HALLOWEEN!!

Halloween is my favorite holiday.  Unfortunately it seems to usually end in tears and this year was no exception.  After an hour of trick-or-treating the kids were done and started melting down.  Luckily tia Veronika came with us and spent most of the evening carrying one or the other of the boys as they alternatively melted down.  Diego used Charlie's previous Max from the Wild Things costume and looked super cute and got lots of comments.  I'm washing it and packing it up again in hopes that I can get another use out of it with #3! 

Charlie said he wanted to be a frog so I stayed up until 1am last night making him a Kermit costume.  My sewing machine had collected a lot of dust from lack of use and I even had to call my mom to have her remind me how to thread the machine.  Let's just say that I won't be quitting my day job anytime soon.  In the end I thought it was very cute but when I made Charlie try it on this morning he started crying and told me he actually wanted to be a bear! a bear?! I told him he could be a green bear named Kermit but that's about it.  He even cried about it during his school costume parade.  The major problem appeared to be that I can't sew pants very well so he spent most of the time re-adjusting them.  Nevertheless I thought he was a very cute Kermit.

here is Charlie adjusting his pants for the 8,000th time....

When we got home Charlie and Diego counted their candy, fought over the candy, didn't eat a single one and then put them in a secret stash.  At one point Charlie was trying to steal one of Diego's candies and so Diego resorted to laying on top of his candy to protect them.

counting candy

Charlie's Week

My belly is feeling very large these days.  Then again Charlie and Diego still have potbellies so we decided to see whose was biggest.  Judge for yourself....

Also vote on boy vs. girl!  We find out this week!!!

This was a Charlie filled week.  I played assistant teacher, went on his field trip to Cox Farms and went to THREE birthday parties this weekend.  The actual assistant teacher has been playing hookey way too much so I have been getting some class time in.  As for the field trip it turns out Cox FARM is less farm and more amusement park.  Charlie and Cici were my partners and the little duo had no problems waiting in line for 15-20 minutes for a slide.  The hay ride was a bit scary and the girls all screamed but Charlie didn't seem phased.  It was almost weird that he wasn't phased by the spookiness.  I was also shocked that he wasn't phased by going down the long slide alone.  I refused to go down the slide so I'd deposit them at the top and then run down to receive them. 

Here are a few pictures from Cox Farm:

The married couple!!!

 It must be birthday season.  We had pirate themed party, an indoor giant inflatable jumping theme and a pool party.   The Pump It Up place was like hell on earth to me but Charlie loved it.  Diego hated it too so we clung to eachother for 1.5 hours.  I guess pizza and cake is the mandatory party meal. Here are charlie and Diego eating pizza at Pump It Up and then eating pizza again an hour later at the pool party.  They didn't seem to mind!

This weekend was less than fun for Carlos who spent a night and a day in the hospital.  I kept the kids away because I'm paranoid of hospital germs.  To make him feel better Charlie wrote him endless notes and wrapped up his cars to give them as gifts to Carlos upon his return.  It was really sweet. 

West Virginia

Last week I had a work trip to scenic Morristown, New Jersey and rounded out the experience by getting the flu! awesome. I was trying desperately not to show my now very large belly to my work colleagues which also added to the fun.  I wore suits to give me lateral coverage and baggy sweaters for frontal coverage.  I think it worked, but people may just have been polite about my fat stomach.  tough call.  I think this means I can wait until around Thanksgiving to announce as I won't be in Atlanta until December.  We find out if it is a boy or girl next Friday!!!!! I'm so excited.  I still don't feel the little bean but I assume s/he is doing okay. 

After New Jersey we took off for West Virginia so Carlos could go play lumberjack with the husband of a couple who owns land in a place called Lost City.  Carlos could not pass up the opportunity to play with a chainsaw in the woods.  It's a beautiful location with unbelievable fall colors.  The place is a couple of hours outside DC and for some bizarre reason has become a known gay getaway locale.  I was shocked to find anyplace in WV would be a gay mecca but then we came across the cutest general store which had an attached yoga studio and a giant fire pit for drum circles and I realized we must be in some vortex!

