Fall Family

 If you run, I will follow...

 If you talk, I will listen...

 If you chase me, I will chase you.

If you grab a stick, I will grab one too.

If you let Daddy blow you with the leaf blower...

 I will see how much fun it is,

and want to feel what you feel.

Love my Fall Family.

Random Fall

 We took a trip up to EDH for Bebe's sealing, African dancing, swimming, and a quick trip to Apple Hill. These are the only 3 pictures I have of the entire trip. Apple Hill was fun as a kid. Now it is just super crowded, and on October 10, it was still super hot.

 We ended up stopping at this little farm because the traffic to High Hill Ranch was so congested.

 Still lots of fun for the kids. Still ate caramel apples and cider donuts.

The Almost Sleepover. 

Ally and Autymn stayed with us for a Friday evening. We ate pizza and watched a movie. We put out sleeping bags, changed into pj's, told ghost stories, and ate cookies and cotton candy. And then at 10pm, their grandpa came and picked them up, cuz that's what happens at an almost sleepover. 

 In other random news...

 Matthew got into the unsweetened cocoa powder,

 Isabella made my bed as a surprise for me one morning in our family's attempt to work on kindness.

 The kids invented new seating for watching movies,

 and Isabella created a spooky spider web tree in the backyard, just in time for Halloween. (and photo cred. goes to her for this one and the selfie below.)

This photo has nothing to do with Fall, but it does have to do with summer, a year ago. I found it in a pile and had to document it somehow.

In Loving Memory...

Dear East of the Sun and West of the Moon,

I will miss you and your ever kind and cheerful heart,

 Your zest for life, vivid imagination, and your beautiful handwritten cards.

I admired your ability to make friends with anyone who crossed your path.

 

I am so glad these good girls will carry on your legacy. I think about you all the time. Thank you for being part of my life.

Love,
PFW

Our Last Harvest

 Only a few vintages ago (I stole that line from a movie), it seemed like harvest was a bigger deal. It happened all in one day, always on a Saturday, (because we were always around)  and everyone would go out in the cold, crisp early morning air to watch the buzz of activity of the collection and transportation of the grapes.

Over the past couple of years, however, the harvesting has been split up over several days, usually during the week. And we don't know when it will happen until we are woken up in the wee hours of the morning by sounds of the rumbling trucks, with their heavy plastic bins crashing into their sides. This will be our last harvest that we will witness in this lovely little vineyard, so I was hoping to relish it.

Not this time.

This year, once again, harvest happened mid-week, over 2-3 days, and in our morning school rush, our time was reduced to watching from afar from the back porch.

It's as if the grapes know we are leaving...

Just kidding. It doesn't warrant that much drama, but I've loved living at the edge of a vineyard for the past 6 years. I will miss it.

The Best Laid Schemes o' Lice an' Men

You would think, with a household of 2 teachers, and two school-aged children, that lice would inevitably worm its way into the follicles of our hairs. (It would.) Yet I personally have made it 41 years (5 of which were spent in the S. Bronx) without head lice, (my parents and brother never having it either) Overtime, I subconsciously grew to believe that I must have inherited a head lice-resistant gene (because of course one exists), which I passed on to my children. I mean, this school year alone we have already received 2 exposure notices from M's preschool, 2 notices from I's classroom, and I know of 2 cases in my own classroom...and yet we soldiered on, unscathed. That is until last Sunday, when I noticed Isabella doing some serious scratching behind her ears and at the back of her neck. She protested being checked (clearly, she too believed, subconsciously, that her hair was genetically resistant to lice).

Lice Lesson #1: Resistance is futile, or say those little buggers.

Lice Lesson #2: Ridding one's hair of lice is kind of like having one's hair colored, and then highlighted  (but without the foil...or the color). There is a cream rinse shampoo, a waiting period in which you get to read trashy literature (I mean have you read Alice in Wonderland?), a rinse, a laborious combing process in which 2 inch sections of hair are combed through again and again,  another rinse, and voila! Beautiful, shiny hair--peppered with dead lice carcasses. Just like going to the salon!

Of course, getting your hair colored or highlighted does not require you to wash down your ENTIRE house, so really treating lice is nothing like getting your hair done.

Having lice wasn't all so bad, at least for Isabella. She got to stay up late and watch Matilda and eat Halloween candy early, during the comb out process. She missed school the next day and got some brand new hair accessories.

Not one to have HIS thunder stolen, Matthew decided to take a sharpie to the hardwood floor while we were busy attending to Isabella's head of hair. Just add it to the clean up list...

Happy Birthdays!

 September 5, 2015: Mark's birthday. He and my  Dad were on their way to a football game, when Mom and I discovered their tickets on the kitchen table. Pablo and his timeliness gene were not happy. Birthday Boy saved the day, though. He hatched some wild plan involving email and a local print shop.  They made it and Cal won. Mark probably made that happen, too.

 Isabella decorated.

October 8, 2015: Matthew's Birthday. Not one to have her thunder stolen, Isabella magically appeared in Matthew's Good Morning Four Year Old!!! birthday photo.

Nana and Papa gave Matthew a Thomas birthday card. And a shopping cart. Which we later had to store in our closet when he decided to use it as a WMD.  It's just a phase. (you know, the WMD phase)

 My birthday was 3 days later, so we had a family b'day celebration at Mom and Dad's house. Mom made Chicken Cordon Bleu and got a chocolate caramel cake that was soooooo delicious!!

Leftovers

 Summer blooms from our rose bushes.

The Helper.

Firsts

 First day of second grade.

 First Friday of second grade; first time wearing her new dress.








 First day of preschool.

 

First pair of glasses for both. 

Update: Matthew's glasses are already back in the lab for repairs; Isabella is comfortable wearing hers for a few minutes at school each day. (progress!)

First 10 year anniversary. Nothing like a new wedding ring (his) and a cinnabon at the mall to celebrate.