Growing food

I love that the growing season is so long here in So Cal (it was 80 degrees yesterday and is expected to be 78 degrees today!). We've had a pretty good year so far.

GIANT lemons:

Neat eggplant to cook with the homegrown basil:

Oodles of pomegranates that were juiced--who knew you could just cut them in half and squeeze like...well...like a giant lemon?

Oh, and the carrots. They didn't do so well this year.

I wonder why...

Disney days 31-39

The truth is that I have little interest in lugging around my giant camera during every Disney excursion. But I started taking pictures on the first few trips and now I can't stop...I mean, the year is so close to ending and I just want to finish out this year. Because I'm an obsessive-compulsive freak. They're not even good photos, but I have to have them! What drives me to behave in this nonsensical way!?!

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"Mama, I drew this--take a picture NOW!"

The boys have made a habit of holding up their art. A2 is still scribbling, but A1 is making some pretty cool stuff, like this excessively-wheeled, multi-window fire engine and planet earth.

A1 has been inspired by our blow up solar system of NINE (9!) planets.

But no worries, he's not always buried in his space exploration books. He's often out digging in the dirt and bringing me neat bugs too.

San Diego Zoo

I really enjoy this field trip, but rarely make the drive because it's just too much time in the car. We even have to stop midway--here is James taking a picture of me taking a picture of him. We're an iterative kind of family like that.

Waste Management tour

Sitting in the classroom, learning about conservation:

No one seems interested in the group shot:

It was so good, even James took the morning off from work to attend.

A picture is worth...17 or 18 words

Photos go cheap on this blog. These images have no cohesive theme nor do they need actual narrative; they're just of the boys doing their thing.

And frankly, I'm often happier when I capture the boys doing their thing than when I've taken a photo of some so-called special event.

A2 likes to tuck brightly-colored autumn leaves behind his ear.

Quick breads are quickly eaten.

On the way to school on Picture Day. And just so you understand how monstrously tall A1 is, his buddy is actually half a year older than him.

Leave a comment after you see this post or I will let A1 attack you with his killer forehead.

Bean art. Some of the truest artistic expressions come from children. And pinto beans. And maybe some glitter on top.

Homemade frozen bananas mean that good times are a-comin'.

Typical weekend?

Sometimes we cram far too much into a single weekend. I know there are times when we skid from "enriching" right into "overstimulating" and this was one of them!

Friday AM: Pumpkin patch (yes, I'm two months behind in posting photos!)

The little ones were having so much fun...and poor A1 is wondering why there are only 3 cutouts!

But he quickly recovers when his buddy arrives and after having the horsey to himself.

You know what happens when you make kids pose for too many pictures?

This:

That's okay, I got a cute one of A2 on the tractor-pulled hay ride.

Friday PM: City fair

The sky was so neat that night!

Happy guy in front with all the cotton candy; sad guy in back wondering what happened to his share.

All in all, a nice evening with friends and neighbors.

Saturday AM: Orange County Fire Authority open house

Saturday afternoon: Global Village fair in neighboring city

Sunday: Book fair

In addition to the cool books and authors, there were lots of interesting crafts and a train display!

The great big Halloween-themed post

Because 1) I'm a lazy poster, 2) I'm an avid photographer of my own children, and 3) I need to clear out my "To be blogged" folder of Halloween photos since it's almost Christmas, following will be a smorgasbord of Halloween-y goodness.

This is our first visit to the pumpkin patch. It's followed by photos of the park, because...well...there are only so many photos of the boys I can take!

Here we have the A1 running (flying around) in his semi-homemade costume--he's actually completely in the air in that last photo!

Our local chapter of MOMS Club rocks! One of the best traditions they have is BOO! We get surprise Halloween packages on our doorstep and then find out who were are to BOO in turn. One of the coolest items in our basket this year were some candy rings.

The boys went to their school for an evening of pumpkin decorating. Can I say that allowing preschoolers and wobbly toddlers to prance around at night with sharp toothpicks is not necessarily the best idea in the world (A2's puncture wound not pictured here).

After dropping A1 at school, their grandma and I took A2 back to the pumpkin patch per his demand...err...request.

We started with the decorations pretty early this year. For some reason, A2 got really sassy with his big brother and blew a raspberry at him! A1 was pretty ticked off but A2 didn't back down. There are no photos of what ensued because, um, I had to put down the camera very quickly. That's okay, I calmed A1 back down by getting him to read the signs. He was pretty pleased with himself.

We went to a pretty cool Halloween party, and I brought homemade jack-o-lantern shaped fudge. And for some reason, Superman (whom I'd considered rather passe) was very popular. There was even an unpictured Supergirl running around.

Almost immediately afterward, we had a school Halloween party.

And when November came, we took down the pumpkins and immediately put up the Christmas lights. We like to get the best bang for our buck and effort!

Phew! So endth this post!

Hammer art

Take a piece of paper:

Add a few dollops of paint and plastic wrap:

Then hammer and smoosh away.

Hmm...this post would be much better had I the forethought to snap a photo of the completed project with the plastic warp peeled off.

Catalina Island

We took this trip on a weekend that also happened to be when A1 was assigned his class "pet" Missy the Cat. I think he had a pretty good time showing her around.

James decided to give Missy a ride and then A1 followed suit.

This photo doesn't say anything about the trip, but, you know, would make me feel guilty if I didn't include it.

So how much looking at others' vacation slideshows is the epitome of a boring evening, but looking at photos on someone's blog is exciting and voyeuristic? Or...maybe I'm just kidding myself!