Pre-Haloween Madness

Lillian has been eagerly anticipating Halloween for most of the past year. Costumes, candy, parties, what's not to love? Haloween events got kicked off yesterday with a party and costume contest at Daddy's office. Lillian got all dolled up in her princess dress for the event. Everyone thought she was darling, and they awarded her winner of the office wide costume contest (the prize is $15 at Coldstone!). Today we were invited over to our friend's house for a group pumpkin carving party. Lillian helped decide what shapes to use for the pumpkin's face while Daddy and Mommy worked on the gutting and carving of the pumpkin. The resulting Jack-O-Lantern was pretty cute.

Blast from the past: these pictures may seem vaguely similar. Lillian's costume is almost exactly the same as last year's costume, same dress (made by Grammy) with a new (much taller) princess hat. The location of the pumpkin carving pictures may look familiar too since they were at our old house which is where our friends Katherine and Jessie now live.

Climbing Trees

This past Monday at the park Lillian was schooled in the fine art of tree climbing by her friend Jessie and a 5 year old named Sophia. Jessie is a master climber, climbing into all sorts of interesting and dangerous locations over the past few years. Thankfully the tree was pretty small and had had lots of claimable limbs. Lillian was smart and clung to the lower branches while Jessie climbed higher and dangled herself upside down.

Rainy Weekend

This weekend was our first rainy weekend of the rainy season. After 6 months of sunshine the rain is greeted with great welcome and wonder. We took the opportunity to have some good fun inside and outside. First we built a fort out of blankets, clothespins and chairs. Then Lillian filled the tent with all of her stuffed toys, which was great fun. Next up was a walk in the rain complete with rain boots, slicker and umbrella. Our walk in the rain was not just for the pleasure of it, we went over to Lillian's friend Rebbecca's house for a party Saturday evening.

Rebbecca's mommy Katherine, is very crafty. After spending the previous evening at their craft pad, we all spent our Sunday afternoon working on a project that has been on the back burner for nearly a year: a quilted banner with Lillian's name on it for her room. Eric created the patterns for the lettering while Kristen did the sewing. Lillian helped out by fetching things like pencils, ribbon and scissors, and lending moral support. The result is pretty snazzy!

Anya's Party

This past weekend was Lillian's friend Anya's 4th birthday party. All the girls are going through their princess phase, and Anya had requested a princess party of course. The party was complete with a "real princess" who entertained the kids with magic tricks and painted all the kids faces. Lillian was fascinated by the princess and followed her around to the very end of the party!

Back to Deer Hollow Farm

Last year we made weekly treks to visit the animals at Deer Hollow Farm in Rancho San Antonio. This year, due to full schedules and all the demands of home ownership, we haven't been able to make it out to the farm at all. Today however, we had an open morning with beautiful fall weather and nothing that urgently needed to be done. So we headed out to visit our old haunt. Much had changed in a year. Lillian got to ride her balance bike on the mile hike to the farm instead of being pushed in a stroller. Luna the cow had a new milking station. And there was a new path to better view the duck pond. More importantly, we now have a decent camera phone so I don't have to worry about dragging my camera along for outings like this. Especially since I can no longer rely upon blogger extraordinaire Amy for photos now that she lives on the other side of the country : (

Biking the trail, with baby duck mounted on the handlebars.

Petting a goat. Lillian decided its name should be Clarabelle.

More goats, but these weren't exciting enough to get new names.

Heading home.

Grammy and Pop-Pop's visit

This past week Lillian's Grammy and Pop-Pop came to visit. Lillian was treated with some fun new toys, a marathon Happy Hallow outing, and lots and lots of time spent reading stories.

Lilian and Grammy at her new picnic table.

Trying out all the rides at Happy Hollow.

Snack Time.

The Dentist

Lillian had her first real trip to the dentist this week. Earlier in the year she had tagged along on Kristen's appointment, but this time she had an appointment of her very own. She got her teeth cleaned and counted. She was thoroughly examined and even had x-rays taken. She was very cooperative, though a little confused about what she was supposed to be doing during the x-rays. Her teeth were declared to be healthy, and she seemed to enjoy herself thoroughly.

After the dentist it was lunch time, so Kristen and Lillian went to the nearby Valley Fair mall for some celebratory escalator rides and sushi boats. While perusing the Gap, Lillian managed to get Video Killed the Radio Star stuck in her head, and spent the rest of the day serenading us (the only line she picked up was "Video killed the radio star" which she repeated at least 1000 times).

Keeping an eye on our hygienist Elvie.

Cleaning in progress

Clean teeth at the mall.

Escalators ahoy!