*handstands

Vera is showing a lot of improvement in her handstands lately!! I love when she can see how lots of practice pays off. The other night she was on a roll and had several really good ones where she could even balance there for a second or two. She said her boots must be magic :)

so pleased:

*colores de otoño

Last weekend we took advantage of a warm Saturday and went for a quick walk through the Harvard Arboretum [not near the campus, but run by the University]. I think it is the oldest of its kind in the country?  Anyway, it was really amazingly beautiful - I promise I didn't have to edit or enhance any of these pictures!

*treinta y cuatro

Not sure if I posted these pictures from my birthday last month. I let Vera skip school and we took the train up to Boston for the morning. I'd been wanting to try a certain bakery and visit a certain fabric store in a neighborhood I haven't explored yet. We had a fun time, though my idea of walking blocks and blocks through the city wasn't quite as appealing to them :)

I'm glad I at least had her bring the scooter so she didn't have to walk too much! Crazy to think how my girls are growing up so urban : )

Below is Edie helping me peel almonds for dinner. I made one of the first risottos I ever made - Jamie Oliver's with roasted garlic, thyme, marscapone and toasted almonds. It's amazing.

A sidenote: Edie is wearing this sweatshirt here that I bought her at H&M. I never buy her clothes because of so many hand-me-downs/gifts, but I thought she would especially like this one and so I did. Well she doesn't - and I think it's purely being stubborn because she knows I like it. Isn't that nice?  Anyway, she did show me how much she loves me by coming up with the idea to wear it on my birthday - you could tell she thought that was a big deal :)

Ben was very sweet and bought me gifts that show he really knows me [and knows I wouldn't want him to spend too much $] - fresh ground almond butter, fig jam + cheese and a bunch of those orange papery lantern flowers from whole foods ♥

*tortas de barro

Have I talked about how much Edie loves making mud pies?  She set up this little mud pie kitchen for herself pretty much right when we moved in. There were some really warm days last week and she was out there again making a "pumpkin mud pie party" for us two.  I love this kind of creative play so so much, it makes me so happy to see her out there adding together and mixing and talking to herself, coming to the door once in a while to refill the water jug.  Vera will play sometimes too but then gets mud on her arm and wants to come wash it off right away, sigh :)

*dinner guests

One thing we are both so happy about being in this house is being able to have people over! Back in September we had his Latin American history class over for dinner and a book discussion. I almost got a little teary as it was something that Ben talked about doing when he first started his graduate work.  He personally had a wonderful college experience where he was able to do that sort of thing and really developed some close mentor/friendships with a couple of his professors.

A few weeks ago again we were able to have over said professors, Dr. Wood and Dr. Kennedy (+ family), plus the McCoys who work with Ben now but were also classmates at Point Loma.  It was such a blessing to both of us to be able to extend the hospitality that they have all shown us through the years - truly wonderful and we are so grateful.

the kiddie table:

had to take a picture of the dessert:

Vera helped me make the pies and started a list of the ingredients we had already added :)

*

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 :)