Trick-or-Treating

Joy! Vera wore her cowgirl costume last night. I say this with utter surprise and delight because in the last week she has switched from cowgirl to Belle, Belle to a witch, a witch to Minnie Mouse, and finally back to the cowgirl for trick-or-treating. I heart the cowgirl outfit! Plus, we already had too many photos of the little witch with the green face.

Keller will only wear the bat costume. I have tried at least 5 times to get him into the Bam-Bam outfit that I had made. By made, I mean slaved over with Ta-Ta one Saturday. The Dude was not having anything to do with it! At one point he was in the costume, but wouldn't pose with Pebbles (aka Taylor) and acted like I was torturing him.



Family shot! I think this is the first photo I have where we are all smiling AND looking at the camera since Keller was born. Just so happens, J and I are wearing pizza slices. Classic!

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving

With J gone on Saturday to a UCLA football game, the munchkins and I were left on our own to entertain ourselves. My brilliant idea, we would carve all three of our pumpkins and have them glowing when Daddy got home. The kids were gung-ho collecting pumpkin seeds and scraping the goo out. Vera was adamant about roasting pumpkin seeds so that was our next project of the day.

I looked for a recipe online. We washed, dried, seasoned, and baked those seeds.

Me: Vera, what do you think?
Vera: They taste a little burnt. (Yes, they were a little brown.)
Me: Well, it is hard to get them exactly right.
Vera: Martha Stewart wouldn't have burnt them.

Truthfully, she probably wouldn't have and I love Martha too, so I just kept mum. No actually I think I just said, "Shhh, eat your pumpkin seeds."

Keller's pumpkin:

Vera's pumpkin:

Mommy's pumpkin:

Help a Guy Out

Vera was very concerned all weekend about Opa's dry elbows. I didn't have the heart to tell her that my elbows are always dry too...and it's genetic.

Lane Farms with Opa, a Tiger, and a Witch

Disneyland with Opa

Last year at Christmas we had the grand idea of giving my pops a ticket to Disneyland, to be used with us of course. Lucky him. It only took ten months for him to save up enough energy to conquer the happiest place on earth with us.

The man does get big props for driving the entire way down (3.5 lovely hours due to traffic) and the quick 2 back to Santa Barbara. He also gets a gold star for ignoring the fact that I had a temper tantrum in the co-pilot seat due to the above mentioned traffic. I don't handle changes in my schedule very well and I had wanted to be at Disney by 10am. I am working on being a bit more go with the flow and accepting things that I can't change. But, darn it, it is hard.

This picture melts my heart.

One of our main motivations for heading down in October, the AWESOME fall/Halloween decorations.

My hair is getting so long that Keller can play hide-n-seek in it.

All the rides and characters...yet, I still think this is one of the coolest sights of the day. Dude, the praying mantis is a hardcore bug.

Vera owns one princess dress, because as I have mentioned in many posts...I am a mean, mean mama. It happens to be a Belle dress and so she was our top priority princess to see. Like any true girl, Vera spent 15 minutes after meeting Belle debating whether or not she should have worn her Belle dress and was the pink floaty skirt a good decision.

I think the pink floaty skirt was a good decision.

My favorite Keller picture of the day. Goofy got it right, the little dude needed some help to make him look at the camera.

Mickey Mouse!

Really, what a lot of Disney is about.

I heart the castle!

Opa was very impressed with the Halloween Goofy!

You know those moments where you stumble into something really cool, the Disney Parade was one of those times. We were standing behind the "Reserved" seating sign before the parade and the usher offered to let us grab a seat in the good section. The funny part, the entire section was empty except for an Australian family. The dad of that group is writing a travel book and so they actually belonged in the reserved section.

The really cool part about sitting there, Vera got pulled into the performance...AND she went! As many of you know, that is huge for the little girl that still at times hides behind me when we walk into a friend's house.

PEP's Rockin' Halloween Celebration

For the last three months I have been organizing PEP's Rockin' Halloween Celebration and Sunday was the day that it all went down. First, because I know she reads my blog, a HUGE thank you to my sister and b-i-l for watching the kiddos with Opa while J and I slaved away getting ready for the event. During the event and for the clean-up afterwards, both J and Opa were put to work hauling tables and watching kiddos. It was a group effort to throw this shin-dig, isn't it great to have family.

