Laurel Elisabeth Stevens

Fairy and Prince 3 , originally uploaded by j_lstevens . Elisabeth has planned out her costumes for the next few years. Next year she will be Ozma of Oz, and I can be Glinda the Good if I want to be. Henry can be the Tin Woodman or the Scarecrow. Daddy can be the Gnome King. The unfamiliar characters are from the 3rd book in the Oz series, Ozma of Oz. The Gnome King is a short, fat, gray creature. Daddy will need quite the costume. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozma_of_Oz When she is seven I think she'll be a witch. We'll have to think about that. She's been playing with pretend guns at home lately. I need to watch who she hangs out with. I don't quite get it. On the other hand, she spends a lot of time talking about all the ballets that we (as a family) are going to be in, and how she is designing the costumes.

Fairy and Prince 1 , originally uploaded by j_lstevens . Henry was very happy to pose for this picture--how novel. He loved having his shiny clothes put on. Elisabeth was the one who decided what his costume would be. She saw these pjs from Vietnam and said he could be a prince. I forgot to have him wear the crown! I think he felt very fancy. One of the "village centers"--shopping center--was having trick or treating, so we joined some friends for Mexican food and the kids (mostly Elisabeth) got to walk around collecting lots of chocolate. John is buying some of it from her. Henry got a duck and was mesmorized by "Puffy the Pinecone," The Woodlands mascot (does your town have a mascot?!) But after I stood in line to have his picture taken, he would have none of it. At the restaurant Henry was the best behaved he's ever been because he got to see a constant stream of dressed up kids (and adults) walking by. We got home just as the trick-or-tre...

kiddo dance party , originally uploaded by j_lstevens . This is from the wedding, but I just had to make sure you saw it. In an effort to satisfy Elisabeth's desire to attend the later reception, we had a little dance party for the kids. They went wild. But it wasn't enough for Elisabeth. She still wanted to attend the reception. "Mommy, I want to go to ALL the parts of the wedding!"

say "I love my mom!" , originally uploaded by j_lstevens . Note Elisabeth's fashion sense. I read in a magazine that this is okay. It is quite fashionable (oops, the sweater is 2 years old, but she does love it!) And I just didn't have time to negotiate an outfit change.

DSC_0124 , originally uploaded by j_lstevens .

DSC_0116 , originally uploaded by j_lstevens . I'm trying not to think about what's in that dirt that the goats have been walking in.

DSC_0115 , originally uploaded by j_lstevens . Henry enjoyed the goats too, but was a bit thrown off by the horns. Here he is pointing them out. Later, however, a 4 month old kid started following him, and Henry began running toward me with a panicked look on his face.