We started the weekend by celebrating Lilou’s first birthday. Unintentionally, we had one of the cutest days ever. The Bigs burst through Lilou’s door in the morning to sing her “Happy birthday” in English and French. Lilou jumped up and down with a grin as wide as Texas while Griff gurgled in surprise from his crib.
After a quiet morning, we all went to work and play. We got home in time to make dinner, frost our cake and welcome Lilou’s godparents to the crazy happy kitchen. They brought the most brilliant gifts I’ve ever seen – a ball of streamers with little gifts tucked into the folds that kept Tess and Remy busy for 40 minutes. Bliss. Lilou was entranced, and patted her books while watching chaos literally unfold.
We had a great meal and watched the birthday girl caress and scarf her cake (her eyes actually dilated!), then rolled all the kids upstairs and collapsed in front of the fire after tucking everyone in.
We now have kids at 3,2,1, and five months. Lilou, on cue, decided she’s now a Big. She shadows Tess and Remy constantly, and is absolutely delighted to toddle around with the kids she’s been watching for months! They seem fine with it, which is a bonus. She went so far as to lightly skin her knee today, so she also matches Tess with the bandaided chin. I swear, she suddenly got the cutest little attitude! If Tess is Napoleon, Lilou might be a general. We added Griff’s high chair to the counter too, so everyone’s upgrading. Lilou gave him a wet willie within seconds.
For the first of forever, we flowed from birthday to Halloween. The Bigs have birthdays in spring; a fall celebration is new and fun! Spice cake, sweet potatoes, a fire, candlelight…cozy. Perfect before a drizzly, cold Halloween!
Saturday started with our typical hour and a half of swimming – except NO ONE CRIED. Even the teacher was mystified. I was beaming! We bolted home in the rain for a homestudy visit, which by now are easy and fun. Of course, Tess took a header and cracked her chin on the table, after which Remy spat on a chair and had to get a time out. Parenting all-stars, right here. We fed everyone and tucked them in early, hoping for a weather miracle. Our plans of strolling beautiful neighborhoods under the red-leaved trees with our costumed cuties did not pan out. In fact, most of Milwaukee did not trick-or-treat. Our bell rang only four times. Watching Remy’s look of awe at a group of cool, older black boys made me happy we stayed home though. 🙂 The kids didn’t nap, then were whiny and off. We finally decided to skip the walking and head right to a family Halloween party, which was perfect for the kids!
Tess went as Cinderella/Elsa, because why choose? Remy was incredibly proud of his doctor outfit, and kept checking other kids’ ears. Lilou, with her cute tutu, was our prima ballerina. (Get it? One = prima? I crack myself up.) And Griffin got to wear  Remy’s old dragon costume, one of my favorites. Dave’s batman mask was coveted immediately by all kids, and my Brunhilde horns were so fun it almost made me like Halloween!
Sunday we had a great brunch with friends, then hibernated – which for us means laundry, dishes, dog walking, and adoption post-placement paperwork. Monday night, we took the kids to hear some symphony players at a cafe. They LOVED it, and couldn’t stop flirting with the drummer. I thought we had some more time!
