Oh, Christmas Tree!

Not to be daunted by the warm temps and our (increasingly) tiny apartment, we went out and selected a beautiful, 7-foot-tall Noble Fir for our Christmas tree. Grandma and Papa Hartings helped with the decorating festivities, much to the girls' delight. It now smells as heavenly as it looks in here...and I can ALMOST imagine a winter wonderland awaiting me outdoors! Let the joyous holiday season begin!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great time hosting Grandma and Papa Hartings for Thanksgiving in California! The grandparents were as tireless as ever: coloring for hours at a time, reading endless stories, building Lego castles, and braving the chilly pool water! Claire giggled at every silly thing Grandpa did, and Kaitlyn never let Grandma out of her sight. Matt and I, for our part, enjoyed a little down time...when we weren't whipping up an awesome Thanksgiving feast. Yum! Thanks for the fabulous three days. We can't WAIT for Christmas!

Go Bucks!

We all wore our scarlet and gray yesterday...and the Buckeyes are headed to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl!

Zoo Days

It's been an exciting couple of days around here. It was sad to say farewell to Grandma and Grandpa for the weekend, but we were ecstatic to meet up at the LA Zoo on Friday with Sara and her 3-year-old nephew Jake. The kids wore themselves out running around and pointing out their favorite animals...and then both girls took solid naps when we got home!

On Saturday, we were supposed to meet up with our Chicago friends at Kidspace Museum, but with UCLA playing at the Rose Bowl, we were forced to change our plans. Instead, we headed back to the zoo, where Kaitlyn and Ellie ran wild while we caught up with Katherine and Matt. So fun! If only we could have play dates like this more often!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was a blast this year! We started our day by heading to Boo at the LA Zoo with Grandma and Grandpa Kneen, where the girls posed for pictures in the pumpkin patch and watched the animals eat pumpkins for lunch. Then the real fun began at dusk, when Kaitlyn went trick-or-treating for the first time. Claire managed to stay awake for the first 5 houses or so, but Kaitlyn ran half the way around block. A few of the houses were a little too "spooky," but she loved the house where the neighbor boys chanted "Monkey! Monkey! Monkey!" for three minutes while she basked in the attention. She was a very cute little George!

Pumpkin Carving

Last year's black cat was "too scary," so this year, Kaitlyn helped to design the perfect "happy face" for her pumpkin, the one that she picked all by herself in the pumpkin patch. I thought it was going to be easy, but no-o-o, she wanted the one with oval-shaped eyes! Roundness is hard to achieve with a large kitchen knife! When we were all done, Matt made some delicious pumpkin seeds for us to share. Next year, Claire will get to join in the fun!

Outdoor Fun

It was 85 on Sunday, so we headed to Kidspace Museum to play in the stream and shade. Even Claire enjoyed putting her hands and feet in the arroyo this time! We also saw a dinosaur show, where Kaitlyn got to touch a dinosaur egg and see dinosaur poop (she opted not to hold that!)