How is it November already?

Dear Nathan and Hannah, 

Yes, we are those parents...those that limit you to 1 piece of candy every day, if you finish your plate. 

and yes, Nathan, you are that kid who will try to find your candy so that you can sneak a piece. 

 As you can see from below, this was not your first attempt...

 In an attempt to derail you from your candy thieving plans, we built a spaceship out of Daddy's upcycled Halloween costume.

 Super exciting. But, I accidentally used the box that we were holding all of your giant blocks to build the front of the ship, whoops. Guess we'll have to make a trip to Costco.

 Nathan, you discovered Sour Patch Kids and you were completely blown out of the water. You thought they were the best thing in the world. You love sour things and you love gummies. Win.

 Hannah, you put one in your mouth and made this face. But then you quickly responded with, "Oh, it's sweet now, yummy!"

 This week was the end of daylight savings, so this past week, we've been delaying your sleep times by about 5 minutes every 2 days, by Saturday, you guys were at 8:30. So we decided to have our first family movie night ever, popcorn and all, in an attempt to push back bed times to 9:00. We watched Beauty and the Beast and both of you loved it. No tantrums, a few cuddles were needed during the scary parts, but it was actually a lot of fun. Maybe we will make this a monthly event.

 On Thursday we visited Daddy at work and Nathan mastered the under hand skee-ball throw.

On Friday, we had a service event at church. This time we made Christmas card kits for kids in the hospitals.

 On Saturday, we went to a birthday party. It was probably one of the most enjoyable one we've gone to in awhile. The weather was perfect. The crowd was not too big, the kids played well and the parents all got to talk. I snapped this picture because I thought it was so hilarious how Hannah, you were vicariously eating the frosting off of your friend's dragon cupcake topper.

Hannah is currently sick now with what Nathan ended up with (drainage w/ cough) but you seem to be almost better and should be able to attend school tomorrow.

We've been enjoying this cool weather lately, and in a couple of weeks, we'll have a new backyard to enjoy. I'm sure we'll make lots of new memories there, granted that the mosquitoes don't drive us out.

Well, that's about it for this week.

Until next week,
Love,
Mommy

Halloween Festivities

Dear Nathan and Hannah, 

This week has been all about pumpkin patches, pumpkins, and costumes. Towards the end of the week, you both came down with colds, but I think despite the sickness, we maximized our fun. 

For the past 2 years, we have participated in the teal pumpkin project. and this year, we got white pumpkins and painted them teal. We still had candy that we passed out, but we also had glowsticks too. 

Hannah, you wanted to paint your pumpkin teal and purple. I think your favorite color is purple, but sometimes I think it's orange, unless you just really like oranges. Like an average 2 year old, you held your interest in painting the pumpkin for about 2 minutes, and then you  proceeded to paint other things like your hands, the chair...

 Nathan, your attention span is slightly longer, and you insisted on painting your whole pumpkin teal.

 One day, we made slime for our science project. Nathan, you were more interested in making it, and Hannah, you were more interested in playing with it afterwards.

On Friday, I was able to hold a meeting at a playground for about an hour and you two played peacefully together for the whole time. The people I was meeting with were impressed. I was impressed! Perhaps this is a start to a whole new level of playing together. 

 On Saturday, we carved our big pumpkin. Nathan picked out a design with 3 pumpkin faces. Next year, I'm going to have you guys design the pumpkin face on paper, and then carve it.

 Hannah, you got to practice poking holes in the cut out pieces.

 Pretty soon after we finished our pumpkins, Grandma and Grandpa arrived.

That afternoon, we went downtown to the Dia de los muertos festival and we participated in the Children's crafts. 

 Nathan, your sickness started to kick in around this time and from this point on, you've just been so tired. You just quietly sat and colored in this mask for a long time. Usually you are full of words and questions. That day, you were just so mellow.

 On Sunday, we participated in our church's trunk or treat. It was really cool seeing everyone in their costumes.

 And Hannah, you wanted to touch the bunnies. We thought, sure, you want to do it, but after we stand in line and get in the pen, you'll freak out. You totally surprised us and you didn't. You actually enjoyed the whole experience. You held both a bunny and a Guinea pig.

Both of you really were excited about Trick-or-treating, especially after hearing the part about how you will get to do it all again the next day. 

On Monday, Nathan was feeling too sick to go to school, but Hannah was ready. When we asked you, Hannah, what you would prefer to do, you said play with Grandma and Grandpa. So, we participated in the school costume parade and then we took you home. Nathan stayed at home with Grandpa. 

 In the evening, we all dressed up for a family picture. Nathan ended up taking the lion costume off and just rode around in a stroller while Hannah walked the streets, meekly saying, "Trick or treat!" as we approached each of our neighbors' houses.

 When you would get too tired, it was easy to encourage you by saying, "look! more candy!"

 After we went to about 20 houses, we parked in the driveway and passed out candy.

 Nathan sat back and enjoyed a lollipop and Hannah did the work of passing out the candy to the kids.

 We stayed past bedtime, but we knew when it was time to go in as Hannah was screaming, "More M&Ms!!! More candy!"

Now that Grandma and Grandpa are back home, it's back to our normally scheduled lives for now. We have a few things lined up for this week, but Nathan, you've gotta get better before we can do any of it. Rest up.

Hannah is starting to speak in 4-5 word sentences, and is able to problem solve/get anything she wants anywhere. You are now able to unlock and lock doors, open doors, and turn on various electronic devices.

You are starting to enjoy books with a plot as Curious George books are the most requested at bedtime, and I can always get you to sit down when there are princesses involved. You also love playing with your little doll, Goldilocks, and we have even made a little crib for her, right next to your bed.

Well, that's about it for now. Love you two bunches.
Until next week,
Love,
Mommy.

Camping and Pumpkins

Dear Nathan and Hannah, 

We've been prepping for this trip for days, reading books about camping, going over the recipe to make s'mores over and over again, and making sure you guys are fit to do your share of the work. We figured out pretty quickly that Hannah, you are not quite ready to pick up Nathan in the kid carrier. Just work on keeping track of your sunglasses. 

 On Friday afternoon, we loaded up the mini-mini van and headed out to Pedernales Falls State Park. Our car was packed to the roof. We could not fit another thing.

On the way there, we realized that dinner was still in the fridge, so we took a quick detour to McDonalds. Worked out pretty well because by the time we had set up the tent, and unpacked our gear, it was already getting dark and pretty close to dinner time. All we had to do was pull out some food and we were ready to go.

 Afterwards, we improvised and made s'mores on the camp stove. We got a few funny looks, but the look of bliss on your chocolate covered faces is pretty priceless.

 As it got dark, we brought out the headlamps and let you guys run around with them for about an hour. Who knew those things could be so entertaining. When it got really dark, we took a short walk to the bathrooms and for the first time, Hannah, you saw stars. You pointed up and excitedly yelled, "stars!" and proceeded to sing your favorite song, "Twinkle, twinkle little star." You were in awe the rest of the walk. I mentioned how they looked like sprinkles in the sky, and so you incorporated that phrase in the repertoire of phrases that you used to describe the beauty. "Ohh, so pretty!" "Twinkle twinkle little star!" "Like sprinkles in sky!" and when you saw someone, you made sure to point to the sky and say, "Look, stars!"

 So, so far camping with little ones sounds pretty amazing, right? Yep. But then night time rolls around and it happened to be the coldest night of the month: a brisk 44 degrees. Thankfully, we brought along an electric space heater, which we connected via a long extension cord into our tent, but it was still drafty.
We all went to bed around 9:30. And in the middle of the night, Hannah wakes up, "Mommy, no more nap. Still hungry." At this point, I'm not sure what time it is, but I was thinking that it may be closer to 6 since I was feeling pretty rested. I told you that it was still dark outside, so it is time to sleep and rolled over. You started to climb all over me, waking Nathan as well. I knew Nathan would go back to sleep if we left, so we went for a walk to the potty and came back. Again, you were mesmerized by the stars and luckily Nathan fell asleep too.

I checked the time 3:15. Sheesh. Ok, so I gave you a bag of gold fish crackers and drifted in and out of sleep as you ate. Eventually I woke to check on you and you were passed out next to me. But then Teddy starts growling at something, which wakes you up. 30 minutes later, everyone is asleep, and so I slowly drifted back to sleep. The next thing I know, light is shining into our tent and I hear a few kids outside. We get up and start our day.

Nathan you was super excited to be able to wear your explorer vest. You showed everyone on our hike all the pockets.

 Hannah wanted a vest too, so I gave you mine and you were pretty content with that.

 We went hiking to the twin falls overlook. Even though the trail is just under half a mile, it was a pretty rugged terrain. You both did such a good job walking on your own to the look out point.

 Along the way, we spotted so many butterflies.

 There were so many things to touch, rock to pick up, and sounds to listen to.

 The twin falls reminded me of a mini version of hamilton pool.

 We tried taking a family picture.

 And then Nathan decides to set the camera up for another one, which had everyone looking, just a bit off centered.

 When you are camping, you really lose track of time. When we arrived back to our campsite, everyone was hungry, but I was thinking that it was only around 10ish. When I checked the clock, it was close to 12:30!

So we had lunch in the tent, and afterwards Hannah, you and I took a nap while Daddy and Nathan, you guys went exploring around the park. You guys hiked to a duck pond, visited some horses, and tried to get into the bird blind.

After Hannah woke up, we went to the swimming area to play in the water for awhile.

 Even Teddy got in the water for a swim.

 After water time, we went back to camp to get ready for our pot luck meal with other members of our church. We had a great time eating together, followed by a quick devotion about rest, but ironically, I was running around taking care of diaper business. There was a fire pit that night so you guys also got a chance to roast marshmallows by a real fireplace.

 So, in the end, would we do it again? Absolutely yes, but I think I would make sure that the temps don't dip below 50 degrees for having a 2 and 4 year old. Hannah was wearing multiple layers, but your small body just isn't ready to regulate your body temperature.

Overall, you guys were on your best behavior, happy, and very cooperative. We left the campsite a little after 8 pm to go home. We had planned on staying another night, but after a rough previous night, and the fact that we were planning on loading up right after breakfast, we decided to just go home and make sure everyone got a good night sleep before a very busy Sunday.

It's nice to be back home and I now appreciate all the conveniences like a potty within a few second's walk and soap.

Yesterday afternoon, we met up with Nathan, your all-time best friend at our church's pumpkin patch. Hannah, you guys went during school last week and it's all you talk about anytime we go near the church.

 We took a few pictures and you each picked out another pumpkin.

 And then an impromptu hay fight happened. You guys were all so happy, running around, chasing each other with handfuls of hay. Poor baby M, was the brunt of most of the attacks, but he was a trooper and enjoyed the attention.

Today we sat down and painted the white pumpkins that we bought yesterday. Nathan, you've always had a great attention span and you were patient enough to sit down for enough time to paint your entire pumpkin teal.

 Hannah, you were interested for maybe 5 minutes and then you started to paint your hands.

 In the end, they turned out beautifully. Special, just like you two are.

Fall is a great time in Texas. We have Halloween coming up and also the grandparents will be here to celebrate it with us. So there will be lots of fun times ahead.

Until next week,
Love,
Mommy