Halloween Fun

I've always been sort of so-so on Halloween. It's fun once you get into it, and I've certainly hosted my share of Halloween parties, but my lack of a creative gene has meant feeling less than enthused about costumes.

This year, Angelina wanted to be Tinkerbell. In my "now-I'm a Stay At Home Mom I must be a domestic goddess" mode, I decided to make her costume. I like to sew, I am tolerable at it, but just barely. Weeks of work and more than double the cost of buying a cheap Target Tinkerbell costume, and I didn't take pictures! (I am sure someone did, so hopefully I can post soon)

All that focus on Tinkerbell I neglected Lenaïc's costume. Fortunately Babies-R-Us had all of ONE costume left, on clearance, in his size (sort of...it was a bit small but worked long enough for a picture).


This turned into weeks of Halloween activities. First, the KWAKs (King William Area Kids) Pumpkin Carving and Dia De los Muertos party last week. Anyone who still thinks there aren't any kids living downtown needs to show up to one of these events: kids galore! Again my lack of artistic skills show, so I turned over pumpkin carving to our neighbor Rick, who used Angelina's drawing on the pumpkin to cut. Turning out pretty impressive! Alas, that pumpkin didn't survive our 80F+ week so Frédéric and Angelina carved another one on Halloween Day.


And then came the costume parties. On Saturday, a boy from Angelina's class was hosting a party (or rather, his parents were). btw - we love this new school and the families there! Angelina has been talking about this boy A LOT, so it was nice to meet his family, as well as many other kids and their parents. Dragging her home was not easy. Angelina never wants to leave a party.

And then came Halloween Night. In years past, our neighborhood had been inner-city ghetto. Not a nice place to be, esp. for kids. Which follows that few kids did trick or treating. Our first few years here, we rarely had any kids come by and so we hadn't bothered to take Angelina out here either. Last year we went to King William, the next 'hood over, which was fun, but overwhelming: Truckloads of kids, many teens looking pretty scary, streets with far too much traffic. So this year, a neighbor who happens to be the mother of two of Angelina's playmates suggested we bring Halloween back to Lavaca. And so we did.

Coordinating with a handful of other families with small kids who preferred to trick or treat in Lavaca, we assured a critical mass of kids and a critical number of houses to give out candy.
We started with a pre-party at our house - a chance for the kids to check out each other's costumes,



for the littlest ones to have some Halloween fun, and to fill them up on healthy dinner and snacks (carrots, apples) before heading out into the 'hood for candy. Turned out great! In addition to our pre-assigned houses, we came across many others handing out treats who were surprised to see so many kids, and happy for it. Also happened upon a number of other kids out, so we didn't single-handedly bring Halloween back to Lavaca, but we put in a pretty strong effort!

Birthday Party Fun

Birthday parties are interesting events for Angelina. She's at that stage where she wants every party to be about her, and she wants us to always sing "Happy Birthday" to her. As you can imagine,that makes it difficult when we go to other kids' birthdays.

She seems to be improving though. On Saturday we went to our friend Juanito's 3rd birthday. She doesn't know they share a special bond - when she was about 9 months old and he was about 1 month old, they came over for a visit. He had a cold. His mom, Nicole, used a bulb to suction out his nose. She laid it down. Angelina picked it up and sucked out its contents into her mouth.....you can't get closer than that! (And of course 3 days later, her cold started)

Anyway, after saying Juanito's gift was "mine" all morning, when we got to the party, she immediately said "This is for you!" And then at present opening time, she happily handed it to him to open. Of course, then she wanted him to play with that present and ONLY that present, but we're working on it....

As for singing, she very happily sang "Happy Birthday Dear Juanito" with no complaints. So, we're getting there.

Happy New Year!

New Year's Day is our friend Lucien's birthday. Yesterday he turned 3! (I work with Lucien's mom, and he's a regular playmate of Angelina's when we meet at Bubblehead)

His party was at a great place called Fiesta Farms, basically a petting farm where the kids can feed and play with cows, goats, pigs, horses, ponies, donkeys, rabbits, and more.

The highlight (or one of the many highlights), was the pony ride. Thanks to Trudi for the photos.







And where is Lenaïc? Asleep in Papa's arms the entire time.

Parties, Parties, and More Parties!

A weekend of parties was a glaring success. And not too hot either. I was far too busy to take any pictures, so thanks to Lih-Lan for this one of Angelina.

We had the kids party in the afternoon, with assorted kids of assorted ages. The bounce castle was a HUGE hit, as was the kiddie pool and sandbox. I now have sand all over the house.... Angelina had tons of fun. My favourite moment was the birthday cake (which said "Happy Birthday SuperNina*) the look on her face when she realized everyone was singing for her was priceless. She's heard it before, but it still makes her soooo happy.

