Auntie Jess is in the jewelry biz now!

Over the summer Auntie Jess started working for Rebeca Coagan Scharlatt, a jewelry designer whose company Coatt makes cool yet pretty Morse code necklaces (which can also be worn wrapped around the wrist as a bracelet). With this new gig Auntie Jess has had business down our way and we love getting to see more of her! We also love how happy her new job makes her. With Christmas coming up this is a great idea for a gift for any and all of the ladies in your lives. T has the "love" necklace on pink silk cord, but she's already wanting more. Visit their website to see all the options, or contact them to do a custom one with the name of a loved one or some super secret code word! They can also do a custom length. And they look cute stacked, just so you know.

First Field Trip

About a month ago (can you tell we're catching up on old post topics?) B and C had their first school field trip. J was able to take the morning off of work and we all went to Arata's Pumpkin Farm just south of Half Moon Bay. Unfortunately it was pouring rain that day, so it was a small turn out and we were not able to take any good photographic evidence. But we did manage to have several adventures in our short time there! C got bitten by a chicken and T was stalked by a bee (one of the farm owners gave her a dryer sheet to rub all over her jacket, it worked). B's (apparently) life-long dream of going through a hay maze was realized. We came out the same way we went in, but we made it out and that's what matters! C rode a little train (and loved it), B rode a horse being led by a person rather than on one of those sad wheel things (and loved it). And of course, they picked out cute little pumpkins.

The only photos we were able to get were of the kids bundled up in the car about to go home. What you can't see is that they are just in underwear and sweaters because we all got soaked from the waist down. Thank goodness we all have good raincoats, and three out of four of us have good rain boots (maybe Santa will bring J some wellies for Christmas). Thankfully T thought ahead and brought cozy blankets and snuggle buddies, so these are some happy kids in the photos.

Sleepy Sibling Love & the Unforeseen Effects of Starting Preschool

Since the kids started school they have been going through a lot of changes. We sort of underestimated how much the change would affect them and what their behavior might be like as a result. Woefully unprepared as we were, the past few weeks have been somewhat tortuous at home as B & C regressed and acted out in a myriad of ways. We suppose the good thing is that according to their teachers this anti-angelic behavior is not seen at school in the least, so they save it for us. Great! A time honored tradition. We must be doing something right.

We feel like we've finally woken up from our stupor and are handling things much better; understanding the root of the kids' behavior makes it so much easier to manage. We had our first ever "family meeting," a concept they were familiar with because at preschool they have a "morning meeting" each day. We talked about the problems at home, what we thought the probable causes were and what we thought the solutions could be. We took responsibility for our actions as well; a lot of talk about cause and effect and the ripple effect of a negative attitude (just one can take down so many!). We also worked together to come up with some house rules, the kids had surprisingly good contributions. We're looking into creative ways to post our rules to help them stick better and last longer.

One of the side effects of starting school for the first time is that both kids wanted to sleep in our bed, with or without us. T took these one night as we were getting ready for bed and J was about to move them back to their own room. So sweet! Awww.

Our Garden is Growing!!!

You can probably infer from the triple exclamation usage that we are pretty excited. We've been able to use some of the spinach and the kale in juice already. The celery is getting big and will be ready to eat soon too. The broccoli has been somewhat troublesome. We had (and continue to fight) an invasion of cabbage moths; those little guys are hard core leaf eaters! A few days ago we planted some garlic in between the broccoli plants, because apparently cabbage moths and their caterpillars are not fans. T has noticed that there have been much fewer of the moths around, and when one does flit near the broccoli it quickly takes off again. So apparently its true. We were pleased tonight (actually pleased is an understatement, there was definitely high-fiving happening...and C and T danced a little jig to T singing "our broccoli is growing, our broccoli is growing") to see teensy, weensy broccoli heads beginning to grow.

We cleared out the rest of the mint, and hopefully will be planting some squash and cucumbers soon.

Halloween in the 'Game

This is our first Halloween in our new neighborhood and we were delighted by the charming and family friendly trick-or-treating. The power inexplicably went out at J's work so he was sent home early and we were able to start the t-or-t'ing at an earlier time, which meant bedtime only had to be pushed back a wee bit (bonus points on a school night). B loved, like looooved, t-or-t'ing! So did C, but he was ready to call it a day much sooner than B (although to be fair, she might have gone all night and few can keep up with that). We were proud of their manners ("thank you"s and "Happy Halloween"s aplenty) and had more fun than we expected. Now to deal with all this candy...

P.S. T is disappointed in the lack of trick-or-treaters we had at our door. Our block has several apartment buildings and is closer to the main street, so it makes sense that people stayed in the more residential area one block away. Next year she wants to get one of those yard signs announcing that we have candy to trump up business.

Goblin Walking

Our friend Melissa lives in San Carlos and gave us the heads-up about a fun Halloween event: the Goblin Walk. They block off the downtown area for a couple blocks and kids and shop workers/owners get all dressed up and trick-or-treat. It was such a fun community event, we think we'll make it an annual tradition. Maybe next year J will be able to join us.

looking for snail shells

Pumpkin Carving...and Carving...and Carving

finished pumpkin art

This year we decided to go with a theme (a new tradition?) and we all did Monsters, Inc. jack-o-lanterns. C picked Randall, B picked Celia (so difficult!), T picked Boo dressed as a monster, and J picked Sully and Boo together.

We got a later than planned start and underestimated the amount of time they would take. Not to mention the kids lose interest about 20 minutes in, then one of us goes back to regularly scheduled parenting duties and the other forges on with the carving. We tried our best, but had to halt the process for date night (we went to see our new neighbor's band play, well worth pausing the jack-o-lanterning). So we finished Randall and Celia on Saturday and Boo and Sully+Boo on Sunday. We are all very happy with the outcome. And we think we settled into a good groove...J deals with the guts and T does the carving. Look at all the traditions starting to pile up all around us!

she LOVES pumpkin carving

pumpkin carving is a team sport

not a fan of pumpkin guts, just like his mama

completely horrified by what Daddy is about to do...

yummy...(blech)

Daddy is so silly!

not the least bit squeamish

Preschool Trick-or-Treating

Last week the kids got to trick-or-treat at their preschool. They wore their costumes to school and went to all the other classrooms and offices in their building.

ready to go

at school

it was her idea to get a photo next to the butterfly calendar