Random things we've been up to lately...

Having a tea party with a cat.

Falling asleep while eating breakfast because you woke up at 5:30am...
Hanging out in laundry baskets...
...while eating crackers.
Showing off how long our hair is.
(Curls can be deceiving!)
Reading books...
Celebrating my nephew, Sean's, 2nd birthday
by masquerading as a butterfly...

...and eating pizza...

and ice cream...
or Lucky Charms if you're weird and don't like ice cream.

Pouting because you got in trouble...

No. Really. That is some serious pouting.

And just in case you can't see how far she is sticking out that lower lip.
(Yeah...I don't know where she learned that. :) )

Halloween Festivities

I'm either becoming a really lazy blogger...or I just don't have the time I used to.

Or maybe both.

Whatever the reason. I am doing one big Halloween post.
You know you love the long posts anyway.

So we started out the Friday before Halloween in full costume for our weekly music class.

Hannah hung out with Lauren.

While Helene just wanted to play with the swing.

Then we headed over to Hannah's class for a little party.
Helene spent a little time reading before we left.

And then setting the table and moving furniture once we got there.

Hannah was ready for snacks and goody bags.

But took a little time out to give Helene a sisterly hug.

Helene is obsessed with cats (big surprise, I know...)

We carved pumpkins that night.
And while the kids were excited to do it...

...they wanted absolutely nothing to do with the pumpkin guts.
Notice how carefully the spoon is being held to avoid any contact with the insides.

Helene being goofy.

Saturday was our annual Trunk or Treat for our church. I wasn't going to dress up, but at the last minute I remembered I still had some scrubs. And seriously, the only thing more comfortable than scrubs are sweats (or yoga pants). So instant comfy costume.
A win-win I say.
Helene was obsessed with this huge cat in the back of this van.

We lucked out and got the In-N-Out truck again.
(They first did it in 2008, but sadly I don't have any documentation on my blog about it. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE???? I AM SO ASHAMED!
My only excuse is I had pregnancy brain at the time, I guess.)

You know I worked the refills as much as I could,
and even had my own 44 oz cup (was there any question?)
I had three in 2 hours. Impressive, I know. :)

Sammy was Spiderman this year.
A welcomed change from a pumpkin the past three years.

Hannah was a princess (of course).

Helene was Cinderella.
And she won't go anywhere without her baby...and a purse.

A super fun start to the Halloween weekend.

Halloween night started out like this.
Yep. Good times.
Helene wouldn't pose for the annual front door picture.
She was all smiles once we stopped trying to take pictures.
(I took this really quickly)
I made the mistake of telling the kids I like Almond Joys.
Do you see all the Almond Joys they got at that house alone?
Multiply that by about 20.
Yeah...I've got a LOT of those to eat now.
Although sweet of the kids to pick them out just for me though
since neither one of them will eat one.
Just don't be surprised if I'm 20 pounds heavier next time you see me.

Helene not too sure about what she got.

But once she figured out it was candy--she couldn't get enough.

The aftermath.

All smiles...albeit a little tired.

Happy Halloween!

Happy New Year!

Since we live just blocks away from the Rose Parade route, we walked down in the morning to see it in person. We had such a great time last year (missed you Lyndsey and Brandon!) and had a great view.

This year, my parents spent the night at our place and joined us for the parade. And they also babysat for us New Year's Eve so we could go out to dinner and to a movie! THANKS MOM AND DAD!! That morning they found a great spot with only one row of people in front of us. It was a gorgeous day--a little cool in the morning, but warmed up to 76 in the afternoon. Perfect.

Jack was here too!
(this shot isn't very good because we started
out in a different area with a terrible view and
then moved to a better spot where my parents were)

Look! It's Jared!

As a former cheerleader, I always love
to see the cheerleading stunts.
(Too bad our lame squad didn't have any guys
so we could do stuff like this!)
The guy in front of me was serious about his photo taking

Loved the outfits

Daddy, Grandma and the kids,
except for Helene who was in the Moby Wrap...

eating a cracker

The pooper scoopers were a huge hit!
Everyone cheered them on every time they walked by.

We were apparently sitting in the Guatamala fan section

This bulldog float had a dog snowboarding down a ramp

Click on the picture to enlarge it and see the dog

YAY!! Trader Joe's!

This guy is in the parade every year.
He has this huge lasso that he keeps circling and circling around.
I don't know how he does it. My arm would fall off.

This float was huge!

The kids were excited about the Good Year Blimp!

Sometimes there was a lull between floats, so someone across
the street decided to start the wave

This guy got our side to join in

YAY Los Angeles!

I just liked all the animals

Samuel bought Hannah this little trumpet from
one of the street vendors and every time a band would
go by Hannah would start playing along with them.
It was really cute.

Great bee costumes!Hannah loved these outfits!

Hannah talked Grandpa into buying her some cotton candy

She'd never had it before, so I was wondering how she would like it

Yeah. The face says it all.
My mom and I ate the rest.

Love the Clydesdales

The little dog on top was so cute!

Gotta love men who are manly enough to wear a skirt!
(I know it's a kilt, I was being funny)
These little girls were adorable!
Look! It's Jackie Chan!!
Apparently, Yao Ming was on the other side of the float, but we didn't
know that until we watched the replay with the commentary later on the TV
There's always a ton of religious fanatics at the end
Sammy and Daddy
We had to stop for a photo op!
Sammy was so happy about standing on the fire truck.
We love living in Pasadena!!