The property didn't look much different when they were done chopping but our car did.  We shoved fire wood and a giant log in the back which displaced less important things like luggage.  The other couple have twin boys around Charlie's age and he had so much fun playing with them - mainly the one named Xandr (who he called Sandra!).  The 8 of us stayed in a 2 room cabin! It was actually cozy and fine for a night.  But probably not any longer....

Carlos armed and dangerous

Charlie trying on the personal protective equipment

We had our parent teacher conference this week which made me realize how quickly the year is going by!  While we love Brent and Charlie seems to really like Mr. Holtoff I don't feel like he is learning as much.  Maybe the learning curve was so steep last year so it was really noticeable or maybe it just takes more time...He is however learning lots in his classes outside school.  He loves his swim class and ballet and even piano.  Diego on the other hand doesn't seem to like structured classes much and when we talk about going to Brent next year he yells "NO!"

Petting zoo birthday party which Diego LOVED!

Pumpkin Carving!

This weekend we had a little pumpkin carving party for some of Charlie's classmates.  It's really just an excuse for me to put up Halloween decorations and carve pumpkins.  This year the kids actually wanted to carve the pumpkins and not just play with the gross sticky eyeballs I got.  That said most of the time they wanted to play out in the treehouse which made me both happy and horrified.  Happy that it gets love and horrified because the backyard - as always - is a construction zone.  Somewhere along the line I've lost all sense of decorum so I roll my eyes and let everyone crowd outside in the midst of construction debris.

Here are some pictures of the brunch



we got a little carried away with the face paint...



thanks to stephanie for helping to carve the remaining pumpkins

 We have construction because we put up some beams in the dining room and started on shelves in the living room.  The bathroom is still unusable so we are all craming into Veronika's bathroom which I'm guessing doesn't make her stay all that fun.  Luckily she is a good sport about everything - including the 6am wake up calls with the kids screaming.  Here are our new dining room beams:

 She continues to take Charlie to do rock climbing.  Look how high he got last time!

Charlie has taken a few swim classes and is doing much better.  I think it'll take a lot more lessons for us to start seeing actual strokes and not drinking..Here is after just jumping in and turning around to swim back to the edge. 

Diego is finally starting to talk more.  One cute thing he tells me is "I love you much."  I tell him I love you more and he tells me "I love you much doo-doo head!"  He is really into doo-doo head...something his brother taught him.  I've started wondering how he'll do with the transition to school next year (assuming he gets in) as he doesn't like sharing nor do we make him share much. 

Fall is Here!

The fall has brought beautiful weather to DC, but it's already making me dread winter time.  Two weekends ago we went to Bluemont, Virginia to pick apples and meet Veronika after her bike ride through the countryside.  I usually complain about how commercial and overrun the pick-your-own farms around DC are, but this time - ironically - I was complaining about just the opposite!  It was in the middle of no where, the apple orchard was sad and run down and not a single other person in site and we could barely find an apple that didn't have worm holes.  The whole place felt twilight-zonish.  There was a run-down mini-golf course that was no longer operational, animals in cages that looked worse than the zoo we went to in Panama and pig races that pitted a black and white pig named Obama against a white pig named Romney.  I couldn't wait to get out of there.  Fortunately the apple galette we made from the apples picked made the trip worthwhile.

the empty orchards

On a better note - Veronika has been taking Charlie rock climbing and he loves it.  Check out how high he goes!!

This weekend I went up to Yale for an alumni weekend and to see my brother Seth while Carlos stayed with the boys.  I can't say Carlos had a great time, but I had a really nice time.  The event was poorly organized, but that gave me plenty of time to see Seth and to sit and talk until 3 in the morning with old and new students.  Some women were in the first few classes that admitted women - it was crazy to hear about the school then.