Walker

Who needs a fancy-schmancy walker? Mia just needs a laundry basket. :) She's been steering this thing around the house like her own personal car. It's the perfect height for our little almost-toddler.

Sunny day

Is this Washington--in November? Just checking. Our balmy weather is confusing me. But it means more outside time for the girls, so I'll take it! 70s on Wednesday, 60s on Thursday. We're soaking it in. Lots of park playdates!

Sisters making each other laugh. Look at those neck rolls.


Both of my girls love the swings.


Mia's such a big girl now. She insists on being "down" at parks so she can chase her sister and play (and stuff her mouth full of woodchips while she's at it).

Trick or treat!

Should have seen this one coming: after I painstakingly hand-sewed Bianca's butterfly costume (designed to match her sister's caterpillar costume, of course), B decided that she wanted to be a princess for Halloween. So out came a princess dress from her dress-up-clothes drawer and a crown from the dollar store.

I could have avoided several hours of sewing and a few trip to JoAnn's if she'd picked the princess outfit from the get-go, but no matter. That's the life of a mom--doing unappreciated stuff for our kids (and that's how it should be)! Either way, the kids had fun, and looked cute!

We did a neighborhood trick-or-treat in the Proctor district with some friends, and afterward Bianca declared that she had "enough candy". Very true. So we skipped going to houses on our street and settled in for the night.

I think Steve was dressed up as a Sounders fan. :)

Smiling at the people behind us--such a flirt! We're in trouble!

Our little caterpillar, smiley as always! Next year Mia will be running around and we'll have two little ones trick-or-treating! Can't wait!

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.