Anticipation Part II Month of November- Blog 1: Letters from Mom & Mimi

And Happy Halloween Ellie-roo!

So I’ve realized that I for sure am not going to win any Mom-of-the-Year awards anytime soon… Specifically, when the doorbell rings at any time of day or night, you scream “Yay, Pizza!”  I guess I need to cook a few more dinners in the kitchen.  And when you get frustrated, drop something, or spill anything, you yell, “Oh crap.”  I suppose the words could be worse but they sure could be better!  I am not the model parent on most days… but this week we did have a lot of fun as a family.  We made Halloween special (with the help from your Mimi and Poppy of course too).  They sent you three (that’s right, you read that correctly… 3!) costumes.  And we practiced dressing up in all of them throughout the week.  You loved the kangaroo because it came with a baby stuffed animal for the pouch.  And you really liked the Elmo costume (well really only the hat because I think you thought the body suit was Elmo eating you).  And the giraffe was adorable and so perfect for going out (even though we had to duct tape the giraffe head to your monkey hat, which is the only hat you will wear.  But within the hour, you figured out my trick and ripped the giraffe head off so you quickly became a giraffe-monkey mix… very odd but so cute!).

Despite getting over a head cold (man- this season’s germs are hitting you hard, Ellie Girl), we made it to Boo at the Zoo a few days ago.  

You liked the animals as always but the new construction really caught your eye this month.  You were amazed at the bulldozer you could see from a small opening and you were so curious!  

You wanted to climb into every animal cage or you kept saying, “Open It!” to the biggest gates with the elephants inside.  You were quite angry that the penguins and their water enclosure were not accessible to us.  

I let you out of the stroller a lot but not when we got close to the peacocks as I was afraid that they would bite you since you wanted so badly to pet them and be their friend!   

We had to leave after we went to the snack shop and you remembered they had ice cream in the summer and asked very politely for some.  However, the ice cream stand is closed this time of year and you had a bit of a meltdown.  Once we got in the car, you fell asleep… I think you were wiped out!  Overall, as I am writing this piece about the zoo, I am realizing that this day was probably so frustrating for you!  All you wanted to do was play with the animals and you weren’t allowed to touch, pet, or swim with any of them…    

Your Dad and I took you to a Fall Festival/Pumpkin Patch on a gorgeous, clear day last weekend.   

You ran around like you owned the place.   

They had a swing set, petting zoo (again, you wished you could get inside especially with that small pony- are you seeing a pattern yet?!), and a corn maze (which was so much fun because we’ve never done one of those before!  You led the way saying, “this way Daddy!” with a stalk of corn as your walking stick… 20 minutes later, we found the exit!).

And yes, I took you trick-or-treating around the neighborhood while your Dad stayed back and handed out candy (your Dad dressed up as a rock star, played scary music, and set up the fog machine… when we came back, you were very scared and didn’t recognize him!).  But while we walked around collecting candy, you had me laughing out loud.  At first, you were more interested in chasing rabbits around the yard.  

But as soon as we got you moving and someone handed you that first bag of M&M’s, you were sold on Halloween!  You were hilarious and although you didn’t like talking to strangers, you did like getting candy (remember that sweet tooth, I’ve told you about?!).  You would say, “trick-or-treat” before we got to the door!  Oh Ellie- you made this one of my greatest Halloweens yet! 

Alright Mimi, so tell us about your Halloween… did you get many trick-or-treaters?  Ellie, if we ever go home for Halloween, Mimi and Poppy’s house is the one to hit as they have the big-size candy bars!!!  

So in sticking to the anticipation theme for another month, how about we get excited about our two awesome football teams next week?!  What do you think Mimi?

Love you Ellie-Elmo/Kangaroo/Giraffe Girl!

Mom

And now from your Mimi…

Hi Ellie!

You are not going to believe this but it is snowing here!  Yup…. It is 2 days before Halloween and it looks like a winter wonderland outside!  

The weatherman is anticipating 5 to 8 inches!  And I am anticipating staying indoors today!  I do have to tell you that instead of drinking a cup of tea while I am writing, I opted for a cup of hot chocolate instead!  It seems like the perfect way to start the day!  My goal today Ellie is to start organizing the dozens upon dozens of picture albums I have stored under the basement steps and also the bins upon bins of loose pictures too!  I pulled them all out the other day and placed them on the floor in the middle of the family room.  And just to give you a picture idea of just how many pictures there actually are…. Let’s just say that anyone entering the basement wouldn’t know we even had a family room because it is hidden around a mountain of photos!  Every time I walk down there I feel like hyperventilating so I find an excuse to go back upstairs again!  Oh Ellie, I wish you and your mommy were here to help me sort through the piles.  It could be fun walking down memory lane!

The reason why I started this crazy idea is because of Halloween.  Since you love Elmo of Sesame Street so much, Poppy and I thought it would be neat to buy you an Elmo costume to wear for Trick-or-Treating.  And then I remembered that 30 years ago we had your mommy wear a Cookie Monster outfit; which is another character from Sesame Street!  How cool is that?  Like mommy, like daughter!  

