Here are our Three Little Monkeys and Mom and Dad as bananas. It's a metaphor and there are several you can choose from based on your liking: monkeys love bananas, our monkeys drive us bananas, and then there's the correlation of having three two-year-
olds to the famous
Monkey Experiment.
Last year the kids were
Three Little Pigs and they loved them so much (they still ask to wear them!) and they like animals so much that we knew these monkey costumes would be a hit. Indeed they were and we even had a fit or two when it was time to take them off.
Trick-or-Treating with Grandma!
They kids were so brave and headed on up to each house without hesitation. I'm sure it helped that they had each other for security. They were quite frightened by the scary costumes the big boys were wearing but once a few nice boys showed them their faces underneath their masks, the kids were much less fearful.
Our Three Little Monkeys all said "Trick-or-Treat" and "Thank you", with some
occasional prompting, of course, and, surprisingly, we didn't have much of a struggle limiting their candy intake.
Back at home the kids, particularly Payson, loved passing out candy to Trick-or-
Treaters. He would eagerly fill their bags with candy and then run back to his spot on the porch to sit down and wait for more. So cute!
Going in reverse order here... Earlier that day the kids "opened" their Trick-or-Treat bags full of fun things (think Christmas stockings).
And that morning, bright and early before church, we carved our first pumpkins as a family! Everyone was really interested... at first.
But after about ten minutes Hayden and I remained the last two interested pumpkin carvers. She was a hard little worker and didn't mind getting her hands dirty!
Hayden was all smiles as she and Mommy cleaned out the pumpkins.
Surprise, surprise, our boy was interested again once we brought out the carving knives.
The kids were so proud of their finished pumpkins! They each chose their own decoration: A Jack O' Lantern for Hayden, tiger for
Payson and ladybug for Madison.
The day before Halloween we had a big Halloween party with our playgroup. Here's Daddy with three little monkeys hanging on his back!
Madison giving Daddy a kiss.
Payson taking in the action while savoring the cupcake he decorated.
Monkey Madison hanging from the basketball goal. Don't worry, grandparents, Daddy is right there waiting to catch her!
Madison, Hayden and
Payson had a blast running around with their friends. Here they are all dressed up with their friends Elle and Luke.
The girls got their first haircuts last week! Madison was super excited about it but she made it a challenge with all of that squirming! She kept wanting to look at the scissors.
Hayden was equally thrilled about her first haircut. She pounced on the step stool when it was her turn as she could hardly wait!
I didn't cut much more than an inch, but it allowed me to even out their hair in the back and save their oldest "baby" hair for their baby books.
I am so tickled by this photo of Hayden and Payson's impromptu embrace. I was so happy that I had the camera within reach to capture such a pure moment!
It's not even Thanksgiving yet and we are already planning for Christmas! The kids each put together a box of toys and necessities for a child somewhere around the world who would otherwise not receive anything for Christmas.
The kids really enjoyed compiling their boxes and really seemed to get the basic idea that they have a lot and are giving to other children who have very little. I wrote about our experience on the Dallas Morning News Moms Blog.
Our church has been collecting for international missions and each of the kids made and decorated little Chinese take-out boxes to help them get their own donations. A few of our sweet neighbors pitched in and the kids learned that their donations would help build a church for those people who don't have one. It was another great opportunity to teach them about giving!
Last week I got to attend the kids' Thanksgiving Feast at school. It was so cute to see them all sitting so well at their tables and enjoying the company of their school friends.
They were so proud to have me there and to show off some of their favorite things in their classroom. Surprise, surprise, Madison's favorite part of her feast was the roll!
Since we have one day that only two kids go to school, I get to have one-on-one time with one child each week on a rotational basis. This particular week, Payson and I attended a fun little LEGO class.
The kids are loving their Melissa & Doug easel. There is a chalkboard on one side and dry erase board on the other. The kids are drawing straight lines, circles, ovals, etc. and the easel provides the perfect place to play and practice!
Madison is a little Grandma! Her baby now has her own baby doll making for three generations! 
We hosted a little Halloween cookie decorating party for our playgroup. Hayden was so excited to decorate cookies that, before guests even arrived, she patiently sat at the table for 25 minutes before she finally gave up. Yes, Hayden sat still for 25 minutes!
