Thank you, Nanny and Papa!

12/12

"A portrait of my children once a week, every week, for a year"

This is a lazy iPad version, but I am cutting myself some slack to account for traveling.

Lili: assisting Papa at the grill

Audrey: chilly enough for her new sweatshirt: heaven!

Kateri: chilly enough to be wrapped in a blanket on the hammock and snuggled by Nanny: heaven!

Isaiah: enjoying all the colors of the garden

11/52

"A portrait of my children one a week, every week, for a year"

 

 

Lili: reading...again

Audrey: running a race in the backyard, dirty feet and a (miraculously) clean dress

Kateri: tuckered out midday

Isaiah: very serious about cheering on those backyard races 

Some Dallas Birds...

...came to visit us a few weeks ago for the baptism of our newest cousin: Thaddeus Joseph. It is so funny to see this band of boy cousins come along after 7 girls.

Boy cousins playing Matchbox cars was a new and strange sight to see at the Speier house.

It kind of looks like they choreographed their dance beforehand.

We tried to beat the heat with popsicles and sprinkler fun

Oh Leah...you are the happiest child. Sometimes I think your real father was Buddy the Elf.

 

 

As usual, I dropped the ball on picture-taking, but we had a ball with these two little cousins and Aunt Becca. We can't wait to spend some more time with them in Scituate!

 

10/52

"A portrait of my children once a week, every week, for a year"

 

Lili: not doing an awful lot to prove her sister wrong

Audrey: enjoying some frozen grapes

Kateri: surprised and slightly embarrassed to be caught playing airplane pilot and talking into her headphones

Isaiah: baring his lovely flabby farmer-tanned arms



Paper airplane notes and blue toys

One fabulous thing about summer vacation is that the girls get to spend so much time playing together, just the three of them. Which gives them ample opportunity to work out disagreements by themselves and practice conflict resolution. At least that's what I told myself when I found a paper airplane with this correspondence between Audrey and Lili scrawled on it:


Sorry, Lili.
Do you want to play blue toys*?
O that's right I fergot, all you like to do is READ!

I  was going to say later, but now it's NEVER.


I don't know what prompted this rather backhanded olive branch, but I didn't hear anything about it, so I guess they worked it out on their own.


*blue toys: our eclectic collection of action figures. It used to be housed in a blue plastic bin, but it cracked and was replaced by a new clear model. They still call them "blue toys" and spend hours dividing them up into hilarious random teams like this one:

The roster from left to right: Piglet, "Una's Lamb," Shan Yu, a freaky bald My Little Pony that I need to throw out when no one is looking, a Cowardly Lion Pez dispenser, a stegosaurus, Greedo, Richard Parker (a new addition; thanks, Aunt Becca!) Sully sporting a wikki-stick bandage, Strawberry Shortcake, Gold Batman, and a baby giraffe who seems to be borrowing someone's Endor poncho.

9/52

 

 

"A portrait of my children once a week, every week, for a year"

 

 

Lili: enjoying a homemade popsicle

Audrey: loves a good game of solitaire. Good thing she remembered her purse

Kateri: hanging around

Isaiah: Siesta with a sister; who needs a baby monitor?