Trick-or-Treat

Trick-or-Treating 2007 was a very positive experience. We hardly heard any arguing over whose turn it was to ring the doorbell. This year, the excitement of receiving the candy turned out to be more rewarding than the doorbell ringing.

Lilah, a.k.a Hannah Montana, a.k.a. Miley Cypres (upon removal of wig) had just as much fun passing out candy as she did trick-or-treating. She helped Daddy after making her way around our block.

Emma, motivated by candy, and Gavin, motivated simply at the notion of filling his bag to the very top, covered more ground in our neighborhood.

The fun didn't stop there. Daddy gave the kids 5 minutes of blissful pie-hole stuffing. And when that fun was over, the sorting began.

Inquiring Mind Wants to Know

Mommy, will Grandma and Grandpa be able to carry me when I'm 15?

(randomly asked by Gavin)

Another Quote from Gavin

G-Mommy, I just have to tell you one thing. I accidentally got in a teeny, tiny, little bit of trouble. I had a time-out, but just for like 5 seconds.

Apparently Gavin was hugging best friend Max, most likely at an inappropriate time. It seems like I'm portraying Max as some sort of bad influence, but, really he's a nice kid. They all just have so much fun together.

Bedtime Conversation With Gabbo

While I was giving Gavin his backrub, he was recounting his school day with me.

Me- Who did you sit next to at lunch?
G- I was supposed to sit next to Natalia, but it's a good thing I moved over and sat next to Ethan.
Me- Why did you do that?
G- Because I don't like Natalia.
Me- Well, don't you think it might hurt her feelings if you try not to sit by her?
G- That's ok because she doesn't like me either.

Missing teeth

Lilah lost another tooth last week. She says it's her 10th, but I think it might be her 9th. She's been losing teeth for over 2 years now. She lost her first tooth (pictured above) about a month before her 5th birthday at Grandma and Grandpa Schulz's house.

She wrote this note to the tooth fairy.

Dear Tooth Fairy,

I'm wondering if anyone has seen you. And this is my tenth tooth so I'm really excited. And can you give me a book instead of a doller. Thank you and there is a picture of you.

If you're wondering, she did get a book from the tooth fairy.

Gavin has also lost a couple of teeth. His first one came out on June 5. Although it has taken some time, Emma has gotten over her jealousy of this matter. When he first talked about his wiggly tooth, she could hardly stand it. In the past, she's been the one to accomplish new feats first, for almost everything. Like snapping and whistling, for instance. So when people acknowledged Gavin's missing or wiggly tooth, Emma immediately went into a snapping whistling frenzy, thinking... "Alright, his missing tooth is cool and all, but look what I can do."

Fashion Queen Part 2

Not only does Emma have a unique sense of style, but she also has particular sensitivities to certain articles of clothing. This started early in her toddler stage, when she had an aversion to socks. She used to get so upset about wearing socks- her very words "them get bubbles in them." Come to think of it, she found most clothes objectionable for quite some time. To this day, it's not unusual to find Emma watching t.v. in just her underwear. She seems to have gotten over her sock issues, but refuses to wear tights. This poses a problem for a girl who loves to wear dresses and skirts, as winter rapidly approaches. No worries though. She's a resourceful child and has found a way around this.

She just wears pants with a dress. Stripes were the obvious theme today.

She also has a problem with jeans. She won't wear them. So, it's all about stretchy cotton pants, dresses and skirts.

Money Well Spent

Here's Emma's first notebook entry.

If you need help deciphering:

I love my mom, dad, family. My dog is nice.

Worth a Raised Voice

There are varying degrees of arguing among the Schulz kids, however absurd the issue at hand happens to be. These range from raised voices, arguing, tattling, to yelling at each other. I'm happy to report that, so far, none of the kids use physical violence as way to deal with their issues.

Sitting down for breakfast- Lilah and Emma both have Blue's Clues bowls and Gavin has a yellow one. They are sitting at the island in this order- Emma, Gavin, Lilah

L- Look, I see a pattern here. Blue's Clues bowl, yellow bowl, Blues Clues bowl. And look, girl, boy, girl
E- Hey! I was going to say girl, boy, girl. (said in an annoyed-that-Lilah-stole-her-thunder kind of way)

Another quote from Gavin

Daddy, guess what, I know Max's last name and its well.

