Trick-or-Treat

Halloween just seems to get more fun each year! Maddie and William had such a great time trick-or-treating. They got right into it and were so cute running up to each door, ringing the doorbell and yelling "trick-or-treat" in their cute little voices. Such great fun. William was the cutest pirate I've ever seen and Maddie was a be-a-u-tiful butterfly! We had the whole family over for a lasagne dinner and to enjoy the evening with the kids. Both sets of Grandparents were there and Aunt Sonja and Maddie and Wil's new baby cousin Lucas! It was such a fun, fun night. I can't wait for next year!!!

Pumpkin carving

Grandma Jeanne and Papa Mick came for the Halloween weekend. They flew in on Thursday afternooon and Maddie and William were so excited to see them! It was great having Halloween fall on a Saturday this year. We carved our pumpkins late Saturday morning and it proved to be a family affair.

Maddie enjoyed taking the pumpkin guts out......and William helped Papa Mick pull out the pumpkin seeds that we roasted the next day.

I appreciated Mikos taking charge of the creative duties of carving.

The end product... one mean looking pumpkin with a scar face (William's) and one happy pumpkin (Maddie's) with a heart nose!

Halloween Fun

The Halloween Fun began about a week and a half ago... just a few pictures of our quick trip to the Pumpkin Patch. It was a HOT Thursday afternoon. So much for that beautiful fall weather I was blogging about recently. We headed over to what looked like a cute little pumpkin patch on the corner of a major intersection in Yorba Linda. It was OK. It was more of a rip off than anything else. Over priced tickets and a bunch of dirty bouncers. Oh and way overpriced pumpkins. Despite my lack of enthusiasm for the patch, Maddie and Wil seemed to have fun running from jumper to jumper and petting the animals in the petting zoo. (Yuck!) I told Maddie we'd get our pumpkins from display outside of our local Ralphs store. She didn't mind at all and the pumpkins were HALF of what the patch was selling them for. I think I'll be a little more selective about what pumpkin patch we visit next year. Maddie was given this Halloween sweater when she was like 3 years old. I tucked it away in the closet for the day when Maddie would wear a size 6 and that day is here! She wore it to school Friday morning, the day before Halloween. She looked so cute!

Baby Lucas is here!

It was an exciting week for the Ciriza and Driscoll families. Baby Lucas was born on Tuesday October 13 at 9:09pm. He was 11 days early and weighed 5 lbs, 15 ounces. Everything went smoothly, for the most part, with Sonja's labor and delivery. However, Sonja had a fever after delivery and Baby Lucas, in turn, had a fever. After 24 hours with Sonja and Russ, they ended up taking Lucas to the NICU early Thursday morning. Everything is going well and he is going to be just fine. They are waiting for the cultures to come back and he needs to finish up his 7 day dosage of antiobiotics. Sonja and Russ hope to be bringing him home this Wednesday. I went down to the hospital this afternoon and snapped these pics of him all curled up and sleeping in his incubator bed. Boy it brought back memories of William's birth... such a hard thing to leave the hospital without your baby. Maddie is the most proud cousin ever! Maddie and I were there the night of Lucas' birth. We actually got to get a peek of him quickly just minutes after he was born before they took him to the nursery to get checked out. Maddie was so excited to be there that night. She than got to go visit with him the next day (before he was admitted to the NICU). Grandma picked her up from school and she got to spend some precious time holding him and loving him. She can't wait for William to meet Lucas. We're all excited to get to hold him and love him! He is absolutely ADORABLE. Congratulations to Sonja and Russ on their little man. We just love, love, love him already.

Indian Princess Campout

Last weekend, Maddie and Mikos went on their first ever, Indian Princess Campout. Mike was invited by our good friend Larry to join one of the Tribes of the Indian Princesses, a program organized through the YMCA. It is a program for fathers and daughters ages 4-10 and the goal is to bring them closer together through activities and special bonding times. I actually don't know all that much about it other than that they have a monthly meeting where they get together and do tribal activities and a craft and there are several events throughout the year they will do together. The campout is the first of several big events. Mike said it was awesome. He said it was really organized with activities and games and they had a ton of fun with the other fathers and daughters in their tribe. Maddie had such a great time. It was so fun to hear her talk all about it.

It looks like they had a GREAT weekend playing and making new friends and just being silly together. Maddie took the picture of Mike which I think is so cute. It was so strange being home with William by myself. We missed Maddie and Mike so much. The house was just not the same with Maddie gone. I missed her cute little voice that never stops talking and her great imagination. Wil and I actually went up to our friends house (in L.A.) Saturday afternoon and stayed overnight. That was great fun too. Wil got to hang out with his friends Fallon and Fletch. No pictures though cause the camara went with Dad but there is nothing cuter than 3 two-year-olds running around a backyard and house playing with bouncy balloons and riding trikes. Great memories in the making for everyone... especially Maddie and Mike!

A horse drawn carriage?

Last Sunday I took Maddie (and William) to her classmate Katerina's 5th birthday party. She was so excited when she got the invitation in her folder at school. Katerina isn't a friend I'd heard much about but Maddie was thrilled to get the invite and there was no way she was going to miss out on a party. On the way, Maddie kept talking about whether there was going to be a jumper there. Of course William jumped on the bad wagon and starting talking about a jumpber. I had to give them the whole speech of, "You know Maddie, there might not be a jumper there and if there is not, that is OK. Don't be talking about it and you can't walk in and ask where the bouncer is". Turns out there was NOT a jumper but instead, Cindarella came and entertained the kids and to top if off...
Cindarella's horse drawn carriage!! Wow...let the birthday party games begin. Holy smokes...a horse drawn carriage? Needless to say, the kids all had a blast. It was a fun party and quite a success. Very cute to see all the little girls from her class together and playing. Maddie's becoming quite the social butterfly. :)

Fall is here...

it finally feels like fall. we hung the fall wreath on our door and put out "mr. pumpkin" man last week. the weather has been cool and crisp which is beautiful. i came home from work last night and made a pot of chili. it was delicious. i love this time of year. love it. i barely remember it being cool last year. i fear that a heat wave is on it's way. but for now... loving the "season change" in southern california.