Happy Halloween!

Tonight our kids learned the fine art of trick-or-treating. Thomas wasn't into it last year and Meredith was just too young, but both kids had a great time tonight. Thomas caught on after the first house and Meredith was right there behind him. It was a fun evening strolling the neighborhood and seeing the other kids in costumes, including one of Thomas' preschool classmates.

Before the evening of trick-or-treating, our neighbor had our family and another family over for a light dinner and some play. There were deviled egg "eyeballs", child-sized jack-o-lantern pizzas, PB&J sandwiches and yummies for the adults, too. She also had a craft for the kids, tattoos, and a goodie bag to take home. It was a great way to start a fun evening out!

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the kids, from 13m old Cory to her 5 year old sister Shayne

fun with paper towel rolls

I wonder if this game will ever get old?

her favorite: the rings

round and round they go...

...when they'd stop? Nobody knew!

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I like that our kids honestly enjoy each other's company and have similar interests (okay, so maybe it's really Thomas' interest 99% of the time and Meredith just happily tags along) and find the same things dull. Here they are on the train at the pumpkin station this morning, completely bored with the ride as the train makes it's twelve-hundredth loop... The kids on the train and the parents watching were all bored to tears. Bless his heart, the man running the ride was giving them an extra long ride, probably because he thought they'd enjoy it. But really? Nearly every child on that train was done after 6 loops. Loops 14 and 15? Not so exciting. In fact, it was the mom who asked me, "Aren't you hot? When will this ride end? My son is bored! I'm hot in this sun." who eventually asked the ride operator to please stop the ride and let her son off. If she hadn't, who knows... they might still be there now.

the pumpkin patch

This afternoon we finally got ourselves out to the pumpkin patch. A different experience from our annual trips out to Sauvie Island's patches, but we weren't expecting anything less. The pickings were slim so we opted for a white pumpkin, a trio of colorful Indian corn and a bag of yummies from the pumpkin patch's store. It was a busy little farm with everything under the sun offered today from corn maze to tractor rides, petting zoo to pony rides, fair foods to wholesale nuts... Meredith enjoyed thumping the pumpkins like they were drums. Thomas enjoyed trying to crack/break every other pumpkin he came across.

playgroup Halloween party

Meredith with her pal Felicity (wearing the best - and fullest - tutu I've ever seen!) ~ Thomas with his pal Michael
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This morning our playgroup celebrated Halloween with a fun-filled morning at the park. There were games for the kids to play, all kinds of food to eat, a costume parade and, of course, lots of playground equipment to play on and open spaces to run around in. Everyone had such a great time. It was pretty warm in the sun, but our two managed to seek shade or keep cool with some cold drinks. Some of the costumes worn today were much warmer than our Little Red Riding Hood and Mr. Incredible. Thomas was the only Mr. Incredible, but there was one other Red (a 9 year old older sibling of one child in the group). Anyway, not surprising since ours gravitate towards the food at every event, the kids really enjoyed the cookie decorating station. In all, a very fun morning with friends!

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cookie decorating (and eating!)
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costumed dog who wandered by

yes, only 18 months

m-18m monkey from c on Vimeo.

Only a few tumbling classes, but now she's hanging on anything and everything and even trying to get her feet up onto the bar as she's hanging. She had been trying forward rolls before the classes, but now she's also been seen trying cartwheels at home. No kidding!

18 months

ahhh-ctober!

Two hours with two friends playing on the beach... what a great way to keep cool during this warm weather stretch we are experiencing! Both kids loved being buried in the sand. First it began with covering their feet but this game quickly escalated to full bodies being buried in sand. Thomas loved it so, of course, Meredith screamed with delight and loved it as much as he did. These kids are fun.

bookworm

Meredith loves to hand us a book and sit on our lap to have us read to her but then she'll hop right back up and leave before we've finished reading even the second page. Her attention span when it comes to having a book read to her is extremely short. However, she'll spend great lengths of time perusing books on her own, whether its carefully turning each page slowly as she studies the illustrations or fanning the pages over and over again. We always get a kick out of just how long she can "read" a book by herself.

