Amelia's First Piano Recital

After only one month of piano lessons Amelia got to perform in her first recital! She was very nervous, but she did a fantastic job! We were really proud of her, and proud of her willingness to practice each morning. Thank you, Jenny, for making it so fun!

Colin's Lastest Song

Colin busted out a new song that he recently learned in preschool while we were in the car driving the other day. His singing is so adorable, and very rare at home, so I grabbed the camera to document.

Papa's Visit

Here are some photos of our adventures during Dad's visit a couple of weeks ago. We had such a blast! Jack now thinks that every man he sees in public with dark curly hair is Papa!

The Cape May Lighthouse

Playing in the sand on the beach in Cape May. The temp was in the 50s and we were wearing coats, but it still felt good to take our shoes off in the sand.

We spent a day downtown at the Liberty Bell, on the Penn campus eating tortas and visiting a gorgeous library, and touring the US Mint.

Trick or Treat

I was planning to make the kids' costumes this year, but at the beginning of October I realized that there was no chance of it getting done. I'm sort of transitioning into the taxi mom stage, and my adjustment to all the driving to all the schools and activities left me with little time for anything else. So we loaded up the car and hauled to the Disney Store to purchase our costumes this year. Maybe I'll get it together next year...

Trick or treating was really fun. It was kind of crisp outside and we got to go with my Dad, so it felt really festive. Most of my photos turned out a bit blurry because it was getting dark by the time we got around to taking them. Here's what we got:

Jack was Mickey Mouse. His ears had squeakers in them so Amelia and Colin tortured him with the squeakers endlessly.

Colin dressed as Lightning McQueen. Here he is posing without his hat (he's had the hat for a couple of years, it was a Disneyland souvenir).

The whole crew getting pumped up to get candy. Amelia was Tinkerbell.

Colin's outfit had a button that would make lights blink on his costume.

I love his ears being pushed down by the hat.

Halloween Parade

Amelia's school does a parade before Halloween, and families are invited to come to the school and watch the kids march around the grounds. We packed up the boys and headed over to the school just in time to see Amelia's class go by.

I got this shot of her right when she first spotted us. She was so excited she nearly lifted off the ground!

She immediately starting motioning for the boys to run over and see her.

Jack took her up on it!

It's Pumpkin Time

We carved up a lovely set of pumpkins on Halloween this year. It was especially fun since my Dad was in town. We actually roasted some seeds and ate them, too! These are our results:

My pumpkin. Jack's- it's inspired by his smile, and he rubbed some slime on it. Then Colin's- he actually drew the face and tried removing some seeds, and Mike carved it for him.

Amelia's pumpkin- face designed by her and carved by Dad. She was totally into the slime (practically bathing in it). Dad's pumpkin- the squirrels attacked it right after I bought it, but Dad liked that it looked as if his had been in a fight. This is the face that Dad has carved every year of my entire life. After 30 tries, he's good at it!

Jack checking out the process.

Colin going for seeds.

Amelia before she started throwing slime.