nina

Tonight, lying down with Kai and Nate in Kai's bed, in the dark, repeating over and over, "Fat butt, fat butt, fat butt." Where is she getting this?!?!?!?!
(Meanwhile, we had our parent-teacher conference tonight. Kai's teacher has had it with the potty mouth. The entire class is infected! Kai still after all this time nearly doubles over when he repeats the word butt more than 7 times. Or pee pee. Oy vey.)

Our day today.

Nina the explorer. Mountaineering into outer space.

From the archive...present to past.

Last year, getting our Xmas tree. Ah, memories. It was cold that day.
And another cute pic of the kids at a park in Davis last winter.
BFF. Sammy's got it down.
Kids on rides in Santa Cruz. Thrilled. Second trip to Monterey Bay aquarium. Kai in the cockpit on his 5th bday flight. First potato sack race at Christ Episcopal welcoming fair. Watchin g a movie with Dup. Faces painted at a festival at the corner of Mag and Napoleon.

The weekend

Kai after his first ride without training wheels...Kai and Nina eating pretzels in the trunk of Nate's car since food is not allowed in the car...Kai assists the magician at the Three Rivers Art Festival on sat. night in Covington.

No training wheels!

Bye bye Honda

Good-bye Honda. Hello Volvo. (Kai changing the station to "The Dead" on Sirius.)

I knew this would come, just not so soon

Today I was getting Nina out of her carseat and she said, with a giggle, "You're fat, mom." "What did you say, Nina?" An unequivocal, "You're fat."
Oh lawd.

Another grandma visits

"A boy-n-a girl in a little canoe with the moon shining all around..." Remember that campfire song? "So they talked and they talked til the moon grew dim and she said you better kiss me or get out and swim...."
Kai's request for the song last night:
"...and HE said you better watch Star Wars with me or get out and swim..."

Here are happy-as-clams Nina and Tibo with Grandma Bo / Laure-Anne / Loretta :-)

bikes

Out on the Tammany Trace. Neither kid lasted long, but it was nice to get out and get inspired by other bikers on the trail. Nina playing peek-a-boo last night.

Funny Nina

Going to the "thtowa" (store) with all of her accoutrement!

Nate and Kai

Nate and Kai working on Kai's piano workbook; strong Nate can still do fly-to-the-letter with our 53-pounder; one of the best smiles in the world.

The boys spent some quiet time watching a Palau DVD last night instead of reading books. Kai said that the fish book is good, but the DVD is "Awesome!"

coffee

The kids running in the ditch in front of our house. They ended up soaked to the bone...the beginning of Nina's nasty cold.

The morning daylight savings ended, at about 5:30, Kai said (yelled, begged), "Mom, will you play with me? Please? Will you play with me?" and Nina, "Mama, I want you pay wit me, NOW!" I responded, "After I make some coffee." And Kai responded, "Mom, you ALWAYS say that. Just take a break from that today, OK? Just take a break today and come play with me."

Halloween!

Cousins at Krewe de Boo in New Orleans. Kai with a very sore eye from the most ridiculous Halloween toy he obtained at school. (Halloween was a huge deal at Kai's school this year. Unfortunately. It was all decorated with skulls and pumpkins and witches and ghosts and the anticipation of the halloween party was felt for a few weeks. I miss Stephanie's approach at Great Beginnings - no recognition of holidays - because kids, esp mine, don't need any additional stimulation at school. I'm a buzz kill.) Next, my good friend Jess, her husband Colin and their boy Milo, who is just five days younger than Tibo. Sara, Matt and Tibo rocked their costumes.
Last, our new friend, Ariel. She trick-or-treated in the 'hood with us, quite fun. Most houses were over-the-top with spooky decorations and people were super friendly and excited - esp for the Saints game that night.