Fall Interview with Luke

I found these interview questions online and thought it would be a cute activity to do with Luke now, and perhaps each year in the fall.

1. What is something Mommy always says to you?  I love you.
2. What makes Mommy happy?  Me being happy.
3. What makes Mommy sad?  Me being sad.
4. How does Mommy make you laugh?  She does tickles to me.
5. What was Mommy like as a child?  I don't know.
6. How old is Mommy?  37 28 (?)
7. How tall is Mommy?  Like this tall (holding his arm way up)
8. What is Mommy's favorite thing to do?  Play with me.
9. What does Mommy do when you're not around?  Play with Mia.
10. What is Mommy really good at?  Setting up train tracks.
11. What is Mommy not very good at?  Folding Mia's tent. (Very true!)
12. What does Mommy do for her job?  Work on the computer.
13. What is Mommy's favorite food?  Tomatoes
14. What do you and Mommy do together?  We play a game or something.
15. How are you and Mommy the same?  We love each other.
16. How are you and Mommy different?  We wear different clothes.
17. How do you know Mommy loves you?  Because I look good.  She hugs me.
18. Where is Mommy's favorite place to go?  Panera

Trick or Treat!

Luke and Mia dressed up at Buzz Lightyear and Jessie the Cowgirl from Toy Story for Halloween this year.  I do believe that they might have been the cutest duo out on the streets that night.

Luke chose his costume this year completely on his own, which planted the idea in my head to have Mia dress as Jessie (an easy sell since she is also a huge Toy Story fan!).  None of the official Jessie costumes come in a 12 month size, so I turned to my favorite place, etsy, for some help.  Of course, I found an amazing seamstress who had created this adorable "Jessie inspired" costume for her little girl and I knew we must have it. 

Our Space Ranger and little Cowgirl had a great time.  Mia really got into it after the first couple of doors and was happy to head straight up the walkways with her brother, knock on doors with him, and say "trick or treat!"

We hit my parents' block early, then headed down and did quite a few houses on our street as well before heading in.  I love that after about 10 houses we were finished and the kids thought that they had completely hit the jackpot and got a HUGE amount of candy :)

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

As a result of our mishap on the way to the pumpkin patch this year, I didn't get any cute photos of the kids in their Halloween shirts.  So, we had a mini photo shoot this morning before Luke went to school. 
Happy Halloween!

BOO!

Fall Harvest Party

This year Luke's preschool had a Fall Harvest Party the weekend before Halloween.  Although the children all wore their costumes and a costume parade was part of the event, the focus was much more on sensory activities centered around a Fall theme - so awesome.  No junk food, no toys to throw away when we arrived home ... just fun.  The kids had a great time!

Buzz and Jessie

Leaf raking activity

Trick-or-treating at the classrooms - the kids just loved seeing their teachers on the other side of the doors

Jessie

Luke and Vidyut saving the galaxy

Pumpkin Carving

Having Halloween fall on a Monday this year made pumpkin carving much more enjoyable since we were able to do it during the day and outside in the sunshine (versus after Daddy comes home from work the night before Hallowen in the cold garage).

Initially the kids were really into it, drawing faces on their pumpkins and helping us sort out the seeds to roast later, but after about 20 minutes it appeared obvious that Michael and I were on our own to finish carving and cleaning up.  :)

Luke takes flight

Our flight home from Pana might have been the highlight of the trip for Luke.  The sweet flight attendants on board invited him to join them and pass out peanuts and pretzels to all of the passengers.  So, just after the beverage service ended, Luke headed to the front of the airplane where he was introduced over the intercom and then went to work.  He loved every minute of his job.

THEN, after our plane touched down in Los Angeles (we stayed aboard to go on to San Jose) the pilot invited Luke into the cockpit to have a seat and check it all out.  He was in heaven and has now informed us that he "might need to be a builder and a pilot."

Oh, and just to make things even sweeter, the flight attendants who Luke "helped" later informed us that he had worked off our in flight adult beverages, so we all got a free round.  Thanks, Luke!

Great Grandma Joyce's 85th

Last weekend we traveled to Paw's childhood town of Pana, Illinois to help Great Grandma Joyce celebrate her 85th birthday.
It was a long day of travel (we quickly realized why it is so difficult for Grandma to travel to see us - it is LONG), and a relatively short trip, but well worth it to see family who we hadn't seen in a long time.  In fact, some had never met Luke, and many (including Grandma Joyce) had never met Mia.

Grandma's party went so well and she was as happy as I ever remember seeing her.  Her lovely friends were all in attendance to help her celebrate, as well as all of her children, nearly all of her grandchildren, and all four of her great grandchildren.

We spent the beautiful fall morning of the party at Paw's childhood park/playground ... some of the play equipment is most definitely original (that's code for probably not very safe, but pretty cool and vintage)!  The kids had a great time.

Check out this crazy high slide!  Luke had Courtney to take him down, and Mia insisted on riding with Daddy.



Vintage merry-go-round

Bouncy animals

 Auntie Chris and Mia on the swings

Luke made sure to test out all of the playground equpment

At Grandma Joyce's party, Mia made fast friends with cousin Tony

The girls are having fun now

The birthday girl with her (great)grandaughters

Mommy and her sweet girl

Mia is a big fan of the chocolate cake

Wow Daddy!

Pretty girls - Michelle and Courtney 

Silly Uncle Todd!