November seems to have flown by, probably due to the series of colds that we suffered through.  So, here’s one big post with all the pics I took before Thanksgiving.  Most of them are failed attempts at getting the kids to both smile for a Christmas card photo.

Here we are, excited to be out voting on election day!  Little did we know the depressing results that were coming.

At least the kids got to enjoy a delicious chocolate croissant.

On 11/11, Daddy took off from work and we celebrated the one year anniversary of our move back east with a trip to the Bronx Zoo (polar bear below), followed by a visit to our local pizza place for lunch, honoring our first visit there a year ago.

And now some more random shots taken while attempting to get a Christmas card shot.

Sarah is strangely interested in shoes and tries to talk me into wearing pairs that I never put on.  I refuse, and so eventually she just wears them around herself.  She insisted that I take this pic of her in a pair of leopard-print flats.

Blaine spent a long time working on this watercolor painting one day.

Sarah amused us by “reading” our copy of the sleep bible.

Sarah is finally warming up to the nature classes we’ve been going to on Mondays.  She still refuses to touch any live animals, but she likes the playground and she’s started enjoying the crafts.

On to Thanksgiving!

On Saturday, 10/29, we joined in the Larchmont “Ragamuffin Parade” down Larchmont Ave to the fire station.  This year the kids both decided they wanted to be the same things they were last year.  A firefighter and a panda!

Later that day we carved our pumpkin from Linvilla.

Here’s a pic of Sarah on Halloween, proudly wearing her new favorite llama shirt.

Later that night, all dressed up for trick or treating.

We all went out together and left a bowl for trick or treaters, so it wasn’t that surprising that the first house we visited had a “help yourself” bowl on the porch.

We ended up going a block or so and then turning back and hitting the houses on the other side.  The kids both were pretty into it; Sarah even started saying “we go next house!” after each one.  Back at our house, we figure we got 40-50 trick or treaters (compared to the 455 we had last year in Seattle!).  But we still enjoyed ourselves, and even got the whole house decked out in full “Birds” attire.

Some extra photos from October.  Sarah’s quickly progressing on her vocab and grammar, but still has some adorable mistakes.  My favorite is when she tells me, “I carry you!”  When she wants me to carry her, of course.

I started trying to get pictures of the two kids together for a Christmas card photo… with very little success.

Sarah enjoying an (empty) bottle of Perrier in the front seat!

Moss on our patio.

Blaine’s in the red shirt below, with his friend, Sammy.

On 10/20, Blaine’s class took a trip to the Larchmont Fire Station, and we were excited to see that Firefighter Chris was giving the presentation.

After the talk, the kids got to walk through the fire truck and ring the bell.

I had to leave the fire station early to get back to the preschool for a final birthday celebration in Sarah’s class.  Sarah was not thrilled with all the attention, but she did enjoy the fruit.

We were so excited about our new zoo membership we decided to head back two days later, on 10/12.  This time we parked in a special members only lot near the monorail.  The kids loved seeing the red panda and all the other animals on the ride.

Here are some more pictures from mid-October that don’t fit into other posts.

We started off the birthday weekend with Blaine’s big day on Saturday, October 8.  We decided to keep it pretty quiet given the excitement coming on Sunday.  So we started off the day with waffles, then walked into town to look at the fire station and visit the library.  We played at the playground behind the library and introduced the kids to tetherball.

Then we went to Walter’s for hot dogs.

After Sarah’s nap we had singing and birthday cake for snack!  Here’s the cake; Blaine even helped me write his name.

We were so impressed when Blaine was able to blow out his own birthday candles this year, without any help.

After cake we opened presents at a leisurely pace, followed by dinner (spaghetti and meatballs) and a nice, quiet bedtime.  The next morning the kids helped Daddy with sifting the flour for round 2 of cake-making, two cakes this time.

And we decorated for the party (surprise!  We did a firefighter theme again this year).

We ended up with 14 kids including our own, mostly from Blaine’s preschool class.  After some snack we had a musical performance by the guys from Groove!  Blaine was up there next to Tom for almost the entire time.

Here’s a short video I took (which Sarah has wanted to watch on repeat ever since):

After the music we had two rounds of “Happy Birthday” for the kiddos.

