Happy Halloween!

Today Q got to go the Imagine Children's Museum with his pal Alex and Mama Nan. Oh was he thrilled, and he had such a fun time! He dressed as "Super Quin" for the occasion:

 

Then, upon his return we carved our pumpkins, 

 

 

 Papa is our resident expert carver, give him an idea (owl, goofy face, and 3 eyed monster seen here, butterfly not pictured) and he'll whip it right out!

then we had our mummy dogs and ghouly pizza, and took to the streets in our very own neighborhood for trick or treating.This was a great chance to meet some of our neighbors we haven't actually met yet, and visit with ones we have. And of course get to visit the houses with great decorations further down our street!

 

As seen here H really took charge tonight! She would go right ahead of Q wanting to be the one who knocked. She would even squeeze right in front of older kids to get to the door/candy first. Being her first real trick or treating year I'd say she's going to be a pro in years to come, oh my...She was a pretty cute feisty monkey bird though. And Q got a lot of attention with that spider on his back, over and over kids and adults would comment, "Hey, there's a spider on your back!" I explained their costumes quite a lot, and that was fine by me! What a festive and full Halloween we had this year!

Vashonian Halloween

We decided to pop over to the island for the day to see my more awake parents and do the big Halloween shindig uptown. Being an island of artists, theater goers, and generally folk who love to get dressed up, this is the perfect place to go for Halloween (which this year the island businesses decided ought to be celebrated on Saturday). 

 

the kids practiced saying "trick or treat" for Nami first though

It was rainy in the beginning so we were all set with our rain gear and umbrellas so picture taking wasn't an easy task. 

 
I took this one cause a whitchy Mary Langland was taking one as well.

 

 Now that they are islanders, the Olives really had to play up their parts for "Captain Jamie's Crew"

  Then the rain eased up and we watched some fun mini performance by islanders like a Thriller dance performance 

 

Hazel was seriously in awe

and a ghost parade by UMO. 

 
ooo, spooky UMO ghosts

And we ended our time uptown with a little Papa spinning the kids in circles in the middle of town, 

hmmm...seems to me we'd fit right in on the island...

Costume Parties

Q's class had a costume party on Thursday. They all paraded around in their costumes, had special treats, wore their handmade pumpkin necklaces, and generally had what sounded like a blast!

Q the spider monkey ooo, oooing! with Teacher Cody cowgirl

 Olea in her "Bad Robot" costume

Then today, not quite intentionally we ended up at the Indoor playground's Halloween party! Fortunately I had some costume pieces in the car, so Q wore his monkey top and H had her seasonal outfit on plus her cape (by Chrissy) which she insisted on wearing backwards.Q asked me to take these "action shots" before we went in:

 

 

 They had a great time of course, bouncing, running, driving cars, getting prizes, and visiting with a number of friends who were there also.

 

Thoughts on Hazel Upgrading

Between the sweet hugs, the goofy faces, and the silly 2 year old jokes (Q certainly did not have potty humor jokes at 2), she can be a temper tantrum throwing, bloody murder screaming, biting maniac at times! Yeah, this girl is working on making her Mama a little bit crazy some moments. In some ways it's a darn good thing she wasn't my first, cause it would be a lot harder to ignore certain behaviors, and not just watch her little fits while trying to hide my smiles. For instance, this morning she woke with the same notion she went to bed with, the insistence that we should go for a train ride. When I said we didn't have tickets, but we do have some bus tickets (Chinook book freebies), she said no, we had to go on the "trrraaaaiiinnnn!" Hmmm...guess we'll be going on a train adventure soon, not sure if I'll be able to win this one anytime soon. I'm thinking of blaming all this recent wildness on her part to those molars coming in, and not her leo-ness or the fact that she is her mother's daughter...

Believing in Flight

 We were at the park this afternoon, enjoying the peacefulness of the place pretty much to ourselves, and Q decided he could fly. Not in the scary climbing a tree and jumping out sort of way, but the giant hill and running as fast as he could straight down it with arms outstretched kind of way. This is when I love the age of 4, the pure belief in all things magical and imaginary. When you stop to think about the phase of life in which you truly believe in these sorts of things: the Easter Bunny, Santa, the tooth fairy, that you really do have super powers like the power of flight, plus fairies and magical creatures of all sort, that full belief lasts a mere blink of the eye. Hazel is just starting to get there at 2 and though I don't wish it on him my guess is by the time Q is in 2nd grade or so some of this magic will already be gone. SO, while he is truly in the heart of this phase of life I vow to notice and record it as much as I can! 

