Fright Night

Oh how we love fall in California...sunscreen, shorts, running through the sprinklers...seriously. It is so hot here, I don't know how one can have a credible fall party. If we bobbed for apples the kids would get their swimsuits on. But you do what you can-in our case we threw a mashed potato martini halloween party with a bunch of our neighbors. CPea declared this was the year of the Tooth Fairy, since she's lost three teeth, I think she had teeth on the brain. At any rate, it called for some of my much mocked crafting skills to create her costume. It may interest you to know as well that the Tooth Fairy traditionally wears purple-according to CPea.

LilPea was a Buzz Buzz Bumblebee. She took great delight in wishing all a Happy Halloween, I think she can sense candy even when its behind closed doors.

LilPea's preschool had a trunk or treat party. Parents decorated their car trunks and passed out treats.

The Bumblebee shoes.

The kids trying to convince the adults to put down their drinks and go out trick or treating already-to go cups to the rescue!

Who could resist?

CPea's Preppie K class got to parade around the school

CPea's class...yes my child is almost as tall as the teacher.

Hope everyone had a safe and happy halloween!

Sweetpea Summer Fun

This end of summer feels like an uphill sprint to me these days. We are leaving for DC on Sunday so its been a whirlwind of preparing for back to school when we return and planning and packing for our trip and Amy's wedding.

Still, we managed some summer fun. We went up to Ventura to see Scott compete in the Strawberry Hills Triathalon. This is us in a peddle car.
Both girls went to Vacation Bible School which they really enjoyed.

CPea lost her second (!) tooth.

And LilPea is obsessed with pulling people in the wagon. It rarely gets very far.

And as LilPea gets older, she is getting to be more and more girly. She likes to travel with a purse.

I'll get LilPea's birthday pictures up when we return!

A Camping we will go....

Being the military family that we are, we move around. Scott and I do our best to try new adventures in our new enviroment. Here in Huntington Beach, we have a lovely state park with a campground. Even though its a mile from our house, for the 4th of July, we rented an RV and got a camping spot right next to our friends to help our new town celebrate their bicentennial.

Little did we know that the HB parade is the biggest 4th of July parade west of the Mississippi. Because of that, my neighbor and I woke up very early on the 3rd of July to stake out the perfect parade viewing spot.
CPea and LilPea and their friend Macy, all in matching dresses to watch the parade.

The edgier side to 4th of July...

Ahhhhh s'mores, the world's most perfect food!

Lauren, demostrating the greatness of the "princess bed!"

Very happy, very dirty campers!

We also were lucky enough to have the wandering seals wander our way while we were camping. Unfortunately, we were all a little out of sorts having arrived at camping late the night before, but we loved our visit with the seal pups!

A Tisket, A Tasket

CPea's first ballet recital was last week. The Tales of Mother Goose, and her class performed to 'A Tisket, A Tasket.' Needless to say, it was a big production, and that was just in our house. LilPea got her chance to be center stage before the show began. How darling are these costumes? All of the dancers had to have their hair in a 'ballet bun' and wear make up.

A good luck kiss from Daddy who was first in line and got us front row seats!

Since we left that night for our camping trip, we opted for a stuffy instead of flowers for our beautiful girl.

CPea's ballet class.

The diva emerges

I am just so proud of her in her first performance!

All the Single Ladies, All the Single Ladies

So my plan while Scott is across the country at training is to keep the girls as busy as possible. The plan is working so far but it is becoming more and more clear that they will outlast me. Here are a few snaps of our weekend adventures. This is a game called "Couch, Fly, Dive" invented by CPea. As you see, they mostly just fall off the couch all the while being angels and mermaid. If you need more details, CPea will be happy to draw a treasure map to explain it all.

I thought it would be a great surprise to take the girls to see Sesame Street Live, LilPea is very much in love with Elmo at the moment and CPea is still young enough to not be totally annoyed by oversized monsters singing and dancing to a potted fake plant named 'Sunny.'

During Elmopaloozza, Elmo left the stage a few times. LilPea was not happy at all.

Luckily during the intermission, we lifted her spirits with spun blue sugar. Wholesome, no? I am confident the sugar was organic, it is Sesame Street afterall.

Lest you think it all fun and games, CPea is still in summer school. Last week, they celebrated sports week. The grand finale of the week was a big bouncy waterslide (hey, if driving around in circles is a sport-surely sliding down an inflatable slide is too) CPea was so excited about this special day at school, it required a brand new swimsuit-and sunglasses.

Ever helpful, LilPea did not shirk her Little Assistant Responsibilities. She packed and carried the swim bag very carefully and after hearing me remind Caroline we needed to bring money for her lunch, LilPea headed straight for the change jar and emptied quite a few coins into her pockets and the swim bag. Holding up her little hands full of change she said "Nine, Nine, money!" And then proceeded to hand out pennies and nickles all day to CPea.

Spending time in the clubhouse. I think this day CPea and LilPea battled Rocket the Pirate Dog. Occasionally he is also cast as a mermaid sister, evil stepdog or someone in the circus.

Finally, LilPea and I went to a thank you party for the volunteers that help with childcare for our MOPS group at church. These wonderful ladies give the mothers two blissful hours to meet and talk every other week. In the beginning, LilPea really didn't like getting dropped off, but they were so patient with her and so loving now she is happy to go. Here she is scaling the new and huge playground set!

The Graduate

CPea is finished with preschool! We celebrated this happy event with a lunch at her school followed by playground time.

Scott made a heroic effort to make to school for the lunch on his last day of work before jetting off to the east coast for training.CPea and some her classmates. They look like an ambitious bunch, no?

Our happy little girl! She is going to stay at school for summertime day camps and we'll be doing some kindergarten prep work at home in between trips to the beach!

At this point in time, I feel like her going to kindergarten in the fall is the biggest milestone in her life. But I'm sure this going to be the first of many happy heartbreaks for me as she continues to grow, learn and challenge herself.

For now, I am coping by deciding to keep LilPea in her crib until she's 10-that's right, I said 10. She seems to have agreed to that, provided I let her pursue her dream of being a fashion forward firefighter.

Say my name, say my name...

LilPea is talking all the time these days but I was having a hard time getting her to say her name, until five hours after her dad left town for a month.

Spring Singing

The birds aren't the only ones bursting into song this spring. CPea's preschool hosted their annual Spring Sing. As you will see, CPea takes singing VERY seriously and often composes her own tunes that sound something like Alanis Morrisette in her nursery school days.

The theme this year for her class was "Fishers of Men." Evidently in the biblical interpretation, visors and tie dye shirts played a big part in fishing industry. The whole class loved performing and CPea is very much looking forward to her next stage appearance.

LilPea is teaching Rocket to use a crayon.

CPea's class saying grace before the dinner.