i swear i'm catching up

I promise.

A few weeks ago (ahem) we took Emilia to the 3rd rung of hell - otherwise known as Sesame Street Live! Actually, it wasn't that bad. The show was a little long and Emilia did freak out a bit at the very beginning when she thought the characters were coming towards her (they didn't). She and Ky and Morgan loved it.

pre-show photo shoot - emilia, kyrie and sweet baby brooks who slept through the entire show.

ready to see elmo.

equally excited to see elmo - NOT! :)

mezmerized...


what to do when you can't find the car? you stick 'yrie on the roof of course!

Last Wednesday Marcus' brother, Eric (aka Tio Equis/Uncle X) and their uncle Karl-Anders (aka Tio Karl-Anders Mattas as Emilia calls him) came from Finland to spend a few days with us in route to Quito. Of course, this meant Marcus needed to buy some soccer goal nets and 'teach' Emilia how to play football.

much more interested in throwing the ball then kicking it.

um.... could y'all pass it to me?

then, just because i loved this sequence...

have i mentioned how much i love my new camera? esas muecas!

Tomorrow, her class Thanksgiving feast... I PROMISE!

hodgepodge, part 4 - halloween

Yes, 3 weeks later - I finally have gotten around to posting Halloween pics.

Emilia had a hoppin' Halloween this year. First, at her school, they did this awesome Halloween Parade led by the preschool director, Jenny. Miss Jenny led all the kidlets on their route through the parking lot with parents lined up on both sides to cheer on the kids. The best part was watching emilia holding on to her class's walking line waving to complete strangers. Sadly, the battery in my camera had died, so the only pictures I have from that are on my iPhone. I'm sure if I was more tech savvy I could figure out the way to download them here, but frankly, I'm already three weeks behind... so we'll just move on.

On Saturday (actual Halloween) we started off at our neighborhood clubhouse where Emilia's picture was taken for the annual contest. She didn't win, but seriously, we think she was robbed.

headed to the contest - one of my faves of the night.

At the clubhouse we met up with several of our neighborhood friends including Kyrie a.k.a. Tinkerbell. The girlies enjoyed a pre-trick-or-treat lollipop.... then convinced Mr. Brad (a.k.a. "Papa 'yrie" as he's known around here) to pull them along to various houses.

lousy picture but you get the idea - Brad on kid duty - pulling Ky and Emi - Baby Brooks in the bjorn.

After hitting a couple of houses with friends, we came back to our neck of the 'hood for our street's block party. First, a quick stop at the Hickman's (our neighbors) for some treats...

when we'd practice, emilia totally had the line down, but when the moment would come to say 'trick or treat' she'd clam up.

just before the rain - the street kids - isabella (cat), reece (pony), connor (Peter Pan), porter (fireman), and emilia (not pictured: Callie, Mari, Isa, Graham, John Carter, Ethan, and Lina)

Sadly it POURED buckets on Halloween night, threatening to ruin our block party. There was far too much rain and far too many of us huddled under tailgate tents. Fortunately, another of our neighbors opened up his souped-up garage (complete with flat screen tv and USC decor) for our spread. It was a feast and the kids had a ball. The rain eventually let up just in time for us to go on our Halloween Hayride offered up by our neighbors, the Kuchinskis.

enjoying the slightly wet hayride.

The kids loved riding through the 'hood throwing candy at the trick-or-treaters. I swear there must have been a thousand kids in our neighborhood. We think people actually drop off their kids at one end and pick them up at the other because there were definitely kids no one recognized.

Best. Halloween. Yet.

hodgepodge, part 3 - finally

They're in.

Our family pics/Emi's 2 year portraits.

Our friend Catalina, is a terrific photographer - she came and took pics at Emilia's 1st birthday party just for nice. This time round we actually hired her.

She came by a couple of weeks ago and captured Emi in her natural habitat - playing with her bracelets, reading, cooking, and running outside.

The proofs are up on her website. Our password is 'emi'. Me avisan si quieren copia de alguna foto - ya saben lo que van a recibir como parte de regalo navideno.

hodgepodge, part 2

So last Saturday our friends/neighbors the Kuchinski's, threw an Oktoberfest/Pumpkin Painting/Carving Party. Brian made homemade brats and sauerkraut (which we all enjoyed - even the kids), and many other delicious nibbles. The painting/carving was a huge success and only a little paint made it onto our clothes. (Sadly, Emi's new school shoes seem to have fallen victim and the paint won't come out - oh well).

heavy into carving/scooping duties.

emi takes a break from the pumpkins to hit the playset - they have a beautiful backyard.

xander helps marcus scoop out some seeds.

carved.
picasso.

brian builds ponds and in their pond they have two turtles (Fred & Wilma). the kids LOVED them.

headed home, exhausted and making her silly 'cheese' face.