Fall Fun and Field Trips :)

The fall came really fast this year--I feel like it was hot and sticky, and then boom, we were in sweaters and the leaves started falling. Was there a transition and I just missed it? Anyway, even with the cooler weather, we try to get out as much as possible since last winter's crazy snow kept us inside so much and we got major cabin fever.

They both enjoy crunching the leaves up so much. Cole also tries to eat the leaves...yum yum!

So we try to keep him elevated in swings and such ;)

We used Addie's water table and made it into a leaf table! Here Addie is making "leaf soup"

Add one baby and stir well.


This fall also brought some field trips!

Addie had her first field trip for school to an apple orchard. Addie listening to instructions from her teacher. She was so proud to wear a name tag.

While we were waiting for our farm guide, Addie started an impromptou ring-a-round-the-rosie game with some girls from her class.



Short kids, big wheel.

Checking out the pig pen

Taking the hay ride out to the orchard

Picking apples low...
...and WAY up high ;) Addie wasn't in the best mood because there were bees around, and even though our farm guide said to just blow on the bees, she would freak out....you know what they say about bees and fear....thankfully no one got stung!

Pumpkin patch picture---both kids were hungry hence the looks--that's Addie's "Oh mom, not another picture" smile

By the way, school is going MUCH better. Addie still gets "emotional" when I drop her off, but is usually fine for the rest of the day, with an odd minute or so of crying during a transition here and there. But overall I would say it's a HUGE success.


We took a family field trip out to Butler's Orchard for their Fall Festival. Addie had fun riding a John Deere trike.

Addie had ice cream and Cole ate a plastic cupWe all took a trip down the big slides. Cole was kind of confused.
But Addie had a blast :)

We played a few games


Then Addie rode (and got stuck up in) a giant tractor

The line for the hayride was always so long so we kept saying "eh, she just went on a hayride for the apple orchard" so we didn't push it. Well, we had been telling Addie that we were going to pick out a pumpkin and didn't realize until we were leaving that the hayride takes you TO the pumpkin patch. Oops. :) As you saw in the Halloween post, we did manage to find some pumpkins to turn into Jack O' Lanterns, I found them at a really cool pumpkin patch also known as "Trader Joe's"--they have other treats there, too ;)

Another fun field trip was to a local firestation with my Rockville Mom's Group. Steve was glad it was on a day he got out early so he could come along--I'm not sure who was more excited ;)




And just a few weeks before Addie's birthday (yes, she turned 3--be patient with me, I'm just a few posts behind ;) she wrote her name! I had written her name on a paper above it so she did have it there in front of her to reference, and it looks more like Hodie than Addie, but I was still very very impressed :)

Happy Halloween 2010!

If you know us, you know that the Silvestros LOVE Halloween. The season kicked off last week when Addie and I made Pumpkin Pie Playdoh. It smells SO good.


Addie decided a few months back that she wanted to be Curious George. Even if she wanted to be George just for that one day, she didn't realize that the balls had started rolling in her mommy and daddy's head to come up with a good family ensemble costume to accompany George. Last week she decided to be a cheerlearer. Sorry, chica, the decision was done, no more mind-changing like last year.

So we hit the thrift store, Target, the fabric store, and Michaels craft store to pull it all together. Here Addie and Steve are "cooking up" some of Steve's costume.


Addie all dressed up as Curious George for the Halloween parade at school on Thursday. Note, the mask was no longer part of her costume after this picture.


Trying to get a group of 10 two-to-three-year-olds together for one picture is the true definition of chaos.

At least we got a cute picture in!

Grandpa Gabi came for a visit over Halloween weekend! I honestly don't think anyone in the world but Addie could have convinced him to wear a blue wig, a scarf, and a bracelet. No, he did not wear this trick-or-treating :)


Cole having a giggle with Gabi

Cheese!

Gaga, Dan, and Gabi came over Halloween morning to sample some of Steve's famous pancakes and to help carve Jack o' Lanterns


Dan kept Cole safe from the little knives and pumpkin seeds

Check out our cool o'lanterns!
The fam left and we all napped. Then we headed out while it was still light out to put spiderwebs all over our bushes.


While we were webbing up our house, we bundled Cole up in this adorable pumpkin outfit.

A natural little model


We had mummified sausages and goblin fingers for dinner.


Addie and I working on a special treat...

..."Ghost" bananas for dessert

Oh you want to see the rest of our costumes? Okay :) Last night we went to our friend Kate's Halloween party and debuted the ensemble....

From left to right: Starring Cole as a Chiquita Banana (you know, cuz Monkeys eat bananas...), Steve as The Man in the Yellow Hat (Curious George's lovable, but somewhat irresponsible owner), Monica as an "Animal Control" representative, and...of course, Ms. Adeline Eve as the cheeky monkey, Curious George.


