we did simple halloween costumes this year…meaning i was not required to glue, sew, pin, or cut a single thing! i like that. after all was said and done, i realized that i didn’t get a single photo of my girls together. way to go. oh well, they are still cute anyway.
here’s my little garden gnome:

and her sister, christine o’donnell…

here’s most of the kids:

we trick or treated in a different neighborhood and it was great! there was no stress about losing kids and scary houses. the neighborhood we went to last year was over the top and this year they had homes featured on hgtv, so we decided not go there again. great time. great friends.

i have to admit, visiting the pumpkin patch when it was 85° out was a little strange. we don’t take fall photos in tights and boots and cute sweaters – it’s short sleeve halloween t-shirts and sunglasses. it’s just not right. poor stella was over-dressed in long sleeves – but it sure is a cute shirt!

we still made the best of it…even with the harsh sunlight. (hence the photo below. i know the light is way too hot, but i just love the photo anyway. her eyes look stunning and i like her expression.)

i just love dave’s. we went there last year too. it’s not to far away and they have all the attractions with out being too crazy busy the entire month of october. plus, they shoot pumpkins out of a canon. how can you beat that?!

pony rides are always a hit.

they have a field of pre-picked pumpkins and a pick your own option, which is nice.

they also have a huge field of various varieties of sunflowers…so pretty! i think i could have stayed there all day. (less dust out there too.)

it was near impossible to get my girls to pose together for a photo amongst the pumpkins…so i settled for them each alone. it’s all about compromise, right?

so, there you have it, our super sunny “fall” visit to the pumpkin patch. it was a great day – even if we were sweating through it!

stella started preschool. she started one week after anya started kindergarten. so, every for a week she would ask: “mama, is it my turn to go to MY school today?”
“soon, baby. soon”
“but i’m not a BABY! i go to preschool!”

she’s right. she’s not a baby. so many times i’ve asked this question. how does it happen? i still can’t figure it out.

this is not the same preschool i sent anya to. this one is parent participation. so far it’s great. i have just one day a week in the class. and she goes 2 days without me.

she loves preschool. they measure all the kids the first day and then the last day to see how they’ve grown. how cute is that?!

(my little stella is the shortest of the lot!)

each day they get to move their name from “i’m at home” to “i’m at school.”

on the day the parent works in the classroom, each kid gets to bring a “share” (show and tell.) stella brought her baby photo album which has pictures of her first week of life. she loves looking at it and was so proud to share it with her classmates.

she has a couple of great friends in the class too.

happy first day of preschool stella! you will always be my baby girl!

“mommy, i’m a little bit shy to go to kindergarten.” these were her words on our way to the first day of kindergarten. she’s been looking forward to this day for at least a year.

here she is all ready to go. she picked out her lunch: bagel thin with cream cheese and canadian bacon, grapes, cheese crackers, chocolate chip cookie, and water.

she has a good friend ryder in her class (and another good friend aiden in another class), so i think that helped her be less nervous.

i think this is going to be a great year for anya. she’s so enthusiastic about learning.

she is going to do great things.

i love you anya – happy first day of kindergarten!

we got a wild hair and planned a trip at 11pm the night before we hit the road. it was my birthday weekend and john wanted us to all go to the coast – both for my birthday and to get out of the 100°+ temps! so off i went on the interwebs to find a place to stay in san luis obispo or san simeon. much to my dismay, i wasn’t finding anywhere to stay…everything booked?! what was going on? ah ha! renaissance faire…now i get it. well, we decided to roll with it and go there too (i mean how many other times in my life will i get to see a jousting match?) after finding a place and booking around midnight, it was time to get some shut-eye for our big 5 hour drive in the morning.

i love san simeon. it’s one of the first places john and i went on a road trip when we first started dating. it has great memories. we headed to jade beach which is filled with tons of rocks. i love sitting and just watching the ocean and helping the kids find “treasures” on the beach.

after the beach, we went back to the motel and decided to take the girls to the pool. (i have no photos because i didn’t feel like risking my camera around the pool.)

the pool made us all hungry so we made plans to have dinner with our niece natasha in slo. i’m so glad we got to spend a little time with her!

the next morning (my birthday!) we got up early and decided to pass on the continental breakfast at our motel – how do they get pastries to be that color? i swear they had turmeric in them – they were yellow! anyway…natasha also works at a great cafe, sally loo’s. so, off we went and had breakfast there with jessie! our other lovely niece – so great to see her too! i’m so glad those girls are doing well and enjoying their college life. we miss you though!!

now, the “ren faire”. wow, such great people watching. this is a total lifestyle choice for some. again, i didn’t get a ton of photos (too busy watching the kids.)

we had a great time – i think the kids really enjoyed it. they each got to ride on a horse (we were informed numerous times that the horse stella was on was NOT a pony but a miniature horse – well maybe you should take down your “pony rides” sign!)

anyway we also watched belly dancing and a jousting match. stella fell asleep in the stroller, so i didn’t get up close to see the jousting, but john took anya up close and she loved it!

it was a fun weekend (except the driving part) and i’m glad we are so spur of the moment sometimes!