Happy Halloween!

Favorite Book

Over the past 18 months we've developed a solid selection of children's books, but if Sadie and Jack had their way we'd read just one book every night: Baby Animals Peekaboo. Jack and Sadie come running every time we take this book off the shelf. They both pile on to the lap of whoever is reading the book. And they demand that we read the book at least twice through. Apparently Baby Animals Peekaboo is over way too fast.

Baby Animals Peekaboo is not an award winning children's book. I'm not sure the author's name is even on it. I think the only place it is sold is Target, and Target has a far from impressive children's book selection. None of this matters to Jack and Sadie though. Who needs a story, when you have a book with fur, animal noises, and the surprise of peekaboo? Not these two.

He loves swimming!

Pud invited us over to her hotel a few days ago to take advantage of the indoor pool. She had the challenging task of trying to keep Jack from drowning in the pool. He was thrilled to be in the pool, and accordingly wanted to explore every inch of it.

The babies had a fantastic visit with Pud and we're all sad to see her leave tomorrow. The east coast is just too damn far away!

Descanso Gardens with Pud

Pud is here for a visit this weekend, and what a weekend it's been. It's been action-packed, with Jack and Sadie's first professional hair cuts on Friday, Descanso Gardens on Saturday, and swimming on Sunday. I foolishly forgot to bring the camera for the hair cuts, but I did get snippets of hair from each of the babies. Sadie's hair does not look that different, but Jack is looking particularly handsome with his new doo.

We got this shot at Descanso Gardens on Saturday. Sadie and Jack had been racing around the children's garden, but they stopped for a brief second and J. snapped this picture.

The Saddest Excuse for a Pumpkin Patch

We ventured out on Sunday for a little fall cheer to a local pumpkin patch. There are some weird ideas about what constitutes a pumpkin patches in LA. Many of the local pumpkin patches include corn mazes, rides and carny food stalls. This particular pumpkin patch wasn't more than a dirt parking lot with a small area for pumpkins, some bizarrely passive goats and sheep being passed off as petting zoo, out of place rides such as bumper boats, and cheap Thai and Chinese food. J. and I were pretty disappointed. Fortunately Sadie and Jack were completely oblivious and were happy to frolic among the pumpkins. Jack, our strongman-in-training, spent most of the time trying to lift pumpkins that were half his size. Sadie just crawled all over the pumpkins like they were part of a jungle gym.

First Seesaw

We went to an amazing playground yesterday in Culver City. We were there to visit our friends Dan and Ronite's new baby and they tipped us off to a park nearby. The playground was fantastic with lots of different play structures: boats, trains, constructions sites. There were different jungle gyms for different ages. There was also a great seesaw that had benches rather than individual seats at either end. J. got Sadie and Jack going on one end and rocked it from the other. As you can see it was a big hit.

Balloon Artist

We went to a party today where there was a balloon artist, and I have to say this guy was a true "artist." He made the most amazing balloon creations I have ever seen. Jack and Sadie were in absolute heaven. The minute he handed them each their own balloon creations joy spread across their faces like a match catching fire. It was hard to photograph because they were screaming and waving their balloons so frantically that most the pictures came out blurry. We did manage to get a few decent shots thankfully.

Elenora's

Jack and Sadie go to Elenora's, our daycare provider, Monday thru Thursday while I'm at work. We've been lucky to find a stable, affordable, and loving environment for them. Elenora has been running the daycare single-handedly for over 20 years. I don't know how she does it, but she takes care of six kids. Here are Jack and Sadie with the full gang including Zane, Sylus, Miriam and Geninna with Elenora in the background.

Sadie Girl

In the mornings Sadie loves to take her blankets and her Jelly Cat pillow out of her crib and roll around on the floor with her bedding. J. got this photo of her Saturday morning.