All Hallows Eve

 We had a great Halloween!  Madi's bo-peep costume still fit from last year so that's what she wanted to be for the church party.  I got pretty familiar with a glue gun for Charles and my costumes.

This pumpkin patch in Half Moon Bay had oodles of pumpkins to choose from.  Madeline was quite picky about which ones she wanted.

 We visited daddy at work and trick or treated in his hallway.  Somebody asked her to do a trick for a treat so she sang the ABC song that only a mouse could hear.

Then we went to her school party and she loved all the crafts they had.

 She spent a lot of time in the music room jamming with her friend Natalia.

 This bundle of cuteness consists of a few of her friends from her class at pre-school.  I love how they always hold hands.

 When Halloween night came the bride of Frankenstein made an appearance.  We had so much fun in this costume.  Nobody could believe that her hair was real.  Of course, a lot of people thought her ringlets were fake in the Bo Peep costume too.

A kiss to the father of the bride... 

 ...and we are off trick or treating in the neighborhood.

   She gives me the chocolate from her stash and her and daddy divvy up the rest.  A perfect trade on a perfect Halloween.

Summer of Fun

Goodness, we are so behind on blogging it is hard to know where to catch up.  We'll start by saying that we have moved from Manhattan (sniff, sniff) to the Bay Area in Northern California. (Yay!)  Madeline and Grandmum were doing some dancing on our last visit with them.

We stopped in Utah for a fun vacation.  Madeline did a great job in her first swim classes!  Luckily she was in the same class as Simon, a friend from NYC, and Elias her cousin.

Most of the Summer was sheer exhaustion.  Abby concurs.

 The best part of the Summer was reconnecting with people we love and don't get to see very often.  It's rare to get time with Aunt Julia.  She's one busy woman!

Lucy loved those hamsters!

We loved hanging out with Hank and George everyday.  This is the sight I saw most often when Layna would leave them.  Oh, there were tears...but they quickly got over it.

A photo for the Potter family history books.  The oldest and youngest grandkids.

We had a blast with the Potters.  This was taken after we just floated the Provo river.

This was a nature hike in St. George.  Everyone was holding a poisonous plant which really freaked out Grandma Potter.

We just never get enough time with this wonderful woman.  We love you mom!

We had a quick visit with the Rachel and Kellen!  Averi has the most adorable laugh.

Enjoying breakfast 18 month old twins style! 

PERTY!!!

Charles and Madi made a snowman in August when Cody cleaned out the deep freeze.  That's what we do instead of helping him actually clean it out.  We're great house guests.

More family to love!  Aunt Mabel is awesome the way she can feed a crowd at a drop of a hat.

Easter

Easter is my favorite holiday just for what it represents: New life, hope, and joy.  You just can't go wrong on Easter. (This photo of Madeline was taken last year.  I can't look at it without cracking up.)

She was quite intrigued with the chicks.  The photographer snapped the picture and then went to rescue the chicks before a bear hug between them happened.

A friend at church put together this awesome Easter egg hunt in Central Park.  Can you call it a hunt when there are so many eggs that kids are tripping over them?  The kids just loved it! 

After the hunt there was a massive egg pinata that the kids took turns wapping.  We had so much fun at this event that we stayed for hours and came home with a sunburn.

We can't get Madi within six feet of Santa Claus; but gargantuan sized bunnies are okay.

This is Madeline's sunbeam teacher at church.  Many of you may recognize him from a pretty major part in the new LDS movies about the Savior.  He and his wife are not only talented they are just really great people.

Of course, it's not Easter without the annual egg dying activity with the Grandmoore's.  Who needs an Easter bunny when you have grandparents.  Seriously.

I love this photo of Madi and Simon.  He's one of her many buddies here in the city.  Anywhere else you go the girls always outnumber the boys.  For some reason, in NYC, it's the exact opposite for her age group.  She learns a lot from Simon about "good guys and bad guys"...and fire trucks.

Yo, Adrian

 We took a day trip to Philly and made a small dream of mine come true.  It wasn't visiting the Liberty Bell or perusing Ben Franklin's home.  It was a higher, much loftier goal.

That's right.  I ran the Rocky steps.

We weren't the only tourists there who had the same idea.  We may be from different countries and speak different languages but one thing we did have in common.  We all waved our fists and sang the Rocky theme song.   (I bribed Madeline with candy to get this shot.)

After I got my Rocky fix we moved on to the Philadelphia zoo.  There was face painting there and Madeline wanted to be a piggy.  I tried to persuade her to be something pretty like a flower princess...but no, she wanted to be a pig.  And a cute little piggy she was.

After walking around seeing the sights and animals all afternoon, our little piggy was tired.  So dad carried her back to the car to go home but we first had to stop and get a REAL Philly cheesesteak.  Charles went to college in Philly so he knows where to get the best cheesesteak.  

After a 30 minute ride back to Wilmington Charles and I had this huge desire to fly kites.

It was terribly windy.  All the better for kite flying. 

 Charles and I had so much fun frolicking about and flying this $8 kite...

...but Madeline's response was "Can we go home now."  Maybe we should've spent time in Philly at Ben Franklin's house checking out his kite collection.

Central Park Zoo

Surprise!

Charles is the most difficult person to buy presents for.  So, I decided this year I would throw a surprise party for him during a month that wasn't even his birthday.  We had a blast.  Charles was a good sport.

 Adam and his friend Sophie came to visit.  They were so much fun.  We loved the way they enjoyed the city.  They made every minute count...and even survived the craziness of Manhattan on St. Patricks Day.

 We went to the Central Park zoo with some friends on a cold day earlier this month.  So much to see even though not all the exhibits were open.

 Those poor alpacas.  Madeline didn't even know how much they wanted her snacks.

 We were happy to enter the aquarium because it was so cold outside.  Madi and Truman pose in front of the penguins aquarium.

 After we got our fingers and noses warm we made our way to see the jaguar.

An then on to the seals.  

Then on to find a taxi home.