We think it's still summer here...

Yes, this is outside in the middle of November. Einar in particular was a bit cold until he became more excited about the prospect of painting pudding all over (especially his tongue). However, I must note that this past week we did have temperatures in the mid 80's around here. My friend Marianne invited us over this afternoon for body painting and we just couldn't resist the chance to try it. Once the kids were done, they spent some time in the bathtub. I got to cross one more thing off of my to-do list the day before a big trip: a clean Einar.


Other new and exciting adventures include Jared teaching the boys how to make a fort out of our couch cushions. You can see that they even got the cushion off of my nursing chair.

Soren is keeping his eyes on what is going on so that he can be a part of it.

Last Friday night we went to the 233rd Marine Corps Birthday Ball with Jared's Battalion. We got all dolled up--new dress, hot rollers, even make-up. We had a good time and weren't in any danger of falling asleep like one of our table companions did in the following picture:


This is the Marines in the ceremony presenting the cake and having the oldest Marine and the youngest Marine eat the first pieces. This year Jared escaped being the oldest one there to eat the cake because there was a guy in his late 70's who was in attendance. Last year since the ball was only for his company instead of an entire battalion, that honor fell to him.

Can you believe these pictures were taken in the Walmart Parking lot? We've been having gorgeous sunsets this past week!

AARG!! It's the dreaded Food Beard, the pirate.

It's the dreaded pirate Food Beard prior to gorging himself at dinner time at Disneyland. Also, having a great time hanging out with the group for Kathleen's birthday.There's always time to play drums, and make other loud noises, around the house.
Blocks from Uncle Tor and Aunt Jess are fun! Watch out, that road looks bumpy!Yumm-baa! and they even taste like they're food-safe.

Halloween Fun

On the day before Halloween, Einar's preschool had a Halloween Parade for the kids first thing in the morning. The two classes lined up and then paraded around the courtyard three times so that we could all get some good pictures. Einar might look like he is just a plain simple brown horse, but he went as a "Circle of Life Pony." Those are his words. I think he wanted to be a horse and then started reading the Lion King book a bit and just incorporated them together. He did mention that he wanted to be Mufasa about two days prior to Halloween, but thankfully embraced his horse costume. Notice he's about a head taller than the princess behind him.

This year I finally had some help with pumpkin carving. He wasn't into scraping out the insides and he was a bit too eager to wield a knife, but he did stick around with me at the table to help with input on the final product. We went for the "make it look like Soren" design. Two teeth on top, two teeth on the bottom and some sizable ears completed the look. Instead of fire this year, I went with the glowstick option.


Halloween Frenzy.


The crew before heading out for trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. Einar is at the far left and Soren the Sock Monkey is being held by Balto the Wolf Girl.

Little sock monkey got to ride with dad all night. Notice that Jared is wearing short sleeves. It was in the low 70's that night and our Circle of Life Pony practically had heat stroke by the time we'd finished two streets!

There hasn't been much to report on this week and regrettably I've been living in the house of sick and haven't felt much like blogging. Einar came down with a crud on Sunday night and has been kept out of school all week and Soren caught it as well. Soren hasn't been as sick as Einar, but he has been oozing snot all week. Yuck, see it isn't even fun to read about!

Out of the Worry Woods

He did it! Soren gained 1lb 10oz in the last 2 weeks and is now on the weight chart again! Can you see how proud of himself he is? I don't think he'll be looking back any time soon and I'm happy that I don't have to go to the doctor with him for another 2 months.

Guest Photographer

Well, I've had Jared publish a post once in awhile, but today I'm debuting my newest photographer: Einar. Last Saturday he and I walked down to our neighborhood clubhouse to see the annual Ocean Hills Dog Show. This was our third time at the event! Each year on the weekend before Halloween this show is held and a variety of neighborhood dogs show up in costume to frolic with each other and compete in best trick competitions and best costume. It's always kind of a hoot to see and there are usually snacks. This year there weren't too many dogs and the costumes weren't all that elaborate, but we had a good time anyway. Einar took the pictures, except the one of him holding the little dog. The owners were very encouraging and helped Einar remember how to approach dogs and scratch them.

Food, Fangs, and Forward Motion

Wow, it's been a big work week for Soren. He just got his fourth tooth. Food is still his top priority and he is now enjoying rice, sweet potatoes, squash, applesauce, bananas, carrots, and yogurt. Tonight he tried out his new mesh feeder first with a banana and then with some apple pieces and loved it. Definitely kept him busy while the rest of us enjoyed our dinner too. I fed him before we sat down for dinner tonight since he was so hungry and when I ran out food in the first bowl, he broke down into angry tears. He settled down when another bowl of food was offered. From a couple of those pictures you can understand why one of Soren's many nicknames is Food Beard, the dreaded Pirate.

