Trick-or-Treating

On Monday, right after supper, we got the kids into their costumes and prepared for trick-or-treating.

The kids had a blast, although Simon tuckered out pretty quickly and had to be carried from house to house. The most delightful part of the night was hearing him squeal, "I'm a cicada!" over and over at the houses. He had three things to say, Trick-or-treat, I'm a Cicada, and Thank-you. He never seemed to get them in the right order, but it didn't matter.

Back at home, Simon was happy to fill up the candy bowl. (The kids get one treat after supper if they eat all their food.)

A day without kids...

On Sunday, my parents took the kids to the park and watched them all day, so Zac and I could go out without the kids. We went shopping at REI, had lunch at the Vietnamese restaurant, went to our friends' house to play games, then out to eat with the game group. It was so nice having time without the kids!

Skating to bed

It's amazing how good kids are at delaying bedtime.

Halloween at the mall

On Saturday afternoon, while the kids were napping, my parents put together Simon's homemade cicada costume that they had brought with them. Then we went to the nearby mall for their trick-or-treating (really, just another chance for the kids to dress up).

We hadn't told Simon about the costume, so was super thrilled to find out he was going to be a cicada for Halloween.

Art Museum Park

On Saturday morning, we went to the newly expanded art museum park. It was a beautiful day. The only problem was that Simon was so intent on looking for bugs the whole time that he made painfully slow progress.

Grandparents visit!

Friday night, my parents flew in for a week visit. Zac had the kids all bathed and jammied when I got back from the airport. Simon was shy at first, but Alice was thrilled to show them her kindergarten work.

Simon's daycare Halloween parade

Bath Portraits

More bath portraits. Because we never get tired of these.

Simon in bed

Almost every night, for months now, Simon will sing and talk in bed for an hour or two before falling asleep. We thought it was just a phase, but it sure is lasting a long time.

poor worm

On the way back from the zoo, I found an inchworm on my leg in the van. I saved it, and when Simon woke up from his nap, I gave it to him. He played with it the rest of the ride, the whole evening, (crying when he lost it a few times) and even the next morning, when it was barely alive. I kept saying, "poor worm..." and then Simon would correct me. "It's not a 'poor worm' - it's my worm!"

To the zoo!

Sunday was set to be a gorgeous fall day, so I decided should head back to the zoo (since we got a membership this year and it's free). The zoo is really long and spread out, so last time we did the Africa section and the play areas. This time the plan was to do the North America section and the play areas. It was also significant since it was our first time to the zoo without pushing a stroller (let alone trying to find places to nurse and change diapers). Things are looking up!

The best part was when we were nearly home, we stopped to pick up the veggie pizza that I had ordered over the phone on the drive, and Alice burst into tears because she really wanted pepperoni pizza.  We knew she was just upset because she was hungry, and sure enough, when we got home she inhaled two pieces of pizza, dreaded green peppers and all, and couldn't stop talking about how good it was.