We had a short transitional period and then the rest of the party began - we invited everyone without kids for the evening, and those with kids to stay, but it also gave a chance for those who weren't really into the evening thing to leave early. For this we joined forces with our neighbors - now that we have a gate, it's so easy. And then their neighbors also opened their gate, so it turned into a 3-house party. They had a band and dunk tank which was tons of fun. It was also 7 yr old Wiley's birthday party, so there were a ton more kids who showed up at night. Our house ended up being the more kid-oriented side and also a somewhat quieter pocket for those to talk, while the grown-ups centered around the band, with the bigger kids in the dunk tank. It was a mass of kids and people wandering around, and at one point very chaotic, but everyone had a great time.

We followed up the next day with another birthday party, this one for 5 yr old Lily. It was a pool party which was just perfect!

Now I'm done with birthday parties for awhile....

(the cake decorator called, unsure of the spelling for "superNina" - apparently she thought it was supposed to say "superNINJA")

More Happy Birthday Time

Angelina's birthday party is a little late this year due to trying to coordinate with neighbors and not overlap with too many other birthday parties. We decided to do a join Annual Summer Bash + Angelina AND Wiley's birthday party. Smart me thought we'd have an afternoon "kids" party so all the adults without kids wouldn't feel obligated to participate in the kid-party or bring her a present. So now, we have TWO parties: one in the afternoon and one in the evening. All the afternoon families are invited to the evening (and everyone's welcome to the kid part if they want to), but it still means planning for two parties in one day, which is a lot of work! Food for kids. Food for Grown-ups.

We'll have a bounce castle and the kiddie pool. Our neighbors will have a dunk tank and live music. And we'll both have more food and drink than we can handle. And have I mentioned it's been 100F+ here lately?

As for Angelina, she thinks her birthday lasts forever. Thanks to packages arriving from assorted friends and family across the globe, we keep finding boxes on our doorstep. Excited child she is, she was even thrilled when the coffee we ordered arrived. She picked up the box and kept saying "My present! My present!" not wanting her to be disappointed I explained it was coffee for Papa. No.....it was a present for her. She opened it and exclaimed "Wow! For me!" (it is colorful)

Yesterday I went grocery shopping for the party, and came home with things like punch. Conversation ensued:

Angelina: "Mommy, open it!"
Me: "No, honey, it's for the party."
Angelina: "My party?"
Me: "yes, your party is on Saturday."
Angelina: "Happy Birthday to you" (singing.....) followed by her "blowing" - like she was blowing out candles.

Needless to say, she's excited.

More Parties

Sunday was Felice's birthday party at the Kiddie Park. It's been there since 1925 and kind of looks it...but it's a great place. Angelina loved it last year and I was sure she would again.


She did, until about 1 hour into it and Miss Party Girl's weekend of parties finally caught up to her, despite having had a nap before.





But before that point, she had a blast, especially because Papa was taking her on the rides.












A little ice cream makes everything better...











And then we followed up with a trip to Central Market. Angelina has this thing for cows. I guess it's the Swiss in her. She loves cows. The cheese section at Central Market has this cow she always wants to sit on. It's not really meant for kids to sit but they never seem to mind, probably because she's so cute....
She got annoyed when I took the camera out so she's not smiling, but 2 seconds before she was hugging the cow saying "I love my cow! Mooooo! Moooo!"



As for her dress - not really suitable for kiddie park but it's her Party Dress. We are not allowed to go to a party without that dress.

Sprinkler, dirt pile, new grass, and a bunch of kids and a Progessive Party, Lavaca Style

And why I love Lavaca part XXIV

Our new lawn came in handy this weekend.

I'd given up on Angelina taking a nap, so just went for some "quiet" time inside watching Dora, while I went outside to continue pulling weeds. Up walked our neighbor Courtney with her 4 yr old Nico. Nico was looking for some playmates. As Angelina is always in the mood for playmates, I said "Come on in!" but Nico wanted to bring her back to his house. No problem. I wandered over with her, stuck around for a bit then left her.

We were already planning to have Wiley and Felice over for an hour or so a bit later. So Courtney said she'd bring them both back in a bit. Great, more kids usually means I can do more while they entertain each other....

Nico and Angelina wander back, Wiley and Felice come over, they all run off to play. Meantime, some other neighbors walked by. I didn't know them but Courtney did, so they came on in with their two kids. Now we have 6 kids playing. Great! More the merrier.

As the grownups are all talking out front and discussing the merits of old homes, the kids ENTERTAINED themselves by turning on the sprinkler.

What I forgot about was the 12 yards of dirt (maybe it's about 8 yards now) in the back yard. I made my way back to see Wiley rolling wet in the dirt, covered with mud, all the other kids in some form of mud-ness, and Angelina just pulling off her last bit of clothes (her diaper) as she ran through the water and dirt.

