Halloween 2009

Tonight was a very fun night of trick-or-treating. Isabella went as a ballerina and Zach as a pirate. He would say "Trick or treat" when the person opened the door, then "Arrrg!" when he was leaving. It was very cute. Bunches of pictures...

This one is one of my favorites.

Indy is feeling good these days after her surgery. She was decked out in sweater today due to the combination of the cool weather and her recent visit to the groomer.

Fall Carnival

Today was the fall carnival at Isabella's school. We went around 11:30 and had a great time. They sold tickets and then food and activities went for 1 - 3 tickets with a couple of things that cost 4. We stayed for about 2 hours and had lots of fun.

The kids started off with cotton candy. Zach ate all of his but Isabella gave up after about half. I don't blame her.

Zach spent 4 tickets to go in with the animals. They had lots of very cute and friendly bunnies, piglets, chicks and goats. He did great handling all of them.

They had feed they were giving out and Zach had fun feeding the goats.

Isabella got her hair done. It is now pink with sparkles. She felt like that would go fine with her ballerina outfit for trick or treating tonight.

Carving Pumpkins

While mommy is out of town this weekend, we have been having fun. We carved pumpkins last night. Isabella wanted this one to have vampire teeth. She doesn't even know what a vampire is, but she knows they have two big teeth!

Zach was happy to watch but absolutely refused to put his hand in the pumpkin or even touch the seeds. He said it was "way to slimy. Yuck!!"

Here is the other one- stuck in an "Oh!" moment I guess... Isabella drew the concept for this one on a piece of paper and then I did the carving.

Camping

Last weekend we with camping with our friends Andy & Ashley and their kids. We had a great time. The weather was perfect and Indy had fun too. Here are a few pictures from the trip...

The kids really enjoyed playing "dirt."

Zach and all of them enjoyed climbing this tree.

We had a great view of the lake.

40th Birthday Party

Last Wednesday we celebrated Liza's birthday. This weekend she is celebrating again by visiting friends in Boston. Here are a few pictures from the party...

The white short candle on this cake also played "Happy Birthday" over and over again. That, along with the re-igniting sparkler candles made for a fun process of blowing out the candles.

Zach, Isabella and Katie enjoyed the cake very much. We all had a great time.

Singing

Today Zach declared that he wants to be a singer when he grows up. Later, he came in to the room singing this song over and over. No matter how many times we tell him to say "fee-male", it always comes out "fae-male" when he's singing. :-)

Decorating cookies

Liza and the kids made cookies on the day that I was delayed in London and then we working on frosting and decorating them when I got home. They had a great time and so did we!

That's not a real place!

Before I left for Egypt, I waited until a couple of days before to tell the kids I'd be gone for more than a week. We were sitting in the rocking chair in their room before bed and told them I was going to be going to Egypt on Saturday. Zach immediately replied, "Daaaaaad, Egypt's not a real place. Its just in story books!" It was like I'd told him I was going to be spending the week in Cinderella's castle.

Isabella replied right back that it was indeed a real place and that daddy was going there. He was not sure if he really believed it, but after he saw the pictures I think he is on board with Egypt being a real place.

it's my superpwer

When I came home from staff women's breakfast, I was tickling Zach on the couch. He screamed really loudly, and I pulled away. When I commented on how loudly he screamed, he declared that it is his superpower. I told him it was a good superpower. It certainly worked on me.

Finger Puppets!

Last night we worked as a family on making finger puppets. The kids had started doing them with babysitters earlier in the week, then we made some more last night. Isabella was getting very creative with the crazy hair on Frankenstein.

Isabella was having fun being creative.

Zach liked putting multiple faces on one puppet.

Gifts from Egypt

Before I left for Egypt, Isabella told me that she would like a really pretty dress for her gift from my trip. I always get them something, so she knew that she could ask for something. I didn't know what I'd find, but the first day I was in Alexandria, I saw a dress in the window of a children's clothing store near by the media center where we were teaching classes. I went in and found it to be extremely affordable, so I got one for her. Needless to say, she was thrilled with this very pretty dress. I was thinking "halloween costume" and she may now be a princess rather than a ballerina as she has been planning to be....

For Zach I got him an Egypt Air 777 like the one I was on when we were 2 hours delayed and I missed my flight home... and then an Egypt t-shirt, which he was thrilled with. He has been playing with the airplane almost non-stop since I got home.

isabella's excitement

Monday night Isabella couldn't get to sleep. She came downstairs at 10:30, and had not been to sleep at all! She moved to my bed, and still didn't sleep. We talked about how tired she was going to be in school the next day, that she would need to take a nap when she came home from school, but she couldn't figure out her insomnia. She was concerned that she would have to move her behavior magnet from green to yellow or orange, but hopeful that she wouldn't go to red when she would have to bring home a sad note.

Tuesday morning, it took alot to wake her up. 8 hours just isn't enough for her, but she wasn't in a bad mood. As we walked to school, it finally occurred to me that she was excited about Chris' return. When I picked her up from school, she skipped all the way home, and was so excited. I needed to leave for campus before Chris was actually going to be back to our house, so I told Isabella I was going to have to take them over to our friend, Angela's house. Angela's house has so many fun things, and the kids love going there. She said, "A good day at school (she didn't have to move her magnet at all, although she informed me that she yawned once), Angela's house, and Daddy comes home. It's the best day of the month!" Never mind that my birthday and Halloween is still to come.

As I drove to campus, I called Chris to warn him of the excitement of the kids and that he needed to push the jetlag aside to play with the kids.

On another note, when I asked Zach what he wanted for lunch yesterday, he said, "I'm a teenager. Teenagers eat alot. I want PB&J sandwich, two slices of turkey, a slice of cheese, yogurt, and edamame." He actually ate all of that, and grapes. What is going to happen when he really is a teenager.

We are glad to have our daddy home.

We have survived

This may be a bit premature since Chris isn't actually home yet, but with 18 hours, I think I can say it...

This weekend was very busy with me getting to go to two football games (including UT's 38-14 win over CU, thanks Holly!), girls spending Friday night and eating pancakes Saturday morning, church Sunday, etc. But today was day off for parent-teacher conferences, and it was so fun. Through lack of communication, I didn't get scheduled for one, but that meant the day could be on our terms and no babysitter!

Tonight when I asked the kids what their favorite part of the day was, they both said spending it with me. Zach called it our "Mommy-Daughter-Zach date." I love that. Because our camera is spending time in Houston (due to our habitual forgetfulness) I have no pics to post of our cookie-making escapade, but it was fun and flour-y.

One other thing, last night we were talking about my upcoming birthday. Isabella said I was going to be old. I told her I was not. Then she said, "Yes, you are. Pretty soon you are going to need a cane and false teeth!" Now my nieces and nephews will recognize that as the comment I make at every one of their birthdays. Who knew Isabella had been paying attention! She giggled when she told me she heard me say it.

Love my babies!