Trick or Treat

After two unsuccessful mornings at school with Halloween parades (both kids did not want to participate) I was a little apprehensive about going Trick or Treating this evening. All was well, however, and everyone had a good time. Max was a fireman, and Zoey, a pink poodle. No princesses for this girl... she loves dogs!! We went down to the Riviera Village, which is a bunch of shops and restaurants near us, where they block the streets off and have the merchants pass out candy. It is a fun time for all. The Fire Department brings the big Fire Truck for the kids to see and it is a safe, enjoyable environment, without too much walking for the little ones. Zoey very proudly went up to people and said, "Trick or Treat" while holding up her bucket. Max did a good job, too. He would say "Trick or Treat" and then usually want more than what they wanted to give. Here are the kids in front of the fire truck:


Some pictures of us walking to the Village:

Zoey's Halloween Joke of the Day

What did the bird say on Halloween?
Trick or Tweet

Happy Halloween!!

Sunsets...

One of the reasons I love the ocean so much is the reminder it gives me of God's presence in our lives. No matter how bad things seem, or how rough a day I have had, I can go to the beach and feel the negativity melt away. No other place can do this quite so quickly or so well. There is something about standing on the sand, the cool surf rushing through your feet, looking out at the water and seeing the strength of the waves and vastness of the ocean that reminds me that I am not in control, and at the same time reminds me to be thankful for the beauty in all things. Even as a little girl this happened to me. Growing up in landlocked Germany, I did not see the ocean very much; however, we had some neat vacations that took us to Spain, Italy and (former) Yugoslavia, where we spent some time by the water. I distinctly remember one time, being very young and standing at the beach and realizing what a powerful symbol this was to me. So the other night we went to a little local restaurant for dinner. We have a few spots where the kids like to go and it is actually a nice and relaxing event for all of us. It was still warm afterwards, so we decided to walk down to the beach and watch the sunset. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Part of why I am writing this is that I don't want to forget the evening. Although the sun sets each night and is often worth stopping to watch, tonight it seemed perfect. The tide was low and far out, so the waves just gently rolled in, making it perfect to run and run and run through. As soon as the kids saw that, there was no stopping them. We let them just go and enjoy it. And all the while the sky was turning amazing shades of pink, purple, yellow, red... It was beautiful. The reminder I needed for the day, to be so thankful for the kids that I have and the laughter they produce from just running through the sand and the waves... to realize the gift that they are and to know that God has a plan for each of us, and that their personalities, and mine too are no mistake in His plan for us... to be thankful for the beauty of our surroundings in the big things like a sunset over the water, or the smallest things, like the butterfly that Zoey caught earlier in the day, of which she was SO proud.
I tried so hard to make a mental note of it all, and I hope for years to come I can close my eyes and see Max and Zoey running with the crimson sky as their backdrop, laughter pouring out of them. Deo Gratias

En Fuego

You probably have heard that Southern California is burning!! I just wanted to let you know that we are fine and will be fine. It doesn't directly affect us where we live. It is very hot today though (they are expecting close to 90 where we live and much hotter inland) so that doesn't help much. We do see the affects of the fires in our air and sky and you can smell it as well. It is a little eerie. I can't imagine how bad it is for some people. Wishing you well!

In the Genes

When I came across this the other day:


I immediately thought of this:


Do you think they're related?

BTW, that was Zoey about 3 years ago!! Goodness!

Life is good...

... when you get to use your first power tool at age 3... Or at least that's what Ross tells me. I think I was like 23!

Here he is getting instructions:


On his own:


And now getting to enjoy the fruits of his efforts:

Zoey at Swim Class

When you live in Southern California, you can take outdoor swim lessons all year round! Zoey is really enjoying her classes, even though she is stuck in the group of all boys. Parents have to stay on the deck above the pool, but she yells up at us and waves throughout the lesson.

Here she is doing "red light green light splash time"



Here she is using the kickboard



And jumping in!!

Cute Kiddos

It's not often I get a picture of both kids, together and smiling at the camera, so I had to post!!

The boys with Daddy's Toys

Just some pictures of Max and Ross on the Chopper in progress...

Name Calling

One of our big issues with Zoey right now is name calling. She comes up with the craziest names for Max. One of the big ones is "Cagelli"; we have no idea where that came from, but she loves to call him that when she is mad at him. He doesn't mind so much, in fact, it probably bothers me and Ross a lot more, but we are still trying to correct it. Ross and I can't even look at each other when we are scolding her for this either because we crack up saying the words ourselves!! So she knows "Cagelli" is out, and she often stops herself in mid word. And when we ask her what she was going to say , she just makes something up like, "I was just saying babelli." Oh, okay, well that's better. So today we were playing outside when this took place:

Zoey (to Max running by): Hey Conjo! Stop it
Me: Zoey, what did you say? You know you don't call your brother names!
Zoey: I just said Conjo, which is Spanish for "he's wearing red pants"
Me (sort of thinking out loud, not expecting an answer): Oh, I see, kind of like an Indian name?
Zoey: Ah, no, Spanish.

Buon Compleanno

The night before Zoey's birthday, we (my mom, dad, Ross, Zoey, Max and I) went out to dinner to the Macaroni Grill. We were not specifically going here to celebrate Zoey's birthday, but told the waitress at the end of the meal that it was a special occasion. Much to our pleasant surprise, a lady brought out a cake for her and then sang Happy Birthday in Italian. It was very beautiful. Zoey sat very still and was a little shy about it, but you could tell she felt very special. It was the first time we had ever had that happen to her. It was just one person singing, too, not like other restaurants that bring out the whole wait-staff to sing their special birthday tune. (Although, that would have been fine for her too) It was just really sweet and she enjoyed it. I didn't have my camera, though. Too bad.

Zoey's Birthday pictures

Here are some pictures from Zoey's Birthday and just having fun with Grandma and Papa.

Events of the week

Sometimes you just have to laugh or else you cry, right? I haven't been able to post for a couple of reasons... First, we have spent the week trying to figure out why Max came home one day and just started limping and then hobbling and then barely walking along. It turns out he had a fractured femur! We aren't even sure how or when it happened. We went to pediatricians, and orthopedic doctors and had x-rays, all very fun with a 3 year old, and finally figured out he has a small buckle fracture. He started to show improvement on Friday, so that was a relief. He is not in a cast or anything, because they feel it would inhibit him more than help. Pretty crazy. But he is getting better, so that is a relief. We see the doctor again later in the week. In the meantime, we were told to keep him on bedrest, or at least keep him from running and jumping!! In a word, IMPOSSIBLE!! The first three days he really couldn't get around and told us, "I can't walk!" So he just played on his belly all day, which ended up making him very, very restless. So we are just trying to keep him contained.

The second reason I haven't posted is Max has figured out how to play the computer games and he no longer is content just watching Zoey. Since we didn't want him moving around too much, it was working out well, but it seems we have created a monster!! We have turned to hiding the computer!!

Some cute things that have happened or been said this week...

After going back and forth from doctor to doctor and getting x-rays everywhere, we were in one waiting room and I just sighed really loud. Max looked at me and said, "oh mom, how do you feel?" I said I was okay and asked how he was doing. He replied, "I'm happy." He really had good spirits through the whole week, before he got restless.

And Zoey got a bike for her birthday. I will post pictures soon. She didn't want to ride it, but the other day I was going to ride my bike to the grocery store, and she immediately wanted to join me. We had a fun ride. She went from never riding to taking a long ride to the store!! That's all for now... We are just plugging along. Ross is going out of town this week.