Happy Halloween!

We had a wonderful Halloween tonight! Jack and Sadie were amazing - they were very excited to be Little Red Riding Hood and Snoopy. They were more excited to collect candy rather than eat it. They managed to not try one piece of candy until we got home. This was a big change from last year, when Sadie felt she had to sample the candy from every house we trick-or-treated at. They said "thank you" at every house we went to and were just generally amazing kids. Happy Halloween to all!

Our Amazing Levitating Children

Not a foot on the ground between them.

Riding the Horsie

We are so lucky to live near a beautiful old carousel. We took the kids over to the Griffith Park merry-go-round again last weekend. We all love it there. Here are the kids riding the mechanical horse in front of the merry-go-round.

Pumpkins

We went out to Forneris Farms in Mission Hills yesterday to pick out our pumpkins. Jack and Sadie went non-traditional with white Lumina pumpkins. Forneris Farms puts on a big harvest festival all October with pony-rides, a petting zoo, and games. The kids had a great time feeding the goats and chasing ducks around.

Key West

We had a wonderful trip to Key West earlier this month. Sadie, Jack and I traveled on our own to Key West because J. could not take the time away from work. Traveling alone with 2 three year-olds is no piece of cake, but we survived the cross country flights and overseas highway drives without any horror stories. The kids could not have been happier to spend time with their Grammy and Papa. The extended swimming season also made them quite happy. They are both totally comfortable in the water, including underwater. This trip they took to jumping in with noodles (floatation devices) and no one to catch them. It was pretty amazing to be able to sit on the edge of the pool and watch as they jumped in, went under, and then popped back up with big smiles on their faces.

Family Values

This past year I've been dedicated to bringing the community of families around us together. A few weeks ago we gathered many of those families together for community service project. Each family brought a different household item and then we put all the items together to build a "welcome home kit" for a person experiencing homelessness who will soon get a home. To help the kids get into the spirit of what we were doing I told them the story of Rocky Raccoon, who lost his home in from a lightening strike and would also be getting a new home soon. Each kid got a kiss from Rocky as they gave away their contribution to the kit. It was a really wonderful morning and an introduction to a family value that I hope the kids will learn to cherish.

Mimi's 3rd Birthday Party

Also in September was Mimi's 3rd birthday. In addition to their good friend Mimi, the kids got party down with their friends Tatum, Hazel, and Birdie

Pud's Visit

We have so many wonderful memories of late that have not made it on to the blog. I'm going to play a little catch up. We had a wonderful visit with Pud in September. She came just in time to help us take care of two sick kiddos. She was a humongous help. Fortunately the illnesses passed pretty quickly and we were able to take advantage of the warm September days at Pud's pool. I think the kids swam every healthy day of Pud's visit. They are both becoming very adept in the water and will be swimming soon.