 

That said, while at the playground we also were on a ship that went back in time to see the dinosaurs, and the smaller playground was our speedboat to zip us around to see one dinosaur after another. There were also some monkeys climbing trees, and rock climbers climbing stairs, and certainly more make believe park stories I've already forgotten. 

 It might not be right next door, but this playground and park seems to really inspire magical play, I think we'll be back often!

Celebrating Papa

Today Todd became a year wiser. We were lucky enough to get to see Papa today since he stays home with H in the mornings on Tuesdays while I teach Froggy Holler. So, we shared a yummy breakfast with him and then lunch when we got back, before he went off to work.
 
He even got to play a little with legos this morning!
Then, had a yummy dinner the kids helped a bit with before the cookie cake requested by both Todd and Quin. Yeah, we ate a lot today! ;) Then, our friend Trez came over to watch the kids while Todd and I went out! This is a rare treat for us since it's so tricky to put the kids to bed. But it was an extra special occasion, not only Todd's birthday, but also a special night for our friends Matt and Rebecca. Matt, a Jazz drummer created an incredible new compilation inspired by my good friend Rebecca's late Dad's artwork. The show was at the Triple Door, and with the images of the artwork behind the musicians, and the good company around us, it was an inspiring event. So, if you're a Jazz fan check out Tattooed By Passion.

Alex Mondays

It's been a few years, but it seems we are back to getting "Alex Mondays" around here! I started watching our PEPS pal Alex when the boys were still pretty tiny while my pal Nan was catching up on sleep from her weekend nursing work. Now, she's working Mondays and since Q desperately asks to play with Alex all the time, I thought it would be great if we started having him over regularly on Monday afternoons. So for the last few weeks it's worked out pretty great. Mondays are sort of "Good Mom Mondays" now cause I tend to really focus on having fun when friends are over, more than normal anyhow. This Monday I whipped up a batch of fresh, warm, cinnamony orange playdoh which saw a lot of play.

 

 Then outside, the kids helped me practice for what we'd be creating in FH this week: leaf crowns. Meet the Kings and Queen of the backyard!

 

 

 

It was a wild and windy day, and they loved gathering (aided by the fun of getting to use scissors outside) the leaf crown items, and had such fun playing once they were made. These brave Kings had battles to fight, scary hot tub monsters, soccer goal gremlins, and tree guys to destroy. We looks forward to many more Alex Mondays to come!

Boy in the Tree and Bike in the Tree

While on the Island Q did some tree climbing, which he is particularly good at these days:

 Yep, I'd say it's pretty appropriate for him to be a monkey for Halloween this year!

And we stopped by the bike in the tree, which we hadn't done in awhile:

 After which we did some exploring on a fungus covered log:

Good thing H was still wearing her new bangles and had those sunglasses on too! You just never know when a sun burst might pop right in between the trees!

Fall Festival and Halloween Carnival!

At Quin's new school there was a Fall festival this past week, complete with a dinner potluck, book sale, cake walk (which I volunteered for, oh joy!), and carnival games. This was a fun social event and a nice way to show Papa Q's school. Of course the kids had a blast as well!

 

Olea Clifford sitting while H shared her monkey with him 

 

Teacher Cody gave Q a cute little ghost face painting

Then on Saturday we went to Q's old school's big carnival fundraiser. The kids supported our old co-op by playing lots of fun games, bouncing in the bouncy obstacle course, riding a pony (Q only, H was bouncy obsessed), and seeing our pals as well.

 The "Spider Monkey" practicing his climbing skills

 

 "Monkey Bird" (sans wings) had to join in!

 I personally love this game! You throw the balloon in, and it pops and a candy pops out the mouth!

  

Then there's always good old fashioned throw the ball in the toilet, in case they needed any more naughty ideas...

And a spider monkey shooting foam discs, oh boy!

Phew, that was a lot of carnival fun for one week!

Whadya get Me?

Ah, it was such a treat to get to both send my parents off on their Indian adventure and then bring them home again! They were tired out, but pretty thrilled with their trip. They spent nearly the whole time with my Uncle Reid (who lives in India in an Ashram, as a TM follower) and good friend Ja. They had so many stories to tell and we hope to get to see a whole video of their travels soon. Of course the kids were thrilled with the stories (especially those involving animals) and the treasures Nami brought home! 

 

Treasure which included instruments,

 a little treasure box,

 2 year old sized bangles,

 and a really cool wooden cobra:

My parents were in the midst of telling some of their stories while Danpa clicked through a few pictures he;d set up on the TV screen and they both dozed off! Being up for 24 hours after an adventure like that, I wasn't surprised.

So, we headed out to run some island errands, and visit a bit with our pal Jamie for dinner. It was a fun little day trip to the isle!