halloween

ok...not too bad, just a little under a week since halloween and i'm getting my post up!  i'm on a roll.  halloween was super fun this year - both kids were really into it.  involved in picking out their costumes, racing from door to door for trick or treats and of course, gobbling up as much candy as possible.  ugh. 

kellen decided this year he would be a train - he wavered between james, busy as a bee james, thomas and finally landed on percy.  with the move just behind us, we had plenty of boxes, so i googled thomas the train costumes and came up with some great tutorials for creating a train out of some boxes, hot glue and paint.  i got right to work on cutting out the pieces and while maya napped, k and i worked on painting and gluing. 

mr percy the train (with face painted by grandma!)

when maya found out kellen would be percy, she quickly decided she would be ata hat...aka sir topham hatt.  the round, friendly head of all the trains on thomas and friends.  ever since our "day out with thomas" adventure in hood river, she has had a mild obsession with ata hat.  everytime halloween was mentioned she would declare "ata hat!".  so ata hat it was.  i ordered a kid's size top hat off amazon and went out to search the second hand stores for a little boys suit.  after no luck, i happened to be talking with a mom of kellen's friend and she mentioned that his favorite thing was to wear a suit that his dad had bought for him.  lucky for us...we were able to borrow the suit jacket and that almost completed our costume.  i had found a little yellow shirt at goodwill that i cut into the shape of a suit vest, a black piece of felt tied into a tie and some grey pants, white shirt and black shoes that are part of our every day wardrobe rounded out our little miss sir topham hatt. 

here's a side by side with the real sir topham hatt and our little miss topham hatt...not too bad!  actually super cute!  she put the costume on at 1 in the afternoon to go visit our old neighbor and didn't take it off until late into the evening! 

miss maya topham hatt

the "real" sir topham hatt

maya topham hatt and torsten the big red dog!

miss topham hatt and percy the train

trick or treat!

maya and daddy in line for trick or treat

kellen unfortunately found it pretty difficult to run from house to house with his percy costume on...so off it came and we hauled that thing all around the neighborhood.  note to self:  no more cardboard box costumes.  they are super cute and impressive, but not realistic and will promptly be discarded in favor of keeping up with the friends for more candy!  on the plus side, we now have a real fun percy costume/toy that has gotten some good playtime post-halloween and it was a fun project for us both!

the crew mid trick or treating!

for the second year in a row, we met up with our "baby and me" friends...tilden and torsten, tom and wes, kellen and maya, sydney, henry...just missing hadley.  we all enjoyed a great halloween feast of pulled pork, sweet potato fries and other yummy treats prior to heading out to trick or treat in the ladd's addition neighborhood.  it's so much fun to see how much more into it the kids are each year. 



post trick or treat...and they ALL chose to eat a sucker!



the loot!



on a sugar high in their new halloween jammies!



wowee...

MAUI! i'm so late in posting about our maui vacation...what fun we had (no post would do it justice!). 11 days/10 nights in paradise. we have our friends the schmole's to thank for giving us the motivation to take the trip. ironically, we had been thinking about going to hawaii with the two babes before maya turned 2 (and thus required a paid plane ticket!) and after we they told us about how difficult their trip in december with their two babes we decided somewhere a little closer would probably be best. when they suggested we all go together, we were a little surprised (given their trip in december!)...but took little influencing to make it happen! another family friend of ours also met up with us in lahaina (after a week or so on kauai!) and stayed in the same condo complex as ours (they were next door, but quickly moved out of that crap hole and into a more updated unit!).

the first 7 nights we stayed in 3 bedroom condo in lahaina with our friends - who have 2 boys, each approximately 3 weeks younger than our kids. sure, it was hectic at times with two three year olds and two one year olds...but so, so fun to have playmates and another family who knew what to expect with vacationing with little ones! we had the perfect balance of hanging and exploring together and then downtime on our own. we even managed to pull off a night out for the six adults - thanks to an awesome sitter that we hired through an agency (brilliant idea, mandy and kari!). it was pretty great to be able to enjoy an amazing meal in the company of good friends with an incredible view and setting! if you are in maui, i highly recommend merriman's in kapalua - and get the pina colada...you won't be sorry!



