Josie

Josie has been LOVING her preschool class this year. She has made a bunch of new, really great friends, has a blast each day and is learning so much. Last year I wavered back and forth about enrolling her in co-op again instead of a drop off program. Co-op is much more student led instead of direct instruction and I was worried she wouldn't be ready for Kindergarten next year. I definitely made the right choice. I'm daily amazed at what she is doing and learning at her class, the field trips she goes on and the best part is I get to be a part of it all. I work on Wednesdays and it is by far the best 3 hours I spend with her each week.
Last week they had a Thanksgiving celebration/performance. Here are a few videos of her in action.

Benjamin

Benjamin has been so much fun lately. He is talking up a storm and running around and getting into EVERYTHING. Some of his first words have been German and his English vocabulary seems to be increasing everyday. He goes to co-op preschool every Thursday and really enjoys his time there. When there is water in the water table that is by far his favorite activity. He also spends quite a bit of time at the train table and in the climbing room.
Another of his favorite things are dogs. Well, really any furry four-legged animal. When we go visit Oma and Opa one of the highlights for him is spending time with their dog, Yo-yo. He snuggles right up to him and loves playing with him. To the left a photo of Benjamin as we are getting ready to leave for preschool. Below a photo of him giving Yo-yo a snug before leaving.

Birthday

Last week I celebrated my 43rd birthday! Really? 43!! It is hard to believe that I'm just about what is considered mid-forties! I guess, physically I feel that old sometimes due to the work of taking care of two small kids and not getting enough sleep but it doesn't seem like I could possibly be that old. I remember when my parents were 43... and sorry Mom and Dad, but that always seemed SO old! Oh, well. I guess you can't stop time. It was not a painful birthday as far dreading getting older and on all accounts a very good day. Benjamin and Josie gave me my best present. They both slept in their own beds from 7:30 the night before until 6:45 the morning of. What a treat!! Josie and Elli had somehow hidden my birthday gifts under our bed and Marty did too so in the morning we had a little celebration with all four of us in the bed before breakfast. During the day I cashed in on the awesome gift card Oma gave me to Habitude and had a very relaxing facial. She gave it to me for my 40th bday. I used half of it for my 41st birthday, and the remaining balance for my 43rd. Obviously, I'm as frugal with gift cards as I am with money but that makes me appreciate it all the more. Thank you, Oma!That night Elli had bought me a cake and Josie and her tried to decorate it with candles. Josie lamented, "sorry, Mom, we didnt' have enough candles" You know you are old when all the candles in the house are used and it still isn't enough :)
Benjamin even got in on the singing:




A few days after my birthday, my very good and long time friends Marjie, Stina and I got together to celebrate. Marjie and I traveled throughout Mexico for a month back in 2000. One of my most memorable and favorite trips, by the way. While we were there we took a cooking class in Oaxaca and learned how to make mole. It is so involved that I never make it. Marjie is a phenomenal cook and made me an incredible Mexican meal with homemade tortilla chips, guacamole, stuffed chilies with her special homemade mole sauce. Really, one of the best meals I've had in a VERY long time. Along with a bottle of wine we spent almost 4 hours eating, drinking, laughing and catching up. I told them we need to do this once a month... I'm hoping they will go for it :)

Benjamin's First Hair Cut

The time had come. Benjamin's curly(in the back) locks were getting a bit out of hand and starting to get into his eyes. So we all piled in the car for Benjamin's first hair cut. Josie, of course, wanted to get her hair cut too because when she gets her hair cut she is always offered a piece of candy upon completion. This time was no exception. Benjamin, on the other hand, was offered candy to distract while he was getting his hair cut. He decided he didn't want to sit in the chair but rather be held while his hair was being cut.
So both of us got smocked for his first big hair cut.
He held pretty still, mostly because I was feeding him Smarties one after the other so the hairdresser could cut it straight.

Chewing on a Smartie.

Chewing on another Smartie. Good thing there are about 12 per pack.

He looked so much older when he was done. I even cried a little. My last baby getting his first hair cut was quite emotional. That was the hair he was born with after all. And, yes, I did save a few pieces of his cut hair and put it into an envelope. Josie tried to console me by saying, "Mom, you can always look at his hair in the envelope." 5 year old logic :)

Later that same night, our good friends Hugh and Ingrid came by for dinner. We don't seem them often but it is always a treat when we do.

The next day Marty took the two kids down to Oma and Opa's. I stayed home and raced around the house like a mad woman trying to clean while the tornado was gone for a few hours.

