Good morning Halloween!

I love Halloween, and I love it even more when it's on a weekend. More time to relax, more time to indulge in candy and silliness.

Getting ready to carve our pumpkins last night.
Bianca told me she wanted a pumpkin with a "scary face". I asked her what that looked like--this is what she gave me.

It's Hello-ween! I started out thinking I wanted to do a regular cat pumpkin...but Steve suggested trying a Hello Kitty carving. This one had to be finished after the girls were in bed, so it was a surprise for Bianca this morning.

The rest of our pumpkin family. Bianca drew the face on the right on the pumpkin with marker, and I carved it. She also directed Steve's carving for the middle pumpkin. The one on the left is my creation (an attempt at the "scary face" that she wanted).

Halloween pancakes this morning! A lazy day is on the menu, followed by some trick-or-treat action tonight. Can't wait!

Jump

I just want to show people what happens on dad's watch. To be fair, it's impossible to keep this kid out of the air.

Zoo Boo

On Saturday we enjoyed one of our fall traditions--Zoo Boo at the Point Defiance Zoo. It's a blast seeing all of the kiddos in costumes, and we had gorgeous weather.

Mia showing off her looooong spidery lashes.


The new Red Wolf habitat is really cool. We got to hear them howling, which is really unusual. It was eerie and cool--it made me feel like we were on the prairie, under a full moon.

See the penguin facing backward? That's the grumpy penguin. After a million trips to the zoo, I swear, that one is ALWAYS facing backward (you can tell them apart by their armbands).

There are three tigers in this pic! The tiger cubs are getting so big.


My butterfly and my caterpillar. :) While I was sewing Bianca's costume, it never occurred to me that a black-and-red butterfly would be mistaken for a ladybug. Oh, well. She didn't care. :)



A peacock was waiting for us at the minivan when we got back.

Crash

A pink bike helmet provided some afternoon giggles on Sunday. I don't know whose idea it was to put Bianca's helmet on Mia (OK! It was mine!) but she ended up loving it.



With her funky 80's outfit and babylegs on top of her leggings, she reminded me of a little roller derby baby. She showed off all of her super-fast crawling skills, but the helmet made it hard for her to see, so she kept bumping into walls. It was hilarious--and she loved making us laugh, so she kept doing it.

Who needs a comedy club--we have two little goofballs ready to entertain us at a moment's notice.

Dazzleberry lemonade

Bianca started the day asking if we could make Dazzleberry Lemonade--something mentioned in the Yo Gabba Gabba DVD we checked out from the library. I thought it sounded fun, so we gave it a go.

We started with store-bought lemonade (O Organics brand from Safeway), added a few whole strawberries, and gave it the brief spin in the blender (which made it frothy). Dropped in a few blueberries, garnished with a lemon slice, and voila! The Dazzleberry drink of her dreams. :) She's been talking about it all day!

How to Mom Wrong

http://progressontheprairie.com/2010/10/09/how-to-mom-wrong/

I came across this funny post on another blog. Love it!

Bianca flips

It's a short little video--promise!

Seattle's Child magazine

I'm so excited about my October articles (I've posted a couple of links to the right), especially this one, because it features some of my favorite moms and kiddos, including my sister-in-law and niece. :) This article truly was an adventure, from start to finish, and I learned a lot of things that I'm putting into practice right now with Bianca. I love it when work and life intersect like that.

My articles run all over the country, but it's a thrill to appear in something local. I love going to the library or bookstore and being able to pick up something with my name in it!

"Home is Where the Smart Is: Adventures in Home Preschooling", Seattle's Child magazine, Oct 2010

Cardio!

Bianca's new favorite movie is "cardio"--also known as the Jillian Michaels 30-day shred video. She's only seen me do it once or twice (I usually work out when she's in school or asleep) so I don't really know why she's picked it up. But it's funny!


Cute movie of Mia in the bath. I just started using some bubbles in her bath and she thinks they're food and tries to slurp them off all of her bath toys. She's such a wiggleworm and a challenge to bathe--and right now we're in the "food in the hair" phase so she needs a bath EVERY day--because she wants to stand up (and jump, roll, or crawl) the entire time. This is the first time I've been able to let go of her long enough to grab a camera.