Perfect Saturday

This is why we love November. We can run in the park all afternoon, playing our version of soccer, which is basically chasing Dad with the ball,

and teach Ryan the rules of the game, like Don't Sit On The Ball.

Then we get to wind down with a picnic: 

 yummy fresh guacamole

and Ryan's first slider.

Earning Magnets

 
Being a big girl is hard work. You are expected to avoid using bad words like "butt", help clean up your toys, and stay in bed without getting up 100 times at night.      

My parents help me stay on track with my new magnet chart.  I earn magnets every day that I keep up with my responsibilities, like getting dressed in the morning without drama and tears. 

Our toughest issue was going to sleep before 10pm so I'm not this exhausted every day:

The best part of the chart is that I get a nickel for every magnet earned.  Why a nickel and not a penny or even a quarter?  Ask my Dad, he's doing all the math.  At the end of our first month, I saved enough to go to the Disney store and get my new favorite character!

He seems to like living here because we have his book, 

and his fairy friends.

Animals and Cell Phones

We're trying to keep track of Ryan's development these days, but life seems to move at lightning speed with the second child. Plus, our boy moves too fast to catch his best moments on camera! Meanwhile, I will happily take credit for his new vocabulary, since I love reading to him.  

His favorite word is "Uh-Oh".  He's also working on: "oh?" (universal for help, open), "shah" (share/give me that NOW), "down", "bite", "shit" (sit, to Mag and Mox), "mm-bra" (zebra), "raff" (giraffe), "ibbit" (ribbit/frog),.  Here's what we could catch: Animals and Phones.  The best part of this age is how he watches me carefully, then copies everything I do:  Ryan on the Phone.

Meow and Bye Bye

Little Man has become a constant source of entertainment as his language development and word recognition explodes.  He will repeat almost anything we say:  Meow and Sinister Laugh. 

He loves to do grown up things like reading books, brushing his teeth, and taking my babies for a jog through the house:  Bye Bye Kiss.

Nutcracker Tea Party

My teacher at school has gotten us excited about a story called The Nutcracker.  It's about an ugly toy that is secretly a ballet dancing prince from Toyland.

He has a friend named the Sugar Plum Fairy who throws tea parties around the holidays.  It's a great time to take pictures of friends with the iphone,  

practice ballet dancing,

and eat ballet slippers made of icing.

The Sugar Plum Fairy and Clara read the story of the Nutcracker to us, then the real characters came out to surprise us!

My favorite character was the Rat King, but the Snow Queen was pretty cool too.  Mom said she hopes we can make this one of our Girls Days every year.

Swing State

Ryan and I are having heated debates over the presidential election.  I am leaning left because I heard "Matt Rommie" is going to fire Big Bird.  Ryan is more conservative, saying that "Bock O-rama" spends too many nickels from his piggy bank.  Secretly I think Ryan just likes the name of the VP candidate.  Whatever the outcome, we are happy to see an end to relentless negative TV ads, phone calls, and door knockers! 

Happy Halloween

This was Superman's first time trick-or-treating, and he thought it was awesome!

 

This was my favorite Halloween because I got to be the Brave princess, Merida, with flowing orange hair.

We love this night because we can run wild in the streets!  

Mom and Dad tried to get a few pictures...

even dressing up Maggie the Lion and SuperMox.  Mag was super excited.

Then it was a race to find candy!  Ryan was hilarious, running right up to people in their yard, waving to everyone as if he was the host of this huge party: Superman the Extrovert .

Some of the neighborhood decorations were scary...

but nothing that Serious Superman couldn't handle.

A little chocolate helped (always a good idea right before bedtime).

This night was the perfect ending to an exciting day for me.

We had our Halloween parade at school in the morning.

I got to show Mom some of the crafts we worked on this week.

Our costumes were amazing!

This is the last parade for me and my best friends.  We've been buddies since the 18 month old class, and we'll all go to different Kindergartens next year.

This was a special Halloween because I got to teach Ryan all about our family traditions. As Big Sister, I get to teach him even more with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming next!