Body Art: Hand and Foot

These are school projects the girls came home with. I love the idea. Maybe we'll do this again next Halloween!


Addie's ghost


Eliza's ghost


Eliza's bat hands. or hand bat.

Dia de los Muertos

Happy Day of the Dead!

For Jamie's birthday we did a Girl's Day Out, spending three hours at the Urban Craft Center in Santa Monica learning about Mexican Sugar Skulls. There was a little too much listening for our taste and not enough crafting, but we had a blast decorating our Mexican sugar skulls once we got started. Now I want to go to Oaxaca, drink Mexican hot chocolate and learn cake decorating.


I must have been watching too much Toy Story as this has an odd resemblance to an evil Buzz Lightyear.





Our Mexican sugar skulls

More photos here!

Peace Keeping Forces

Holy Halloween, Batman!


The caped crusader family


Wonder Woman!


Supergirl!


Sister Power!


The Masked Midwesterners


Weekend festivities included:
Halloween parade at the girls' school attended by Nana, Pop Pop and Cap.
Halloween party at my office attended by Wonder Woman and myself.
Grown-ups only Dinner at Katsyua Hollywood with Nana and Pop Pop.
Addie's swim lesson.
Malibu beach trip.
Halloween block party with Addie's old daycare peeps, attended by the entire crime fighting family, Nana, Pop Pop and Papa Mit.
Day at LACMA.
Halloween party and trick-or-treating at Bobo Fet, Dorothy, Snow White and Mr Banana's house, attended by the caped crusader clan and the masked midwesterners.

Now it's time to eat all of the Milky Ways out of Addie's candy pumpkin and pass out on the sofa. Crime fighting is tough work.

Check out all the photos from Halloween 2010 here!

Spooky!

This spooky piece of artwork is all Addie from conception to execution. We were going to cut out bats as a project. I was thinking I'd download some bat template and cut them out of construction paper. Addie however delved right in cutting out all the pieces to create her own bat mosaic. It was also her idea to draw ghosts and cut them out too. I just love the result!

Nana and Pop Pop are arriving tonight to spend the weekend with us and the girls. Can't wait!

BOO!

The Hunt for Orange October*

This is our third year to Underwood Family Farms. We went first when Addie was a little bit older than Eliza is now. We didn't go last year. I can't remember why. It's always hot and crowded and sometimes I get more overwhelmed than the kids, but goats on elevated boardwalks, tractor rides and lots and lots of pumpkins always get me into the fall spirit.


Content on the tractor ride.


Addie loving the pony ride. All smiles.


Eliza brushing a sheep. I have never seen Eliza so happy. She absolutely loved the animals and took her job as groomer very seriously. I think she was like, you mean those photos in books you keep showing me are REAL??!!


Seeing a horse for the first time.



Riding in the cow named Sarah. She thought that was pretty funny.


Facepainting. Seriously i could have done this myself and we waited in line for what felt like an eternity. But Addie was patient and pleased with the outcome.


The corn maze. I was totally lost.


Eliza lost a shoe during lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon roaming the pumpkin patch in her socks.



I had to bribe Addie with the promise of a treat in order for her to stop and let me take her picture. She ended up picking gummy worms and I ate most of them.


This slide was so fast that when I hit the sand I flipped forward. Awesome.

*Blog title by Cap

The Resnick Pavilion

On a wet and muggy Sunday, we snuck out for about 45 minutes right before my Aunt Susan arrived for a visit to check out the newly opened Resnick Pavilion at LACMA. My firm did the engineering on it so I've been wanting to check it out even more so.

We quickly walked through the Resnick's costume collection and then did the fastest drive-by of the Olmec collection as Eliza kept falling down and didn't want to be in her stroller. There is something about the coating on the concrete floors that had Eliza toppling over every few steps. That and the fact she's one. Outside Addie decorated a mask and a paper headdress to resemble women's elaborate hairstyles. I love free crafts at museums.

Sunday Art Section: Should I be Worried?

Addie continues to paint and draw, more so at school then at home because of a particular little sister who loves to grab things, eat pens and knock over glasses of water.

Addie drew this on Friday. She explained there was a tree with cherries in it and an umbrella flower. Oh and a little girl who was caught in a net and her Mommy was reaching out to try and save her. There is also another tiny girl and a small mommy who are in the same predicament. I asked her why the girls were in nets and she said that a tractor got them. I couldn't figure out how the tractor fit into the scenario but it turns out she meant that there was a bad man who is the Trapper that caught them.

I was freaking out that this was stemming from a brief comment I had made to her a week ago about making sure she can see me whenever we are outside so a stranger doesn't take her. It could be that or perhaps this is coming from the comic books she reads about the web-slinging Spiderman and all of his evil villains. Maybe it's not a window into her soul but a page out of the next blockbuster movie.


The Princess running from the bad boy.

In case you think levity is a thing of the past, here is a lovely floral watercolor and a mermaid painting.

Soft as a downy chick

Mama and Dada have a new featherbed mattress topper. Happiness.

13

13 months.

New foods? Got the okay from her pediatrician to introduce diary, eggs and fish. Thanks goodness! She is getting a little better about not putting everything in her mouth but eating leaves and paper remains a favorite past-time.

New words? Favorites are Ah-Da (Addie) and nana (banana). Mama is way behind even cracker. Dada however is high up there and often used for both of us.

Teeth? She almost has all four molars in. She also continues to pull Addie's hair and thinks biting is a rather hilarious activity.

Height and Weight? Not sure since I can't find the paper from the doctor but she's average weight and at the top of the charts for height. She should enjoy her stature while it lasts.

Clever? Of course. She loves figuring out how things fit together - pen caps, legos, lids. She can identify a few things if you ask her to point. Where's your nose? Where's the duck? And of course Where's Addie? I forget how knowledgeable they are way in advance of their verbal skills.

Loud? Yup. Gets frustrated when she can't do something she wants to either because she's not allowed (like eating a cactus) or if she can't manipulate a toy the way she wants. The stupid rectangular block won't go into the rectangular hole. I think I'll throw myself on the floor until it fits!

Cuter? Of course!

Happy 13 months birthday little Eliza!

96

We celebrated (great) Grandma Vede's 96th birthday on Saturday night at the 22nd St. Landing in San Pedro where we had also celebrated her 95th. A 4 pm dinner reservation meant that the girls could run around without disturbing too many of the salty dogs that were dining.

Addie had her first unexpected sip of a gin and tonic and promptly spat it out into my dinner side salad. Poor girl probably thought she was sneaking some Sprite. Eliza had her first taste of fish and wolfed down red snapper, mixed vegetables and pretty much anything you put in front of her. Eliza believes in the clean plate club and if she's had her fill, she makes sure whatever is remaining is wiped off her plate and onto the floor with a flourish.

We watched sea lions frolic, herons perch and Granda Vede enjoy her birthday sundae. On our way out to the parking lot some rather intoxicated fisherman were hauling Ahi tuna larger than Addie out of the back of an ice packed pick-up truck and into wheel barrows which kept falling over. Good think we don't eat the skin of the tuna otherwise it would have a hint of asphalt on it.

Grandma Vede loves watching her great grandkids and we're lucky to get to celebrate her birthday with her. Happy Birthday Grandma Vede!