Busy November

November was a month full of entertaining and entertainment.

We hosted brunch at our house for all those who obligingly bought tickets from us for the Justin Roberts concert.

And somehow I managed to saddle ourselves with enough commitments that not a week went by without hosting and cooking for at least 12 people (and frequently more).

The November Potluck was a huge success. And by huge, I refer to the number of people and amount of food.

We settled into our new/old house.

With our new kitchen set up, pizza night much more easily lends itself to a full family affair.

It is a challenge to make sure there are enough pizza toppings left for the actual pizza, however

Samuel and Shira are loving the space to play with their toys

And we finally got the backyard fixed up.

And what better way to break in the new patio, than to play bumper cars?

First Friday Lunch in the New/Old House

Love that Breakfast Bar

Arr! Fairy Pirate and Pirate Pirate.

Preschool Lately

This past Tuesday we started our end of the preschool carpool by having a playdate with Mason, followed by taking him to preschool with us.Samuel's and Mason's favorite game is to point their fingers at each other and go "boom boom". Samuel requests that we invite Mason over for just this purpose.

This month at preschool we have been doing a lot of bread baking. Last week we read "The Little Red Hen" and we planted wheat, ground wheat, played with wheat and made breadsticks. Today the kids made "Rainbow Bread." Which was pretty much bread with food coloring, but it looked pretty cool.Samuel has already become known for being a kid with a long attention span for projects that interest him. Baking certainly ranks high his interest scale.Circle Time with rhythm sticks.Hand washing before Snack time. Is this really my little baby? A big preschooler who follows directions, washes his hands on his own, knows what to do and where to go without my help?Samuel spent the entire first hour inside rolling out the dough for the Rainbow Bread, but when they finally put that away, he created a cult following for digging holes.Samuel has also been singled out as a very good helper. Always putting things away. I definitely see a lot of myself in his preschool behavior. Can't speak for Steve, since I didn't know him back then ;)

Apparently my child thinks I am trying to poison her

Shira refuses to eat off any plate other than mine. If I try and separate out her food from mine (you know, so she doesn't eat the super spicy guacamole that I made for Steve and I) she screams hysterically, refuses to eat the portion on her side of the plate, and sobs until I apologize for trying to save her from herself. (This is frequently followed by her sobbing because the food was - wait for it - too spicy.)

Either she thinks I am trying to poison her, or the food simply tastes better when she knows that she is currently doing her best to make sure I catch whatever cold germs she is currently harboring. Of course, I shouldn't complain, I'm pretty sure I always thought the food on my mom's plate tasted better too.

Fun times over the last week

Mondays we have a standing playdate with our friend Lillian.Last week painting was popular. This week we concentrated on bike riding. Even Shira got in on the act.Notice Shira wearing a jacket - three days ago it was 80 degrees, today it was in the 60s - brrr. Three cheers for actually having a heater in our house this winter!

Shira really has begun to enjoy coloring and using markers.Steve brought their kid table back inside, so Samuel and Shira now have a dedicated art spot.Samuel and Shira both love to read books. Samuel has recently discovered Roald Dahl. These are his first longer books, and it's pretty cool that he follows Steve and I around the house begging for us to finish reading a book to him. I guess he didn't really stand a chance at not being a book worm, considering his parents.Having a separate family/play room allows for use of the toys that used to drive me nuts, and prevent us from moving around the house.And it's delightful to see Samuel and Shira enjoy each other so much.What else do the kids like about the house? Samuel and Shira can't seem to get enough of their bathroom. They want to take multiple baths a day. And here Samuel is taking his very first shower completely by himself (at his insistence.)

Breaking in the new house

We moved back into our house two weeks ago. Last night we had the opportunity to break it in with family.
Plenty of room at the breakfast bar for drinks and appetizers. And plenty of room for a few cousins who crashed the party.Perhaps we need to get more seating in the family room - unless guests prefer to sit on infant potties.And we could easily seat the twelve members of our nuclear family at the dining table! (Don't worry Daniel, we saved room for you, for next time).Trampoline was a big hit with the cousins, as usual. Perhaps that's why the house seemed so spacious ;)

Halloween

This is the first year that Samuel really had a sense of what was going on for Halloween.

He knew that he would dress up in a costume - his choice was to go as a monkey, and Bubbie searched until she found him the perfect gorilla suit. Since he often acts like a monkey, it was appropriate. Shira, on the other hand, had no clue what was going on, but was content to be dressed as a dog. It was a perfect fit, as she loves them so, looks like a puppy when she crawls around on the floor, carrying things in her mouth, likes to bark, occasionally pees on the floor, and we happened to have a hand me down puppy outfit.Preschool had a hand in prepping Samuel for the festivities. Encouraging kids to bring their costumes to school, engaging in a completely Halloween themed day (including having snack time snacks in a cauldron, and bat shaped cheese), trick or treating at the MVWSD district officeand culminating in a Halloween Parade.And here are the gorilla and Batman enjoying storytime togetherThe preschool hoopla occurred on a Thursday, so I schlepped Shira and Penelope to school with me after they woke from their naps, and I took pictures with all of the other doting parents. Can't begin to express how cliched I felt.
Are there more cameras than children? Possibly, as more than one parent had still camera as well as video.

Samuel also remembered the Halloween party at Microsoft last year, and was eager to go again this year. He understood and participated in all of the activities - decorated a cookie (and ate the whole thing), colored a pumpkin mask (which he insisted on wearing with his gorilla suit at the beginning of trick or treating despite the fact he couldn't actually see out of it), jumped in the bounce house, and walked in the parade. Shira was a bit bewildered by the experience, but enjoyed all the crazy looking people and the snacks (mostly the hummus and pita).

We carved a pumpkin the afternoon before Halloween with the company of Grandma Susan and Grandpa Tom on Skype, since last year they were here to do it in person.And on the day of, we finally accepted that the days of Samuel being unaware of trick or treating are over. We had not mentioned a thing about it, but around mid morning, Samuel turned to us and informed us that he would be going trick or treating that evening when it was dark.

So I called up Kristen, and made arrangements to join them for the evening candy grubbing.
Samuel's very first house. You don't have to tell him twice to say thank you for candy.Our fellow sojourners - Emelie the ladybug and Lillian the princessThere is some crazy shit on Halloween in downtown Mountain View. Some people really like Halloween.I am one lucky Mom.