Pumpkin Pickin'

We had planned to spend a leisurely sunny Sunday at some local fall festival this weekend. But Noah got called in to work (yuck), so we had to alter our plans a bit, moving it up to the morning and condensing the half-day-long outing to 90 minutes.

We went to Homestead Farm, mainly because it's the closest and fairly small, so we could get the full fall experience in less square footage. The parking lot was already filling up when we got there, so we headed straight to the booth to buy our tickets for the hayride. Needless to say, it's pretty difficult to rush when you're on a hayride, so we got to just sit back and enjoy the ride:



It was very sunny that morning:



Our driver remained plugged in to the modern world at all times though:



(Can you see the cell phone in this picture? I think he was phoning the barn to tell them about the giant pond we had to drive through to get to the pumpkin patch. We were one of the first hayrides out that morning, and the tractor almost got stuck in the mud. So I think the driver used his cell to call the other drivers and tell them to use a different route, just like they did in the old days.)

Searching for just the right one:



A pair of Converse meets a pair of pumpkins:



Time for a couple of poses on pumpkins, of course. Again, the sun made this tricky (and Violet hates the sun in her eyes), so we had to try a couple of different angles:





When I was a kid, we used to go this farm to get pumpkins and then trees at Christmas time, and they always had flavored sticks for the kids at the end. I don't know, maybe every pumpkin/tree farm has these. But the memories were too good, so I couldn't resist when I saw they had this for Calvin. So here he is with his "mystery"-flavored one:



On the way to checkout, our wagon got a flat:



But we carried on and headed back to the car. Notice the stream of people going in? So many that they were out of carts by the time we left, and some guy followed us out to get ours, even with the flat. We were glad we went when we did.

Swinging and Spooky Stuff

October has been a busy month for us, which I guess is why I haven't been on the blog much. We are having a more mellow weekend though, so maybe there is hope I will catch up?

In the meantime, we've had some down time for stuff like swinging! Violet got a new swing for her third birthday (more on that later) and she loves it. Here she is swinging with her big brother:



Calvin has recently learned to pump his legs while he swings and that he can get pretty high that way on his own, so he no longer begs us to constantly push him. Hooray! He also makes the funniest, super-intense faces while he swings. They are hard to capture on camera, but here is a sampling:







Also, there was no school on Friday, which I kind of look forward to now because it is so hectic to get two kids up and ready in the mornings and to two different schools that are in two very different directions (more on this later, too). But I was a little worried because I really had nothing planned for us to do. Luckily, Calvin had picked out this decorative Halloween kit for a spooky mansion a few days before. I thought it was a little expensive at the time, but I caved. On Friday, he spent at least half the day working on it, painstakingly punching out and then taping the ghosts and spiders and pumpkins all over. He even thought to use some twisty-ties to add a hanging witch and spider, and transformed some of the cotton packing material into cobwebs. He worked so hard. And in the end, I thought it was a fine scary masterpiece. And so worth the $22.

Back to School!

We were all pretty excited that school started this past week, after a long, hot summer. Calvin loves his new teacher and knows a few kids in his class, so he was feeling positive after the Open House the Friday before school started. He was a little anxious about the new routine when the first morning rolled around, like where he would sit on the bus and how he would find his line-up. But he was ready, nonetheless.

Here he is all geared for FIRST GRADE!

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Pushing his little sis to the bus stop:

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He was a little underwhelmed after school was done, though. He asked me when he got home: "Mommy, did you notice there aren't that many places to play in my classroom?" I didn't really admit it then, but he's kinda right. His kindergarten class had a play kitchen and a block-building area. But for fun, this class has a book nook and a listening station. Not exactly the same thing. Noah asked if I told him to get used to it, and that this is how it would be for the next 10+ years of schooling. Uh, nope, I didn't mention that. But I did feel a little sad for the guy, and even sadder that he noticed the shift.

Here he is, admiring his special afterschool snack: green (his favorite color) cookies with sprinkles! I think he may have been more excited about these than he was about school. Sigh.

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Violet was back in her routine, too. Here she is working with OT Lucinda:

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She's learning to match up photos of some of her favorite cartoon characters and hit a switch that says, "Yes, same" when they match. She's getting really good at it, too. And you can see she is having lots of fun:

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Violet's Big Day

So I am still catching up a bit from the summer. (And spring, I guess, because I still haven't posted any pictures from our trip to Hawaii in April. To be honest, I haven't even finished looking at them. Guess I'm saving them for a rainy day.) But I really wanted to post these great photos from one of Violet's big events this summer. I won't tell you exactly when her big day was because then you will know how slow I am with this blog (OK, it was in June), but let me just say the delay is only due to my disorganization and not a reflection of how proud we are of her. Which we really are.

Violet started taking therapeutic horseback-riding lessons this summer, and in June, she competed in her first horse show.

