a new do

This was a necessity cut. Charli hates having her hair brushed and put up, and it was so long it kept getting in her food. Fixed that! And so cute, too!

He stands

Just now Buster stood up holding onto my knees, then he let go and stood there for a moment, then he put his hands back on my knees, got back down on the floor, and went his way. !!!

Muffin!

At Charli's school they are now learning how to cook! Here she is showing off her handiwork: a muffin! Mmmm yummy!

halftime

The other day Charli told me she was half Yang, half Lawler, half Stevenson, and half macaroni.

inaugural halloween

We've never taken Charli trick or treating in a neighborhood before, probably just because we're too lazy. I don't think there was much going on right around our condo (for kids, I mean - there's a ton of stuff for adults), and certainly no one comes trick or treating at a condo... There were a lot of streets close by where they do trick or treating, but we just never went. Last year we went to Boo at the Zoo with Bella and Nina, and that was fun - especially since Charli had such an awesome costume! (Hm. I would have liked to link to last year's Halloween post right there, but I see we never put one up. We suck. I'll have to do something about that, a year late.)

Last year we moved into the new house right after Halloween - we closed on the house October 29 and moved in November 2. Brian happened to be around the house on Halloween night, and he said it was crazy! There really are a ton of kids in the neighborhood, and the vendors give out candy on Cortland Ave, and a lot of houses on the side streets do too. We are now one of them! Disappointingly for some of the older kids (but happily for many of the parents), we did not give out any candy. We gave instead stickers and tattoos and activities. I had 272 activities and 1200 stickers and tattoos, and we closed up when all we had left was about 100 stickers (not when the kids were done coming by). Zowie!

This is the pumpkin that Charli carved with Nina, sitting on one of the decorations that Brian made out of our plants. I don't know what the plants remains will look like after we take these apart...

Here's a bad picture of Bella's and Charli's costumes. Charli is refusing to wear her trunk, and you can see a little glimpse of Buster's dinosaur outfit. Nina did an awesome job on Bella's costume (Bella made her own hat), but she does that EVERY year. Isn't it more impressive how great Charli's costume turned out, because I suck at this stuff? Look at those ears!

Brian and Buster stayed at the house to give out candy. That's our bowl of stickers and tattoos early in the evening (we let the kids take several of these, and one activity).

Here's Charli enjoying her costume a little bit more, after Sam came to meet us. We had to bend her ears back because the street was so crowded they kept getting knocked off.

This is a side street past where Cortland is busy, and you can see it's still crowded (although not crowded enough to need bent back ears). Cortland itself is a zoo!

Here's a great costume we saw! There was also a dad who went as a TV, with a working screen that showed his face live - it was so cool!

Charli and Bella stood and looked at this guy for several minutes before slowly getting close enough to get candy from him. They were completely thrown off by the third hand!

Here's Buster's costume, courtesy of my mother! I rolled my eyes a bit when I saw it, but it is absolutely Adorable. I just love that tail! Unfortunately, the zipper pull broke off, so alas, it will get no more use, but it only needed to last for one night.

Enjoying the fruits of her labor

bella is 4

Bella turned 4 yesterday!  To celebrate, we went on a field trip with Bella's grandma and aunt who were visiting.  A lovely time was had by all, especially those who got to eat cake lollipops handmade by Nina!

We rode the BART and the F train to Fisherman's Wharf

Where we went to the Bay Aquarium.  Discounts for Bay Area Discovery Museum members (us) and SF Zoo members (Nina).  Hooray!

The Bay Aquarium main attraction is two giant tanks that you walk through, and some other displays as well.  As you might guess from the name, it focuses on fish and animals that actually live in the bay.

Meanwhile, Buster slept.

The girls snacked on goldfish at the aquarium.  Is that wrong?

Buster eventually woke up and enjoyed the aquarium.  He had the perfect seat, since he could recline and see the tank all around him!

They have a couple of nice touch pools.  This one is a tide pool, and the girls worked up their courage to touch starfish, anemones, and sea cucumbers.  The other touch pool has sharks and rays - the girls were not up to that one, but Nina and I were very impressed.  :)

Then it was back to Bella's house for tacos and cake sharkpops and lollipops (delicious!) and a little bit of gift opening.  We gave Bella a shark shirt where you cross your arms in front of you and that makes the shark's mouth.  So cool!

I think Buster wanted a cake pop, but sorry Buster!  I'm not ready to give you all that sugar yet.  You need to be... 40, like me, and then it's perfectly alright.  You could even eat a few.  :)

Raider's day

Going to the game!