Month: November 2011

Weekend at Jamma’s, Part II

Sunday brought us some rain, temps too chilly for the pool and a trip to the Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert. Fun ensued.

First, how cute is this spontaneous hand-holding on the way to the museum entrance?

Sweet boys heading into the museum

On the motorcycle.

Riding the motorcycle

Making a pizza.

Finn makes a pizza

Shopping.

Ezra does some shopping

Finn shops

Painting.

Ezra paints the car

Examining a bird at the veterinary clinic.

Finn examines the bird

Taking the bird for a walk.

Finn takes the bird for a walk

And finally, running around like crazy people with hula hoops.

So much fun

Kick

After a quick hodgepodge dinner, we headed home and hit a crazy storm — pouring rain, lightning that lit up the whole sky, pounding hail that created hail berms in between the freeway lanes. Scary but interesting, and best of all we made it home safe and sound. Thanks, Jamma!

Weekend at Jamma’s, Part I

We finally got our Jamma weekend before she heads back to Belize next week. The boys couldn’t wait to see her. Before we left our house Friday afternoon, Finn made me go back in to get his haircutting gear because he just had to give her a new ‘do. Shortly after we got there, he and Ezra sorted all the tools and started in on the haircut.

Jamma gets a new 'do

Later, Finn got his secret outing with Jamma — a trip to the pool. They started out in the “cajuzzi” (as Finn calls it) and, therefore, never made it to the big pool because even though it’s heated it’s just too cold by comparison. Needless to say, Finn was thrilled when he got back.

Saturday both boys couldn’t wait to get out to the pool. We held them off as long as we could because although it was sunny and gorgeous, it was pretty chilly outside. But we finally did get to the pool and had an afternoon full of swimming — both in the big pool and the cajuzzi.

Ready to hit the pool

Ezra's quicker to jump in

Ezra's so happy to be swimming

Finn still touching the bottom

Later, we ordered pizza for dinner and the boys had a picnic on the living room floor. Finn was spent from a busy day and he fell asleep quickly just after 7:00. Ezra, on the other hand, got his turn for his special outing with Jamma — they walked across the street to Rite Aid for a scoop of ice cream. He came back covered in blue cottom candy ice cream proclaiming that he had a new favorite flavor.

Jamma and I didn’t make the same mistake Saturday night as we did Friday night when we stayed up until midnight. We were both sound asleep by 10:00.

Wednesday Morning Carpool

We’ve been doing a little carpooling to Cottage this year. Today I had a full house and decided I should take a picture. What a bunch of cuties.

Wednesday Morning Carpool!

Compound Words

Jerri was in the classroom at Aveson on Monday and sent me these pictures of Ezra’s compound word.

Compound words by Ezra

Compound words by Ezra

Love it. Especially the change in facial expression from man to manbat.

A Short Date with Jamma

We got to see Jamma this weekend and the boys (and Bruce and I) were thrilled. In fact, on the way out there, Finn said, “Mommy, can you just drop me off at Jamma’s house?”

We had lunch at a local taco shop where Ezra peppered Jamma with stories and Finn chatted about the football game that was on the TV.

Lunch with Jamma

The boys did a little tree climbing. Finn needed some help; Jamma’s expression here mirrored my uneasiness with Finn being up in the tree.

Jamma helps Finn up the tree

Climbing a tree with Jamma

Too short of a visit for my taste, but we get to have our longer Palm Springs weekend soon!

Little Finn

Finn was showing off his ninja moves this weekend. Here’s the video he asked me to take.

And here he is, all geared-up, after taking a spill on his bike. Since he fell on his knee, he requested that we find Ezra’s knee pads so he could use them. And then he put on the safety goggles for good measure.

Finn puts on some safety gear

He also had a cute moment in the front yard with the palm tree. He was “climbing” it and when I told him that I needed him and Ezra to come inside, he said, “It’s OK, Mommy, I’ll keep an eye on Ezra.” What a responsible little chap.

It's OK, Mommy

El Dia de los Muertos

I’m out of order here, but Friday we had some Day of the Dead stuff going on. First, Ezra decorated a sugar skull at school — he’s very proud of it and doesn’t want anyone to touch it, lest it break.

Ezra's sugar skull

That night we went with some friends to a Dia de los Muertos celebration in Pasadena. There were altars, dancers, crafts and activities, food, etc. Here are some pictures.

Dia de los Muertos altar

Decorating a skull

Dia de los Muertos

Finn watches

Dia de los Muertos

Halloween 2011

We had a great Halloween this year! We’d heard that our neighborhood is popular with the trick-or-treaters, and that is no joke! Here are the Jack-o’-Lantern and the Ghost as we started out.

Ezra Jack-o'-Lantern and Finn Ghost

Ready to go!

The first stop was a house down the street with a couple of kids Ezra and Finn have befriended.

First house

Ezra had a bit of hard time getting up the stairs in his costume and the pumpkin got heavy pretty quickly. Bruce carried it a lot. And sometimes he wore it.

Mr. Pumpkin Head

The second house was super spooky (according to Finn) and the boys loved it.

Spooky car

What a cute little ghost.

Super cute ghost

After meeting up with the Goodmans, Fowlers and Carters, we hit this house on Michigan where the owner did magic tricks for the kids. As Ezra said, “That was SO cool!”

Watching a magic trick with friends

After about another block, the boys were done — Finn had stepped on his costume and ripped it, making it even harder to walk in. Ezra was tired of the heavy pumpkin. And they were both ready to start handing out candy at home. Here they are waiting for customers.

Waiting for customers

And here’s one of the many rushes.

One of the mobs

They liked to inspect all the candy before giving it out.

Inspecting the candy to hand out

We got lots of compliments on our spider and our jack-o’-lanterns. All in all a very good evening!

Jack-o'-Lanterns