PEP's biggest fundraiser of the year is a concert, raffle, trick-or-treating, food, and drink occasion. It takes many volunteers, many hours to prep and organize all the different aspects of what needs to happen.

How do I feel now that the event is over...scattered and still a little overwhelmed, which is very odd. Is it that I would do some things differently? Of course. I think the other reason is that I need to organize all of my random emails and notes taken to get ready for a new volunteer to take it over. Yep, after much stressing out my husband and ignoring my children, the PEP Halloween Event will be organized by a new volunteer. But, I plan to go and have a ton of fun next year! I already have my eye on being a face painter.

Three amigas and a wee one:



Hello Front Table Lady...you ROCKED it!!

In case I don't say it enough, I love PEP Volunteers!

The Wee Bee Jammies were amazing...their cd is on repeat in my car at the moment.

Again, I feel the love for these women!!

Ta-Ta and Vera

The Big Debate

Before I had children I thought that the differences between girls and boys is all about parent influence. I think I was wrong. Yes, your little girl can like trucks and the little boy can love being a princess (i.e. Keller Dude), but at least in the case of my children they are different. Vera is high energy and adventurous, but Keller just takes it to a new level. At 2 she would climb stairs rapidly, Keller climbs onto the counter and tries to grab items that have been put off-limits. Vera runs around in circles racing around the park, Keller runs around in circles and then sprints off any surface in a flying leap.

At the zoo last week with friends we were trying to get pictures of the kiddos together. The girls posed nicely for several pictures smiling at the camera. The boys did dance moves laughing as they postured. Of course now that I think about it, is it a sex difference or an age difference? I can also think of at least a couple of examples in both directions that go against my theory...and the debate continues!

Swimming

Vera's last swim lesson of the session and she is rockin' the pool! In these shots she is in the deep end...I state that with amazement because I have never seen Vera so confident swimming in water where she can't touch. Lately, because I tutor at night, J takes both kids to swim while I get an hour at home with no kiddos. Then, they come home and I head out to tutor. It is busy around here.

J and I both agree, her teacher is amazing, strict, and tough. We like her. :) This time around the lessons were all about teaching the kids how to swim on their backs, both the elementary backstroke and the good old fashioned regular backstroke. I never knew there was an elementary backstroke.

Family Resemblance

The acorn does not fall far from the tree...as we have said before! The resemblance between Keller and me is pretty uncanny. I don't even have to ask if we look alike. :)

Yep, exactly like his mama!

Halloween Extravaganza

You know how I know that I am busy, not only have I not had time to blog, I haven't had time to read any of the blogs that I follow. PEP's Rockin' Halloween Celebration is this weekend! In case I haven't told you, it is a fabulous fundraiser for an amazing organization that takes lots and lots of planning. Did I mention that I am in charge of planning it and that I stink at delegating? Yep, I do. I am a micro-manager. Enough though, there are going to be lots and lots of posts about the event.

But first, pictures from our first Halloween party of the year at Mrs. E's house. October is a busy, busy month. I love all the spooky food and craft ideas floating around this month. These pumpkins, made by a friend (I wish I could take credit), are adorable.


Fun Halloween decorations:


Love mummy eats:


One of the projects that I helped Mrs. E with before the party. They just had a washing machine delivered and were left with an awesomely HUGE box. Cutting (sawing with all my arm strength) cardboard is not as easy as it looks, especially when making the windows. I got an arm workout. But, I am so motivated to make my own theater when Sis gets her new appliances delivered.


Matching costumes, sisters are adorable and makes me jealous of same sex siblings that get dressed identical by their mothers.


My friends all have adorable children that I love! But this one, this one I would steal.


You would too!


Right?


Fun Friends!


My kiddos were obsessed with the plastic vampire teeth.


Vera playing with the teeth, a pirate's earring, and her own cowboy bandana. She looks a bit like a gypsy. I really didn't get a good pic of her cowboy costume and it is likely the last time we will see it. She has vetoed being a cowboy and has decided that for the rest of the Halloween activities she is going to be a witch. This is after I refused to let her be a princess, because I am a mean, mean mommy.

Actually, my favorite quote of the week goes to Vera, "Maybe I will be a cowgirl, or a witch, or a big mama who hates princesses." Yep, I am a big mama who hates princesses.