Another Halloween memory I have Ellie is of your mommy and your Uncle Ryan when they were about 5 and 3 years of age.  Instead of buying store bought costumes that year, I came up with a very creative homemade idea!  I dressed them up as Christmas presents using cardboard boxes.  

There was one slight problem though… your Uncle Ryan’s arms were a little too short and the cardboard armholes that I cut out of the box dug into his arms causing him to whine a little bit.  Thankfully we lived in a row house meaning that all the houses we would be visiting were connected to each other, so trick-or-treating and filling their pumpkins with lots of candy did not take long at all!  Your mommy was the better trooper that year, but I think that is because she loved being the center of attention!  I have to admit Ellie; they were the cutest Christmas presents ever!  Now Poppy and I stay home each year to give out candy to the neighborhood children… and just so you know, Poppy makes sure I only buy the GOOD candy-bars and they have to be the BIG ones too!  Like everything else, Poppy is very generous!  I think he must have seen in his trick-or-treating younger years one candy too many which fell under the category of: not chocolate, very miniature, yucky tasting, and the no one ever eats kind of candy in his bag! 

Another fun memory from years back Ellie is how we used to decorate our pumpkins.  Every year we made sure to get 4 pumpkins from the pumpkin patch (or sometimes from the grocery store) where everyone got to pick their own size pumpkin.  Then we would bring them home for the decorating and displaying.  Well, I have to be honest with you here.  There were only a few times that we actually carved out the pumpkins insides.  

I don’t know why, but I always found that to be creep-crawly yucky!  Scooping out and possibly touching all those slimy pumpkin seeds skived me out a bit!  So I would try my hardest to convince your mommy and Uncle Ryan that drawing faces with magic markers on the pumpkins was a much better way to show their artistic creativity and better yet, their pumpkins would not rot as fast!  It worked for a few years.  And once they were old enough to be on their own… I drove right to Michael’s Craft Store and bought the everlasting kind of pumpkins!  Yep.  Fake ones!  Ellie, they are the best as they do not lose their perfect shape, their perfect color and never rot!  They also store nicely in the attic so I am saving money year after year.  Poppy calls this ‘cheap’ but I don’t listen!!

Ellie, I do have a present day funny story to tell you that relates to Halloween.    It is a bit lengthy but I will try and make it as short as I can.  As you know, I work in a first grade class and children at that age rarely hold back what they are thinking…with that being said let me start at the beginning.  Just this past week, I had to have some minor surgery done on my face.  I had a small cancer spot (not to worry, it wasn’t the deadly kind) that needed to be removed from my temple.  I was surprised that it required 20 stitches though!  Since it did not hurt I chose to return to school and back to work the next day.  What I didn’t realize was that the trauma to this area would cause my eye to swell and turn black and blue.  Ellie, I looked like I was in the ring with the boxer Rocky Balboa and made it a couple of rounds before I was TKO’d!  Well, the children of course were in ‘awe’ of my new look and had to get up close to really check it out.  After studying it thoroughly, one little boy said to me that I should go to the store and buy a patch for my eye because I would make a really good pirate for Halloween!  I so love their age as they only see the good in everything!  Those first couple of days I was worried when I Skyped with you and your mommy Ellie.   I anticipated that you would be afraid when you saw my face, so the first and second time I Skyped with you I covered my eye with my hand.  The third time I did not and realized I was wrong.   You too looked at me long and hard and then just like that, I was still your “Mimi”!  I love you for that Ellie!

Before I close Ellie, I have to tell you that your mommy just called to tell us how your trick-or-treating evening went.  It sounds like you had lots and lots of fun!  Do you know that dressing up and playing let's pretend will give you hours of enjoyment for years to come?!  Right now though I do not know if I should call you GirEllie or EllieRoo as you looked adorable in both your giraffe costume and your kangaroo costume!  Honestly, I can’t wait to Skype with you again!  Your antics always make me laugh!

So now I think it is time to close with this thought.  People wear masks for many reasons Ellie.  Halloween for one.  Work related issues for another.  Hiding behind one because of personal issues is another.  But no matter, I think the lesson to be learned here is to just be you.  Be honest, be confident, and be sincere.  For there is nothing more wonderful than viewing present or past photo’s of yourself ‘taken in the moment’ and knowing that is the real you!  May happiness always be yours Ellie!

I love the idea of November being the perfect “football” month, and next week blogging about our favorite football teams Kimberly.  Ohhhhhhh…. And how about we each share our favorite chili recipes too?  I know you have an awesome recipe that Justin loves and I have one that will put your taste buds to the numbing test!

Till then little Elmo/Giraffe/Kangaroo-bean!

Love Mimi


P.S. Ellie, as this blog goes to print, we just found out that Gigi is really sick and we hope that our blog followers will send their prayers. As you know, your Mimi and I are strong believers in the power of prayer.  We love Gigi!