He also is now crawling and can move across the room! Last night we all were on the floor encouraging him to make it over to us. He still prefers carpet for his top speeds, but he's getting faster every day.

The Cowboy and His Posse Go Shopping

Last night we all went shopping in search of a dress for me to wear to the Marine Corps Birthday Ball that is coming up in November. Why take your whole family to go dress shopping, you ask? I think because Jared is afraid that I might be gone half a day or more if I head out to do alone at the mall and that baby of ours still wants to see mom more often than not. So we decided to make it a family outing and it worked exceptionally well.

When I told Einar to go get dressed since we were going to go shopping and I wasn't going to take him in his pajamas he came back naked and holding his horse costume. (He's going to be a horse for Halloween). Well, it's really not cold enough to be parading around town in a horse costume since the Santa Ana winds are blowing and the temperature has been in the upper 70s all week. If it were cooler, he might have been able to get away with it since it is October and he's 3years old, but I decided to steer him away from the horse costume and instead encouraged him to wear his cowboy suit. That idea went over splendidly and we went shopping with a very happy cowboy who liked the sound that his boots made when he walked.

So while I looked at dresses, I either had the cowboy with me in the dressing room since he likes to offer his opinions, or he was hanging out with Jared and Soren in the mall. In the long run I did find two dresses and I'm still trying to make a decision, but I no longer have to worry about going to the ball naked or in my bathrobe.
His T-shirt says "Tough Guys Wear Pink."

No good excuses, but lots of good pictures.

Well, no good excuses for my long absence in blogging. Just the usual with Einar and I losing the battle with the back to school crud; visits from Ukrainians and a nice visit from Jennifer, Mary and Sammy; the computer nearly crashing from being overloaded with old information that was taking up our start-up disk; and just keeping up with these two kids and our San Clemente life. Jared fixed our computer on Sunday by trashing a lot of old stuff that was taking up disk space. It's working SO much better. We also celebrated our 6Th wedding anniversary on Sunday!
This is the kids at family night out at Pick-Up Stix. You should see the noodles that Einar can put away. Soren is going to be fighting him for food at the rate he's been slurping up his squash, sweet potatoes, applesauce, rice, and banana. Last night he ended up eating an entire banana mixed with rice cereal! Tonight it was squash and sweet potato.

"Chunky" Soren hanging out on his new blanket that was handmade by my friend Kimber. Can you tell that he's been chunking up? We go back to the doctor on Thursday for a weigh-in and to find out the results of his blood and urine tests last week.

Yum, Soren likes sweet potatoes.

Yum, I like giraffe biscuits.

Look at that amazing tongue on the giraffe! It's black and it really likes giraffe biscuits. On Saturdays at the zoo you can feed the giraffes (3 biscuits for $5). It was really an experience to remember. I fed the one in the corner. I think Jared and Einar fed the same one.

Check it out! Einar in front of the hippos at the Zoo. Not only are the floating hippos super cool, but I think that the best thing about this picture is Einar's hair. We've been letting it grow out a bit and you may be seeing more pictures with action hair.

Happy Exersaucer time.
Mary and Sammy in the San Diego Zoo parking lot with my Man-Totem.

Einar Giraffe.
Soren Giraffe.
Karla Giraffe.
Dancing up a storm while waiting for dinner at El Adobe in San Juan Capistrano.

Soren gets a kick out of watching Einar play with his trains and build his tracks. Then when he's had enough he cries out to be rescued.
Sammy, Soren, and Einar stop the playing to have a bit of a photo shoot. Sammy and Soren had a good time hanging out on the couch together.

This is one of our visiting Ukrainians, Mykola. He and our other guest, Toraas, are in the Kiev Symphony Orchestra and were in San Clemente for 3 nights last month. We volunteered to host a couple of the musicians and enjoyed having them here. Jared and I went to the concert on Friday night and it was a great evening. Soren liked it too.

Cousin Sammy hanging out with the gorilla baby at the Zoo.

Ogle Family dressed in navy blue shirts and olive shorts at the San Diego Zoo. We didn't plan the outfits, but when we all walked out the door we matched. Even Jennifer and Mary were wearing this outfit! Only Sammy and Soren didn't get the memo.