Thanksgiving 2014

We had to get out for a bit before the car ride to Long Island for Thanksgiving dinner, so we took the kids over to Dickinson park to run off energy for a bit. As usual, an wonderful time had by all down at Nanny and Papa's house with the whole Fitz clan and no shortage of food for laps to sit on.

First Snow

The day before Thanksgiving we had our first snow of the year, and luckily, Keeley's new boots from Nana Ro Ro arrived by mail just in the nick of time. Keeley was very excited to get out and build her first snowman; Cora was not so thrilled with the cold, white stuff.

The Best part of fall

Emmet turns 32!

I thought it would be nice to have his high school buddies here with their families, so I, shot- in- the dark threw it out there, only 3 weeks in advance. Low and behold, the Safino's and Heagney's were both free!

In the end, Six kids under the age of 3 in our little home made for a lot of laughs, a lot of crumbs, and a lot of fun memories.

Trip to Southwick

I decided to go up to see my neighborhood friend, Danielle, and her family, up in Southwick,MA before the holiday madness and the tough winter weather sets in. Keeley's highlight was snuggling up with her buddy, Nolan, and watching "FRozen"- Cora's was probably climbing on chairs and tables with Jameson and running around in a new space all afternoon. IT's always nice to have a fun place to go visit when Emmet is "on call" on a Saturday, and today, Danielle and Mike rescued us with a warm house to play in and a delicious spaghetti dinner.

Getting Dressed

For about two months now, Keeley comes into our room when she wakes up at 6:30 am and the first thing she says is, "I want to get dressed." It's not nasty or rude, just matter of fact. Once I rise and shine, I try to convince her to wait until after breakfast, but recently, she's so determined, I figure, ok, it can't hurt. It's one step in the direction of getting us out the door at 9 am. The problem is, she wants to wear a skirt or a dress, everyday. She has plenty of beautiful play clothes from family and friends, but they lay, untouched, because they are not a skirt or a dress. Well, because we don't have a skirt or a dress, or it's not fitting to play in these things everyday, I have to immediately manipulate this clever 3 year old to wear something else. I set rules like, "Skirts are for school or church" or "Dresses are for holidays" but the pleading goes on, everyday, like clockwork, regardless of my strict rules and insistence on mixing up the wardrobe.

So because it's cold now, and children need to wear clothes, I have to manipulate this little girl right back. And I always surprise myself that I come up with something that convinces her that she has found the perfect outfit everyday: "This shirt is a dressy shirt- it's like a dress, you just have to wear leggings with it." "This blazer is super fancy, but you have to wear jeans with it." "Oh look, this shirt is your favorite color! It's purple. Fancy Nancy from your books is 'partial to purple' just like you, remember?"

It's amazing how fast and how "on" my brain has to be immediately upon starting my day. The "two choices of outfits" routine I used when she was a two year old worked wonders for months. "You want the red shirt or the blue shirt?" They think they have the power, you pick two shirts that work. Everyone wins. HOwever, in this three year old world, that game is not working at all, and I find myself in negotiations constantly. Recently in reading my therapy, Jim Gaffigan's comedic take on parenting young kids in "Dad is Fat" he called his three year old an "emperor." Spot on. I've definitely got one of those in our house now, too. Good thing she's still got that dimple.

Happy Halloween!

Emmet's masterpiece below. Who doesn't love the time honored tradition of carving a Jack-O-Lantern with Daddy on Halloween Eve?

Leading up to this Halloween, Keeley, like most 3 year old girls, changed her costume idea multiple times. She started out the fall wanting to be Angelina Ballerina. Then she was dead set on "Elsa" from frozen and wearing her new dress up from Aunt Bri - the "FRozen Gown." However, last minute the day before the "Trick or Treat Street" Bethel downtown event, she told me she wanted to be a mermaid. Total curveball. I remembered we had a tiara in her closet and the singing sea shell necklace from "The Little Mermaid" in her closet. That will work. Then I found a sparkly sweater that I thought looked like scales, or at least, that is what I told Keeley. Finally a tutu that was her "fins." She was thrilled. And just like that, we had a mermaid. Cora was a little girl frog, a hand me down costume that Keeley wore at this age, which I can't get enough of. I guess the Ferriter girls just wanted to go aquatic this year. I'd say they pulled it off.

This was our first year participating in the "Trick or Treat Street" event, where all of the store owners in town stand outside handing out candy to the children of the neighborhood. It was so much fun. The streets were packed with Bethel kids and they couldn't have got a sunnier, more perfect day for families to be outside all afternoon walking up and down the sidewalks of Greenwood Avenue. On the Municipal Center lawn, they had speakers playing loud and fun Halloween music, and we met up with lots of familiar faces there. Dancing around with her satchel full of chocolate candy and greeting her friends like the mayor, Keeley was in her glory.

On Halloween night, we promised Keels we would trick-or-treat "In the Dark" for a bit, so we headed over to Ralph and Cheryl's next door, and then to the Ferriers up the block for some house to house strolling. The girls loved seeing all the kids out in costumes and the homeowners off of the main street did a fantastic job decorating and preparing for all the little people in town to come by.