It's fall and we're entering our busy season. November brings three birthdays (Jad, Amy and Sora) along with finishing Halloween, then Thanksgiving then moving on to Xmas. There's also usually a couple of trips to the snow too so it's usually a busy time for our family.
The kids kept it easy this year for Halloween. I do get jealous of other families that dress up everyone in matching theme costumes, but I am rarely that into anything and forcing the kids to wear something they aren't interested in isn't our style either. With his broken arm in a new cast from the orthopedist, Kai chose to redo his black cat from previous years. The siblings took up the same theme and so she was also a (cuter) black cat and Jad chose to be Kwazii from Octonauts.
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| Sora with classmates at school |
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Kai in the school parade. He's having fun
though he took off his ears and tail |
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| Jad with friend Conner in TK |
We also had our annual small group gathering with the south bay small group at Kevin Moran park. Lots of fun. Super nice weather. Good friends. Bo and Peggy's boba family was great!
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| Costume fun |
We did the annual pumpkin carving with the neighbors. Lots of people, lots of fun. We ended up with three pretty good pumpkins this year with me carving most of Kai's (because of his hand) and Jad's too (his was pretty creepy actually). Sora did a nice cat on a roof with moon scene. The biggest revelation this year was to hole and empty the pumpkin from the bottom! Whoa.. mind blown!
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| RCC annual pumpkin carving |
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Jad was very good at pulling out stickers and
stencils.. not so much at carving :D |
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I know something you don't know..
I am not left handed! |
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| Sora and Amy getting into it |
On Halloween, which fell on a Monday, we gathered with friend and neighbors and took all the kids over to Holly street, a nearby neighborhood that really gets into decorating and treats. We had about 20 kids in tow along with 20 parents. It was a huge group moving down the street and a bit hard to manage. Glad we didn't lose anyone as it got pretty busy at some points. By the end of the night, Jad, AT and Kazu were all taking turns in the wagon.
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| Mass chaos as kids run from house to house |
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Ed put up his usual haunted house display, though
it was smaller this year because of his foot surgery |
All in all, a good time and the kids got lots of candy. Now we just have to have them pick out about 20 and bring the rest to work :p
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Our nerd children categorized and counted their haul..
over 450 pieces! |
Sugar cravings and highs sated, we moved back on to normal. Jad turned 5 and for his birthday, he and Amy made cupcakes. He does have two parties (both joint with Sora) coming up but for his birthday, we kept it low key and just celebrated at home.
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| Junior bake off, here I come! |
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| That smile :D |
Lastly, Sora has been acting up a bit lately. Lots of emotional outbursts and loss of control. We have been trying to figure out how to help her regain control of herself when things go wrong and also trying to control our own anger and have patience as we watch her spiral into fits of grunting and crying. It's not easy, kids feel lots of strong emotions and they don't know how to control them yet. Still, that's no excuse for poor behavior. I think we might start her in girl scouts soon. Perhaps a mix of new friends, especially girls her age, can help.
I'll did get a chance to take Sora to gymnastics yesterday and it was nice to see her there as she's usually carpooling or Amy takes the girls. She also enjoys piano so I'm glad she's got a couple activities that she can call her own.
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| Almost a hand stand |
Til next time!
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