Halloween at Alameda

Halloween is a big deal at Alameda Elementary, we've come to find out. Audrey got to bring her costume to school today, and her class had a Halloween party. In the early afternoon, the kids in the school -- all 700 of them -- got into their costumes and paraded around the block (apparently a school tradition). Mama and Kate came to watch the parade. All of the teachers were wearing costumes. Audrey's teacher, Mrs. Davidson, was dressed as Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz" (we're not sure how many of her kids know who Dorothy is), and the school principal, Mr. Laurie, dressed up as a bunny.

Fall festivities

Audrey and Kate had a fun-filled fall day yesterday as they prepped for Halloween. They put up some Halloween window decorations, made caramel apples, carved their pumpkins, and enjoyed some apple cider and caramel corn. They helped Dada light the first fire of the season in the fireplace, and later curled up on the couch to watch "A Bug's Life."

Crafty day

Audrey and Kate kept busy today with lots of fall-themed crafts. When they went to Sunday school this morning, instead of going to their classes the kids were treated to a fall celebration. The girls got to paint mini-pumpkins, make wax-paper "stained glass" with leaves and crayon pieces, and help create a mural of the Bible's creation story.

They then decided to capitalize on a break in the rain and headed over to Portland Nursery on Stark Street for the last day of the annual Apple Festival. They didn't have a lot of time, as Audrey had a playdate with a kindergarten friend to go to, and in the end other than tasting some apple cider the girls didn't do any apple-related activities at the Apple Festival. They did paint another couple of mini-pumpkins, tried out some hula-hoops, went on a scavenger hunt, colored, ate some pizza, and got their face (Audrey) or Arm (Kate) painted.

Dinner (rain) date

Audrey and Kate weren't about to let the rain stop them from dining out at the neighborhood Cha Cha Cha Taqueria this evening. They had quesadillas, naturally.

Pumpkin patches

Both Audrey and Kate got to go to the pumpkin patch this week for school. Audrey went to Sauvie Island on Tuesday and Kate went with Dada to Lee Farms in Tualatin today. She enjoyed looking at the farm animals, sampling apple cider, learning about different varieties of pumpkins (the "Cinderella" and "Long Island Cheese-Wheel" were two favorites), and of course, picking out a pumpkin to take home. Her friend Daeja rode back to preschool with her.

School skills

Audrey and Kate are both picking up new skills at school. Audrey's starting to put letters together into "words" based on their sounds. In the picture below, she wrote "Bunnies eat carrots." Last week, Kate learned to sew and made a pumpkin pillow.

Chico visits Kate

Chico, Heartwood Preschool's "class pet," came to stay with Kate over the past week. He's been to our house a couple of times before when Audrey was at Heartwood. Kate had fun taking care of him and showing him a good time. He slept in Kate's bed one night, although he's quite big for it so most of the time he's slept on the floor in her room. We thought about taking him to Camp Sherman with us, but decided it might be best if he stayed home to guard the house for us.

Trip to Camp Sherman

Audrey and Kate enjoyed the great outdoors and time with family in Camp Sherman, OR this past weekend. They drove down Friday afternoon, enduring rain and traffic, including from an accident on Highway 20 as they were getting close to their destination (thankfully they had plenty of snacks, activities, and new shows loaded on their iPad and iPod). They got to stay in a cabin with GG with a great view of Lake Creek and a short walk to the playground. They enjoyed playing with their cousin Wyatt (Audrey especially), who let them play with his cars and try out his Spider-Man fishing pole. Other activities included: making gingerbread houses and Christmas cookies (for an early celebration of the holiday, at the suggestion of Mark and Sharon); throwing sticks and looking for crawdads in the fishpond; finding treasures in the forest; having "flashlight dance parties" after dinner; feeding the fish at the fish hatchery; and of course, eating lots of yummy meals and desserts that Mark and Sharon made. Continuing with the Christmas theme, Mark and Sharon gave the girls stockings that included Barbies, domino games, and candy.

Rain was in the forecast for Central Oregon over the weekend, but it held off until the evenings and the last day, making for several warmish and pleasant Oregon October days (although it was raining buckets in Portland when the girls got back home today). Many thanks to great-grandpa Darrel for hosting the trip, to Mark and Sharon for the many meals and the Christmas treats and gifts, and to Grandpa Dave and GG for bringing activities (both indoor and outdoor) for the girls to play or pass the time with. (If the slide show below does not appear or function correctly, click here.)

Puddle stompers

While Mama and Dada packed up for the trip to Camp Sherman, Audrey and Kate let off some steam and made the best of the first substantial rain we've had in many weeks.

Kate's art

Kate is a prolific artist, producing lots of drawings and paintings at preschool and at home. Two of her most recent works include "Big Mama Kate" and "Sunflowers."

Outing with Nora

Audrey (and Kate) got to spend some time with Audrey's preschool friend Nora today. The two were inseparable at preschool, but they now go to different schools, so seeing each other takes some planning. The main event of the playmate was a scooter ride to the Rose City Food Park, a new food-cart pod that recently opened in the neighborhood on Sandy Boulevard. The girls weren't very interested in the exotic food, preferring some homemade peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. Unfortunately, two carts with food they probably would have liked, grilled cheese sandwiches and smoothies, were closed.

Mama's birthday

Audrey and Kate helped Mama celebrate her birthday on Friday with Honey, Honey Grandpa, Aunt Marie and Uncle Keith. The cake was tiramisu, but the girls called it "fudge cake." They both had made cards for Mama; Kate impressed everyone by writing on hers "happy," with the "appy" looking like the real letters.

Pumpkin nails

Kate gets into the fall spirit, practices her fine-motor skills, and sports some stylish safety glasses all at the same time as she hammers some nails into a pumpkin at preschool. Also pictured next to her is a sunflower the kids can pick seeds out of using tweezers.

Clowning around

Audrey's been making friends at school and on the bus. One new friend is Stella, who is Audrey's seat-mate on the bus and who lives three blocks away. They are both in kindergarten, but have different teachers. Today, Audrey played for awhile at Stella's house, and got to try on some of Stella's dress-up outfits.