Halloween

After getting our pumpkins at the pumpkin farm and from Josie's school field trip we got set to turn them into jack-o-lanterns. Josie was excited, of course, and insisted on pulling out her apron to help protect her clothes from all the pumpkin guts. She really didn't need her apron as her part of "helping" took about 5 minutes before she declared it
"too gross" and decided to go and play with her stuffed animals instead.
But she did pick out a few designs for me to make. I'm not an artist by any stretch and honestly kind of dread this part of Halloween every year. They never turn out very well and it is always more work than I anticipate. I told Josie that maybe next year we should carve pumpkins with Oma (who went to college in Berlin for art, wood carving specifically, and I'm sure would be MUCH better at this than I am)
Here are the finished producsts. Although they are no masterpieces, they are the best ones I've ever carved.


Josie very impatiently waiting for the rest of us to get ready to go out trick-or-treating.
Although he wasn't in it very long (he hated wearing it and kept ripping off the hood and then eventually the coat itself) he was SUCH a cute little tiger.

The princess coming down from getting candy at the neighbors house. She was in such a frenzy she kept telling us... "Sorry, I keep forgetting to say thank you because I'm just so excited to go get more candy" If that doesn't sum up Halloween for a kid, I don't know what does.

Benjamin mostly just wanted to drink his bottle and be pushed in the stroller. He has asleep by the time we got home.

Julie's cousin, Linda, came to visit us for the week and went trick or treating with us. (linda on right, Elli on left)

Near the end Josie was so tired but she kept wanting to get more and more candy. We finally just had to cut her off and surprisingly she said OK. She was ready to go home and eat a few pieces of her loot.

Field Trip

A few weeks ago Josie went on a really cool field trip with her co-op preschool to Camp Long. The week before they made binoculars out of toilet paper rolls and talked all about nature and habitats and fall. On the field trip they had a long list of things that they had to find (orange leaf, yellow leaf, fern, spider web spider, pine cone, mushroom, etc. etc.) It was a really fun day. At the end they were set loose to look for hidden pumpkins. Each child found a pumpkin (hugged it tightly) and then brought it home. It was my work day so I was able to see the kids in action outside of the classroom which is always a treat.
Below: Josie with her binoculars and her bag to collect all of her treasures. They were instructed to only collect the things that were on the ground and not to disturb anyone's habitat.


Josie with her new pumpkin. See what I mean by hugging it tightly. All the kids did it. It was so cute.

Josie and her new preschool partners in crime. Maggie, Gunnar and Hank.

Pumpkin Patch

The week before Halloween we gathered a few friends and headed down to Thomasson Family Farms in Enumclaw. We went to the same farm last year but this year Benjamin was old enough to enjoy it. It doesn't have the same amusement park feel that some of the other pumpkin farms do but rather a down to earth, family run farm. There were rubber duckey races with old fashioned water pumps, Gertie the cow that the kids could pretend to milk (Josie loved milking the cow. Of course, her father gave her a bit of reality telling her that getting up everyday at 6 AM to milk a real cow is not fun at all... thanks, Marty :) and the beloved corn pit. Josie, Bryn and Ansley in the corn pit (above) Benjamin blowing bubbles (below)

They even had "horses" that kids could ride and lasso a calf. The three girls take their turns... ride 'em cowgirls!


Josie and Henry lassoing a calf

Benjamin, our little cowboy

The corn pit was probably everyone's favorite.

Our new fun friends, Henry and Linda.

Burying body parts was a big hit in the pit. Linda burying Benjamin's feet.

"Where are your feet, Benjamin?"

Making corn angels

Benjamin coming down the slide

And finally out to the pumpkins!

Harold and the Purple Crayon

A few times a year we take Josie on special dates with just the two of us. She called this the "daddy-daughter date and mommy" Assuming she is not referring to me as an after thought but rather a nice addition to her date with her dad :) We had a great time at the Seattle Children's Theater's production of Harold and the Purple Crayon.
A few weeks before the performance we checked out the book at the library and were surprised it was a very simple story about a boy and a purple crayon. The day before our date I asked Josie if she remembered what the book was about and she literally recited nearly the entire book word for word. I really mean exactly word for word. It was amazing. Her memory is phenomenal. So, yes I guess she did remember what the book was about.
The play was really amazing and expanded on the simple book in really fun ways.
After the show we asked Josie where she wanted to go for dinner. No surprise here - Indian food was her request. So in order to mix things up a bit we decided to go to our favorite Indian restaurant in Ballard. Actually, this particular restaurant was the setting for one of mine and Marty's first dates...way back when.
Before dinner we decided to take a look at the Locks and fish ladder. It was supposed to be the season where we would see a ton of fish but unfortunately not one was swimming through the ladder on our visit. So instead we had fun with the art outside of the fish ladder.


And then off to dinner. But wait, we forgot to document the play. Here she is with the program for proof.

At Indian food.

During our meal they lit incense. Josie did NOT like the smell, obviously!

And no date night would be complete without a stop at our favorite frozen yogurt place, Menchies... who by the way is opening a store less than a mile from our house. Uh-oh! I sense more time will need to be spent at the gym.