Happy Halloween!

We loved Halloween Month. Yes, Halloween Month. Suddenly (with children) the holiday has grown from a single night to a whole month of activities. Two evening parties; trick-or-treating in the village, the outlet mall and the neighborhood; the excitement of a new sitter one night for the kids; Thomas' school's Fall Festival on Friday; and our usual activities (running) all add up to a very busy Halloween weekend for our family. The weekend was a very fun finale to the month but I think it's safe to say we are all happy that Halloween is over...

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Halloween on Elm

Carlsbad's second annual Halloween on Elm was a fun, family-friendly event this afternoon. The kids had a great time walking the village area in search of shops that were giving out treats. The Farmer's Market was open, Carlsbad Police had a vehicle and an RV open for tours, there were several bounce houses and carnival games, the YMCA was doing a haunted house, a Boy Scouts troop was fundraising with food and drink, the Carlsbad Fire Dept. had a truck there, and so much more! The City did a great job sponsoring this very fun community event!

Frank & Frank

Thomas's Frankenstein ~ Meredith's Frankenstein

Meredith's drawing

I love watching how the kids' drawings develop. Meredith has started creating some elaborate drawings with backgrounds, sky and ground, and more details in her people. I love Mike's belt in this one. I also love that we're still potato head-like people. I wonder when she'll separate our heads from our bodies?

dogs' day at the beach

This morning Meredith and I took the girls to the beach while Thomas was at school for some fun in the warm sun. Between school, activities, classes, playdates and everything else in our busy lives, I don't make the time to do this enough. It was a great morning and I know the girls loved every minute of their time at the beach.
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A friend put her dog down last week due to health problems and age. This morning we ran together and talking about all that she's been through made me hope that day is years and years away for us. I can't imagine our lives without these two crazies!

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by Thomas

Above are some recent drawings, coloring and one tracing project by Thomas. He loves to work on art projects and can be found every day sitting quietly and working on something.

Done!

A year ago Meredith decided she wasn't going to wear pull-ups anymore. She was done and decided for herself one day that that was the day. At the time, she was ready to be done with them at night, too, but I had a package still in her closet and we were gearing up to travel over the holidays. So I decided to "use them up" and wait until we returned home from a visit to Oregon. Well, I missed my opportunity because as soon as we returned she began to wake up with a wet pull-up again. I didn't push things and figured she'd also decide one day when she was done.

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Tonight is the second night of wearing underwear -- not pull-ups -- to bed. Again, she decided she didn't want to wear them anymore at night either so she's now in underwear 24/7. This Friday evening we have a sleepover planned for the kids at their friend's house. Again, I had reservations when she said she doesn't want to wear pull-ups anymore (couldn't she wait until after this weekend to make the big change?!) but I also learned to seize these opportunities before they pass me by. Friday evening at her friend's house will be interesting!

Dora the Explorer & a ninja

Dora needs a haircut (!!!), but the ninja is ready for Halloween!

Brick-or-Treat

When Mike and I were kids I swear there was just trick-or-treating on Halloween evening. But for Thomas and Meredith, there's trick-or-treating opportunities every weekend and even some weekdays -- and they aren't necessarily in the evening. We only do a small part of the Halloween festivities, yet even those seem to take up a huge part of October. We've been to Seaworld and Legoland, we've been to Halloween-themed playdates, we've been Booed, we've done lots of crafty things at our house, we've painted pumpkins... This week we'll trick-or-treat a nursing home, the Outlet mall, downtown Carlsbad and the neighborhood. Next weekend we have two parties -- one with the family, another is adults-only -- so all four of us will get to enjoy the big Halloween weekend before we change gears from all this trick-or-treating and look forward to Thanksgiving!

hippity hop, hop, hop

M: hippity hop, hop, hop from c on Vimeo.

Meredith saw this hippity hop in the store this morning and really, really wanted it. Since I had found something I thought Thomas could use for practicing karate kicks and punches, I figured she might as well get something small, too. She has been hippity hopping all day long.

sibling love (they were fighting 2 mins. earlier)

BOO!

We were Boo'd this afternoon! We came home from Meredith's dance class to find this lovely Halloween bowl filled to the brim with a special Halloween CD of songs and stories, baking materials, flashing lights and glow sticks, scary spiders, fun pencils w/toppers and several craft activity kits. In a little bit we will whip up some iced pumpkin cookies and eat them while dancing to Monster Mash! Happy Halloween!!