after we said goodbye to our friends, we had 3 more nights. thanks to my old banfield job, i had some hotel points to use. unfortunately they were at two different resorts, but the savings was worth it! so we stayed 2 nights in wailea at the marriott and 1 night at the westin in kaanapali. after the first week in a condo, it was nice to be in a resort with the different pools and beautiful grounds. one afternoon aa and i each traded about an hour of alone time at the adult pool. we were both looking forward to it, but honestly i ended my time early because i was a little lonely and missing my peeps! aa ended up feeling the same! now if aa and i could have been alone together, i'm sure it would have been a different story...but unfortunately the sitter we had used earlier was not available.



some of the highlights of the trip:

• shave ice and ice cream in the afternoon with the kid




• ladies night out with the girls...including a stop at the local gelato shop




• a group "hike" at iao valley state park





• deciding to stop at airport beach after the kids had fallen asleep in the car and enjoying some snorkeling and quiet time on the beach while the kids napped under a beach umbrella (they BOTH stayed asleep while we transferred their sleeping selves from carseats to the beach!)




• the above mentioned parent's night out





• eating at some of our favorite spots from our last trip to maui - the fish market, honolua store, aloha mixed plate
  



• watching the little ones play together nicely (and sometimes not so nicely!)
  
  
  
  
  
  



• a couple hours to enjoy a happy hour/dinner alone thanks to mandy and filip watching our kids




• simple but delicious bbq dinners out on the lawn with our good friends

• lots of fresh pineapple and papaya (maybe mixed with a little coconut rum and ice!)




• exploring the little town of pa'ia after our plans of going to baby beach were foiled when the kids fell asleep in the 5 minutes it took to drive there




• hanging on black rock beach with everyone and watching k squeal with delight as he jumped the waves with his friends







• just being together (especially walking along the beach watching the sunset and hanging on the hammock in the evening!)- with young kids, life can be crazy and it's easy to not slow down and enjoy. i'm thankful for the ten days we had together as a family. i know the kids loved having aa for ten whole days...they have been missing him lots and have really been in a daddy mode (no mama...daddy! is something i hear often) upon our return
  
  
  
  

we've now been back for a month (make that over two months!) and i keep dreaming of our return, especially with this crappy portland summer...AGAIN! until then, i guess we have pictures and a sound machine set to ocean waves!

trick or treat!

it's official...halloween is a million times more fun with kids!


cookie monster! *made by me! easiest costume...ping pong "googly eye" balls sewed onto blue hooded sweatshirt. felt cookies stiched onto body of sweatshirt. after halloween...snip the thread and it's a blue sweatsuit!


chocolate chip cookie! *made by me! even easier...felt chocolate chip cookie safety pinned onto brown shirt w/ brown pants and brown socks!


cookie monster and cookie!


maya and her buddy torsten, stuck in the strollers while their olders sibs trick or treat!


chocolate chip cookie has had enough!


cookie monster, pinkalicious, pilot and robot fairy!


earlier in the week we had some friends over to paint pumpkins. these are all of my nike mom friends who are all now staying home with their kiddos. so fun to "work" together again!


very proud of his pumpkin!

fridays w/ my boy

since i went back to work full time right around a year ago, i adjusted my schedule so that i could have every (or just about!) friday off to have an extra day with my boy. in the last couple of months, it seems like i've been having to work, we've been out of town, or something else has interfered with us having that special 1:1 time. this friday, we were back and i forgot how much i missed those days where we are free to do as we please!

this friday we started out with a morning gymboree class. i wish i would have brought my camera along, because he had so much fun running and climbing and going through all the tunnels. it had been weeks since we made it to class and i think he missed the fun. his favorite part of gymboree right now is the very end where all the kids circle around the teacher and get gymbo (the clown) stamps. my always is one of the first to run over and has his shirt up and ready for one on his belly and then puts each foot and hand out for a total of five stamps! it brings him so much joy.

next we went and visited a friend, which is always fun because it means new toys to experience. we didn't stay too long because kellen had been up early and was in need of a nap after all the playtime. after nap, we made one of our favorite snacks. we whipped up a smoothie with yogurt, frozen berries, mango, pineapple and a banana and then took out a muffin tin and filled it with some of k's faves: cheese, crackers, dried cranberries, trader joes o's, olives and freeze dried bananas.

we ate our snack in the living room on the floor with k's favorite guys - teddy, big t and monkey. ever since we returned from hawaii, he's had a strong attachment to big t and monkey. you'll notice they both have diapers. our new routine is that kellen, big t and monkey all get diaper changes together. it's pretty amazing the little things you'll come up with to get your toddler to cooperate...this one works like a charm for the boy who was refusing to get his diaper changed! i love how he is holding their hands in this first picture!