A quote from Gavin

While riding in the car at night-

Mommy, can you turn on the lights because all I can see is nothing.

A Tuesday night with the Schulz's

Last night we had a guys/girls evening. I took the girls to Target, and Mike stayed home and hung out with Gavin. Gavin cracked Mike up with his conversation:

G- I love that toothpaste.
Mike- Then why don't you marry it?
G- I can't marry toothpaste or else I would have to eat the whole thing every day. What's your favorite spiceness?

Mike and Gavin also had the fortunate experience of watching 4 raccoons scaling our fence. Gavin was the one who noticed them. He saw them out the deck door.

The picture is really dark, but you get the point. Duncan hung out outside with the raccoons, like they're good friends. He didn't bark or anything.
I had the lucky task of taking the girls to Old Navy and Target. The girls are really funny in a clothing store. So many comments- "Do you think this would look good on me?" "This would look cute on Lilah!" "I really need a new sweatshirt" "Do you like this one or this one?" "This dress is really cute!"

After Old Navy we headed to Target. We were were in the health section and Lilah brought a giant box of pantyliners to me (133 to be exact) and asked me if they were band-aids.

The main reason we went to Target was to buy a fancy notebook for Lilah. She wants to write about the books she reads at home. While she was agonizing over her choices- shimmery, puppies, flowers, or princesses, Emma was sifting through notebooks for herself. She brought one to me and said:

E-Can I get this one?
Me- We have lots of notebooks at home. Why do you need a new one?
E-I want to write things in it.
Me- Like what?
E- Um, like, I love my mom and dad.

Guess who has a new notebook.

Conferences

We had parent-teacher conferences last week. I'm happy to report that the teachers all said wonderful things about the kids, despite any nose honking incidents that happened prior to our discussions.

Here are a few of the positive comments:

Lilah- friendly, very nice, participates and puts forth good effort, cooperates, works well with others in the class, lovely, etc.

Emma- always happy, always smiling, follows directions, good listener, "can do" attitude, determined, eager to please, outgoing, caring...

Gavin-good at math and reading, high vocabulary, loves to talk, perfectionist, sensitive, curious, inquisitive (seeker of knowledge)...

Emma and Gavin's kindergarten teacher is a total gem. She does home visits for her conferences- for all 27 children in her class. She devotes an hour per child. We were the last on her Friday list of conferences, so we invited her to eat with us. The kids thought that was the greatest thing. They'll remember it always, I'm sure.

They had been planning all day for the visit-"decorating" the basement to look like a restaurant. They put together a menu for their teacher to order from, including many of the plastic food items from our giant plastic bin. The kids brought her downstairs immediately when she arrived. She and her student teacher came downstairs, sat at the table and checked off which food items they wanted. The kids "prepared" plates and served up the food, and the teachers talked up the dinner like it was the best thing they'd ever eaten. It really was the sweetest thing.

After the pretend restaurant visit, we had real dinner, then the kids went to the basement to play while Mike and I had a chance to talk in great length with the teachers. It was a lovely visit.

The advantage of having your twins in the same Kindergarten class....

Nothing is kept from me. For example...

While walking home from the bus today, Gavin shared some information about the school day.

G- Emma had a time out in class today, but I didn't. I never have a time out because I always do the right thing, except that one time at lunch.
Me- What happened Emma?
E- Um, I don't member. But, it wasn't really a time out. It was like, um, a break.
Me- Really? So what happened that you had to take a break?
E- Um, I don't member what happened.
Me- I think you should sit on the couch and think about your day so you can remember. We'll need to come up with some ideas to help you so you don't have to take a break again.
(Entering the house)
Me- Come sit on the couch with me so we can remember about your day.
E- Oh yeah, I member now. Max was trying to goof around with me.
Me- Really? Was there anything more?
E- Oh yeah, and I was honking his nose. And the teacher was reading a story.

By the way, Emma informed me 2 days ago that Max is planning on marrying her.

Dancing Queen

Look out Cheetah Girls, there's a new kid in town.



The lighting in this clip is really bad, but I think you can still see Emma's sweet moves.