And then we had a photo shoot at home tonight before trick-or-treating

George eyeing the delicious little banana

George and his friend, the Man with the Yellow Hat

George, about to be captured by animal control

Animal control doesn't want to take George away from his friend, Animal control just wants to give the Man the "Idiot's Guide to Responsible Pet Ownership." Man with the Yellow Hat, please stop randomly disappearing so your monkey can make trouble and then showing up at the last minute AFTER George has already redeemed himself

One last family shot (thank you, self-timer! Addie took the above shot--not bad, eh?) before heading out.


We all headed out to the neighborhood for Addie's first real trick-or-treating experience! Cole and I only stayed for the first handful of houses. Then our little banana started smelling questionable, so home we went to change a diaper and hand candy out to the other kiddos in the neighborhood.


Addie had a BLAST and couldn't wait to get into her loot.


I'm happy to report that even after 4 pieces of candy before bed, she fell fast asleep, PHEW!

We kept telling Cole that he isn't old enough to eat candy yet, but that didn't stop him from trying. Over and over and OVER again. Caught in the act :)

So all in all, Halloween 2010 was a blast. This day kicks off the holiday season, so it sounds like we're in for a couple months of fun, food, and family! Bring it on!

7 months And T-minus 3 weeks till 3

Wait, who's 7 months already?

That's right...Cole is! Can you believe it? (please pretend I didn't just publish his 6 month update less than a week ago...thanks).


He has had some rough times lately pushing out 1 tooth and another is on the way. OUCH. The other night he went down around 7:30 pm as usual, but woke up at 10pm crying. We spent a good 2 hours doing everything we could think of to try and get him to sleep and finally at midnight I gave up and brought him down to tire him out for an hour. Yes, this is him happy as a clam in the middle of the night. Kid's going to be a partier.


Cole has been a sitting champ since before 5 months, but we always had to put him in that position. Until one morning we come in to find him already sitting.


Yes, we have lowered the crib mattress already--don't want him learning to pull up and over!


This kid is all over the place--he can make it across the room and you're not even sure how it happened--sometimes he scoots on his butt, and other times he just keeps pivoting all the way around on his stomach. He's not "officially" crawling but it's pretty imminent--he gets up on all 4's all the time and I think I saw a coordinated hand-knee movement today, but I'm not quite sure.


He's an eating machine these days. He was fussing through meals of purees so we gave him some "finger foods" of well-cooked apples and carrots, and the boy shoveled it in his mouth by himself like a pro. Here he is trying to eat this giganto squash that I got at a farmer's market. He preferred it in a much softer state.



He also likes baby mumum crackers...of course. His sister was obsessed with them at his age. The stuffed animal in his hand is his lovey "Chewy" (same type of stuffed toy as Addie's lovey Hiccup. We named him Chewy because he chews on it...and because Steve is a Star Wars dork ;). We have a spare (because you should always have a spare lovey!) and Addie calls him "Extra Chewy" which makes us laugh.



Cole LOVES water. Seriously, it's like he's been in the dessert every time he gets a hold of his sippy cup. And if you get a glass of water for yourself, he laughs in delightful anticipation the whole time you're pouring it and then cries if you don't share.

Lots of love in the house :)






And Ms. Adeline will be 3 in a few short weeks!

She is hilarious and has a wonderful imagination. Here she is "mowing" the lawn with her tricycle--she was at it diligently for a good 10 minutes.


She has a handful of imaginary friends named Wap, LehLeh (said with your tongue out slightly), YehYeh (said with the corners of your mouth pulled down slightly), Goldilocks, and Eggy (the newest member of the group). Her friends follow us everywhere (they are often in the car behind us while driving somewhere). Today we got in the car and immediately said "I'm hungry" so I pulled out a bag of the scrambled eggs she refused to eat at breakfast (yeah, I know, I'm mean) and she politely said "no thank you." When I said "I thought you said you were hungry" she responded with "No, I said LEH LEH was hungry, mommy." My mistake.

School has gotten a lot better--drop offs are still rough, but she does good during the day. She also loves playing school at home. There are papers with markings ALL OVER the house.


And she still loves LOVES ballet class. I'm not one to brag (who am I kidding? This whole blog is bragging about my kids) but the other day the teacher said "Class, watch how Addie does it" when doing a particular jump.


She has her own unique sense of style--adding "flair" to her outfits all the time :)

True to her age, Addie can be pretty grumpy still, especially after waking up (she's going to be the type that needs coffee before morning coherency), but overall she's in a much better place than she was during her terrible twos (which started quite early) and the few months after Cole was born that she was completely out of sorts. Steve has been teaching her to meditate and she's doing awesome at taking deep breaths to calm herself down from the waves of emotions that can take over this little cavegirl ;)

But most of all, she's still a lovely, cuddly, snugglebug. She loves to give kisses, make jokes, laugh, dance, sing, and read with her daddy.



A few recent favorite lines:

"Mommy, will you do me a favorite?"

"Well, I'm almost a grown-up acuz I have hair on my legs"

During bath one night, Addie and I were playing Cinderella and Fairy Godmother. I broke character to attend to a fussy Cole and Addie says "Fairy Godmother, I didn't know you had a baby"

Addie was cleaning up and Steve thanked her and she responded with "My pleasure"

No, my lovely, it is ours---all ours :)