The girl plans ahead

Someone saw Santa last night....A 2nd attempt. We went the first time and the line was a mile long, Mom was cranky and the kids were in clothes came straight from daycare. Roman with a hole in his pants. "Roman!"

When we went the next time Roman refused to go, but Zoe talked me into sitting in on a picture. Note the hole in the knee. "Mom!"

Waiting in line was well worth getting this shot though. 

After I told Santa I wanted a pouting shot he commented "Oh, I like those".

Roman should have come with!

Halloween

At the Mall of America in front of the stage Dad decorated.

Site of a costume contest.

The lab - time to make gack (or some similarly titled ooey gooey stuff)

Mummy wrapping fun. Zoe is being wrapped (far right) an Roman is wrapping up someone else (far left).

I love this.

Carved by the kids with a little itty bitty help from Dad.

We missed a year, but we did get out to see Jannie and Gordon, and the new additions this year, Mika.

Trick or treating cowgirl. We got some new boots since Zoe likes boots. Not exactly cowboy boots, but it worked.

Except when we went out she decided to wear winter boots.

With Vader.

Quite the 'take'

crazy!

A kindergarten concert

The kids both took part in a concert at a nursing home down the block from their school.

And they each got paired up with a resident and got to share a couple of cookies :)

We didn't get to go, but I'm sure glad the teachers keep a photo blog!

We did get to hear about it, and is typical Zoe was more forthcoming with stories than Roman. Boys.)

Cookie Baking Helpers

For Christmas we had to make a batch of one of Dad's favorite: Peanut Butter Blossums. Zoe also helped with Russian Tea Cakes and Melting Moments, which R & Z helped deliver to our neighbors. 

Roman helped find alternative uses for kitchen utensils.

Kindergarten artwork!

I love it.

This week we got to go into school and meet the kindergarten teachers for a status check.

Status: they are both recognizing letters and numbers at a level they are expected to be at by the end of the year. Reading. Doing well.  I guess we knew that based on what we see them do at home, but it's always nice to hear it, and it's nice to visit the place they spend their day and talk to their teachers.

And see some art work.

This one was outside Roman's classroom. Roman's teacher Ms. Z said he took his time with this one. 

She says she calls him the little scientist. And this Sunday morning when Zoe crawled in our bed and turned on PBS kids, I had to thank the Wild Kratts for that. 

It's truly amazing what they can learn on tv. 

I love PBS.

And I try to tell the kids that no matter how old you are, you can always learn. I like to learn.

It's always fun to see what they pick on library day at school. We see a lot of non-fiction, a lot of books about animals. Not that we always read them (bad momma), but we try.

And I love it when they tell me about what they learned. We were all amazed that they took a look at owl pellets this fall. Ms. Z said she had a hard time dragging Roman away from it.

In the hall Roman's class also had mittens, with all different kinds of symmetrical designs on them.

Dad thought this looked like a turtle...it does!

Ms. Zoe's reindeer was hung up in her room.

We got a peak at Zoe's journal too. Every morning they can start their day by drawing and writing in their journal. This to me is most precious, and a trip down memory lane.  She started her journal with a picture of me and her visiting the Barbie House at the Mall of America. A picture of us as a family at the ice cream shop (hey, that was a few months ago, I remember that). A picture of deer in our backyard (last week!).

Halloween!

Batgirl.

And our neighborhood Zombie Ninja, Matthew.

All dressed up for the party hosted by our neighbor.

An opportunity for the kids to show off their costumes.

Gavin, Matthew, Zoe, Gabe and Roman.

I think was the first time the kiddos took the responsibility for prepping and carving their own pumpkin.

Roman's. The classic.

He's already made suggestions for improvement next year.

Zoe and Roman's. 

Zoe's is a princess, complete with tiara and necklace.

And eyelashes.

Dressed for the party at school. 

Mermaid and Spiderman. Why stay consistent?!

I think we were all excited to trick or treat in our new neighborhood and when Matthew's mom asked if the 5 kids on the court wanted to do it together, we were in!

Matthew, Roman, Zoe, Gabe and Gavin.

Zoe's bus buddy Keira also ran into us as we started and joined the fun. 

It was cold. It afforded Zoe the opportunity to dress up as what she originally wanted to be: a witch. With a winter coat on the Hat was all that mattered. And the cape. It worked out. 

As you can see. Wow!

The candy. And Grandma Candy stayed and passed out candy while we were having fun going door to door.

The morning after. 

Without any sort of prompt he dumped his candy and started organizing it.

And when he had to take it off the table he put it in 3 bags: chocolate, fruity and sticky (this I think had two things: rice crispie bar and peanut butter blossom/taffy thing).

That's my boy.

Christmas 2013 at home

Who's the last one up on Christmas morning?

BUT, to be fair, who is the one who went in the top bunk with Roman when he woke up crying in the middle of Christmas morning/night to soothe him? Dad. And stayed there (and Roman slept soundly thereafter...or until 6 am).

Patiently waiting....but asking "when can we open the presents" about 5 billion times. Do I exaggerate? Only by adding 4,999,999,875 to the real number. (Did I get that right? I don't work in the billions very often)

It's a hoedown.

Or Zo down.

Thanks to Liz and Kevin.

What parent doesn't want a mini accordion for their kid (Roman, actuallly)?!

Or a horse riding Darth Vader?

By the way, Darth is for the big kid in the house, although Roman is suddenly taking an interest in all things Star Wars. He watched the movie (epidsode 4, the first one released) just last week with his Dad. Not sure there will be many surprises since a) he knows Luke and Leia are twins and b) he quotes "Luke I am your Father". But I think it meant a lot to Mike that you watched it with him. Zoe started to do so, but it was 'too loud' (just the way Dad has to watch it) and wasn't too interested. She came into the bedroom with me and chatted while I worked on the computer. When the cantina scene came up and the music played our ears perked up. For the longest time this was Dad's ringtone, so we both thought his phone was ringing. but when it dawned on me this was from the actual movie playing in the living room I told Zoe to go check it out. I know I always liked  that part, and that music was somehow compelling when I was a kid.

So there.

Zoe and her Rapunzel, much requested this season (along with a bunch of other things) and gifted to her by Grandma Candy. We'd seen this at Costco several times this year (along with Darth, above) and Zoe had her heart set on it (again, among may other things).  The other long awaited item was the horse, also in the picture. Since she got the doll to go on it, she could finally have the horse.  Roman was heavy on the Legos and Playmobil sets this year. He's a constructor.

Happy Halloween!

From Mr. Hotwheels Driver and Frankie Stein from Monster High.

 

You guys got dressed up for a Halloween Party at the Community Center this past Saturday.

Games.

Prizes. Candy. Oh boy, it's SO EXCITING.

And then a visit to the other side of town...

 

To Jannie and Gordon's house.

A favorite haunt around Halloween.

Entertainment by Jannie.

Kisses from Matisse (it used to be Roman that got the attention, this year it was Zoe!) 

Quite the place to be :)

And one of my favorite spots to take a picture on Halloween, maybe because we took one of my favorite Halloween picture here when you were just over 1 year old.

Matisse wanted a solo portrait.

Okay, you got it!