Happy Halloween

I truly love Halloween in our building. All the kids just race down the hallways, and up stairs, and down elevators. Parents lose children but never worry because all the kids are always with somebody's parents and we know we will all meet up again at some point. A group of us usually gets together before trick-or-treating starts so that the kids can eat, and the parents can take pics and drink cocktails. This year, we met up at Rabiya's apartment, but we almost missed the pre-party because of a slight makeup crisis with Delilah. She wanted to be a fairy this year, and when we bought her costume, she saw a stage makeup kit that she just HAD to have. For almost half an hour, I painstakingly applied the makeup just as the kit directed, using stencils and everything to create a fantasy/fairy/butterfly sort of look. After years in the theatre, I'm actually pretty good at this stuff. Delilah took one look in the mirror when I finished and started sobbing that she hated it. I was devastated. Not because of my efforts, but because it broke my heart knowing how excited she had been and how disappointed she was in how it looked on her. So we set about scrubbing it off...theatre makeup does not come off with a splash of soap and water, so taking it off took about as long as putting it on. Fortunately, Grammy Di saved the day and helped get Noelle ready so that at least we didn't miss the whole party at Rabiya's. And within 10 minutes, Delilah had completely forgotten about the entire fiasco and was her usual happy self again.

As the evening begins!

Princess Sofia and Princess Fairy!

All the kids were DYING to go trick or treating...except Miss Delilah who was too busy eating FOUR pieces of pizza!

Keira, Lyla, Noelle, and Delilah. I LOVE Noelle's face!!

The group: Maya, Keira, Lyla, Red, Noelle, and Mia

One of their babysitters who lives in our bldg., Miss Amy

On her way to school that morning! So cute!!!!

Vermont Getaway!!

Chris and I have been on vacation by ourselves for exactly 13 days total since our first child was born. And each of those involved a wedding or finding a place to live, so while they were incredibly fun, there was still structure and obligations involved in each of them.
We decided that was not acceptable and must be remedied immediately.
When Chris's parents offered to come visit for a couple weeks and take the girls, we JUMPED at the chance. Not because we don't love our girls, but because we love each other. And we missed each other.
So the day after Noelle's birthday found us driving to Vermont. We stayed from Saturday until Tuesday, and it was incredible. We slept deeply, drove aimlessly, and ate richly. We got massages and sat in hot tubs and visited art galleries. We had beautiful conversations about our future and our dreams and just enjoyed each other. It was deep and satisfying and must be done again before 6 more years pass.

Our heavenly room!!!

The chateau where we stayed. Perfection.

Faces of pure relaxation

I love you so much, Chris. You will always be my favorite.

Happy 3rd, Noelle!!!!

Oh, sweet Noelle. You have come into your own this year.

--You are spunky, and funny, and oh-so-loveable.

--You randomly walk up to me or Daddy or Delilah and triumphantly announce, "You are the BEST MOMMY (daddy, sister) EVER! I LOVE YOU!!!"

--You are a ham and love to perform.

--You never stop talking. Ever. You never ever never ever never ever stop talking.

--You have a rich imaginary world. You pretend to pull characters off the pages of story books and put them in your pocket or talk to them or feed them.

--You love babies. Real ones, fake ones, it doesn't matter. All tiny humans are worthy of your complete and undivided attention.

--You would eat nothing but peanut butter if we let you. And sometimes we let you.

--You are in the 75% for height and weight...if I remember correctly from your check-up, you are 33 lbs and 39 inches.

--You still have trouble with your "l's", so you say Dewiwah instead of Delilah. Our favorite thing to hear you say (and you say it all the time) is, "Right, Dewiwah?"

--You and your sister are two peas in a pod. We call you our puppies because you are always rolling around together, laying on each other, snuggling, and playing. Y'all rarely fight, which is such a blessing.

--You are fearless. It's a blessing and a curse.

--Like any 3-year-old, you are stubborn. When you finally give in on something, you grumpily say, "FINE!", and then snort like a horse...a defiant harrumph that let's us know you are not happy about the way things are going.

--You love putting on my makeup.

--You wear nothing but panties 90% of the time.

--When you want to snuggle, you walk up with a blanket and say, "I want to get snuggy-wuggy."

When I asked you what you wanted to do on your birthday, you said go to the pet store and the book store. So we did...here is our outing:

You love fish!!!!!

Later that day it was time for your party. Grammy Di and Papa H were in town, and Grammy Di came with some awesome food ideas...clementines turned into pumpkins and banana ghosts! We just had a little party in our apartment for your friends and their parents. Had a blast decorating pumpkins and you were just happy to have so many people around...especially two babies!!

The birthday girl in a new princess dress!

Delilah took this pic of our buddy Myles

She also took this pic of Mia. Mia's mom was so happy to get it because she says Mia NEVER smiles for any camera.

Petting baby Liv

 

Tiny pumpkins ready to be decorated with the pumpkin kits!

Hard at work

Proud of their finished products! A pumpkin bee and pumpkin bat

 

Happy birthday, Noelle. We love the incredible person that you are!!!!!

 



Nature Walk!

Red arranged an after-school "nature walk" through Central Park's Conservatory Garden for two of her closest friends and their little sisters. It was so cute watching her plan and organize everything and I was so proud to watch her take charge. Last night she packed a bag with markers and notebooks for everyone so they could sketch what they saw; she also packed stickers and toys because, "the little ones may not want to sketch like real artists, Mom". Except for the group pic and the pic of Delilah, all these photos were taken by Red with my iPhone. I have been having a bad parenting week...this all helped A LOT.

The crew: Estella, Alba, Kayla, Noelle, Brianna, and Red

Everyone had a blast and can't wait to go again!

Apple Picking

Time for our second annual apple picking adventure with our church. Last year it was just Delilah and me because Chris had pulled a muscle and Noelle was too little for me to wrangle both girls. This year, Chris had class so I took both girls by myself. We sure missed Daddy, but we had so much fun!!!

 

So proud of their loot!

Eating one of the six apples she ate that day

Apple donuts!

Climbing a giant wood chip pile. I turned away for 2 minutes to get a basket and they were already halfway up this giant thing!

Helping each other down

So excited!

So wonderful to get outside and away from the city for a day. Happy Fall, everyone!