*

some writing samples and sweet things they've done recently:

inspired I think by Daniel Tiger:

Edie's invitations. By Mara she was done :)

*tia liz

Liz was here last week for a fun visit. We went up to Boston several times and walked around, made some fun dinners and basically just hung out. The other day in the car Edie said she wishes Aunt Liz could live at home with us :)

At the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum - a very interesting place! My favorite was the courtyard garden which was absolutely beautiful and magical - and they don't allow photos [this isn't it below].

before, we had lunch at the Museum of Fine Arts - treated by my Grandma Kay ♥ 

huge dahlias we saw on a walk:

before bed:

Burritos from Pedro's!! This is a San Clemente restaurant - the owner's daughter went to school in Boston and had her dad open one here. It was so satisfying!!

walking up Beacon Hill:

I just love the architecture here.

we made spinach fettuccine one nigh, so yummyt:

*Halloween '13

"Who's excited for candy?!"

We had a nice little Halloween this year - definitely more low key than last year in Carson.  Vera wanted to be a monarch butterfly and Edie wanted to be a dog.  Well at one point I heard her say she wanted to be a "Christmas fairy dog" and then yesterday she regretted that she didn't dress up as an egg :)  So different from Vera who has wanted to be something girly since she knew the difference!

Anyway, glad I bought Edie's costume as Vera's caused me a bit of stress. Stress that I carried for a few weeks, meaning and planning to get it done and then not really starting until the morning of.  It actually turned out better than I expected though and she was very happy which was most important to me.  I saw a similar tutorial in Real Simple, but kind of did my own thing with 4 hangers, duct tape, some black stretchy fabric I already had and the different color felts. and a lot of super glue!! Michaels also had this fuzzy felty pipe cleaner like thing that was perfect for making shoulder straps [thank you Liz for finding that!].

with our wonderful new neighbors:

I wish I'd taken some pictures of the trick or treating, especially with our little friends.  Edie and Vera were so cute, exclaiming often how heavy their bags were and "look how much candy I have!!"

I think I fixed this video:

Vera was so excited to count and sort her candy with the graph activity she got from school. She was like, Mom I'm doing Math!! I had 7 kit kats and I ate 1 so how many do I have now?

*la pediatra

I just love this picture of Edie sitting up on the table while we waited for her well visit to start.  She's such a scrappy, adorable little thing.  She didn't cry or flinch for her shot or even when they had to draw blood for testing.  Should have taken a picture with her chocolate donut afterward :)

*Edie at 3

I just want to eat Edie up right now.  I just love all her childlike mannerisms and the funny little things she says, her silliness, her imagination, how she talks about how big she is - it's so fun and so sad that it will start to slip away!!  I get mad when anyone tries to fix her funny ways of saying things, I want it to last as long as possible.

Some things that make her Edie:

- she loves animals, especially dogs and has no fear petting or getting licked, bumped around, etc.
- she will not let me put her hair up!! she promised she'd let me put it in a ponytail when she turned 3, though today she informed me that she will when she's four. She'd be so cute in little pigtails : (
- she still needs a nap! it looked like it was disappearing, but since our trip this summer she takes one almost every day - even asks for it!  It does make for a later bedtime, but I am so very thankful for the hour or two of peace and quiet.  Getting back to naps and rest has kept those delirious tantrums away!
- she is finally responding to discipline - if she does have a little fit she is normally sent to her room where she runs to her bed and cries for about 30 seconds and then usually comes out repentant.  She is definitely still a little stinker though and loves to get a rise out of Vera.
- she wakes up to get in our bed 6 out of 7 nights. Tonight I told her she could have a lollypop for breakfast if she stayed in her bed - she said she would rather sleep with mom and dad.
- she loves to help me cook and comes running to help if I'm doing anything in the kitchen. In her own little kitchen she is constantly creating something - finding little ingredients from all over the house to add to her soups or whatever. Any crayon she finds is broken in half and added to her ingredients and she takes laces out of shoes, rubber stamps from the craft stuff, tears up bits of paper... anything! I appreciate her creativity, but the messiness is a little much.
- she often quotes from the books we read throughout the day and in her play. My favorites are hearing her refer to "a pinch of salt, and a dry white wine" [Dr. Desoto], "flour, sugar, just a cup! in a bowl he mixed it up.. " and "gooey cocoa mocha silk" [Donut Chef]... can't think of the others.
- she says "lose" instead of use, "bahmembah" for remember, "suddabody" for someone/somebody, "thingah" for finger... it's fun to have her try to say a word with 'r's - she knows she can't do it.  My favorites are of course chowda and lobstah and bod [bird]
- she is incredibly silly and loves to make Vera laugh. lots of potty humor, sigh. her favorite movie quote is from Despicable Me when someone is on the moon and says, "poop" - she tells me this often.
- she talks a LOT about our baby and what it will and won't be able to do. about when it's going to come out, about whether it will have fits at bedtime, etc.

