Various things have been going on, including Kindergarten for L. September/October was a busy month, what with L’s b-day and Halloween. Here are some pics from the  happenings.

First, we went to an RSL game on the 1st:

L’s b-day party was the 5th:

Some post-party portraits:

Samosa was disappointed that he couldn’t go:

Moustaches were given as party favors:

…it’s possible this is why Samosa was so sad…

The school book fair happened, and the kids pored over their new acquisitions:

…and then of course, there was Halloween:

and a class trip to the pumpkin patch (both G and L’s classes went on the same day):

…and of course, the best part — trick-or-treating:

Then, today, the kids decided to take some pictures of their own with their kid digital cameras. Some of their shots were pretty cute:

Now you’re all caught up.

we found a neat hike up the mountains a few weeks back.  it was beautiful, but of course we left the camera at home.  we went back over the weekend, this time bringing the camera.  gavin, of course, was busily hunting for new additions for his rock collection.

"i found a rock!" he says, while surrounded by rocks...

you can see more pics from our adventure in the mountains here.

meanwhile, lilah found a new, fashionable use for stickers:

the kids have been working on their faces

gavin happy

gavin excited

gavin grumpy

gavin angry

i don’t remember what this was supposed to be, but what it actually is is gavin saying okay mom and dad, that’s enough now

similarly, i think this was intended to be grumpy but came across more confused…

lilah happy

lilah excited

lilah surprised

lilah grumpy

as per usual, the kids have been sick.  so imagine my surprise last night when, rather than unhappy wailing, i suddenly heard rambunctious giggling and laughter from the other room

the kids were exchanging tickets (puzzle pieces) for a chance to ride on the slide (large armchair)

this was being done as a solo activity (pictured above), or with gavin standing behind lilah and sliding down together

a few minutes later, the game changed, and one of them would get “stuck” and require the other’s help in rescuing them

gavin, of course, was the ringleader of this operation

this is just a quick note to say that we’re working on the kidsblog.  i’ve uploaded the site to a new server so it should load faster now, which is good considering how much multimedia content we put up here.  ever the intrepid technologist, gavin got a digital camera for christmas, and has been actively photographing his world.  so, hopefully in the next few weeks i will be setting up a new photoblog to showcase gavin’s photography.  the proposed title is that looks like it was taken by a 3-year old! — gavin’s photoblog.  i’m going to take a bit more of an active role in keeping the blog updated which will hopefully mean more stuff, more often.  

don’t worry, there are pics, we just need to get them all together and will be posting them soon!

happy new year!

note from erin:
gavin got a little matchbox car for christmas this year and decided to use small puff cereal pieces as the driver and passenger, which lilah has been eating out of the car.  then gavin asks for more cereal people for his car.  we’ve been very entertained.

we’ve been potty training g with some success, although the number 2 has been a bit more of a challenge.  but because of this, the words pee pee and poop have become more common in our everyday vernacular.  except gavin does not say poop, for whatever reason.  he prefers “poot.”

a couple weeks ago we were out of coffee creamer.  this is a sad and dire day in our lives, the day without coffee creamer.  all we had to cream our coffee was almond milk, which is not the same.  i thought i could make myself a bit of a ghetto mocha, using some microwave chocolate sauce i had lying around.  so i put that in, but it did not taste very chocolatey.  experiment fail.  

however, when i was done with my coffee there was a large unseemly lump of brown at the bottom of my coffee cup.  i thought it looked rather like poop and said so.  erin says “look gavin!  there’s poop in daddy’s coffee mug!”  gavin looks over, interestedly.

“POOT!” he says, excitedly, and points at the bottom of the mug.  “POOT!”

we would say something here, but we’re too busy laughing our heads off.  for example, i’d like to assure gavin that i don’t really drink poot.  but he’s so excited about the poot in my mug, do i really want to crush the illusion?

so this morning, gavin comes over and sees my mug.  “Poot?” he asks, and leans over to check.

no, gavin, no poot today.  and it will be a long time before i live this down…

in this episode, we find Lilah, who has seen her brother’s antics and wants to get in on the fun:

maybe there will be a redux of the old 80s TV show, The Newlywed Game.  If so, Gavin is practicing to be the host:

gavin, ever the intrepid technologist, wanted to share some opinions on himself and the future of video blogs in this, his first of many, vlog: