Halloween Prequel

We're indebted to T and Carrie for the second year in a row for having the party planning foresight to have a baby with a birthday around Halloween. It's a perfect excuse to dress up the kids in their costumes the week before the main event!

Although Joey helped pick his costume out, he was less than thrilled about being wrangled into it, and wore this scowl for the first 10 minutes of the party.



He loosened up after seeing that Gitte also had wings on her strawberry costume, and they flew/ flitted around the yard together ;)

Clara channeled her mommy's Clovis roots as a cowgirl.

She even met up with another little Western lady - Natalia!

There were lots of other adorable kids and babies, but hard-core, tattooed Ty Madsen should have won a prize!

Birthday girl Grace had slipped out of her Alice in Wonderland duds by the time I snapped this photo:

The Cookie Monster pinata was a huge hit with the kids...

But at the end of the night, Todd seemed to be enjoying him most ;)

Thanks again T and Carrie, and Happy Birthday, Grace!

Back Seat Driver

Joey can't wait to get behind the steering wheel of the "big truck" one day, and in the meantime, he's fond of offering advice to the driver. A sampling:

"Two hands on the wheel, Daddy!"

"Go left here! Left!!"

"Green means 'Go'! Red means 'Stooooppp'!!"

Look at our pious little boss strapped into his carseat... we think we'll submit this with his grammar school applications ;)

Clara Stock Surges After Growth Report

SAN FRANCISCO - Clara Cecchin's stock (CC) shot up sharply Monday on the news that her mother discovered two new teeth. True to form, the teeth arrived with no accompanying fussiness or fanfare at all, leading parents Sara and Tim to value Clara's stock at an all-time high.

"I think she sensed that now would not be a good time to keep Daddy up at night," said Sara, alluding to overall bad market news in past weeks.

Big brother Joey, upon learning the news, announced, "Clara is growing!" His own stock experienced much more volatility during teething and growth periods.

Sara added that the household's viewing of CNBC MarketWatch has increased by 100% since September, which has resulted in a higher incidence of "market speak."

Pumpkin Encore

We continue to be on Halloween Watch '08 around here, with Joey waking up every morning convinced that today is the day that he'll go "trick or treating for CANDY!" Again, a fixation that the dentist doesn't need to know about! On Saturday, we settled for pumpkins and cupcakes at Lorelai's third birthday at an awesome pumpkin farm in Wheatland that is very much worth the trek!

Rocks in the Washing Machine and Balls in the Neighbor's Yard

There's no doubt we're raising a boy around here. Today, I found rocks in the washing machine (Joey collects them in his pockets during trips to the park), and during his morning teeball practice, he sent 10 balls sailing over the fence into the neighbor's yard. He's going through a massive growth spurt right now that has him asking for seconds and thirds at almost every meal. If this is what he's like at two and a half, the fridge and our neighbor's windows are in trouble in a few years!

Halloweens Past

So much of the fun in holiday traditions is remembering holidays past. I put together a very little display in our kitchen this week that promises to get bigger and bigger every year! I can't wait to pull it out of storage next October!

We're Going on a Pumpkin Hunt...

We're midway through Tim's favorite month of the year, and he took time away from the madness of the stock market to join us in gathering pumpkins in Half Moon Bay last weekend with the Cecchins. We finally got to meet the fabled Farmer John, who provided Joey with many pounds of snap peas this summer at the Farmer's Market in Pacifica!

Three Little Monkeys...

jumping in a bed!









I babysat Tommy tonight while Tim joined Tom and Meredith at the Sharks game. I'm not sure who saw more action!!

Joey-isms

There is nothing more amusing to us these days than Joey's expanding vocabulary. By fits and starts, he's forming more and more complex sentences, and gradually learning how to use our crazy English language. A sampling from the past month:

"OK, I pwomise!" (to behave, mostly)

"That's right, Mama!" (said in his best teacher voice -- hmm, maybe he has too many in the family!)

"Mama, get little and play with me!"

"I always growing! Like a plant! I grow high, into the sky!" (this is his most common theme, especially as "growing" relates to being able to drive the "big truck")

"I need a just-right bottle!" (as opposed to a "little bottle" or a "big bottle.")

"I cooking!" (this said with a sly look when he puts his fork tines under his plate, and holds the handle of the fork like a frying pan)

Five Alarm Birthday Surprise

The Gilroy Fire Department helped ring in Tim's grandmother's 91st year on Saturday, when they crashed her birthday party, responding to a smoke alarm from a "crisp" apple pie! They happily helped themselves to leftovers from Uncle Lenny's feast of enchiladas, and then treated the kids to a tour of the fire truck!








Eda shows off the stuffed bear that the firefighters gave her for her birthday :)

The Happiest Place on Earth

Shawna and I embarked on one of our braver parenting adventures when we drove down to Orange County last week for a 6-day trip to visit Hop, Mop, Uncle Kyle, and, perhaps most importantly for Megan, Disneyland :)

Just packing up my car with 4 carseats, two double strollers, 3 Pack n' Plays, and various duffel and diaper bags took about 2 hours. We pulled away from Shawna's house at about 11 a.m., and arrived in Mission Viejo by 5:30. The seven and a half hours in between are a blur now. Kind of like labor, a trip like this doesn't seem so bad once it's over. Mostly, we managed the demands of our little passengers:

• retrieving countless lost binkys, loveys, and toys
  
• dispensing goldfish, Nilla wafers, and various snacks to 4 voracious snackers


• mixing bottles, pouring milk and water into sippys, and dealing with the inevitable diapers
  
• distributing headphones, inserting DVDs into the DVD player, and managing complaints from the peanut gallery about which movie was playing (although Tim will be horrified to learn that Joey did not put up a fuss at all about Barbie's version of Rapunzel)


• passing out Happy Meal boxes (don't judge)
  

The final 10 minutes of the drive are seared in our memories forever, though. With very little warning, Joey threw up all over himself, his carseat, and Shawna's portable highchair, which was unfortunately below his feet. We debated stopping, cleaning up the mess, and then continuing the drive, but decided to just power through to the finish line.

The drive home was more of the same. Just subtract the vomit (thankfully) and add the pirate sword, a souvenir from Disneyland (a gift from Uncle Kyle, no surprise) that almost beheaded Bridget on more than one occasion.

Here are the "big kids" in the back row:

The journey was worth it, though! We enjoyed 6 fantastic days being spoiled by adoring grandparents, gorgeous weather, and the best of our 1980s toy collection.

On Saturday, as we approached the exit for Disneyland off the 5, Shawna and I realized that the adults in our crew outnumbered the babies... 5 to 4. Then she added, "Kyle actually counts as more than one adult!" The trip definitely wouldn't have been as much fun without our master entertainer, willing to carry babies, push strollers, change diapers, attend princess parties, and keep antsy 2.5 year-olds happy while waiting in long lines!





Mop tried out the Ergo, which is near the top of my list of must-haves for moms!

From her Ergo perch, Clara met Minnie Mouse:

and Joey and Megan met Mickey! They were a little skeptical.

Hop and Mop near the end of a looooong day!

Our strollers worked overtime at Disneyland... the babies enjoyed a long nap, and Joey and Megan got stadium seating for the parade!

We scored great seats for the parade, which was a wonderful end to a magical day!

Joey was wiped out by the end of the night:

Thanks again to Hop & Mop and Uncle Kyle for treating us to a fun, memorable trip to the Happiest Place on Earth!