This was Antonio's shirt that he was able to wear to school for two Halloweens.
I'm glad I kept it, so very fitting for both of my kids.



When she came home from daycare, she pointed to herself and stated, "Debil."
Oh yes...so very true.

This child takes one mirco-nap after lunch. Never any other time, except for today, here she is thirty minutes before trick or treating.



Some ninja woke her up, and after giving her the choice between fairy or witch, she chose her blue hooded Gap sweatshirt. At least she still had on the debil shirt, so she sort of was in costume.



Antonio almost didn't go trick or treating. We took him to a haunted house a few weeks ago, I know, I know...shame on us.
In our defense, they advertised that they had the first hour mellowed out for little kids.
I'll just say that after the second room, Antonio's head was in my pocket and he plugged his ears, and the 12 & 13 year old neighbor boys that we brought along were freaked out.
So, trick or treating = very very scary.
We made an agreement that we'd only go to friendly houses, and pass by the scary ones.
He ended up doing pretty well with minimal whining about scary stuff.

After we got home and did the safety check on the loot, the kids were turned loose no their booty pile. Do I have the only kids not so into candy? Julia took a nibble out of a Reese's peanut butter cup and licked a few different lollypops, Antonio ate a little box of dots.
That's it.

I think I'll have them pick out some favorites, and send the rest with The Man when he goes back out to sea in a few days.

Antonio did Patrick, The Man did SpongeBob, I did Squidward and Gary, Julia threw random hunks all over the diningroom.

Today The Man coached his first soccer game.
Antonio's coach had to go out of town, and since he was in port, he was able to step in.
Antonio was so excited.
Do I need to say that The Man was a natural, and you couldn't tell he'd never done it before.
On a side note, I never really think about how big he is, until I see him do something like, palm a soccer ball...




Antonio played great, made a few goals and I think his team won, even though we don't officially keep score.

I kept pretty good tabs on Julia, still, she did run out on the soccer field twice screaming Daaaadddy!!!
After the game she ran laps around him like a little orbiting planet.

This afternoon, after Antonio's soccer game, we went in search of wild pumpkins.
The domesticated store variety are alright, but we prefer to get out and view them in their natural environment.

While I am getting the hang of having two kids, I still have this hope that I'll be able to get more pictures of them without one screaming.
Not the case today...




Antonio settled on this pumpkin, the first three he wanted were so huge he couldn't pick them up. This one was just about as heavy as he could lift.




What day at the pumpkin patch is complete without a ride in the wheelbarrow?

The elusive Juliasourus is caught after making friends with bapakh

As Julia becomes more aware of her environment, she is figuring out when things are out of place.
For example, in the morning as we get ready to leave, Antonio grabs his backpack, I grab my book bag, and then I pick up Julia and out the door we go. She realized a few weeks ago that she has no backpack. I offered her Antonio's Spiderman backpack, and now, as we get ready to head out in the morning, she yells for her 'bapakh' too.

Gramma, gave this perfect for her sized purple backpack to her for her birthday.
Now she has one special, just for her.
She was happy to open the present, and gleefully looked inside and found jammie treasures, she was reluctant to put it on. She gave it the same cold shoulder as The Slippers

So, we let it go and I promised to get a picture of her wearing it when I was able & she cooperated.

Tuesday morning (Monday was a holiday) we were getting ready to leave. Antonio had his backpack, I had my book bag, and Julia sort of seemed interested in getting her new backpack and coming along with us. There was a bit of indecisiveness, but she decided she wanted to wear it after Antonio put it on (he's so clever)

So, what's going on here?



She has the backpack on, but is feeling a bit duped and is giving us all the you're-dead-to-me-I'm-really-focused-on-what's-in-my-hands.

Soon after this picture, she declared, "No bapakh!", but carried it with her to the car.
That's a much warmer reception than

The Slippers fate

Today, Julia turned two!

She started off her day with a little coloring


before breakfast, there was a little bit of present opening


then Gramma and I took the kids out to Sequim to Dungeness Park, took a little hike to the beach and the kids spend a decent amount of time throwing little rocks at the waves


Home again, there was a little twirling in her new fairy skirt


Then we had a little cake


and a little more presents


She had a fantastic day!

We had a few things to do today to get ready for Julia's special day tomorrow.

I never fall short of helpers...



when there's chocolate involved.



Someone's Gramma helped her out with her frosting techniques.



So, we're all set for a fun day tomorrow !

The 'Rrhea has struck Antonio down.
It started yesterday, and I thought he was better and sent him to school this morning.
I was wrong, the 'Rrhea was off picking up his friend Frowup.
So I was told when his school called me to pick up my sick little boy.

Limited only to this mornings episode, Antonio spent the rest of the day snuggled up on the couch watching cartoons, drinking chamomile tea and eating pretzels.
By late afternoon he perked up, declaring himself starved and needing tacos.
After picking up Julia from daycare, I didn't want her to steep in the 'rrhea germs and risk getting sick herself, we picked up tacos. Only getting soft ones, in case Frowup came back to visit.
All was well and the kids played happily the rest of the evening.

Here's where I found them when I went to go make Antonio's lunch for school.

As I hunt down Julia whose quietly hidden herself away someplace in the house, I discover where she's been.



Of course, I was trying to capture the elusive Julia so we could try to get to Antonio's soccer game on time this week.
We made it, barely...

This morning, while I file away the large stack of paperwork that has accumulated on my desk, the girl sits and does a little work of her own.