Bookworms

This past week we'd been trying, unsuccessfully, to get a picture of both girls. Together. Looking at the camera. And smiling. Challenging, right? But we thought it would be possible. Except after 3 painful days of attempts, we had nothing but fuzzy/pouty/blurry photos to show.

One night they were so squirmy the only time they'd sit still was when reading books. The only problem was we couldn't get them to look up for a pic. We tried everything: singing, clapping, whistling, calling them each by name. Nothing worked. They'd just finish a book then grab the next one closest to them. Oh, and both girls were "reading" their books out-loud. With Emily following Charlotte's lead and speaking gibberish. They were cracking us up, so we gave up on smiling pics and took some of them in their element.

After our failed attempts, imagine our surprise when, in some sort of Thanksgiving miracle, Matt got a pic of the two smiling and looking squarely at the camera. It was perfect. But for now, these really are the truest portraits of them together :)

Flowers and Photos

The last weekend of Grandma G's visit we went to the flower market for brunch and then had a little backyard photo shoot to document her stay.

Brunch was hectic, as always, with Charlotte running around and eating other people's food. (Not really. She just likes to peek at what they're having.) The flower market café is actually a really good spot for her, since it's never crowded and the sweet waitress knows our girls by name. Sometimes we even score free strawberries! It's also a great place to run around and get the wiggles out.

After Becky and Grandma took turns chasing Charlotte and we scoped out the flowers, we headed home for our photo shoot. Always an unpredictable production. The lighting is great in our backyard, and we love to make use of the space we put so much work into this past spring. But even with the perfect setting, we still need willing (and able) models. The quality of the pics is in their hands. Which is why there aren't more shots of all of us. Blame it on closed eyes, open mouths, silly faces... the usual.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One day we'll get nice, normal, genuine smiles from everyone at the same time. With tongues in the mouths. Until then, we'll just have to settle for candids like this ;)

Trick-or-Treat

Every year on Halloween the shops in our neighborhood welcome little trick-or-treaters. It's super kid-friendly, but it gets crowded. Really crowded. We tried to head down a little earlier this year, so the girls didn't feel completely lost in the chaos. (I ended up carrying Charlotte the entire time, which worked well since she's not usually interested in holding hands and can dash away from us pretty quickly when she's on her own.)

Emily made the last minute decision to don some wings, so she was a kitty cat fairy princess. And Charlotte wore her teddy bear hoodie. They both had a great time and brought home more than enough candy. Which Em had lots of fun smelling and sorting after dinner that night :)

My favorite part? Our local market passed out apples instead of sweets!! Seeing the girls munching on apples of all things, among all the other kiddos who were chomping on candy, was a really cute sight. (When we got home Charlotte actually took Emily's apple too and was double-fisting them for a while. That girl LOVES food!)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carving Time!

After our visit to the pumpkin patch, we spent some time carving. (Well, it was mostly Becky who did the carving.) Emily was much more interested than last year, although I think the innards still creeped her out. She loves to be clean, that one. Wonder where she got that from... ;) Charlotte just looked on, since we knew if she got too close that slimy goo would go right.into.her.mouth. Our insatiable girl.

We ended the session with a rousing hand of Go Fish. Em's new favorite game, she picked it up really fast!
(Btw --> the pumpkin on the bottom step has fancy eyes complete with lashes, requested by Emily.)

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Patch!

We barely made it to the pumpkin patch this year, but luckily on the evening of October 30th we found some time to head over to our local spot. It's an urban setting for sure, but last year Em had fun. And hey, she's never seen a real pumpkin patch where they're still on the vine, so this place works just fine.

It was so late, both in the day and the season, that not many folks were there. And the pumpkin selection was pitiful. But we snapped some photos while Em played in the hay bail maze and ran around the corn stalks. (This year Charlotte stayed behind with Grandma, so Emily got some quality time with Mom/Dad/Aunt Becky/Uncle Glenn.)

When we were getting ready to go, to our surprise, they announced that a tractor ride was starting! We'd assumed it wouldn't run in the dark, but lucky for us they took it out for a nighttime spin!

PS. Emily wanted to wear her fairy wings too, but we settled on just her crown ;)

 

 

 

 

 

15 Month Check-Up

Charlotte had her 15 month wellness check last week, and the doctor basically told us what Charlotte's pajamas have been indicating for a while: She's growing. Lots. This girl's toes are poking out of 18 month jammies! (Isn't she supposed to have another 3 months in those?!?!!) It's to the point that when we discover Emily's too big for an item of clothing, we just move it to Charlotte's dresser. There's no need to pack it away and pull it out later. The shirts/pants/shoes fit now. It's nuts.

It's still funny how different she is from Emily. Yes, they're different kids, but comparing her visit to Emily's at this age - Charlotte is 5 pounds heavier. Five pounds!! That's practically the size of Emily's bowling ball from last week. (Emily was in the 25th percentile for weight at this age, and Charlotte's in the 80th.) And Emily was working on her molars at this point, while Charlotte only has 2 teeth!

But boy does it feel good to remember how picky Emily was with any and all new foods - makes me appreciate how good an eater Charlotte is. Her favorite foods (and I mean favorite) include broccoli, green beans, snow peas, peppers, and apples. Guess we know where those 5 extra pounds came from :)

Bowling!

While Grandma G was in town, Emily and I decided to make good on our promise to take Becky bowling for her birthday, which was back in August (!). So we headed to the Presidio Alleys and knocked back a couple frames. (Is that the correct vernacular??)

Emily had never been bowling, but she picked it up quickly. We took turns helping with the first few balls, but soon she insisted, as Emily does, that she do it all. by. herself. So she'd scoop up that 6 pound ball, lug it over to our lane and sorta drop/toss it down the alley where it went on a very s-l-o-w journey to the pins.

I was surprised that each lane was equipped with bumpers which would only come up into the gutters when it was Em's turn. Back in the day when I was a kid, if you needed bumpers then they stayed up for the entire game. So this was kinda nice. Hey - maybe this isn't even a "new" invention... I don't get out much ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 (And yes, Emily did dress up and don pearls for this outing to the bowling alley. Guess you never know who you might run into...)

Zoo Boo

Next up in our month of annual events was the Zoo Boo! (You can click to see pics from 2011 & 2012.)

Funny story: the girls' distinct personalities came out when we ran into Casper the friendly Ghost. Em ended up in tears (!), while Charlotte gave Casper a bunch of high fives. Things calmed down after that, and the day took an unexpected turn when both girls went on their first train ride! Fortunately that was a universal hit. Em's never been the least bit interested in the train - the whistle scares her - but when a friendly patron asked if we'd like her extra tickets, Em said "Sure!" So we accepted the tickets and hopped on!

Grandma G was in town, which meant she got to join in on all the fun too!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PS. Emily was a kitty cat princess and Charlotte was a teddy bear :)