Memorial Day

Memorial Day started out like any other…sitting on the side of the road with 15 kids ages 6 to 6 weeks waiting for the annual parade to start.


I said to the kids, “Anyone named ‘KERPER’ raise your flag!” When most of them waved Cole got completely confused. “Mommy, they all raised their flags when you said Kerper, but MY name is Kerper!”

I soon discovered that trying to explain the concept of cousins to a 4 year old is almost as challenging as wrangling 15 kids.

We went to the park for the after-parade festivities. It was hot. So hot. But better than the snow IMHO.

Heroes

Today was the Veteran's Day parade in town. Ryan is way into learning about wars right now and [for the time being] wants to be a soldier when he grows up, so this was right up his alley. When the vets were marching by he kept shouting, "THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!!!"


Cole dug up this flag and waved it while he sang, "I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm freeeeeee..." We told him that he couldn't let it touch the ground and he said, "That's right, because we have to show our flag and our country respect." OMG he's actually been listening to us.

A special shout out to our cousin John who served in Iraq. Thank you to John and all of the soldiers who have fought or are currently fighting for our freedoms - you are our heroes!

Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto

Last night was Trick-or-Treat and the boys took full advantage of the opportunity. Let's just say that they had to come home halfway through to drop off some candy because their bags were too heavy. Chocolate, anyone?

We were taking pictures on the porch when we realized that number four was strapped to Phil in the Baby Bjorn.


A quick costume change and the whole team was representing. At least Charlie was consistent.

Our neighbors have a pre-Trick-or-Treat party each year. Thank goodness for that, otherwise we would have heard "Can we go yet?!?!?" every 5 seconds.

Cha's favorite part was hiding in the teepee they built in the backyard...he was happily entertained playing peek-a-boo about 7,500 times.

Although I realize this blog post is very Charlie-centric, I still had to throw in this clip of him walking to the party. He toddles like a robot which totally puts him into character for his costume. (Spoiler alert: this video is extremely anti-climactic, but as his mother I reserve the right to think it's cute).

After all the parades and parties over the last few weeks, I'm going to reward myself with some peanut butter cups. Off to dive into the stash.

Fists Of Fury

It's been an extravaganza of Halloween festivites over the last few weeks. Our current roll call includes a ninja, Darth Vader, a robot, and a peapod. I say "current" because Cole keeps changing his mind, and with our trunk of costumes anything could happen before Trick or Treat.

My friend calculated that I'll have the opportunity to attend 24 elementary school Halloween parades...include daycare and that's a grand total of 27 in my future.

Here are some shots of Cole and Charlie from this year's parade. 26 to go.

This is what happened the first time Ry put on his costume. Better not try to take his candy or you'll face the wrath of the ninja.