Trains: At the Botanic Gardens

We always visit the trains at the botanic gardens a few times during the holiday season; this was our first time seeing them this year. We were joined by Henry's friend Alex - people often think he and Henry are twins! (Sorry I don't have any pictures of Felix; he was in the carrier the whole time.)

Felix turns one

 {showing off his birthday crown}

On the morning  of Felix's birthday, we all went down to Eastern Market and picked out our Christmas tree. Quite coincidentally, Felix wore the sweater with the Christmas tree on top of the car.

Felix seemed to know he had reached a major milestone because he was quite full of himself and trying out new things, like squatting and standing while holding a pretend green pepper in his cooking pot and looking at the Christmas stockings. Impressive.

You may recall that Felix was the Very Hungry Caterpillar for Halloween. Henry still calls Felix his little caterpillar, and corrects anyone who calls him by anything else. Dan and I are not allowed to call him our little monster, Babyzilla, etc., only our little caterpillar. So, the cake was an obvious choice.

He chose the "green leaf" cupcake.

 {falling asleep at the table!}

Happy Birthday, Felix! We love our little caterpillar!

Thanksgiving 2011

Dan and Henry made placecards using (what else?!) glitter!

We were so thankful to have several good friends join us for Thanksgiving.

Yum.

Fall Highlights...now that it's winter

Here are some highlights from Autumn 2011:

Henry made several fall-themed watercolor paintings. See the cornucopia on the left?

I tried out an idea I read about on this blog...you tape contact paper to the window and let the kids attach pieces of tissue paper to create a "stained glass" effect.

I found this Radio Flyer wheelbarrow at Salvation Army for $5. They love it, of course.

Lots of creative setups with the Playmobil toys.

I got Henry a set of "real" Legos (i.e. not Duplos). Big milestone, in my opinion.

Jude, of course, followed suit and began building with the Duplos.

We saw Elizabeth Mitchell in concert on November 5, something I've been hoping to do for years.

This trio of mine plays together more and more each day.

Jude is in the stage where he likes to arrange things in creative ways. More recently, he's started leaving presents for me - like pom poms in the fingers of my dishwashing gloves, googly eyes in my potholders, and blocks in my shoes.

The Band. They LOVE playing music together.

Where do city kids go to play in the leaves? By the curb where the leaves are waiting for the leaf-sucking trucks, of course!

Goodbye, Fall! See you next year!

legwarmers

I made Felix these legwarmers about a month ago. He wore them on our November trip to Hard Bargain Farm - here we are at the playground (with Jude) while Henry was with his group.

 Meanwhile, I think Jude saw me snapping all those photos of Felix and decided to ham it up.

Catching up: Halloween 2011

Hello there, folks! Our days have been so full and passing so quickly these past several weeks, and I just haven't felt able to lose the sleep required to keep up with posting here. However, now that we are well into Advent (!) I have decided it is high time to get caught up with one another, lost sleep or not. So, for today, Halloween!

Henry was Captain America. I was able to use a few pieces from our dress-up trunk, an old winter hat, some hand-me-down clothes, with just a bit of white felt handsewn on for the details.

His preschool had a parade from the school over to the playground a couple of blocks away. They had a picnic with apple cider and pumpkin muffins.

Batman and Captain America, setting off trick-or-treating.

 Jude's costume was entirely from the dress-up trunk, just a cape and mask. Good thing too, because he only wore it for a few minutes.

He got these two lollipops at the first house we went to, and he clutched them for the rest of the night. He put all the other candy in his bag, but insisted on holding these. He had a complete meltdown when we took them away at bedtime.

Felix was supposed to be the Very Hungry Caterpillar, which is generally fitting for him, but that evening he was the Very Grumpy Caterpillar. He demanded to know why he was shoved into a ridiculous outfit and confined to the stroller instead of placed into his cozy, warm crib as usual.

We were joined again this year by our friend Mattie, who helped Henry pass out candy once he returned from trick-or-treating. Hopefully you can see our "spooky" decorations which Henry requested, as well as the jack-o-lanterns.