Dressing Up!

Yesterday we braved the children's museum for what I thought was going to be a fun time of trick or treating, Halloween fun.  They advertised this thing like crazy, so I thought for sure it would be awesome!  Trick or treat stations!  Fall crafts!  Yay!

So even though we all have colds and I had to shove a full box of tissue in my purse, we dressed up and went.  Otis in his giraffe costume:

And Ingrid as Little Red Riding Hood.

We got there and there were dressed up workers signing people in, giving them fliers and bags for their treats.  I was so excited!  How fun for Ingrid!  Then we went upstairs to the museum, where there were four thousand kids running around because it was a day off school.  It seemed like every mom had a double stroller that they conveniently left completely in the way (empty strollers just there to carry all their junk.  I HATE THAT!!)  I searched for the trick or treat stations.  Nothing.  As we walked around I saw a big basket of Smarties.  Just sitting there.  No one near it.  Was this a trick or treat station?  Apparently so.  And there were a whopping TWO of them.  TWO!  In the whole effing children's museum, there were two trick or treat stations.  My goodness, how overwhelmingly fun...

Luckily Ingrid didn't care.  She just likes the museum so much she was having fun playing with everything and forgot about the Halloween part of it anyway.  And tonight is trick or treating in our neighborhood, where they close off the street on our block and we can partay and trick or treat for real.  Yay!

Lumberjack Brunch and Other Weekend Goings On.

There's this awesome place my friend's husband works at--Hubbard Park Lodge.  It has the best all you can eat brunch on Sundays, so we decided to go this weekend.  We went last year right about this time of year, too.  It's just so pretty.  You park your car, walk through this tunnel:

And when you come out the other side of the tunnel you're here:

River birds making river bird noises, lots of trees and pretty fall foliage, so peaceful, and right in the city.  Plus, they have homemade donuts.  Yum.

Also this weekend, Otis fits into these adorable pants we bought a long time ago from little reader vintage.  Love them!  Little guy with wooden shoes on them, ric rac trim.  Oh man, cuteness. 

 And...the kitten.  She's a kitten.  She gets into everything.  Do not leave water glasses hanging out anywhere, you do not know whose head will be shoved into the glass to get a lick...



My Otis

I just could not love this kid any more than I do.  He just makes me smile so much, he is such a good baby!  He loves his kitten, he giggles at every little thing, he falls asleep in two seconds (snoring already as you lay him in his bed).  Now that he's crawling it's harder to keep up with him.  Even so, he's still pretty good.  His new favorite thing is to get into Ingrid's Duplos.  He just dumps them all out and makes as much noise with them as possible.  Or he likes to crawl after me when I go to the kitchen.  I can hear him grunting and making funny noises as he makes his way across the dining room.  And then suddenly there he is, staring up at me with his big blue eyes and drooling everywhere.  Love him!

Ten Months Old!

Fat Man is getting so big!  He actually has rolls on his legs!  He is now crawling like he's been a pro forever.  He loves Zoey.  He still lights up whenever I say Ingrid's name.  He is a great sleeper.  He has two teeth on bottom and four about to pop through on top.  And possibly one or two more on bottom, he's been a real bear lately, but who can blame him?

Kid Free Vacation!

Last Thursday Brendan and I flew off to Washington DC for a long weekend.  WITHOUT KIDS.  Holy cow, it was amazing!  We saw other parents wrangling strollers, babies and toddlers, diaper bags, toys, snacks, and we just sighed and went back to drinking our coffee and enjoying staring off into space.

We stayed at the Westin Alexandria, which was...okay.  It was pretty close to the Metro station so it was easy to get around, and the beds were awesome so that made up for the fact they charge for wifi.  Am I crazy to think you should just include that as an amenity in a hotel catered to business people?? 

We ate lots of good food, took the Metro everywhere, saw the sights.  The first night we got there we brilliantly decided to brave the rain and see the monuments lit up.  Of course as soon as we were in the middle of the park, with absolutely nowhere to run for cover, it started monsooning on us.  We were soaked!  And cold.  And in the middle of a park.  We had to run to the nearest street, found a small doorway to cover us until the rain slowed down, and then sloshed back to the Metro.  I could wring out water from my sweatshirt. 

We saw the White House one day and look off to the left--it's the white house dog! 

The fun thing about our trip was that we were in Alexandria, where my blog friend Becky lives!  She also went through a preemie situation around the same time Otis was born.  Water broke at 31 wks, was supposed to stay on bedrest, but her little guy wanted out, so he came right at 31 wks.  She found this blog and contacted me, and we've kept in contact ever since.  We decided to meet up one night while we were there.  It was so fun!  The misters talked non stop, we talked nonstop, we had good beer and good food.  It was so nice to have a night out with another couple.