wild animals

Yesterday we enjoyed a fun day at the Wild Animal Park with our visiting family. The park has a really nice carousel with a variety of beautiful animals to choose from. Thomas chose the crocodile for the first ride and a donkey for the second ride. All the kids had a great time exploring the park and checking out the different (real) animals that live there -- gorillas, lions, a variety of birds, giraffes... It was a fun time for everyone!

more cousins

the youngest of the W Family girls - Meredith and her 10m old cousin

This week we are enjoying more family who have come to visit. It's always fun to have our kids together with their cousins, catch up with the in-laws and to simply enjoy some time away from our regular routine. Today Thomas skipped preschool and M took the day off so we could all enjoy the sights, sounds, smells and fun that is Legoland. With temps hovering around 80* and the summer crowds long gone, it was a great day to be there...

W men and their boys - Thomas and his dad float with M's brother and his 4yo son

preschool snacks

Today was Thomas' day to bring snacks for his preschool classmates. A parent provides the mid-morning snack every day and it rotates so each child is responsible for this once every 6 weeks or so. I secretly love when its our turn to bring snacks. Most days the snack brought in is your standard yogurt, fruit, muffin or some combination thereof. I try to mix it up a bit and make it fun for both the kids and myself.

We've had two snack days so far. Today we brought homemade orange-cranberry scones and veggie snack packs of edamame, jicama and carrots. They were all bundled together in Halloween treat bags for each child. I probably should have made pumpkin scones, but it was my first time making them and I didn't get to it until late last night, didn't have pumpkin...

Last time we brought snack "kabobs". One had a bite of smoked turkey, cheddar, monterey jack, olive, sweet pickle and cherry tomato along with a honey-mustard dip I made. Yum! The other had cantaloupe cut into hearts (small cookie cutters) and covered in a slightly sweet sauce with fresh mint. Yum! I already can't wait to see what we come up with the next time it's our turn to provide the snack.

wildfires

Don't be alarmed! This isn't a current map of fires in the area (there aren't nearly this many right now), but it is sort of what it feels like. We're sort of in the middle of it all with fires burning in LA County, one this morning near the border, and others breaking out east of us. It's the reality of living in Southern California. We've witnessed the wildfires before but only from a distance (news channels and internet while safe in Oregon).

Every October the Santa Ana winds kick up and wildfire season begins here. The winds are extremely warm as they blow from the desert and with the overall dry climate of this area, fires are quick to ignite. We've been heeding the warnings (high winds, dry conditions, etc...) but we aren't in areas most likely to experience wildfires. Of course, no one is completely immune, but I'm pretty confident we are okay here.

Last night we watched as the smoke from a fire burning on the Marine base (Camp Pendleton) covered the sky with black smoke. Thomas is very curious about the fires and has many questions. He's not frightened, just curious. As we all are when we hear of wildfires starting.

open gym

Since Meredith began tumbling classes, Thomas has asked for them, too. So today we invited my friend Kerry and her two boys to join us at the gymnastics facility for a little "open gym" time. They all had a blast. My reserved, very polite boy was running all over the place, jumping on things and into things, climbing on things... basically doing all the things that kids are supposed to be doing during open gym sessions. His favorite was the large, rectangular trampoline that the kids were running back and forth on. Second favorite, of course, was the foam block pit. Everyone loves that one!

Too bad swim lessons were before this because he worked up quite a sweat at the open gym. A cool, refreshing dip in the pool would have been nice for him.

big girl

The general rule is to wait until your child is 12 months and 20 pounds to have them sit forward-facing in the car. Well, Meredith has been both of these for quite some time but with her itty bitty body and for her overall safety, we kept her rear-facing until this afternoon. Not only has she been spun around, but she's swapped sides of the car with Thomas and is also sitting a bit more upright. Talk about changes in her little world and what she's able to experience! We had to test the new positions so we went out for a drive before dinner. When M turned on the windshield wipers her ears perked up and she pointed at the wipers with a curious look on her face. They're just one of those little things she'd never seen before. I would say she's pretty happy with her new seating arrangement. There was a lot of kicking of feet and smiling at her mama as we ran our errands. Thomas, of course, jokingly told us over and over how "freaked out" the change was making him.

pigtails

M-front door from c on Vimeo.

