Happy Halloween!

I honestly don't remember a Halloween that has lasted longer than this one!  I feel like we have been celebrating for weeks.  The girls have dressed up half a dozen times already.  There have been parties and fall fests and carnivals and pumpkin related this-and-that for the entire month, it seems.  So, it's funny that we are just today going trick or treating!

 This year we have Little Red Riding Hood

And a Sweet and Sassy Little Witch

 

Off to trick or treat!

Happy Halloween!!

Long walk home...

Audrey and I took a long walk last week. We had our car scheduled for a tune up a little less than 4 miles away and the logistics of coordinating dropping off the car in the morning with the help of Corey or a friend, the necessary car seat switching involved to get us back home and having to do it all over again at the end of the day just made a long walk with a toddler not sound so bad.  The funny part is, 4 miles isn't even a very long walk.  It's just that when the cooperation of a toddler is involved, anything further than a walk to the mailbox can be problematic!

It was actually a lot of fun.  We stopped to smell the roses (literally) at the rose garden next to the auto repair shop.  We also stopped at the waterfall garden next to the rose garden.  And the park next to the waterfall garden that is next to the rose garden. And the duck pond next to the park that is next to the waterfall garden that is next to the rose garden. You get the picture...it took us over an hour just to leave the immediate vicinity of the auto repair shop.

 But once we got moving we made good time.  Except for when we both needed to use the bathroom at Safeway and Audrey had a total meltdown until I bought her a chocolate milk.  This was only a little over a mile into our walk.  After the chocolate milk kicked in she no longer wanted to sit in stroller but instead wanted to run next to the stroller. This kid can run.  She ran a good half mile without stopping and I'm pretty sure she only really stopped and returned to sitting in the stroller because she wanted to eat her snack.  By the time we made it home we had shed almost every layer of clothing.  It was very chilly and foggy when we set out on our walk and completely sunny and 20 degrees warmer by the time we reached our driveway.

 I really love living in a very walkable town.  The entire distance we walked was completely on a canal trail.  We had to cross two major roads but there are pedestrian traffic lights so even that is no big deal.  Totally. Love. Living. Here!

Garage ...Giveaway

We attempted to participate in our annual neighborhood garage sale last weekend.  It seemed like a great chance to get rid of some stuff we've been hauling to and fro around the country and benefit from shoppers already casing the neighborhood without having to do any advertising ourselves.  Well, we ended up not being able to GIVE our stuff away.  And we had some pretty decent stuff so this surprised us: a crib/toddler bed, a portable heater, a whole houseful of lovely (just not our taste) drapes and valances that came with the house, picture frames and cookbooks, etc.  And I had prices marked very low...nothing like my Pipe Dreams days. 

By late morning we were totally disinterested in sitting in the driveway any longer so we put signs on everything that said "FREE".  Stuff started to clear out at that point.  First the crib mattress went.  Without the crib.  Strange, but the crib left shortly after that and we started to see more  and more stuff leave the driveway.  Corey even threw in FREE delivery for the FREE oversized stuff so that convinced a few waffling over random items.  Finally all but the last few items remained and we moved those into the garage and closed up shop.  But when I returned from running errands a few hours later I noticed the FREE crib mattress someone had taken earlier (leaving the taker of the actual crib without a mattress) BACK IN OUR DRIVEWAY.  Someone had actually returned a freebie.  Totally new garage sale low point.  I told Corey we should have added some fine print to our FREE signs
...ALL NON SALES FINAL.

So, this might be the last year we participate as sellers in this neighborhood giveaway!  Natalie had the most luck of all.  She sold her old bike for $5 and promptly spent her loot within a quarter mile radius on a new doll named Gracie, a Care Bear for Audrey and a new Princess Jasmine dress up outfit.  She was totally thrilled.  So, not only did we not make a dime, but we actually brought more stuff into this house from neighbors' garages.  Mercy.

 Meet Gracie

 

And Natalie's chalk drawing of Gracie

(with golden locks instead of brown, you'll notice)

This kid is an amazing artist!

