Covanta Holiday Party

Jeff's company Christmas party was help here at the Diablo Grande Clubhouse. 

A great time had by all! 

Thanksgiving Eve

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jody and Skip are out for the holiday! 

Evening Gowns

The girls love dressing up in their princess dresses, and the other night I couldn't resist getting the camera out & letting them really ham it up! 

Of course, low light conditions and I don't know WHAT my settings were, but most of the pictures came out super blurry, but a few nice ones nonetheless.

our golden girl

(original liv - golden girl pics here)

who could possibly resist trying to kiss this beauty?

Fluffy... kinda?

Liv spotted this guy wandering across the backyard, and came running to tell me. (Good Decision, kiddo! just like I taught you to!) 

I happened to be on the phone with Jeff, and I put her on the phone to tell him what she found. 

Daddy, we found a spider, one of the big, brown, ummm.. fluffy ones.

 Fluffy? I guess....

*shudder*

Cuddles

nite, nite, Daddy.

nite, nite, Mimi.

Good Bye, Asher

Asher went on her final adventure last night. 

Some bigger critter must have been a more skilled hunter in the light of the full moon. 

so sad. 

we'll miss her. 

Afternoon Painting

Trip to the Beach

We decided to have an adventure and travel to the beach for a picnic and a few hours of play. 

It was a wonderful time! All kinds of digging, running, exploring, sand angels, sand castles, rolling out sand cookies, chasing gulls, gathering treasures. Good stuff!

Trunk or Treat

I had never heard of trunk or treat and had to do some Google-ing to figure out what I was getting myself into. Actually quite a lot of fun. Here's the idea: a group of people plan to get together for "trick-or-treating" in a parking lot, everyone decorates or dresses up their car & the kids go from car to car; instead of house to house. 

Looks like a great solution for my flood-savaged hometown, Owego, NY  (or watch an important video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbTt7bmAFx4) which has always had a big community turn-out for their annual Halloween parade. 

Here is a picture of the girls in their costumes:

Our van in it's Hawaiian Beach get-up

Liv, checking out the Bone mobile

"trunk or treat!"

We played at the playground after.

Until Mimi smeared the lens with lollipop. :)

Creepy Curiosity

Liv's been especially interested in anatomy these past few weeks or months. She asked me the other day: "Do all critters have the same blood and stuff inside them like we do?" I did my best to answer and generally came up with "Yes, all animals that don't lay eggs are all pretty much the same inside." and "next time we're at the library lets find some books." And of course, she remembered -- and asked the librarian to help us find "a book about blood & bones" after storytime last week. 

Last weekend we were having our breakfast on the patio and a poor dumb mourning dove flew right over the table and smashed full speed head and shoulders into the window - killed instantly. Liv and Asher had to fight over who got to play with the dead bird first. eeeww. 

So, when I encountered a coyote skeleton when I was out running , I was pretty sure that Liv would want to check it out. 

I even printed out a picture of a dog skeleton so we could try to identify the bits. 

Definitely not an exercise for the squeamish, but well, educational I guess...

Mama and Mimi

Camila  is about 21 months old, she's talking more, she's a playful, defiant, loving child. We have a lot of fun together. (Especially when she chooses to listen to her mother, lol)
She's started calling herself Mimi - which I LOVE, and encourage! 

Asher Update

At nearly 4 months old, Asher is growing into the look of a Russian Blue, long, lean, shiny -- but we're 100% sure she's just a domestic mutt. 

She loves the girls' feather boa, of course!!

and who doesn't love a nice sun beam?

Pumpkin Patch Pictures

Jeff and I took the girls to the pumpkin patch & corn maze over the weekend, and then we went again with MOMS. I can not believe that I forgot the camera on the first trip; I'm pretty glad I got a second chance! 

Little Miss...

Hay Ride! 

bump, bump. bumping down the hay bale tower. 

Meet & Greet with the piggies after their "race." 

And their favorite: the Corn Box! 

(poor Camila was so tired... she just rolled around in the corn. lol)