Visiting Santa

We visited Santa this weekend. I tried my best to prep both kids so that they would be excited to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. We even did a test run at home. Peter wants a policeman helmet and Clara wants a truck. (We've really got to get a few more girl toys around this house.)

When we got to Santa's workshop, Clara was a little uncertain about sitting with Santa, so we tried to get her warmed up by sitting on her dad's lap next to Santa. Can you see the nervousness in her expression?

After a few minutes of sitting next to Santa and talking, we thought she was ready to move over to Santa's lap.

She was not. 

Poor girl. 

Peter was unfazed by the whole ordeal, and after Clara left he spent quite a while telling Santa about the policeman helmet and questioning why Santa was giving out marshmallows instead of candy canes as treats. 

Happy Holidays! 

Hikers

These guys got to go on a fun day-before-Thanksgiving hike with their dad while I was at the office. Lucky kids.

An Assortment

It has been a low key, but fun week at our house. 

During dinner, we asked the kids to identify the best thing on their plates.

It's pretty clear that the ketchup won. 

Peter got a new bed! Hooray! 

He is obsessed with it, but will not sleep under any covers. What am I going to do with all of the cute bedding I bought? 

He and Clara have a neat game where they get themselves stuck between the mattress and the footboard.

"This is the greatest!" 

We went to a park that has this cool bench beneath an arbor. Peter and Clara think it is a fort. They ran back and forth across the bench for a really long time. 

Taking a break in the corner.

Some friends were there with us and the dads all got together to pull the kids around the park in a parachute.

Pretty fun stuff.

Clara learned about praying hands at Chapel today.

And Peter made a call to Nonnie from a pay phone...

Mountain Climber

My little Goose loves to climb the rocks outside of her school. She also loves to carry her own lunch box, even though it is almost as big as she is.

Trick-or-Treat

We had such a fun Halloween! We went to our usual spot -- a babygroup friend's house in a cool part of town where all of the neighbors go all out with their decorations and celebrating. 

Cute kids. 

Hello, Dr. Alexandra. 

Lauren, the purple butterfly, is ready for some trick-or-treat action.

Fireman Eyal just practicing his rescue slide moves.

Trick-or-treating was very successful.

Thing 2 had fun following the big kids around.

And Thing 1 loved his glow bracelet and counting all of his candy.

Happy Halloween!

Morning Hug

Every morning when Ben takes the kids to school, Clara gets dropped off in her classroom first. When he and Peter leave to go to Peter's class, Peter gives his sister a hug.

I mean, come on. Is there anything sweeter than this picture from this morning?

Thing 1 and Thing 2

The Cat in the Hat dropped these two off at our house the other day. 

And boy are they silly. 

Really silly. 

Here they are doing typical Thing 1 and Thing 2 crazy moves. 

Thing 1 is extra crazy. 

See?

These guys make me laugh. 

I love my sillies. 

Carving Pumpkins

This afternoon, we carved pumpkins. Fun!

Well, mostly I scooped out and carved the pumpkins and the kids climbed around me. 

Peter is getting really into Halloween stuff this year and it is so fun. This is his pumpkin. He wanted a spooky, mad pumpkin. 

Working on pumpkin #2... 

Clara's pumpkin is a happy, silly pumpkin. 

The kids LOVE their pumpkins and had to sit with them for a long time before going inside for dinner. 

Nice pose, Clara. 

Happy Halloween!

School Pictures

Peter and Clara had school pictures taken the other day. I didn't think anything of it until I got the link to the photos. 

Holy moly, this is really cute stuff! 

Ben and I have never had professional photos taken of our children, but now after I have seen these I want to do it about once a month. 

This photo is of Peter's class. Peter is in the light blue shirt in the front. It is not the best pic of him, but I love seeing all of his friends and his teachers.

It makes me think of my own preschool photo and how much I love looking at it and seeing old friends. (I am in the middle of row two with my hand held up to my chin.) 

Here are a few of my favorite Peter pics...

I mean, come on. How cute is this? 

Peter is so strangely posed in this one, but I can also totally see his personality coming through so it makes me love it despite the awkwardness. 

Cute. Too bad it looks like he's missing an arm. 

Here is Clara's class. She was not as photogenic as her brother. She looks worried in every picture. Still cute, just worried. 

"Wait, what do you want me to do?" 

"I don't know who you are lady, but I am not smiling." 

"Okay... are we ready to go yet?" 

Out of ideas

I've run out of ideas of things to do with my children, so here we are at the play area in the local mall. Classy.