Halloween 2012

With an overcast day, and a few sprinkles here and there, Halloween 2012 could have been a wet one. But the rains held at bay until after the trick-or-treating. Both girls did a Halloween parade at their schools. We went to a Kindy friend's house for a dinner with a bunch of Erin's classmates, then roamed around the neighborhood with the other hordes of little ghosts, princesses, and pirates. Lots of fun, lots of candy, and a few pictures:

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Pumpkin Carving

We all carved pumpkins while watching the game the other night.  The girls LOVED scooping.  B and I did the actual carving, and the girls decorated further with markers and stickers.   We could only do 2 of 4 pumpkins because one was too little and one had too tough of an exterior.  But the results were still lovely.

The transit time....

... of a penny through the entire alimentary canal of a 2.5 year old.


Can you guess?

2 days, 40 minutes. In case you ever needed to know.

Bacon Hearts - Pin Fail

I saw this on Pnterest and thought it would be a cute way to start the morning.

Bacon "hearts" before baking:

And after:

You be the judge. After looking back at the original inspiration, I only now noticed the cook cut the bacon pieces in half, and folded each in a "c" shape to create the hearts.  Worth another try.  At least they tasted good - Brian noted they are now "one bite" bacon slices.  Not sure if that's good or bad. 

Lil' Daisy

Erin had her first Daisy Girl Scout Troop meeting tonight. If I could have bottled all the adorable and cute happening in the room, I'd be a pinterest/ravelry/etsy maven.

She made a poster of the Daisy patches she'll be working on the next two years, she shared at circle why she wants to be a Daisy, she learned the Girl Scout sign, and took her first Girl Scout Pledge (mention of God as suits the child's belief.  Nice.) There's about 20 of the girls from her Kindy group participating.  It feels like a big crowd, but no doubt it'll taper over the years.

Erin was thrilled to participate tonight, and Mama was super excited about all the activities offered this year.

Bathroom Week 2

OK, so all this work really finished on Friday, which would be 2 weeks, 2 days.  But it's starting to come back together!  This week: insulation, repairs to the sub floor, some sheet rock, roughing in of the tub/shower plumbing. Then on Friday, the cabinets, sinks and countertops!!!  (sinks not functional yet).

Crazy Cat Lady

Erin tells me tonight, just before Bedtime Procedures, she will be a Cat Mommy when she grows up.

"Mommy, I will be a mommy to cats.  I will have 10 cats.  They will love me."

New inspiration for Erin's Halloween costume:

Life, the Universe, and Bedtime

I'm totally paraphrasing this.  Brian was on bedtime duty tonight. Somehow they got on the subject of how the universe was born.

"Dad, was Earth born from another Earth, or was it adopted from another Earth?"

Brian went on to discuss the supernova (or -novae) that created the elements from which Earth was made, the accretion disk, the birth of the sun, and the creation of Earth.

Erin's response:

"Hey, Dad? You know a lot about space."

Belated Grandma Thanks!

Grandma Carol made awesome pillowcases for the girls ages ago. She's quite the talent at the sewing machine.  But it's taken until now to get the girls to want BOTH of their pillows to be encased in BOTH the pillowcases.  Here they are, stifling back the giggles and pretending to sleep, grateful for their pillowcases.

 

Thanks, Grandma!

Goodie bags

Filled with chocolate coins, kaleidoscope, temporary tattoos, and mama/baby Manatee lollipops.

New Park

We live in a small, semi-suburban community.  So when there's a new playground at a local park, it's something not to be missed.

It might not look like much to the un-indoctirnated folk. But this is epic. It's 3 stories.  With 2 slides. One enclosed, one bumpy.  There are 6 music "stations", a food serving area, climbing wall, double-helix stairs (no, I couldn't resist the small genetics lesson there), precariously oriented step ladder, and zip line. Not to guild the lilly, but there's cattle grazing all around the park, so if the kids get tired of the myriad play options they can go watch cows chewing cud.

Really, what's not 120% awesome about this?

New Tub

Just out of the box, still in the garage. 