Saturday finally cleared up and we had gorgeous weather to go see the monuments.  It was breezy and warm and not a cloud in the sky.  Perfect for trekking around the entire day!

It was amazing to take naps and eat whenever we wanted and not have to worry about diaper changes or tantrums.  It's fun to have family time with the kids, but man, did we need this vacation!! 

Growing up: Crawling and School Pictures

Yep, Otis is crawling now.  Like full on, hands and knees, makes it across the room in 0.3 seconds crawling!  It's so strange to think that he was so tiny and I worried so much about him and now he's just like any other little nine month old, crawling and teething and drooling and being cute.

Today Ingrid has her school pictures so she didn't have to wear her uniform.  I, of course, had to use this opportunity to bust out her new vintage dress we just got from Fuzzymama Vintage.  When I saw this dress on her facebook page, I had to snatch it up pronto.  So glad I did!!  It is adorable and fits her like a glove.  When I went to take pictures of Ingrid, she couldn't just smile normally, could she?  Oh no, she had to jump and give me coy little looks and dramatic faces...

Pumpkin Farm!

It's that time of year again, isn't it?  Time for apples and pumpkins and farms.  We had a gorgeous day yesterday to head up to the Family Farm.  We went there when Ingrid was a baby, too.  Not much has changed!

We saw animals.  Ingrid loved the goats.  Otis cried just looking at them.

We jumped around on some hay bales.  Otis was not too sure if he enjoyed it or not.

It was really hot and kind of smelly, but we had fun.

Busy Week, No Pictures.

I realize if I don't have pictures I tend not to post.  We have been doing lots this week!  Ingrid loves her school still, although I am a little tired of having to do the drive every day.  Just one year, then we can go to the neighborhood school and walk every day.  I cannot wait!

Otis is teething.  Again?  Still?  He has two bottom teeth and it looks like he's getting two more bottom teeth.  And the snot.  Oh my god, the snot.  Will it ever end, or is it just going to hang on all fall and winter?  Good thing we use cloth wipes as tissues, otherwise we'd probably be going through a forest worth of trees for kleenex.

I participated in a blog hop baby shower for Lishyloo this week!  Today was actually my day, over on my Applesauce Crafts blog.  It was great to contribute to such a fun thing with such talented women.  I felt a little out of my league, their blogs are so fancy, mine are just basic!  Check out day one here, and you'll find the schedule for the week with links to the other blogs.  Cute stuff!!

I have been trying to get tons of work done for Art Vs. Craft.  I just have no idea how much stock to bring to a craft show, how big it really is, and I feel like it's better to just way overshoot and then sell whatever's left over in the etsy shop.  But between the school run, nap schedules, crabby babies, and I don't know, sleep--it's hard to get anything done.  I got four blankets done yesterday and today, which is awesome.  I just wish I could get a babysitter one or two days to just get shit done. 

Brendan and I are leaving next week for DC!!  I am so excited to fly again, it's been like two years.  And I am way excited to be without kids for a few days.  And nights.  To be with my husband, no football on tv, no computer games being played, no distractions from actually spending time together.  Bliss. 

We went to the zoo today and I got some really cute pictures on my phone.  I can't figure out how to get them anywhere but my phone, so once I figure that out...what is the point of having a camera on your phone if you can't do anything with the pictures??  Sheesh!

A Lovely Weekend

It was a perfect weekend of sun and family.  Otis has been crawling...backward.  He ended up under the couch and got mad.  Ingrid got new tennis shoes and wore them to bed Friday night.  Silly.

Otis decided not to take a nap Saturday morning, so we walked over to soccer with Brendan and Ingrid.  That is hilarious-- tons of preschoolers running around, a coach trying to get them to listen.  Ingrid is so social, just runs right up to the other kids and starts talking.  She loves it!

We had a good day yesterday, too.  A sunny afternoon outside with the family when we know the sun is going to go away soon, we have to take advantage of it!  Otis was having fun chewing on leaves and sticks.  And snotting everywhere.  Still.  Are we destined to have runny noses all fall and winter??  He was on a no nap streak and stayed up all afternoon, which does not make for the happiest baby around. 

And now it's back to school, and back to sewing.  My halloween felt garland got onto the front page of etsy yesterday morning so I've had orders for them like crazy!  I will be spending Otis' naptime watching last night's Breaking Bad and cutting out orange and black felt circles!