Here she is with Daddy, who is helping her get her number all set. Go #63:



Ready to ride, accompanied by her helpers for the day:



Riding past the judge:



Some of Violet's competition! Don't be fooled by that cute smile. Frida was a serious competitor:



Big brother Calvin, keeping cool and watching the show:



In the end, Violet placed fourth in the overall riding and second (!!) in pole bending. She must be a fast learner, because it was the first time she ever performed pole bending. (It was also the first time we ever heard the term pole bending, which is when a rider weaves in and out of a set of poles in a timed event. Yes, we are still very new to this equestrian world.)

We were all very proud, of course, especially Violet's big brother, who offered to carry around her ribbons and told everyone we encountered for the next few days about her big wins.

Here's the little rider, showing off her ribbons:

Calvin's Big Day

After a three-day power outage and a bout of pneumonia (poor Violet!), we are back in action around here. Check out these photos from Calvin's 6th birthday....

He started the day right with breakfast in bed, at his request. He made the very rational point that he has been involved in several breakfast-in-bed exchanges (i.e. for Mother's Day and Father's Day), but has never been in the role of beneficiary, so it was his due time. Smart kid.

So while everyone else was snoozing away, I got up a little early to try and surprise him, which was difficult to do. It was not a very elaborate breakfast (cereal, yogurt, blueberries, and chocolate milk--a special treat we agreed he could drink all day long on his birthday). But I had to work fast because he kept coming down the stairs to check on me, asking me what was taking so long with his breakfast in bed. So much for the surprise. But he seemed pleased, especially when he noticed the chocolate milk:



Digging in:



After breakfast, we started with Round 1 of present-opening (Round 2 and 3 followed later in the day). Here he is, posing with his loot:



Then it was party time, a little get-together with his friends (and some of ours) for cake and a magic show at Barry's Magic Shop.

Um, controlled chaos:



Boys admiring the tricks and trinkets in the magic shop:



The cake, which I am proud to say I made with some tips and a lot of moral support from a professional baker friend (thanks, Lauren!):



And cookies, which Noah and my mom stayed up late to help decorate. We had top hats and magic wands and the number 6 and some pretty intense white bunnies (thanks, Noah!):



Calvin and kids enjoying the show:



Barry at work:



Below, see a picture of Noah and Auntie Frankie as Barry's assistants. Yes, that is a pair of goofy glasses and a cap on Noah's head. And what is under the hat that was later revealed (but sadly not photographed--turns out keeping track of 15 boys in a magic shop keeps you too busy to fully document everything)? It was a mini plunger, like the kind you'd use on a really small toilet, I guess (??). Because what is a magic show without totally humiliating one of the parents?

Calvin Reading to His Little Sis

Calvin has become a great reader during his kindergarten year, which makes him very proud (us too!). And while we initially thought it would make our lives trickier because we could no longer use the age-old parent trick of spelling-things-out-we-didn't-want-him-to-understand, it actually has been a giant plus for our whole family. We love reading to him, and it is even more fun to have him read to us. Sometimes, he'll even sit and read books quietly in his room. Once, on our way back from the beach and after he had complained that we didn't bring enough books for him to read, we pulled over to a used bookstore and stocked up. I mean, when your kid asks for more books, what are you going to do?

But perhaps the best part is that he loves to read books to Violet, and she loves it, too. It's a fun thing for them to do together, which can be hard to come by many days. Plus, some weekend mornings after they've both woken up earlier than they do on weekdays (why, oh why does that always happen?), he'll sit and read to her in our bed and we get a few extra minutes to snooze. That can really start our weekend off just right.

More Fourth!

These are not the best photos from our Fourth of July adventures. I guess we were too hot and busy to focus on documentation. But here are some cute shots from the Palisades parade. It's right down the road from our house and a fun mix of small-town Americana and crazy big-city D.C.

Noah and kids watching the extravaganza:

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V and me:

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Calvin in front of patriotic bug:



Sweet Violet, starting to wilt from the heat:

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Maybe I haven't been paying attention the last few years, but when did parades turn into giant lootfests? I remember floats and parade marchers throwing out candy from years past, and yes, the occasional beads, too. But this year, it seemed like a deluge of freebies. Maybe it's because of the hot mayoral race in D.C., but we got pelted with towels and stickers and signs and flags and little hand-held fans. Kids were scrambling for mushed up candy all over the ground. And there was almost a riot when the truck passing by ran out of the Capri-suns they had been handing out. I was a little overwhelmed, but Calvin and Noah were totally game. Here they are, waiting for the handouts:

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Calvin showing off some of his loot. That's the little fan hanging around his neck. I have to admit, that one did come in handy:

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It is really hard to get a shot of fireworks from inside of a hotel room, through a glass window, especially for these novice photographers. So this is the best we've got. Yes, that's Calvin in there somewhere:

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