Let the wild rumpus start!

A few years ago we started the Halloween tradition of dressing up as a family in homemade costumes based on characters from books.

2 years ago we were Peter Pan...

Then last year we were the Sneetches (and Cat in the Hat) from Dr. Seuss...

This year we planned months ahead of time that we wanted to do Max and the wild things from the book Where the Wild Things Are. 

We had so much fun with the costumes this year.  It was nice to actually start earlier than a night or two before Halloween.  We worked spare minutes most of the month of October.  We all had a great time creating and working together.  The kids really got in project mode and just made things all day long.  We have had all sorts of homemade "projects" around the house all month.

After all the fun (and plenty of late night movies), here we are as

MAX(es) and THE WILD THINGS...

Kai as "Alexander"...

Kai's reenactment of his favorite part of the movie...

Nea and Aila as Max(es)...

Tiffany as "KW"...

And Mik as "Carol"...

Our debut of the costumes is traditionally the Church Halloween party and this year was no different.

During the party, we threw a little spontaneous act to get all the kids attention for a while.  Our friend read the book Where the Wilds Things Are while we sort of acted it out.

Then to celebrate finishing the costumes, we wore them to go see the movie at our favorite theater downtown Boston.  It was a lot of fun!!!

We rode "the T" (Boston's subway/train) and got all sorts of stares, comments, photos, strange looks, and smiles...it was awesome.  Fun to hide behind a mask and just observe it all.

Walking to the theater...

Purchasing our tickets...

photo by the poster...

and ready to watch ourselves on the big screen...

Don't worry, we did not keep the masks on during the film.  They sat in chairs beside us. If you look close in this picture you can see where we look out, though.  (under the nose).

Kai and Nea were so excited as each of our characters entered the movie. It was fabulous! Nea would yell, "There's you Daddy!"    and "There's me!  That's me!"  It was as if we were really seeing ourselves on the big screen.

The film was very well done and we all enjoyed it, but the kids did not like the movie overall.  There was too much unresolved emotional conflict.  They had a great time, though and crashed on the T on the way home after a late night out on the town.

By the time Halloween rolled around, I felt like we had already celebrated since we had warn our costumes so much already.

Trick or Treating was, of course, super fun.  The kids were very patient with all the stops for picture requests etc. Kai just kept talking about what it was like to be famous.  

Kai's big thing this year was trick or treating for Unicef so he got some candy and he and Nea also collected change to donate to Unicef for feeding hungry children.  They were so excited.

Where's Mik?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Ideas for next year???

  The Dreadlock Era ends for the Rinne Family

You read that correctly, I CUT MY HAIR!!! 

BEFORE...

AFTER...

After 5 wonderful years of dreadlocks, it was very hard to part with them so I thought I would make a list of

Things I will miss about having dreadlocks....

Conversations with strangers on the street, in the store, in the library.... everywhere I went people would ask me about my hair and then I would soon be engaged in a conversation with a new person.  I loved it!

Only a few weeks ago, I was trudging up the street with my double stroller and 3 children and a man from Jamaica (I am guessing from certain dress and look) was walking towards us.  I was expecting him to make some comment or at least smile (since that is often my experience), but he did not.  Instead he stopped dead in his tracks in front of me, bowed, and then walked on.  There was eye contact made, but no smile or speaking.  It was AWESOME!

Looking like Marge Simpson when I go swimming.  (I won't really miss this one.)

Opening people's minds to the idea of a stalwart Mormon with dreadlocks.

The funny questions kids ask me like "Why is your hair circley?" or being referred to as "the one that looks like Tarzan's mom" by a child.

Having black people ask me if I am black.  (Believe it or not, this has happened to me.)

Having people wonder and debate how to ask me about my hair.

Being asked, after much deliberation, if someone can touch my hair.

People in the cars next to me staring and sometimes even honking and mouthing to me "Love your hair!"

BUT the time had come to cut it.  I've been thinking about it for months and had decided the time was right.

On that note, things I am looking forward to with my hair shaved off...

Being 3 pounds lighter  (I literally lost between 2 and 3 pounds. I weighed myself before and after) 

Swimming!!!

Washing my hair and having it dry immediately instead of being wet and heavy for 24 hours.

Sleeping with no hair.

Hot summer temperatures without long dreadlocks.

Running without me neck getting tired.

New conversations with new strangers about why I have my head shaved.

Now for more pictures of the whole occasion...

BEFORE...

THE CUT...

I have been training for a half marathon with a bunch of friends.  The race was last Saturday in New Hampshire. We went up the night before and spent the night in a house on Lake Winnipesaukee.  Mik and the kids came up, too and we cut my hair the night before the race.

The plan was for Kai to cut off the first dread, but they were harder to cut off then I thought so he needed some help.  Here's Mik cutting...

The kids were having a great time playing with the dreads as they got cut... 

Some of my friends honored me by cutting off a dread.  We joked about which dread they cut off because when I first had them there were 51 (some have since fused together since) and so Mik and I have joked we should name them each after one of the 50 states plus Puerto Rico.

Greta Griffiths...

               Tracy Barrionuevo...     

Audrey Miller...

                                                       Heather Putney...                                      

Annette Belka...

Only 2 dreads left...

After cut, but before the clippers...

