Last weekend was lots of fun! On Saturday, I took Zachary to a local pottery painting place. We met up with Alex and Dylan for a Halloween themed story time and three crafts, including painting a pumpkin on a ceramic tile. That evening, we went to a Diwali and birthday celebration. We ate catered Indian food, and Bhavana/Vish hired a babysitter and 2 magicians to entertain the kids. They also had a pinata and festive sparklers. To top it off, the party favors were packs of Legos! We loved the party - Happy Diwali and Happy 5th Birthday to Vaibhav and Gaurav!

On Sunday, we hosted our annual Halloween party. It was so hot that many kids didn’t wear costumes (at least not for long) but it was still fun. We served barbecue pork sandwiches and potato salad for lunch. I also put out some snacks/appetizers and dessert … but completely forgot to make the cheese quesadillas for the kids! Oops. Because the weather was so warm (I put sunscreen on Zachary!), I opted not to make the caramel apples and pumpkin decorating craft outside. We just put up our bounce house and let the kids free-play.

Alex and Nicole had the most creative costume, but it came at a cost … they had to dress a cute little girl as “skin.” (Can you guess their theme?) And we always appreciate the adults that get dressed up!  

Midweek, my mom and sisters visited. My mom and Sophie just got back from a China tour vacation and decided to drive up before my mom flew back to the east coast. YEA! Zachary loves playing with my sisters. They read to him and made crafts with him. He had so much fun that he agreed to go home with Alice! (Of course, we didn’t let him.) My mom was great with Calie, who was up and interacting with us all so much yesterday that she slept past 7:30am this morning. I’m hoping that both my parents will come up for Christmas.

This past week has been busy! Last Wednesday, I volunteered to be a chaperon for Zachary’s  pumpkin patch field trip. The class went on a hayride, went through a corn maze, picked pumpkins, and had a picnic lunch. (Sounds very familiar to our family/friends trip last week, eh?)

On Saturday morning, James took Zachary to the library (and met up with Alex and Dylan), as their storytime/craft program has started up again. In the evening, we went to Linus and Jes’ housewarming party - we toured their beautiful model home (complete with putting green in the backyard) and had delicious homemade Filipino food for dinner. AND we found out that the couple is newly engaged! Congratulations to Linus and Jes! 

After we got home and put the kids to bed, I went to Sam and Melissa’s for a game of Settlers. Dana taught us some yoga moves, where I determined that, out of the group, I had the best ab muscles and the worst balance. (After both my deliveries, the nurses feeling for my uterus mentioned that I had good stomach muscles ‘under there.’ ‘There’ being copious amounts of belly fat. )

On Sunday, we went to a Renaissance Faire. We saw two shows; a kids’ puppet play and a variety show where Zachary was really bothered by a man eating balloons and fire torches (see his reaction in the middle picture below). Along with many vendor stalls, there was a tent with British brass rubbings which totally brought back childhood memories of living in England. Zachary’s favorite activity was probably the Janga blocks – gotta love those basic toys!

That evening, James carved a pumpkin under Zachary’s supervision. Given the heat lately, I don’t think it’s going to last until Halloween.

Monday, I took Calie to the mall to get her 2 month pictures taken at Picture People, and then met up with Dana and Jason for lunch Mikunis. The next day, I visited Shan and her twins at their new house. Her boys are so well behaved and friendly; They kept coming up to me and showing me their toys, drawings, and a homemade “snowflake” costume (in quotes because it only looks like a snowflake in a childs’ imagination.) Their new house is really nice and spacious! Congratulations Shan and Brent!

Also this week, we went to the annual Fall Festival at Zachary’s school. I dressed up as a cat and Zachary and Calie were mice. I don’t know what I was thinking. It was ridiculously hot – Calie’s costume lasted maybe 5 minutes and while Zachary toughed it out, he was a sweaty mess at the end of the party.

Dinner rotation this week was orange chicken and (overcooked) broccoli and Sam’s special pumpkin cheesecake. Due to excessive gluttony, I’ve been stuck at ~151 lbs for some time now despite nursing exclusively and walking Zachary to school in the mornings.

In terms of milestones, Calie has found her hand. Unfortunately, she is constantly stuffing her fist into her mouth … which might translate to getting sick more often and putting choking hazards into her mouth in the future. She also slept through the night (past 6am) 2 days in a row … but the trend was broken last night with a 3am feeding.  She makes lots of baby noises, and we have “conversations”. Sometimes she jabbers so much and so loudly that I can’t get in a word edgewise.

It’s October! My favorite month – I love the crisp cool air and the rich autumn colors. On the down side, Calie received a lot of 3-6 month summer clothes as gifts, and of course, the weather turned cool the day after I took the tags off and washed them! Calie is now 2 months old. At her 2 month doctor appointment, she weighed in at 13 lbs and 14oz (95-97%ile) and 24.5 inches (97%ile).

Her pediatrician recommended tummy time. I’ve been putting it off because I remember how much Zachary hated it – plus, he would often spit up. I put Calie on her belly … and she turns her head and falls asleep! She’s also now crying real tears and will be moving to size 2 diapers this week.

My sisters came to visit 2 weekends ago. We mostly stayed in, playing with Zachary and Calie, but we did make a short trip to the outlet mall. Zachary loves it when my sisters visit. Alice made him flashcards using sight words, which was a huge hit.

This past weekend, we met up with friends at Bishop’s Farm. It was Zachary’s best year . He was tentative at the petting zoo and was afraid to go down big slides, but other than that, participated in everything. We stayed a lot longer than we anticipated and everyone got a little sun burned (except Calie since she was shielded in her stroller.)

Zachary found a bin full of “pears”. He jumped in the hay bounce and went on a hay ride. We all watched the pig races.

Zachary also went on a train ride with James, panned for marbles, and went through a corn maze. He was incredibly confident in the corn maze, running, pointing, and telling James where to go next. It reminded me of The Amazing Race. At one point, James had to prove to Zach that he was going in circles by marking a stalk of corn.

Of course, no trip is complete without picking pumpkins (and a cheesy “How Tall This Fall?” picture.) Zachary picked a pumpkin for himself and a “teeny-tiny” pumpkin for Calie. The small one was so tiny, we got it for free.

Also this weekend, we gave up our beloved birds. They were getting less and less attention, which caused them to pluck themselves out of boredom. One of them also whimpered/cried a lot at the bottom of the cage. James did some research and found a bird society that would adopt them and put them in an aviary. It was sad for us, but the best thing for our birds. At least now, they have fresh air and sunshine. Their new owner is a retiree with older kids, who can devote more time to birds.

Here are some more of Calie’s 2 month pictures – it’s actually getting harder to take pictures of her smiling because she’s mesmerized by the green light on my camera.

And our dinner rotation playdates are still going strong … since the last post, we’ve had pot roast/cherry cobbler, pizza/salad, and corn chowder/grilled ham and cheese. It’s a nice break to not have to cook, especially since dragging 2 kids out to a restaurant seems very unappealing. (Zachary’s actually pretty easy, but Calie is completely unpredictable.)