Caleb suffers from last child syndrome. It’s a terrible, horrible, no good syndrome that I plagued him with. It’s where the last child suffer because the parents are too tired after four previous kids to do things like update baby books or take lots of pictures or video tape his/her every move.

Keaton’s baby book is overflowing with information and photos taken almost every day of his few years of life. Caleb’s baby book? Has info about his birth day. And that’s about it. [Although Caleb did have his own blog that I made in to a book so I'm hoping to win some points there.]

We religiously had Keaton’s pictures taken professionally at 3, 6, 9, 12, and 18 months. Then at his 2-year-old birthday and every year thereafter. Caleb? He got professional pictures when he was about 3 months old. And then not again until he started preschool.

Keaton didn’t just have one Halloween costume on his first Halloween. No he had TWO. I spent a lot of time scouring catalogs and stores (cause in 1994 the internet just wasn’t like it is today) searching for the cutest costumes for my handsome boy. By Caleb’s first Halloween I was tired. I had to go costume shopping with two 3-year-olds and an 8-year-old. Nobody could make up their mind about what they wanted to be for Halloween. And I’m pretty sure there were some tears when we left the store. At least I likely had some tears. Of frustration.

So picking out a costume for a six-month-old wasn’t exactly at the top of my “fun” list. There were no catalogs. Or trips to the mall. Or even an internet search. Nope. For Caleb’s first Halloween I picked up a costume I happened upon at a thrift shop. It was an orange vest that looked like a pumpkin. And it had a little hat attached with the stem sticking up. It was nothing spectacular. But it was really cute.

And I’d show you just how cute it was. If I could find a picture. But I’ve already packed up the photo albums in anticipation of our move. [Please dear God. Bring a perspective buyer to our door with an awesome offer...or any offer at all really.] And for some reason I don’t have a photo already on my computer. So once again, Caleb is totally robbed of the spotlight. Bad mommy.

When I picked the kids up from school today Skyler said, “Spencer, do you have something you want to tell mom?”

She totally gets that from me. Whenever I am trying to get the kids to confess to something before I call them out I said, “Do you have something you need to share with me?” About half the time they fess up. A quarter of the time they fess up to something I didn’t even know about. And the rest of the time they just ignore me.

I sat silently waiting for the big confession. I didn’t want to steal Skyler’s thunder. She was so proud of herself for snitching on her brother. And I didn’t want to scare Spencer off from telling me the horrible, terrible thing he had done.

Spencer went with the denial route. “I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

Skyler wasn’t deterred. “Don’t you want to tell mom about your behavior on the bus?”

Now I was starting to envision one of those nasty grams from the bus barn. The ones that include a handwritten note about how bad your kid was on the bus. And it always includes a nice pamphlet explaining punishments based on first, second and third offense. The bus police are pretty strict.

But Spencer still wasn’t giving up the deets.

Thankfully, Skyler felt the need to continue on. Never one to try to be in cahoots with her brother. They may be twins. But they are also mortal enemies. At least sometimes.

Skyler taunted, “I think you should tell mom about your cursing on the bus.”

Spencer was appalled, “What are you talking about? I never cursed on the bus.”

Skyler smirked, “Um, yes. You said the ‘f’ word. Several times. On the shuttle bus.”

They went back and forth for several minutes. Skyler calling Spencer out. Spencer flat out denying it.

It was clear Spencer was caught. One of the best traits I ever passed on to him was the inability to lie. Or at least the inability to lie well enough that anybody actually believes you.

Later he and I were on the way to soccer practice when I brought up the cursing conversation.

“So what’s this about you cursing on the bus,” I asked.

“I don’t know what Skyler’s talking about. I never curse on the bus,” he lied.

And at just that moment we hit a bump and the soccer ball that was sitting on his lap leaped up and smacked him right in the mouth.

“My soccer ball just hit me in the mouth,” he said.

“That’s what I call karma buddy.”

Last summer Skyler gave up dance and gymnastics to join a local cheer team. With dance and gymnastics she never traveled anywhere. She just had practice once a week for each. And at the end of the school year she had a big dance recital. But with cheer she is on a traveling team.

Up until this weekend we haven’t traveled very far. She’s performed in a couple of parades and at a competition at the local mall. And everything’s been pretty calm. No crazy moms trying to break other cheerleaders legs. No girl fights over spirit sticks. I’m new to this whole cheer world. And I was starting to think that all those things I see in the movies and the news about cheerleading are all old wives tales.

But then this weekend we had our first major competition. Jamfest in Peoria, IL. And all that changed.

No there wasn’t any fighting. Or cursing. Or unsportsmanlike conduct. Thank goodness. But cheer competitions can still be intense and a tiny bit crazy without all that violence.

This is Breast Cancer Awareness month and Jamfest was doing a big push to raise money for the cause. The second we walked in the door to the Peoria Civic Center we were met by a group of women (and even a few men) in bright pink wigs and hot pink socks.

I had no idea there were so many men that were willing to file away their man cards for a cheer competition. I’m not saying this is a bad thing. In fact I think it’s totally awesome.

Don’t get me wrong. There were many, many men who were chilling in their seats, listening to the college football games on their radios or checking the stats on their mobiles. But there were also a ton of guys showing their team spirit. What an amazing group of dads!

The best costume ever was Captain Cheer Time. He was this guy in a red jumpsuit looking thing (which may have actually just been sweats and a t-shirt…I was pretty far away from him). His shirt said, “Captain Cheer Time” across the front and he was sporting a red wig and cape. A cape, people. It was classic.

There was another dad showing his support of his girl with his shaved head covered in red and blue stars painted on his scalp. So he was not only a good Cheer Dad, but also very patriotic.

And the Green Bay Elite Cheer team combined dad’s love of football with their love for their daughters with cheer jerseys. They looked like football jerseys with the Green Bay Elite logo on the front. And on the back they said things like “Kev, Gabby & CC’s Dad” or “Courtney’s Dad.” I love it! One dad took it even a little farther with a cheesehead hat that was painted purple and had gold fringe hanging down (their team colors). He even co-or-di-nated (said in your best John Witherspoon impersonation) his outfit with a fly pair of purple camo pants. It totally rocked!

Lee missed the mall competition and Jamfest because for some reason all cheer competitions are on the same weekend as soccer tournaments. [People really should check my calendar before they schedule these events.] But I’m already getting some costume ideas for the next competition that he can make. Those after Halloween specials are calling our name.

Skyler and Spencer were born on October 4th. So for their first Halloween they were a mere 27 days old. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t dress up. We still had trick-or-treating to do.

In our house Lee stays home to hand out candy while I take the kids out to beg for candy trick-or-treating. So in 1999 Skyler & Spencer chilled in their car seats and watched Daddy give kids candy while Keaton and I prowled the neighborhood for candy.

Keaton, having moved on from his Batman phase, was a Dallas Cowboy football player (Lee’s favorite team since Lee was about 3-years-old). Skyler was a pretty pink pansy. And Spencer was the cutest little peapod ever.

After trick-or-treating we made the rounds to the relatives houses so grandmas, grandpas, aunts and uncles could check out our little garden that was Skyler & Spencer.

We ended the night with some sweet treats. I scoured Keaton’s Halloween bucket for all the Smarties I could find. Keaton stuffed as much candy as he could fit in to his mouth. And Skyler & Spencer enjoyed a refreshing drink of formula. A good Halloween was had by all.