Brian and the girls explore:

Brian and the girls pretend to be bath tub Zombies: 

Bathroom Remodel Week 1

The bathroom is gutted, the wall by the sink has been moved to be flush with the wall behind it. 

The ceiling is opened up. 

The last bubble bath in the old tub. 

Here's where the bathroom went: 

More 5th Birthday

Yesterday we had lots of little celebrations for the 5 year mark.  We brought cupcakes* to Erin's classroom.  

*muffins with 1/2 tsp frosting, sprinkled (poorly) with a heart design on top. 

Here is B and the girls passing out the cupcakes on the way to recess:

We got to witness what 5/6 year old girls do on the playground at recess. Mainly, talk. 

Then one of Erin's best friends, M, and mom took us out for frozen yogurt.  Why have we never done this before?  It was awesome!!!  So many flavors! So many toppings!  The mom, J, came prepared with a "5" candle, we sang "Happy Birthday" and Erin got a very fun game from M.  

No picts from my camera from this, but Erin chose dinner - Burger King.  It was a full, fun birthday! 

When you're 5 ....

 ... you get to make pancakes.

Robin's Recipe

Mama, I want some cold ice water.

 With ice.

 And water.

 In a glass.

 Please.

Sweet Ride

Last spring we bought a ride-along bike for Erin - you know, the one-wheeler thingie that attaches to the back of your bike so your almost-bike-riding kid can trail along after you. It has been awesome, but it's left Robin relegated to the Bike Trailer. The Bike Trailer is not fun for anyone, really. We used it, with mild success, a long time ago.

After some brief trial runs, this Bobike Maxi+ is SWEEEEEEEET.

Thank you, Dutch Bicyclist Parents. 

Erin's story: "kitten" edition

Translation: My (mi) kitten (citen) is outside (outsd). 

Pictures and words all by Erin. 

Mama's got a new hobby!

Can you guess what it is???

Who wants to be a brewing buddy?

Say Goodbye, Bathroom

Today is the last day of our old bathroom.  Hopefully today and the rest of the week it will be torn out, to be expertly reassembled into a more functional, less dry-rotty one.

Official "before" pictures:

Writing practice

Erin has been so excited to actually be able to sound out words and write.  Well, at least sound out the first letter.  She wrote a birthday invitation.  To the sun.

OK, you probably need a translation.  Read from bottom line to top line.  

U (you) r (are) eviDeiD (invited) T (to) M (my)

then the top line

i (second part of my) BFD (birthday) PrP (party)

Below is the picture of the sun, above an ocean. 

Girls Day!

For the last few years, every Monday was Girls Day.  No school, no schedules, no nothing.  Just whatever we wanted to do.  Since Erin started Kindy we have all missed these free-wheeling days.

Due to teacher workshop day today was our first girls day.  We went to the museum where we got to see a talk given by a diver and an employee. Erin eagerly asked two questions, "Why do the fish swim in groups?" and, "How many colors of fish are there?" 

On the way outside, we saw about 12 high school marching bands at an awards ceremony and got to hear the 1st Division Marine Corps Band play about 5 Souza songs.  So amazing!!  The girls were completely enthralled. So was I.

Here's Erin showing how the cymbalist plays. 

I love girls days! 

Art & Wine Festival

We headed to A's parents house to hit the San Carlos Art and Wine festival.  Why?  Why not. 

The girls got face painting:

Because we were not particularly interested in art or wine, we checked out the children's book store there.  Robin read to Papa...

... Grammy read to Erin ....

... Brian read the inside of his eyelids. 

We went to dinner.  There's a lot of good eating in San Carlos, and we went to a favorite of Grammy and Papa.  The kids, of course, ordered Mac n'Cheese, and Erin enjoyed it. Robin took one look at her plate, then looked at Papa's (egg rolls and eggplant caprese) and ditched the noodles for the more flavorful fare. 

The girls wasted no time in enjoying their new books and plunked down next to a tree while waiting for Brian to get the car.  What a fun afternoon!