we've also been practicing wrapping up teddy like a baby and rocking him in preparation for rolo. it's awfully cute to see him caring and nurturing for his loved ones...i know he's' going to be a great big brother!

after snack, another friend came over and kellen had fun showing lyla all of his fun toys! all of this excitement made for a tired boy and a great nights sleep for all!

ps. 68 days left until my due date. OMG!

zoo buddies!

last friday we met up with some of our friends for an impromptu gathering at the zoo! as new zoo members, i can see us spending lots of time here! the great thing about having a membership is that you don't have to stress about getting your money worth by trying to get around to see all of the animals/exhibits...we can pick and choose and if we have a meltdown and need to leave - no worries, we'll just come again another day! we hope to get to some of the zoo concerts that are free with the membership, but the wednesday 7pm shows may be hard for us.

here are a few pics of the afternoon:

kellen and tom checking out the big stuffed bears at the entrance

tom, sydney and kellen in front of the giant fish tank

kellen didn't want to get off his little farm stool!

zoo buddies!

(t-man had just come close to falling off his stool, so wasn't loving it at that moment!)

friends

this past weekend the three of us flew down to meet the newest little Staley - Shea Noel - who is now 9.5 weeks old. she is a total cutie, although kellen was much more impressed with macen, who is 3 1/2 years old. let me tell you...our boy LOVES older girls! thinks they are the total bomb. he had so much fun following her around, playing in the playroom with her and just giggling at her! i had lots of fun just watching them play - made me a little sad that we don't live in the same town anymore so they could play all the time! with three kids under the age of 4, we didn't do much but hang out, eat, play with the babes and play a few rounds of cards...but it was perfect, just relaxing and catching up with dear friends. can't wait until next time!

i didn't take too many pictures, but here are a few:

kellen loving the pink barbie piano and kellen and mace in their footie pj's

happy birthday...it's never too late! (warning: it's a long one!)

ok...i've been quite the slacker on blog posting, but i do want to share the festivities that have been going on in the gassner household. this has been quite the busy month, with the boy's first birthday, hanukkah, christmas and of course, ARCTIC BLAST 08...but onto the birthday parties (yes, that would be three)!

on the actual birthday, we were fairly mellow. we had a few friends over for a little birthday playdate and ended with some dinner and a little cupcake.

playing with his buds, h and t:


he wasn't quite sure what to think about the cupcake:

after a bit of encouragement he went for it:

but it all ended very quickly in tears:

he did enjoy the birthday balloons that his dad brought home for him!


the next day we celebrated his birthday, along with 8 other november/december birthday babies that we've met and become friends with through the hospital baby and me group. luckily we rented out gymboree for the shindig...as there were 20 babies and close to 40 parents there, which made for a crazy hour and a half! it was a lot of fun for everyone and we got to catch up with a lot of people that we haven't seen since i've been back to work full time.
here are some of the babies (ah...i guess they are now officially toddlers!) waiting for the party to begin:

kellen getting in on some good gymboree action:

playing peek a boo with the teacher:

trying to get a group shot of all the babes! ha...what a joke:

come on everybody, it's parachute time:


the weekend ended with the big family birthday party at our house and let me tell you, it was a tight squeeze! it was really special to be able to celebrate our little man with our family and a few close friends!

here's a pic of the birthday boy in his birthday crown w/ his grandpa and GG (great grandma), who was also celebrating her birthday that day:


aa insisted on streamers for the party and he put his decorating skills to work:


opening gifts with all the cousins...it was a bit overwhelming for the three of us, especially the boy:


round 2 of cake, this time with GG and he's still not quite sure about it:

ended with crying yet again:

with uncle bry:


with his friend, baby a, who also turned 1 that weekend:


friend, baby l and cousin, baby m, also born 1 day apart:


his grandparents got him a new tricycle and he couldn't decide what was more fun...riding in the bucket on the back:


or driving it with his friends, teddy!


and after all that partying, we had a pooped boy! he slept through the night 6 out of 7 of the nights that week. thought we had turned a corner on the sleeping, but unfortunately it didn't stick! we're back to him coming in to sleep with us sometime in the middle of the night. we may have cursed ourselves because after he slept through the night a few nights in a row, we both commented on how we kind of missed having him with us!


and that's a wrap...i have much more to write or at least pictures to share - hanukkah, christmas and all the new things the boy is up to - but i'll save that for another day.