Thomas

T: homework from c on Vimeo.

rainy day

It really isn't even a "rainy day", but the continuous drizzle is enough to make things wet and keep it cool. The kids and I took the opportunity to splash in some puddles this afternoon. I don't mind a wet day, but definitely prefer wet days as a novelty and not the norm -- and our Bela does, too!

Pinkalicious!

Today was a special girls' outing for Meredith. We enjoyed a nice lunch in Balboa Park with a friend and her daughter before meeting up with another friend and her two girls at Pinkalicious: the Musical. It was a San Diego Junior Theater production so all the actors were children. Pinkalicious eats too many pink cupcakes and wakes up one morning pink. Her parents take her to the doctor who tells her she needs to eat lots of green foods to counteract the pink she's eaten. Despite being pink and a trip to the doctor's office, she can't resist one more cupcake before bed and wakes the next morning red. Her brother helps her out by giving her healthy green foods to eat and the pink soon fades. In the end, her brother is pink from having eaten too many of his own creation, a "cookie cupcake". The story is very cute and the kids performing did a great job with lots of singing and dancing. Meredith and her friends did a super job sitting for the entire performance. They were absolutely mesmerized!

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Afterwards we stopped into a Solana Beach cupcake shop for some yummy cupcakes of our own! It was a very enjoyable afternoon of good food, a fun musical, and tasty treats with each other -- and with friends!

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Meredith & Grace w/Pinkalicious ~ and with the "mom"
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girls enjoying Cupcake Love treats ~ outside the theater

our Tea Party playdate

Meredith and I hosted a Tea Party playdate this morning for a few of our favorite friends. First we made our own placemats for the tea. Then we sat down for scones, tea sandwiches, fresh peaches, grapes, an assortment of sweet treats and some (fresh) fruit infused water. The kids were amazingly quiet while at the table and enjoyed their special spread. After eating they all ran off into the playroom and the moms got to sit around the table nibbling and chatting for over an hour. It was really nice for everyone!

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Note: The little boy sitting at the head of the table didn't bring a baby or special toy to the tea party like the girls but did arrive wearing a stylish tie with his button-down shirt. So cute!

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tooth #3

Thomas' first (lost) tooth on September 22nd caused a domino effect for him and his teeth. It was just 3 or 4 weeks ago that tooth #1 came out and now tonight, tooth #3 popped out while he was sampling treats at Trader Joe's. No less than two minutes earlier he had asked if it'd be weird for his tooth to come out while eating samples. He handled it very well considering it happened in a public place and had a little more bleeding associated with it than the previous two. In this mama's eyes, the boy just keeps getting cuter and cuter!

photo shoot

Tonight we met with a photographer at the beach for a sunset photo shoot. The kids did a great job both posing and playing candidly as she snapped photos for us. Hopefully she will have taken a few good ones that we can share with family and friends this holiday season!

St. George, Utah ~ ZION ~ Las Vega$

trying on the marathon finshers' medals: future runners?

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Last weekend our family enjoyed a 5 day trip away. A small group that I run with decided to run the St. George (Utah) marathon so Mike and I decided to make a family vacation of it. The kids did great during the 7 hour drive over. We stayed two nights in St. George so I could run the marathon, made a quick trip to Zion National Park and then spent two nights in Las Vegas on our way back. This allowed us to break up the drive home and see some different things. Despite the three of them having colds and me being tired from the marathon, we had a great time seeing some new areas and doing some fun things. Can't wait to go back to Utah again someday to spend more time visiting the gorgeous national parks!

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beautiful ZION National Park

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goofy ~ picking apples in Zion (first time for us all!)

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enjoying fresh cider: yummy! ~ tasting the apple he picked
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she insists on sunblocking herself ~ outside our Treasure Island hotel
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my $500+/night suite in the Venetian didn't have a view this good (#32085)
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the Bellagio's Conservatory ~ State of Liberty in Jelly Bellys
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breakfast at Rainforest Cafe ~ blue man: real or not?

Spooktacular!

their favorite fun house mirrors

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every adult's favorite fun house mirror ~ Oscar the Grouch

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Meredith's favorite, the mermaid ~ our cutie pie

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the funniest entertainer today ~ blue Elvis of the Sea

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Miss Coral Reef ~ the 'sugar high' drive home from Seaworld