A Fairy Party Fit for a 4 year old Maddie!

Maddie is turning 4 in a week ! And, since it's always a little tricky to plan parties around Thanksgiving, we decided to throw a party yesterday. I am exhausted, but I think she had a lot of fun. She wanted a princess party, but I just couldn't do it (I'm a little crazy, I know- I'm just overdosed on princess stuff)... so we thought of a fairy party! It was a lot of fun to plan... we made mushrooms to put on the wall, a ginormous tree for the "forest" effect, bought moss, butterflys, balloons... very fun! I asked her what she wanted to do- and she said "bouncy house." Of course! After figuring out that it would *barely* fit, I signed up.

We also were visited by a real fairy who came and performed a magic show, made balloons and painted faces. She was amazing. I would really really recommend this company -- http://www.happilyeverlaughterparties.com/. They are so creative (and not the run of the mill Disney stuff. ) So awesome!!

A friend of mine made the cupcakes- amazing. We have this trade where she always makes Maddie's cakes and I take her holiday photos. I love this trade- it is the best. Anyway- she did an crazy good job....

Steve made hummingbird feeders with the kids (he spent hours prepping this). I thought they turned out really well! Let's hope they work!! And, well, that's all she wrote. I'm pooped. Here is a pile of photos!

Halloween that keeps on giving

Halloween just keeps on coming and coming and it's not even here yet! We went to Santana Row to trick or treat, and I loved it. The kids were done 1 hour into it, and really just wanted to watch "Andy" (a local kids performer), but I thought it was fun to walk in and out of the stores and get FREE candy! If only Anthropologie handed out free stuff for the moms!

Then, there was Maddie's preschool party... and this was right before she left:


Concentrating hard on being a cat!

Da Da!!!

Tonight we have our church trick or treat... and is it Halloween yet??

Tomatos out...and something else in!

We've had a great tomato harvest this year, but they are just sitting there, not really doing much. So, it's out with them... and in with something else! What should we plant??

Here is my little helper yesterday morning:





And here is the out of control tomato haven that is now GONE! Now we only have 1 lonely eggplant plant.
Are there vegetables you recommend for the winter months?

A little Halloween Party

Yesterday, a great friend and I threw our second annual Halloween party for the kids. It was much better than last year for some reason! We paired it down to the essentials, and cut out the non essentials. The biggest hit was the "spider web" which basically was all the kids sitting around in a circle throwing the black yarn to each other until we made a spider web... and then put a spider in the middle and tried to balance him, and then tried to throw him out. I wish I had a pic, but I basically put my camera down for most of the party. Bummer.

Here are the pics that I did take:

Maddie was a cat, and Emilie the mouse. Unfortunately, as the day went on, the ears came off, the paws, the vest... so they turned into kids wearing black :) But, they were cute anyways!

We played this game where the kids had to carry the candy corns across the floor with spoons... I think Emi got the handle of it...

But, then figured out that was a stupid game, when she could get on the floor and eat them while mom wasn't looking (or she thought she wasn't!). Smart girl.

Very serious competition.

The costumes were pretty awesome!


Lots of bats this year! Or batmans. Hey, are you looking at my batsuit?

I'm going to try and take a pic of the girls with all of their costume pieces together... we'll see if it happens!

Good Things

Where has October gone? Ah! Steve came and went to Berlin, Steve's mom came and visited, a couple of close friends are almost due or had their first children, my dad came and visited, Emilie is now kind of talking!! Lots of good things :)

Emilie's favorite word is "no, Noooooo, and Nooo way." Although it is kind of annoying, I have to admit I think it's really cute. Now she's also nodding and getting really excited about life around her. It is a really special time when they start blossoming into little kids and out of the baby stage. I'm trying to appreciate each moment because I know I'm going to be 80 years old soon! (ok not that fast!)

I've committed to read all of the complete works of CS Lewis. He is about my favorite author of all time. Right now I'm reading "The Problem of Pain." Although it almost takes me 5 minutes to read a page sometimes (because the thoughts are so deep and provoking), it has been a HUGE upper with the passing of my mom and some clarification and additions to thoughts that I've had. Anyway. love him.

I finally signed up for Facebook. I guess I've never done it because I didn't see the draw... and was afraid of the waste of time. But- I like it. I'm not a complete lover of it (spending hours on it), but I've reconnected with a lot of friends that I haven't seen in a while, and my favorite thing about it is their photos. If it could be just PHOTOS, that would be awesome. Maybe I could invent that and be a billionare :)

Today we went to a farm near our house to "pick" some pumpkins. I think we have our fair share at the moment.But, here are some quick picks:





Steve's mom came to visit last weekend and it was soooo nice. She let me take an afternoon off- and I went swimming, got a massage and had lunch with a friend. It was such a nice break. She and the girls hit it off the entire weekend- especially Emilie. Up until now, she was basically scared of everyone, and would cry if you got 2 inches from her. But, I think the winds are changing. She loved her... and we miss her already!

Going though old pics...

Steve has been out of town, and I have really enjoyed just being with the girls. Driving to preschool, watching swimming lessons, going to the park, talking with friends... has been my highlights of this week. It has been so therapeutic and they give me so much energy. They really are one of the biggest blessings of my life.

Every night, I've been trying to organize. Yesterday, I organized my closet and finally threw out those shirts that have been in the "but, I might wear them once" pile. I really won't wear them- so there is more use for them at GoodWill.

Tomorrow is the girls' closet. A bigger nightmare, but someone's got to do it.

Today, I started organizing photos. I have photos everywhere. And, you think I would have organized them in a better way, but no. They are everywhere and it is going to be an enormous headache...but a huge bonus is reliving some past moments. I never posted one of our last days in Paris.

We went to Disneyland Paris- which was far from the happiest place on earth. If you ever want to go there, please talk to me first. It's not worth it.

But- there was a memorable gem in the day. Although it took 2 hours to get to her, Maddie met Cinderella. Before I had kids, I wouldn't blink once at this, but when you have a young girl... this is pretty big. She was nervous/excited/couldn't control her emotions...she wasn't quite sure what to say to her. But, this is how the events unfolded:

Cinderella talked with her for seriously 5 minutes. I was really interested to hear what Maddie had to say. But, when she came back I said "Maddie, what did she say, what did you guys talk about?" She just stood there star glazed. "Maddie what did you talk about?" Silence. "Maddie, Maddie, Maddie?"

Really cute.