In the end we had 6 kids in various states of dress, with Angelina completely naked, running around the yard getting soaked and muddy. The funniest part was the kids kept talking about "The Party!"

So then the kids wanted to play in Wiley's backyard, only his parents weren't home (which is why we had them). No worries, they'd left the house open in case the kids wanted to play there. So we all make our way over. Nico's dad Beto decides we need a beer run. An hour later we're sitting in Rick and Angela's living room having beers, kids running wild, when Rick and Angela walk up :) Nothing like throwing a party in someone else's house.

Not content to end the day just yet, Beto suggests we all head over to their house (where the kids' party started about 1pm that day) for more. About 10pm, some beer, pizza, and lots of good laughs and conversation later, we made it back home :)

I love my neighborhood. Even with all the muddy kids.

And Angelina managed to keep her clothes on the rest of the day.

New Year's Eve = Fireworks and Friends

What could be better? A great evening with friends and friends of friends, topped off by our own personal fireworks display.


Ok so not quite "personal" since we shared it with millions also in downtown San Antonio, but it felt like it was all ours! Though not my picture (borrowed from the official city photo) this is pretty much the view from our back porch.

Was a wonderful night, lots of good friends, happy crazy kids, a nice fire and lots to eat. Too much to eat, since we have so many leftovers we need to have another party.

New Year's Resolution #1: Make less food for the next party, or plan take-home packages for everyone!

We're lucky to have such good friends with whom to share the excitement of a New Year.

Now, if only I could figure out how to get Angelina to sleep just a little bit longer in the morning...

Happy Birthday Martina!

In the Spring we happened to be in California for Cousin Camille's birthday. This time our visit coincided with cousin Martina's birthday (10!). Angelina could not have had more fun.

See that move at the end, jumping up and landing on her bum? Well, she thinks she can do that anywhere, including on Nanny's living room FLOOR - i.e., concrete slab. Ouch! She kept doing it, I'd tell her to stop, but she'd do it again. I can't believe her back wasn't hurting. Now at least she does it on the bed.

"There Are No Strangers, Only New Friends"

I am convinced that is Angelina's motto. She takes her "Social Butterfly" tendency to a new art level. This kid has no hesitation whatsoever to walk up to new people - kids or adults, take their hand, show them around, and within 2 minutes make them laugh and smile. They're usually so enamored of her they can't leave.

A couple of weeks ago we went to an outdoor diner place. As we sat with the grownups, she saw some kids playing. Boys, about 8-10 yrs old. She walked up, "caught" the nerf football they were throwing and threw it back. Now, I'd have expected boys that age to get annoyed by this little squirt interrupting their game. Nope! They included her right in. Then another kid joined, and another. Credit to the boys for being so wonderful and sweet. And when the boys went off to eat, she just grabbed the nearest adult and started playing.

I'm thrilled she's so friendly.

And also a bit terrified.

I have to watch her like a hawk, because she'll go off with anyone, provided she thinks it'll be fun. I'm not sure she'd understand the concept of "Stranger Danger." I'm not sure I want to teach her that concept. I love that she sees all people as friends. Somehow I have to find a happy medium - teach her she can't go off with everyone, but she can be nice to everyone.....

She has this amazing ability to be the life of the party, without demanding the center of attention (most of the time). I don't exactly know how she does it. She's just herself. I mean, she seems ok if you're not looking at her, as long as you're having fun. But if you're not, she'll pull you into the fray. Happy, laughing, singing. She doesn't seem to have that "Look at ME!" attitude (well, she does with Maman and Papa, but not in a group). Rather, it's more along the lines of "Come join us, let's have some FUN!"

Where'd she get this? And will she be the same with with a sibling?!

[I usually start off apologizing to the older kids or the adults whose play she interrupts, but 9 times out of 10, they're happy to have her. She doesn't need to be the center of attention, she just wants to be there with them. To be one of them. To be part of the party. Occasionally there's a kid not so interested in playing with her, and that's the hardest. But more for me than for her. She generally just keeps playing and being sweet. I hope she never loses that]

An Angel in Our Midst

Or maybe the devil in disguise?

Ok, so she's no devil, but she is a big stinker! She is SUCH the party girl. We had two evening parties this weekend (Happy Birthday Cory and Rich!) and even though it was well past her bedtime both nights, she was in her GLORY. This child was just happy as can be, running around, laughing, talking to everyone, sharing her toys, being the life of the party. Rich's parents (who've only seen her once before seeing her 2x this weekend) commented on what an Angel she is. Prachet claims she never cries because he's never seen her cry. Everyone at both parties was convinced she's just always the happiest kid ever.

She is.

Sometimes.

I knew we'd pay for it Sunday...well, Saturday afternoon too. I think it's just because she's bored when it's only us. No audience. During the day she's Miss Cranky Pants. And then there's the much needed nap...usually requiring much crying before she finally konks out. But in the evening, at a party? She's the Star!