AFTER the clippers...

After another clipper job to clean things up some more...

THE NEW ME...

And some pictures I took of myself today...

I would recommend this hair style to everyone!!!

  It feels fantastic!!! 

I feel like a new woman!

I love it!

-------------------------------------------------------

The Race

We decided at the last minute to stay in New Hampshire another night.  It was the best Mother's Day gift!  We had an incredible, spontaneous vacation. We were staying at an amazing summer house that belongs to the parents of a friend of ours. The kids were SO happy to have some space and to play outside and even to swim in the freezing cold lake naked.  I jumped in in my running clothes just for fun.  It was FREEZING, but it was worth it to feel the water through my lack of hair.

We also played on this rope swing that was unbelievable. 

Here's Mik just as he comes off the swing...

 Here are a couple of videos...

First is Mik...

Here's Kai strapped into a life jacket with Mik so he could try swinging...

Although it took all my guts to take the leap from so high, the ride was awesome!  I did not jump off into the water. I just enjoyed the high of the swing...

It was a beautiful weekend.  Saturday evening it rained while we were out to dinner and then by the time we drove back, this was the sunset one direction and this full rainbow the other direction.  Ahhh....it was so nice to have a weekend away to enjoy nature a little more...

Kai lost his first tooth!

After lots of waiting and wiggling, Kai's 1st loose tooth fell out and onto the floor of his bedroom.  He came out with tears in his eyes and I was so surprised when he told me what happened.  I had expected some excitement.  Of course I forgot that Kai cannot stand "the B word" (don't tell Kai I'm saying it out loud... blood) and was not quite expecting the pain either.  He recovered quickly, though, and the excitement set in and then EVERYBODY heard about it. 

He told me later that he and Nea were guessing what the tooth fairy would bring.  They really had no idea.  He said Nea's guess was a balloon, but he didn't think that was right since it is too big to fit under a pillow. 

He was happy with his dollar and 3 Pokemon cards from the Tooth Fairy.

The funny thing is, he knows the Tooth Fairy is me.  He kept asking me if I needed to go to the store and when he went to bed he showed me where his tooth was and explained to me how to reach it during the night.  What a silly little boy.   My baby is growing up!!!

AND had his first SOCCER PRACTICE

HAPPY EASTER!

As we were getting ready to go to our church Easter activity, I asked the kids to go get dressed.  A few minutes later I see Kai and he has not only not gotten dressed, but he's moping.  I am a little peeved and ask why he's not ready to go like I asked.  He replies, "I just really want to dress like an egg and can't figure out how to."  I love this kid!

As you can imagine, he was the only one dressed up (besides Nea who followed in his footsteps and went as a bunny). 

When we arrive at the party Kai runs over to all the kids and immediately starts organizing a running game where they all chase him and "crack" him and then he gets glued back together and runs again.  Hilarious!!!

Here's what we came up with for the egg costume...

Then for some reason no matter how many times we reminded him that bunnies to NOT lay eggs, he wanted to be Nea's baby egg....

The Church Activity...

There was a Humpty Dumpty contest. 

We all brought eggs packed in some invented contraption that we thought would protect our egg from breaking when they fell off "the wall".  Our egg is in the 2 rolls of toilet paper on the far left. 

It survived the fall!!!

Traditional Egg decorating at the house...

Our beautiful eggs...

Our little Easter Egg Hunt...

Nea and Aila ready for church...

New matching pajamas...

    Aila is 5 months old!

She can sit in her Bumbo chair now...

TUMMY TIME...

Someone just loaned us a swing.  Aila loves it!

Kai is probably Aila's favorite person right now.  He just makes her laugh all the time.  This isn't the best example, but it's one glimpse...

March Happenings...

We were lucky enough to get a visit from Uncle Seppo a couple of weeks ago. 

Thanks so much for driving up Sep! We love you.

Nea got a new swimsuit that she has worn pretty much every day since we bought it...

Notice she even wore it to preschool.  I taught preschool at our house this week...

Painting at preschool...

Last Saturday was better than Christmas around here.  Kai and Nea had both been saving their money and made their big purchases Friday night.  They were up by 6:30am Saturday morning and Kai claimed that he was so excited he hadn't slept all night.

Kai's purchase was Pokemon cards and then I surprised him with plastic sheets and a binder to organize them.  His excitement was all over putting the cards into this notebook.  I don't really understand the Pokemon thing, but whatever ...

Nea bought her very own sleeping bag from the used store which she plays with constantly and sleeps in at night.  The funny things is, she bought a Batman one. 

This is what Kai and Nea wore to bed the other night.  

Nea is in a little stage of liking to wear Kai's clothes sometimes.

Now today I walked in and found them each wearing at least 3 different costumes at one time. 

It's Halloween every day at the Rinne house. 

It is amazing how quickly kids can bring stuff out and then how long it takes them to have to clean up. 

That said, Kai and Nea LOVE to make forts and spaceships and campouts and "shows".  I think it is adorable.  This is what I walked into in our kitchen a couple weeks ago...

I was soon told that this was the audience for the show...

What kind of show???

Happy Birthday

Dr. Seuss

We celebrate March 2nd of every year with green eggs and ham.  

Aila in her Dr. Seuss Vroom shirt with Cat in the Hat...

The End...