Some exercise....

This is a big favorite of the kids.  They love to do to the exercises on the Wii Fit System.  Here Liliana is rollerblading and trying to avoid obstacles on the skating track.  

Inflation Block Party

On Saturday, we headed down to Stamford for the inflation of the Thanksgiving Parade balloons.  This parade is amazing and in my opinion, second only to Macy's.  At least in the northeast.  There were balloons all over the closed streets and we got to see them blow to full size right in front of our eyes.  It was so cold on Sunday, we decided not to go to the parade.  Good thing, because it was so windy, they grounded all of the balloons.  Turns out, they blew all the balloons up by seven or so and then had to deflate them around 10-11 pm because the winds were already too crazy.  Side note: no picture of Lucas here since he was not in a good mood through this whole thing.  But Miss Liliana was happy to participate.

Dress up...

Playing dress up at the Norwalk Library....sometimes they are just too cute.

Sunrise..not really

 The twins were up early the other morning (strange since they have always been excellent sleepers).  I was up anyway, so we headed out to the beach to see the sunrise.  Of course it was super cloudy, but they still had fun chasing seagulls.

Woodsy adventure

It's getting cold outside...you know what that means!  Time to start our fire making!  Instead of buying smaller pieces of wood for kindling, we ventured into our backyard.  The kids had a contest to see who could pick up the most sticks.

We explored really far back into the woods and we found a whole new discovery!  Beyond our property border (I am sure) we found this clearing, far from any house.  It had a statue, an American flag and a little tire swing.  It even had some lighting put in so that this would light up at night....although it never does.  We would see that from our house.

They even had all these boat buoys hanging from the trees.

We got back with all our sticks and the kids got to breaking them down for a reasonable size for the stove.  

Of course it was 66 degrees this morning, but I am not complaining.  Just means the wood will last longer.

p.s.  Lucas won the stick contest :-)

Snap, Crackle, Pop...

It dawned at me that the kids were going to be five and they didn't know about Rice Crispies!  So when we were at the store the other day, I told them I was going to buy them a ceral that talked.  Needless to say it was a big hit!

They weren't too impressed with the cereal though....oh well.

Look who's on the altar....

Lucas started his church serving the other week.  He is what they call a "boater" or "boat bearer".  His job is to carry the little "boat" that carries the incense container (which looks kind of like a gravy boat). 

The kick of it all is that he leads the church procession in and out with the thurifer (the one with the incense).  

This first time, Lucas was paired up with Peter, our seminarian.  Lucas is the shortest boat bearer by far (I have to hem his outfit!) and Peter is easily the tallest person in our congregation.  They made quite a pair!

The best part of it all was the positive response he got from everyone.  We have been going to St. Paul's since before I was even pregnant and these people have watched Lucas and Liliana grow up.  Many of them said to me that it seemed like yesterday that he was in a Baby Bjorn on my chest.  And now this....

He did a great job!  So proud of him.

One last look....

I know...I know...Halloween is over!  But we just got these pics from the school today!  Too cute!

Cat in the Hat

A former student of my school (I never taught him) started a children's theater program a few years back.  It's performances that last about 40-60 minutes and that the kids get a kick out of.  As a teacher at the school, I get offered complimentary tickets to these shows.  So we recently went to see The Cat in the Hat.  

And afterwards, we were able to go backstage and meet the characters.

Halloween Part 3

Yes it is November and we are still going!  Today was the Halloween party at Grandpa's.  

They turned the library into a games room, with carnival style games and kids won all sorts of prizes.

Then there was a crafts room.

Liliana made an owl.

And then we went to the dining room for treats and music.

The performer was singing all sorts of oldies songs that I didn't seem to know.  One was a country western song about spurs on cowboys' boots.  Since Lucas was dressed as Woody and had spurs on his boots (see them there?) he called Lucas up and Lucas was such a ham.  He was dancing and pretending to ride a horse, etc.  It was hysterical.  It was really nice to see.  Not only was he having a ball as the ladies gave him candy for performing, they were all smiling. 

We had a great Halloween.  The whole week has been a week of festivities and secretly, I am glad it is over.  But fun we had and this year will be hard to top. 

Halloween Part 2

The real deal!  The last two years have been stormed out.  And while we did get to do some trick or treating those years, this year the weather was cooperative and we had a great time.

Here are the kids' ghouls that they made at Pete's house the week before.  Glowsticks worked great! (another idea for their party!)

Nana came up for the night.  Some light story reading while I made dinner.

And then we were off!  We stopped by to see our new nieghbors and they had a whole spread welcoming all the trick or treaters.  Even wine and beer for the parents!  We hung out by their fire pit for a while.

One of our neighbors has a parrot and somehow we all ended up in his living room when we stopped by for candy.  

And no Halloween would be complete without a trip to the Tully's.  Gordon and Ellen are like the grandparents of the nieghborhood.  They know all the kids.  They are also friends of ours from church and since they walk to church too, we sometimes end up walking together.  Here's the whole gang (our kids and the Fieffe boys)

And here we were TWO years ago, posing with the Tully's once before.  Let's see how many years we can get this pic!

Halloween Part 1

The night before Halloween, a local bounce place had a Halloween party so we headed over.  

They had crafts.  The kids got to decorate their trick or treating bags.  Good thing since we lost their plastic pumpkins.  

In one of the bounce rooms, they had a glow theme.  It was fun and I was able to get some ideas for their glow party (stay tuned!)

I thought that this guy looked really creepy, but Lucas LOVED him!  

We got home shortly after 8 and Liliana announced "Mom I am SOOO tired.  I am going straight to bed!"  She brushed her teeth, put on her night gown and she was out.  Too good to be true.