I noted down her bedtime prayer from her 3rd birthday. Usually they go, "Thank you that we had a great time, and that we had a good time... and that we had a good time..." This was a little longer:

Dear Jesus, thank you that we had a good time, and that we had a great time at my birthday party. and thank you that my friends were SO happy to go to my birthday party. and thank you that puppy lives in my heart and thank you that my mom's baby is healfy. Amen!

*calabazas

We went with some good friends to a pick-your-own berry farm/pumpkin patch today.  It was such a beautiful, clear, warm day - surprising after some of the weather we had this weekend. Anyway, we had a great time and have a couple pumpkins to carve and some Fall table decorations.

getting a popcorn tutorial (Vera's friend doesn't like loud noises :)

*Edie's 3rd birthday party

Yesterday Edie turned 3! She has been talking and talking and talking about when she'd be 3, and I don't think she was disappointed: pure joy all day long.  I wasn't sure exactly what we would do for the party, but everything came together the two days before - I work better that way anyway.  It was a really fun party and I think all the kids had a great time.  I even heard one 6 year old say it was the funnest birthday party ever! That sounds successful to me :)

Helping me make cupcakes [from a box, glad I wasn't ambitious here]:

Vera was excited to help decorate too - I saw her even straightening all the chairs outside on her own :)

I found the little crown I made for her 1st birthday.  She wore it just long enough to take a picture, though not a decent one...

Here's where I said, no! show me a princessy smile:

I just found these from her 1st birthday party - so cute and tiny!  I'm all sad now missing Utah :(

Everyone played well in the backyard.  After the cupcakes I had them play one little game where they wore little ribbon "tails" out their pants and ran around trying to capture each other's. It was hilarious and Edie was deliriously happy.

I wanted to do some sort of messy cooking-like activity because that is what Edie loves.  I bought mini chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, sprinkles, gummi starts and icing pens for them to decorate. I put one drop of food coloring with their frosting so they could mix it up - everyone thought this was incredibly fun!!  I really wish I'd taken pictures of their cupcakes, they turned out so cute.

*youtube catch-up

I took so many videos of little Vera and have felt badly that Edie doesn't have very many up. I recently finally downloaded a whole bunch from our camera and uploaded them onto youtube. They aren't super exciting, but just capture her cute little self in this toddler/preschool stage. Currently I am just in love with her chattering - I just want to eat her up all day long. She talks a lot about the baby and a lot about how big she is - I mean she is going to be 3 in a little over a week!!

This was a whole year ago when she turned 2 and I turned 33:

 

I did this little interview after a friend posted a similar thing on facebook, a compilation of kids interviewed about Valentine's day.  I tried with Vera too, but she didn't really want to talk at the time.  Edie was pretty funny... this is her at about 2 and 4 months:

 

This was taken sometime last November or December in Carson City when she had just turned 2.  So cute :)

 

Just a random one of me trying to get her to talk about the baby. She had probably just been super adorable and funny about it and I tried to recreate on video. We all know that doesn't always work :)