November: week 3

On Saturday November 15, we attended baby Emily's first birthday party in Connecticut but were negligent about our photography.  A special cupcake was presented to Summer in honor of her birthday ...

... which we celebrated on Sunday, in part by going out to get Allie's donuts -- yum!

We also baked a cake, and later we went for a walk at Meshanticut Pond.

Then Oliver turned 15 months old!

He and Madeline are cute together.

Life continues on.

November: week 2

On November 8, we took the kids to WaterFire.  It was dark.

We watched the fire.

We got some dinner.

And Oliver ran around downtown Providence like a crazed and blurry squirrel.

Summer had chased him while I procured food, so I chased him while she and Madeline watched the fire on the river.

On November 9, Madeline wrote her name (with an extra "E").

And though I was not feeling well, we picked up sandwiched from Ricotti's and went to Colt State Park.

Oliver helped Madeline build a new fairy house.

Aw, sibling love.

Oliver has been quite the self-advocate when it comes to milk lately, retrieving it from the fridge and brandishing it while intoning, "mulc, mulc, mulc!"

On Friday, Summer took the kids to the playground while I finished up at work ...

... then we went to Sea Shanties, which is a favorite activity for all of us.

In fact, Madeline asks more days than not if we can go to Sea Shanties.

Alas, the event is only once a month.

November: week 1

It's been November for almost three weeks now.  But this picture was taken back on November 1.

On November 2, Madeline attended a birthday party with a clown.  She (the clown) was really great.  I was impressed.  And she painted Madeline's face.

Madeline wanted the facepaint to stay on forever.

Later, we went over to Arturo's to see Julia, visiting from San Diego!

On November 4, the kids accompanied us to our polling place, then got dressed up for bed.

And on Friday November 7, Madeline's half day of school, she and Summer made brownies ...

... and button art.

Good times.

End of October, part two

The last Wednesday in October, Madeline stayed home sick.  Summer introduced her to watercolor paints ...

... and together they hung up the decorations we'd made together.

Then we carved jack-o-lanterns.  Oliver was confused.

You'll have to make it down to the Halloween pictures to see what we came up with.

By nighttime, Madeline was feeling much better -- and looking very grown up.

Soon it was Halloween.  A bear emerged from upstairs to tickle the kiddos!

Our jack-o-lanterns decorated the front steps.

Oliver made a great dinosaur ...

... and Madeline made a great little mermaid.  Here she's singing Ariel's song: "A-a-a-a a-a-a-a, a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a."

Soon it was dark ...

... and time for trick-or-treating.

Kristin had come by in all the chaos to join in the fun.

Madeline sometimes forgot to say "Trick or treat!" but was meticulous about her "Thank you!"s.

And both kiddos were very serious about their candy hauls.

That's all for October -- and for tonight.  Now I'm only two weeks behind.  Stay tuned.