Mae interviewed by Olive

Olive was doing some interviewing the other night. My favorite part of this one is when Olive asks, "What does a horse say?" And Mae gallops and says "gaya, gaya".

So here is Mae, showing off her skills at 17 months old:

This next one is Mae showing all the body parts she knows. Olive and I are laughing at the beginning because Olive said, "Mae, can you say elbow?". You can hear me say, "She doesn't know that one" just before Mae very clearly says, "elbow" twice. :)

My favorite body parts that she shows are her eyes, nose and teeth (scrunches her eyes, breathes through her nose and does a chewing motion for teeth). I'd never asked her cheek before and was surprised when she pointed to that!

Orchestra Hall

Olive had her first school field trip last month, which was also her first trip to Orchestra Hall. I went along as a parent chaperone and it was really fun. Olive seemed to be a natural on the string instruments. Or maybe I just hope she will be. :)

Halloween party!

We hosted a Halloween get together at our house! We had Strawberry Shortcake (Olive), a bear (Mae), Pippi Longstocking (Irene), a boat (Oscar), wonder women (Rosie and Hattie), a witch (Nana), a wizard/Steve Jobs (Papa), another Steve Jobs (Sam), and Laura and Levi as themselves in high school.

We had cool, spooky food and even a performance by the kiddos (directed by Nana).

The play:

The whole cast:

Vampire and bone cookies:

Mae the bear:

Deviled spider eggs:

Vampire cookies:

Steve Jobs x2:

Steve Jobs (Sam):

Strawberry Shortcake:

Snake pizza:

Carrot fingers:

Mummy dogs:

Monster cupcakes:

Frankenstein cake:

Post party, relaxing in full costume:

Happy Halloween!

Fall up north

The girls and I enjoyed a long weekend up north with Nana and Papa and Matt and Jessica and their family. It was chilly but not too cold to enjoy the outdoors.

Oscar and Olive had a great time running around and Mae enjoyed her time with Rosie and Hattie.

We went on a (short) hike and had hot chocolate, took a canoe ride, skipped rocks, walked down the road to see a Halloween display, played in the playhouse, and played games and colored inside.

Apples! Pumpkins! Guitars!

Today we did the requisite fall orchard trip with the girls. We went to Minnetonka Orchards and it was a really fun one! Lots of kiddo activities along with the typical apple picking.

Facepainting, of course:

Mae happily enjoyed the day from the backpack:

Olive leading us through the corn maze:

Olive and Nana:

Train ride:

Apple picking:

Don't take that apple from her, trust me:

There was a musician playing and he had instruments out for the kids. Olive loved the guitar. Like, really loved it:

Doesn't she look like a rockstar?:

Mae, too, of course. Tearing it up: