Ian's new skill

We didn't intentionally teach this, but it's pretty cute so we had to share.

We are going to see family in Arizona for Thanksgiving this week. I am so excited to see everyone and get away from the building for a little while. Plus, I LOVE this holiday! Mmmm, all the yummy food....I can hardly wait! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Welcome home, Spencer.

Spencer went out of town for business last week, leaving Thursday and getting home Sunday. The kids and I were SO happy to have him back! It's amazing the difference it makes for the kids to spend just a little bit of time with him each day. I'm sure it's the same way for most families with young children. By the time he gets home from work, we eat dinner and put the kids to bed. They get to spend maybe an hour and half together. The amount of time is small, but I've discovered it to be incredibly valuable. Not only do Madeleine and Ian get some fun playtime with their favorite playmate, but I get a chance to briefly focus my attention on something besides the kids. Don't get me wrong. I love my kids and I am so thankful I get to stay home with them, but it's got to be the toughest job there is. I am just about ready to stop even attempting to clean my house. I don't think it will make a difference in the way the house looks, but I might feel better for not having wasted my energy. Ian is going through an extremely destructive phase. At least I hope it's a phase. I felt like I literally spent all day Friday cleaning, but I guarantee you wouldn't think so if you had come over on Saturday. This is how it goes: I put Ian down for a nap and start cleaning. Madeleine will watch a movie for awhile so I can work around her. A short way into Ian's nap, Madeleine goes into their room to change her clothes and wakes Ian up. Thanks a lot. My hopes are dashed. I know I can't clean now. And once Ian is out and playing, it's evident that any cleaning I was able to accomplish is about to be messed up again. I know what I really need to do is clean after I put the kids to bed. But who wants to do that?! One of these days I hope I can figure it out. By that time it will probably be difficult to tell if I really progressed in my abilities or if the kids have just gotten easier and less messy as they have gotten older. Anyway, back to my original thought, I am so thankful that Spencer is back in town! Just knowing he'll be home for dinner and can help me with the kids at bedtime is such a comforting thought. Hooray for husbands!!

Happy Halloween!

Madeleine was the cutest Little Mermaid this year. She loves this holiday so much. She is already talking about what she is going to be next Halloween.
Here's our little Ian-dragon. I confess that we took this picture a couple days after Halloween. He was sick that night and fell asleep around 6:15, so he didn't get dressed up and go out trick-or-treating.

So, I stayed home with Ian, and Spencer took Madeleine around our neighborhood. They didn't get very far when she started rummaging through her sack looking for which piece of candy she wanted to eat. After about 45 minutes she said she had enough candy and they came home. When I was a kid, I wanted to go out as early as possible and stay out as late as possible in hopes of geting the most candy I could. Granted, I don't remember thinking that way when I was 3 (probably because I don't remember anything from when I was 3). Maybe we have enough treats at our house on a regular basis that she won't have to become a total candy fiend like her mother. Or maybe when she gets older she will develop the desire for more candy than anyone should ever have. We'll see what happens next year.

Fall Fun

Tonight we took the kids to the pumpkin patch at Pierce College to enjoy the little fair and to find the perfect pumpkin.
Ian was his normal, busy self--running around and checking everything out.
Looks like a good choice, don't you think? (This wasn't the one we bought, but Madeleine wanted to show us how many pumpkins there were that weren't too heavy for her to lift.)
Our masterpiece.This one was just asking to be sat on. It was pretty beastly.

Mad took a turn in the bumper boats. She didn't end up liking it as much as she thought she would. She pretty much hated it. I'm not sure if it was because she was spinning around in circles against her will or if it was that she bumped someone or something and then bumped her mouth on the steering wheel. Whatever it was, she cried until they let her out. Too bad. It looked like fun to me.
This was Ian's first ride on a carousel. He was all smiles when we first got on, but he seemed bored by the end. Oh well, what are you gonna do?

He was being a little daredevil standing up in the wagon. That was before they told us we couldn't let our kids ride in it.
Striking a pose, as usual.

We had a really fun time. This time of year is so much better for me now that I have kids. And especially now that Madeleine is old enough to appreciate so much of it. We are going trick-or-treating tomorrow, so be on the look out for the kids in their costumes.

Boney Island

If you live in Los Angeles and have never been to Boney Island, you have GOT to go!! It's just a few blocks away from our apartment so we found it a few years ago and have enjoyed checking it out each year since. For a couple weeks before Halloween, this family sets up the most amazing display in their yard. They call it an Animated Skeleton Carnival. Tomorrow night will be the last night of it this year, and if you've never been you may want to try to squeeze it in tomorrow. I picked up a flier while I was there that said this will be the last year they do it. I hope it's not true! Check out the website at www.boneyisland.com. The address is 4602 Morse Ave. in Sherman Oaks and it runs from 6:00 to 9:00pm. If you go, you can expect huge crowds. We wanted to go earlier, but we didn't make it there till tonight and there were tons of people there. It's still so worth it!

Halloween Hangman

Two posts in one day!?! That hasn't happened since I started this blog! Here's a little game in the spirit of Halloween. Have fun!

http://dedge.com/flash/hangman/hangman.swf?a=300

Well, I have to say there hasn't been a lot going on to post about, but it's been long enough since my last posting that I am ready to see something new when I check in on my blog 10 times each day.

I'm sure you all are aware of the crazy wildfires that have been going on here in California. We are far enough from them that we weren't affected much, but the air quality where we live was much worse than normal. That meant that I had to skip out on running in the evenings, Madeleine's school didn't have any outside playtime, and we couldn't meet all our friends at the park on Wednesday afternoon. All in all, not much to complain about.

We did get to the gym last Wednesday where Madeleine got these cute flowers painted on her face. She hated to wash them off! She wanted so badly for her friends at school to see them! Ian got something painted on his hand. It lloked like a 'B' but maybe it was supposed to be something else. Anyway, I am sure that's about the best you can do on a wiggly one year old.