Extra Long 'It's Almost Halloween!' Post

We've been reading many books and telling stories about Halloween with Lucas, and now he can't wait to go trick-or-treating tomorrow!

In the meantime, we've been celebrating the season by:

Sporting cute owl onesies and Halloween bibs...

Learning how to use new tools to make Halloween-themed cookies...

Decorating...

Or, more precisely, gobbing on the frosting and sprinkles...

And last week we drew on pumpkins while waiting for the pizza delivery...

Lucas helped to make Jesse's pumpkin as well:

He gave my unoriginal pumpkin some extra flair and a uni-brow:

Papi's cute pumpkin:

More pumpkins... Isaac and Jesse at our church Halloween party last Saturday (photos by the lovely Robyn). Poor Lucas was home feeling very sick, so Mama and Jesse went to play...

Jesse's Halloween costume for tomorrow requires him to sit in a stroller, which I knew he wouldn't tolerate in a big room filled with silly, running kids to follow around. So we dressed him as an Obama/Biden campaigner. The front of his shirt is covered in signs that represent 'world, 'peace', 'heart,' and 'happy.' We threw in an Obama button to bring the message home:

Click here for some more Halloween inspiration. Hurray for Halloween!

"Just Like Papi"

This was just too sweet. I found the other day an old hotel razor blade that we picked up during one of our travels a while back ago. The actual blade slides off so that what remains still resembles a razor and it twists up and down like a tube of lipstick. I thought Lucas would love the twisting mechanism.

But when I gave it to him, he knew exactly what it was and marched straight to the bathroom, pulled up the stopper, turned on the water, and did a tap-tap-tap along the side of the sink bowl like his Papi does. And then he pretend-shaved and said, "Just like Papi!"

Who knew he was paying attention?

7 Months

Hello, beautiful baby. Yesterday you turned 7 months old.


Since you are not only crawling but wanting so badly to pull yourself up and climb up things (most notably your big brother while he's playing on the floor), we decided last week that it was time to move you to your own big crib to give you plenty of room to romp around.


You love it! We keep little hand toys in the corner for you to find, and every day we hear you making singing noises to them when you wake up from your naps.

But we miss you. You're only 1 foot away from the edge of our bed, and yet your silly parents want you closer once again.


Last month was a big one for you! Your first airplane ride and meeting extended family, first solid foods, two teeth, sitting up and crawling, your baptism...

Now what's next, little one? We can't wait to see!

Charleston- III

A visit with J-Bo and Pam, old friends from our Guatemala days (who happen to also live in Charleston)...



...and their gorgeous 4-week old Maggie:


Playing hide-n-seek in the sand dunes...


Lucas is so darn athletic and quick -- we probably took a dozen shots alone of him running and frolicking on the beach...


Papi's not so bad himself...


Mama hanging out with her J-Bird...



And one last photo of a special moment between Jesse, Bobo and Pawpaw....


(Click on the album link at the top right column to see many more pictures.)

Lucas kept telling us that he didn't want to say good-bye, even after we arrived back home in Brooklyn. It's always hard to leave the beach and the people you love. *sigh*

BUT Mema and Mempa would be back to visit along with Abuelo and Abuela in just a few days for Jesse's baptism. Hang on tight to see some of those pictures soon...

Charleston - II

Mema and Mempa would tirelessly go back and forth to the shore to fetch buckets of water for Lucas to dump into his pool. Grandparents are so good at being patient...



Most days were REALLY windy, so Jesse never lasted long on the beach...



Lucas enjoys tracing letters and can identify/spell his own name as well Jesse's!

Jesse with Aunt Judy and Uncle Johnny. The way Aunt Judy was holding Jesse obstructed his view of Uncle Johnny, and a game of peek-a-book was unintentionally started...

Keeping busy during rainy afternoons...

Rainy days are perfect for a visit to the Aquarium...

One last batch of photos to come tomorrow...

Charleston

Two weeks ago (was it that long ago already?!) we visited Mema and Mempa, who live on the beautiful Isle of Palms in Charleston, SC. There are too many fun pictures to share in one post, so I think I'll post several over the weekend and then will later put up a link to an album on the top right for you to see more.

Even with the beach just a few meters away, one of the first things Lucas wanted to do when we arrived from the airport was to read on the porch with Mema the exciting library books she checked out for us...

Always smiling, that Jesse -- although I think this time Mempa might have been encouraging him with a good tickle...

Playing with the same toys that Papi played with as a child...

We talked about this red wagon for weeks before visiting. I wonder if riding it was even better than he imagined...

We had a couple of days of nonstop rain and some more days of spotty rain, but every free chance Lucas had was spent playing in the sand...

Soooo happy...



Jesse and Bobo. One of the reasons we went to visit was for Jesse to finally meet his great-grandparents.

Papi, Jesse and Pawpaw. What a gift it is to see your children together with their great-grandparents...

That's probably enough for now. More tomorrow...