There was a two week lead up to Halloween.. it first started with Kai's preschool field trip to the pumpkin patch. Kai got to ride in a little bus to a nearby pumpkin patch which was essentially an empty space in a parking lot with a lot of inflatables. Needless to say, a toddler doesn't need much more than that and Kai had a lot of fun although he was a bit apprehensive on the big slide. Nik joined as a parent chaperone.
Hangin' with his new bestie, Ethan
The next day, we went to the Perry Pumpkin Patch next to Ardenwood Farms with the Lais. It was fun but crowded and to be honest, the kids preferred Ardenwood Farms since it wasn't as crowded and there were animals.
So what to do with all those pumpkins acquired from the pumpkin patches? Decorate them, of course! We opted to paint them this year so the kids could do it on their own with relative independence. It was a mess.. but the kids enjoyed it.
Ta-da! The finished products.. err..
The kids celebrated Halloween with our small group friends with some Halloween cookie decorating. The kids loved eating the cookies, frosting, and sprinkles.. though most of the actual decorating was done by the grown ups.
This year, the kids dressed up as characters from the Octonauts, Kai's favorite (and therefore, Sora's favorite) cartoon. Kai was Kwazii, a cat pirate, and Sora was Peso, a penguin medic. The kids wore their costumes to church and daycare/preschool for a test run.
Evelyn's also an Octonauts fan
We went trick or treating with the Ngs.. little did we know, but only a couple of streets away from us is a Halloween hot spot. There were lots of folks out, sitting in front of their houses, fire pits burning, ready with bowls of candy, and some pretty elaborate decorations. The most popular house served cupcakes, hot chocolate, and coffee. It was a fun night out, albeit a bit chaotic trying to keep track of the kids. Though we brought the double stroller, Sora refused to sit in it and was stubbornly determined to walk around on her own. Since she is so petite, we got a lot of comments from people who were amazed that she could walk up the stairs on her own and say, "trick or treat!" While the kids were initially very enthusiastic about their candy haul, they quickly forgot about it.
Sora doesn't know what to make of this giant Clifford
Unbeknownst to us, they broke into their candy stash
We helped celebrate Kayla's birthday with dim sum brunch and balloons; it's so cute to see Kayla and Sora together since they're so close in age and almost the exact same size.
Our seventh wedding anniversary was also in October. Since we had two days off together, we decided to go on two midday dates while the kids were away. The first day was a flashback to our wedding day as we went wine tasting at Ruby Hill, the winery where we got married. The next day we celebrated with ramen and bowling.
Not bad for an iPhone propped up against a column
A long time ago, I had purchased a voucher for a gondola ride on Lake Merritt, so keeping in mind that these things expire, we figured it was high time to use it. It was novel, but not extraordinary.. the gondolier had a nice voice but only sang twice on our 60 minute tour. Perhaps it would be more "magical" around sunset? Even so, it's always nice to try something new and we got meet up with Lin for lunch.
My birthday was a low-key affair, since we were duly depressed after the election, working a lot, and prepping for Sora and Liam's birthday party over the weekend. But we did manage to have some cake.
We held a joint birthday party for Sora and Liam since their birthday are only a month apart and we figured it'd be the same group of friends anyway. It was nice to have a relatively small gathering, it felt a little more sane than our typical parties. Nik broke out the bubble machine and the disco ball, and the kids loved it!
Quality control
Toddler dance party!
The aftermath
To celebrate Minh's birthday, we went out to dinner with the Crew. The kids enjoyed the food, but soon got restless and amused themselves by running back and forth down a (mostly empty) hallway.
Thanksgiving simply does not have the same buildup as either Halloween or Christmas, but we did take a silly picture at the library. The kids also helped me make pies and got to use the hand mixer. My parents hosted this year and as usual, there was way too much food and six different meat dishes on the table.
Thanksgiving bonding time with Vienna jie-jie
Since daylight saving time ended and the weather is now California cold, we don't spend as much time outdoors as we used to. But the kids love the rain and Kai enjoys holding an umbrella.
Fortunately, the kids are also typically easily amused indoors as evidenced by the following video:
There are always things to do around the house.
Little helpers
Our hail Mary: TV zombie time!
The kids now prefer showers to baths.. they fight too much in the bathtub!
Bedtime stories
Or we take them out to random places. The library and pet store are good indoor activities.
No plans to find a replacement for Chubs, but Kai did say that he wants to trade Sora in for 30 mice.
Most weekends are spent hanging out with church friends.
How we get through LSL
Who wants a ride?
And even though there was no church this weekend, we had an impromptu hang out with the Shaws and the Saitos.
Evelyn's chillaxin' while Kai does all the work
We also see my parents every weekend. The kids enjoy walking Brownie and Sora usually lags behind while Kai is up ahead. Sometimes Kai will run back to give Sora a hug and the results are adorable. This year my parents had a bumper crop of persimmons and the kids enjoyed helping Nik pick fruit.
I've been amazed by Kai's progress since he began preschool. He started off as a blank slate and can now identify all the letters and numbers, writes semi-legible letters and numbers, draws, counts in Spanish, and is figuring out phonics and basic arithmetic. Pretty astounding for just over two months of progress. When we ask him what he wants to be when he grows up, he says, "he's a chef, lion, crocodile, bee!" He's tacked on more animals as he's gone on with it.. but I've forgoten the sequence. He's a "by the book" kind of guy and one of the school rules is "be kind to one another," so when Sora (or anyone) bothers him he likes to say, "Sora not being kind to me!"
I know this is redundant, but I can't help it 'cause this gif is just so cute!
Sora seems to not realize that she's 18 months younger than Kai. Anything that Kai can do, Sora thinks she should be able to do as well. She's very adept at climbing up a slide and can do a 36-piece puzzle on her own. When she's done she says, "I did it!" Quite inexplicably, she loves greens like broccoli and spinach, and doesn't like blueberries or persimmon. She also typically discards the egg yolk and opts to only eat the egg white, we joke that she's on a diet but it can be really frustrating at times.
Our little selfie queen
"Mmm.. my favorite!"
The day Chubs died was one of the most stressful days for me. In addition to being sad and sleep deprived, Kai and Sora were both sick. In fact, Kai started wheezing and Nik and I ended up taking him to the hospital to get a nebulizer treatment. Fortunately, Kai did well with it and the kids were rewarded with popsicles. Now Kai seems to think that whenever Nik goes to work all he does is eat popsicles.
"Is this all Baba does at work?"
The next day, we took Chubs to the animal shelter to have him cremated. I let the kids pet him one last time and say goodbye, it was sad but kids' memories are short. When you ask Kai about it now, he'll say matter-a-factly, "Chubs die." The kids enjoyed meeting the dogs and cats at the shelter, and the shelter made a nice paw print memento for us. So far Skinnay seems to be coping, he seems a little more nervous and skittish than usual, but he's still eating, drinking, and running on the wheel, so hopefully that'll pass.
So. many. cats.
Christmas season is now in full swing. We put together our Operation Christmas Child boxes and sent them out, and got the tree up. The kids did most of the decorating themselves! Now, we just need to put lights up on the house.