Birthday Surprise!

Well, Corey really pulled out ALL the stops for my birthday this year.  And I couldn't have been more surprised.  My actual birthday was a lovely day.  Corey and the girls made me a yummy cake, Natalie made me a lovely card (that she worked on before and after school...so sweet) and a crown and Audrey wanted to sing Happy Birthday to me in the car as we drove around our day.  Add in a coffee/lemon poppy seed muffin filled mid-morning visit with a friend, lots of cards in the mail and messages on the phone and I thought year 39 (or is it year 40 when you turn 39?...let's just call it year 39 to keep me from freaking out...) arrived very nicely.  But Corey said I couldn't open my present until Friday night, the evening we had a special date planned.  Extend my birthday a few more days?  Sure!

Well, Friday morning rolled around and I asked him if he'd tell me what he had planned for the evening so I could make sure I was dressed appropriately, ready on time  etc.  He'd planned for a sitter and everything and I wanted to know what time to expect this mystery sitter.  Well, he wouldn't give anything away before he left for work.  But on the commute to his office he texted me that I should pack my bags because my flight was leaving at 4:00 that afternoon.  What???  Turns out he'd booked me a trip to Phoenix to visit my sister for the weekend.  The perfect gift!!!

I went into overdrive catching up on laundry, packing, preparing the kids for the fact that I wouldn't be there for the weekend and wouldn't be picking Natalie up from school. Corey had actually arranged for my friend, Mari, to come over and walk with Audrey to school to pick up Natalie and bring her home while he took me to the airport in Oakland.  Holy smokes! So fun.

So, off we flew to the airport and I was madly texting dear desert friends that I wanted to try to see while I was there.  I told Corey that was the only flaw in his plan...not giving me enough notice to contact everyone and make plans to see people I really miss.

Well, he'd thought of that, too.  I just didn't realize it until a surprise Saturday morning breakfast with my beautiful friend, Patty (arranged by Corey and Ashley) and a surprise Saturday evening dinner with my awesome friends from our old church  (also arranged by Corey and Ashley).  Those two did well!  I sort of wondered why I didn't hear back from many of my Phoenix friends after my frantic texts from the airport begging to fit me into their weekend plans at the last minute.   :)

 

The co-conspirator!

 Had such a great time with Ash and Paul!

 

And a lovely surprise breakfast date with Patty!

And a super surprise dinner date with Julie, Meredith, Carol, Carrie and Trisha!

 

Such a great weekend and a memory I'll cherish forever.  It was an awesome time to go to Phoenix as the weather was warm but not too warm and one of my good friends, Carrie, is about to move this coming weekend to Kentucky so I was able to see her before she heads east next weekend! 

Also, Ashley and Paul are pregnant!!!!!  I'm going to be an Auntie!!!!!  So, this was probably the last visit we'll enjoy spend child-less in the near future. :) So excited for them and so thankful Ashley could help plan this trip even though she's felt so incredibly crummy the last few months!

Totally.  Great. Weekend.

 

And many thanks to my friend, Nicole, who watched the girls Saturday morning when Corey had to go into work.  It takes a village to raise kids, that we know. But it REALLY takes  a village (and an awesome husband) to send a mom away for a surprise weekend!

And Phoenix sent me off on Sunday evening with what it does best...a beautiful desert sunset!

I think it's going to be a great year!

Our Own Little Jack O Lantern...

Natalie lost her 3rd tooth today at school.  A bite into a strawberry at lunch really set things in motion and by the time she was walking with her class later in the afternoon to the computer lab it fell into her palm when she leaned her head forward.  She had a holey grin when I met her at her classroom door after school!

This kid is keeping the tooth fairy busy, that's for sure!  And I think she really is going to have to ask for two front teeth for Christmas because the other one is wiggly!  It seemed like she was the only kindergartener last year who didn't lose a first (or second, or third) tooth.  Well, she's making up for it in first grade, that's for sure!