She looks so grown up with her hair in pigtails.

say cheese

We were practicing our smiles for the camera earlier this week because yesterday was picture day at Thomas' preschool. The photographer took both class photos and individual photos of the students. I hope this was not the smile he gave the camera.

ta da!

Is it a little silly to put a 17mo old in a leotard...? Maybe, since we just started a tumbling class but she's really enjoying the class. Yesterday she was looking through the racks of leotards at the gymnastics facility after class and I just couldn't resist... Well, I did resist the purple velvet one for $30, but this morning at Target she picked out this little blue leotard for $16.99. This is such a fun age.

grocery store bandits

.... BREAKING NEWS ....
This morning two youngsters approximately 3 years and 1.5 years old were seen pushing grocery carts at a Solana Beach grocery store. The older suspect, a male they call Thomas, was seen racing his cart all around the store calling it a "very fast racecar with red flames shooting out of its muffler". An onlooker was nearly run over when she didn't move out of the way of this crazed suspect's cart. The younger suspect, a female said to go by the name Meredith by witnesses who saw an older woman calling after the two youngsters, was seen crashing into several display stands and fleeing the scene. Neither suspect appeared to hold operating licenses for the carts. Both were seen later leaving the store each holding a small white paper bag, contents of which are still unknown at this time.

[Actually, the kids were great this morning and love going to this particular grocery store and pushing the little carts. This chain reminds me of the New Seasons from our old neighborhood which I dearly miss. We were spoiled with three great grocers and a seasonal farmer's market all within 2 miles of our Portland house.]

bunk'd

We finally got Thomas' bunk bed stacked over the weekend. The top bunk was intended for guests and not as his primary bed. It has a less expensive mattress and it's a smaller bed (twin over full). However, the novelty of sleeping on the top bunk has won Thomas over and he's been camping out on the top bunk for all naps and bedtimes since we stacked them. He's loving it and, fortunately for him, we have no worries of him sleeping up there. The little sister, on the other hand, is loving the ladder and being up high, too. We have to keep our eye on that one!

It was around 19 or 20 months that we moved Thomas out of the crib and into a toddler bed. Suddenly he seems so grown up in this very big big boy bed. Meredith is 17 months now, but I don't see us moving her out of the crib for many, many months. Funny how the two can be so similar in some ways and yet so different in many others...

seasonal colds

the kids wake slowly with warm milk, banana muffins and a snuggle on the sofa

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The change in seasons always brings a cold to our household and living in Southern California is no different than living in Portland. The colds have been hanging around, never really hitting hard, but leaving us all moving a little slower and definitely taking it easy. Neither of the kids slept well last night (which means neither of us slept well either), but hopefully they'll sleep soundly tonight and wake up feeling more like themselves tomorrow...

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trying on costumes ~ Little Red Riding Hood and Mr. Incredible

picking my battles

Thomas is thrilled now to dress himself and pick and choose what he wears. What he picks out is usually okay, but today he really wanted to wear these swim trunks with a striped shirt. He wore a striped t-shirt in the morning but deemed it to be "too sweaty" after his nap so he changed into this one. When I told him it was backwards and might be more comfortable turned around, he disagreed. He said it was good the way it was. So what's a mom to do? I smiled, shrugged and off to Costco we went, backwards shirt and all... I'm picking my battles and a backwards shirt just isn't that important.

her favorite friend

Two year old Tyler is one of Meredith's favorite friends. They've been seen sitting side by side away from the mayhem at birthday parties, following each other around playdates and always laughing nonstop over what appears to be absolutely nothing. It's hilarious to see these two have so much fun together. At times they seem to be in their very own little world, completely oblivious to everyone and everything around them. First crushes are so sweet!

Thomas swims

I wasn't impressed the last time we took swim lessons with Thomas at the Y, but he's been asking for lessons so I thought we should try it again. I looked at other swim programs, but with the wishy-washyness (is that a word?) of my preschooler, I wanted to minimize the $$ spent. This morning was his first swim lesson and it all went better than expected. He grinned the entire lesson and was really excited to be there. With only one other student in his class (the girl without goggles who also just happens to be in his preschool class), it was almost like a private lesson but at YMCA prices.
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Meredith had a great time watching, but you could tell she really wanted to be out there swimming, too... I'll have to sign her up so they are both doing lessons at the same time.

Meredith tumbles