When we finished singing for Sarah and she was urged to blow out the candles, she instead decided to blow on her harmonica.

We all had a great time, and for the first time ever we made it through a birthday party without tears!  Here’s Sarah later that night trying on Mommy’s glasses.

The next day the celebrations continued on Sarah’s actual birthday.  Daddy took off for Columbus Day and we headed to the Bronx Zoo and saw some giraffes, gorillas, wild dogs, and lions.

Like on Blaine’s birthday, we did the singing and cake after Sarah’s nap (before dinner) to give more time between sugar and bedtime, and to give more time for playing with presents!

Sarah needed some help blowing out the candles.

Sarah seemed a little tired of cake at this point, but she was still very excited about presents!

Here she is enjoying her new trains:

Thank you to everyone who sent the kids gifts for their birthdays, they are loving all the new toys.

Our pizza delivery man asked Blaine what he was going to be for Halloween, and Blaine told him, “a fireman!”.  To our delight, the delivery guy revealed he was a firefighter and he even let Blaine try on his helmet which he keeps in his trunk!

Here, Sarah shows off her current favorite shirt, which she calls, “doggy shirt”.  She insists on wearing it as soon as it’s clean from the laundry.

We visited Wynnewood the weekend of 10/1-4 and had a great time celebrating the kids’ birthdays early.  Thanks to Mom-Mom and Aunt Molly for having us – we had a wonderful time!

On Saturday night, Uncle Tim, Aunt Liz, and Uncle Peter were able to join us for dinner and Mom-Mom planned a celebratory meal for the kids.  After the meal there was a show of hands for cake.

Followed by presents!  The kids were thrilled to get some of their gifts early.

Here’s Sarah with her new Lucy the Elephant doll from Uncle Jim and Aunt Denise.

And her new llama llama book from Mom-Mom.

Blaine was so excited about his rescue rug.

On Sunday we went into Narberth to play at the playground (Blaine specifically requested the “excavator playground”).

We walked into Narberth for some lunch at the Greeks and stopped to peek in the windows of the Narberth Fire Company on the way.

On Sunday night, we got the kids to bed and then Mom-Mom watched them for us so Andrew and I could go out to dinner to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary.  Thanks, Mom-Mom!

On Monday we drove out to Linvilla Orchards for some fall fun.

We were a little worried after the gatekeeper at the corn maze warned us about the difficulty, but we decided to go ahead with it anyway!

We did stop at one point for a little snack, but we made it out successfully in 30 minutes or so!  Not too bad!

Three generations, proud (and relieved) to be at the maze exit. 🙂

That afternoon we blew some bubbles on the patio while Daddy cooked a delicious dinner.

Lastly, here are some pics of the kids in some bibs that Aunt Denise made to match the new kitchen chair covers.  So cute!

Thanks again to Mom-Mom and Aunt Molly for having us.  We had such a great time and can’t wait to see you again soon.

Larchmont celebrated its 125th Anniversary with a host of events… the grand reopening of the main library (complete with ribbon cutting and giant scissors!), the big truck day, food, contests, music, and an artist fair.

The next day we drove over to Hastings on Hudson for a walk along the river.

And here’s a last one from September of Blaine modeling his new favorite firetruck shirt and pants that Kathryn gave him.

Sarah was so excited on the day her new backpack arrived.

On 9/14 Blaine had his first day of preschool in the 4s class.  Sarah wasn’t starting school for another week but she wanted to wear her backpack anyway.

The start of school also seemed to be the start of birthday party season – Blaine had two in the first weekend after school started, and he was invited to two more in October (not including his own).

Here’s Sarah on her first day of preschool (ever!) on 9/20.  She was eased into it, with only half the class for half the time that first week.  That meant we were going in late the first day, which explains why Blaine is not in these pics.

Sarah’s only in school two mornings per week, which still leaves plenty of playground time.

We’ve started going to the Rye Nature Center “Mommy and Me” class on Monday mornings with some friends.

We also started doing Wednesday playdates with the kids from Sarah’s class.

And on Fridays we’re doing music class again.  No new pics of that, so here’s one of Sarah.

And, lastly, one of the kids doing a great job helping me de-stem the spinach for dinner.