Tag Archives: Mom

Halloween 2018

Pregaming before Halloween trick-or-treating with the traditional bowl of chili…

…and the ceremonial viewing of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Ellasaurus and Dinosaur Scientist ready to go out and capture some candy

Ready!

Ella checking the inner workings of the illuminated Baby Cat pumpkin

Little dinosaur walking to the first house, neighbors John and Lisa

Pretty much the evenings speed- Des and Cal, with Ella following shortly behind

A stunningly perfect autumn evening and sunset 

She gradually started picking up speed as she got into the rhythm of trick-or-treating

Pit stop for a quick candy break on the porch before bedtime

You Didn’t Tell Me You Were Gonna Kill It

Pumpkin carving and seed harvesting commences after nap

Ella peers in for a good look inside

Dad showing Desmond his classic/signature/one-trick-pony carving technique

Desmond practicing his knife skills

Mom starts sketching Ella’s request for “cat” and “baby”

Serious kudos to mom’s creativity and execution for the improvised “baby cat” pumpkin 

These two little pumpkins with their pumpkins

Spooktacular 2018

After pa’s retirement breakfast, the kids are over the moon with their balloons

Exploring the terrain outside of the Joslyn 

Desmond’s portraits lean more abstract than purely technical

These digital art easels are really engaging, especially with the virtual viscosity of the paint, where you can manipulate and smudge around globs of paint

More “stop(ped working)” than “stop motion,” mom takes a single snapshot

Magnetic doll activity Ella seemed to enjoy (and spark a Christmas gift idea- though a magnetic woman with various career uniforms)

Des saw some train tracks and got to work straight away

The many expressions of Eleanor- all attitude and silly goose

Got to position the new cat friend just right…

Ok, perfect

About sums it up- Des and mom look at the video installation, Ella goofing around towards brother

Stop #2 at family friend Bill Hoover’s gallery open house. These two do a surprisingly good job of avoiding touching any work, though snacks help

Des modeling all the Halloween rings from yesterday’s grab bag

Slime!

Heading to the zoo in costume for Spooktacular has been a fun family tradition, ever since Des’ first trip to the zoo.

Not sure why Des posed with the whistle, was he going for “here dinosaur, dinosaur!?”

The cousin squad in full regalia

Snuggling with grandma

Unlike her brother’s trepidation at this age of all non-human characters, Eleanor was all about the new faces. Also clearly long past her issues with stranger danger, she has absolutely no problem giving a stormtrooper a high-five

Negotiating holding a hand, holding her bucket and having a spare hand to grab candy was an ongoing challenge

The key to Spooktacular is to go right on time and start with the trick-or-treating

Of course you’ve got to stop for the various entertainment along the way (drum line)

Ella was also enamored by large costumes, like this high school mascot

Buckets full of candy, it’s time to enjoy the zoo in reverse- the desert basement is lit and the jungle is dark.

Up close and personal with one of the bats

Des nervously checks his gear after entering a massive bubble pit

Dinosaur Scientist at the Disco

Des and Cal fraternizing with the dark side of force

Eleanor has apparently been sufficiently immersed in Star Wars recently that she felt so compelled as to run up to Darth Vader and give him a hug. For weeks following, she would tell anyone that would listen, “I hug Darth Vader!”

And then there was this for months to come-

Dad: “So what did you dream about last night, Eleanor?”

Eleanor: “I dream about Darth Vader!”

Mom and dad are only mildly worried, though think now she’s playing everyone for the response 🙂

October 26th, 2018

The elusive Ellasaurus and the Dinosaur Scientist (yes he knows what a paleontologist is, but he prefers his alternate title), ready for another year’s Halloween parade

The cutest little pink-chucks-wearing dinosaur you ever did see

Parading

Ma’s handmade costume has a quality last appearance

What started as a joint venture slowly turned into a one-man con job on dad to complete a puzzle for Des’ viewing entertainment

Oasis Hummus – Good to the very last lick

“Can we do bath drops tonight, dad?”

Des and Ella learning that flying kites inside is big trouble

Des Fourth Birthday

Desmond chose yet again to spend his fourth birthday out of school on a special adventure with just mom and dad to… the pumpkin patch. While waiting for the tractor to depart, Des surveys the map

Cold and muddy, he’s undeterred on his quest for the perfect pumpkin

The kind lady taking tickets at the gate, upon learning it was his birthday, offered Des a special birthday button. It took nearly 10 minutes for her to return with it, but clearly worth it.

Proud of his haul

While dad runs the pumpkins to the car, Des hops on another tractor ride

The now annual windmill photo, Des is notably more comfortable walking on grated surfaces 🙂

He was a bit trigger happy, though some apples made contact with the steel pumpkin and black cat silhouettes 

While last year’s climb to the top was immediately followed by walking down the stairs, this time Des was all about the Big Slide

The yellow barn was the same loud, pneumatic chaos of foam ball fury

Desmond was endlessly tickled by the horse with what appeared to be dog-like patience and interest in pellet treats. The swing-arm feeding tray that he could control likely also played a role in his ear-to-grin and giggle fits.

Gotta feed the goats…

…but there’s no one like his #1 pal

Able to peddle his own way around the trike track with dad needing to push. It was a lot of fun until he didn’t understand that one must yield to pedestrians loading/unloading at the beginning :/

Refueling with some sandwiches and a pickle

The equivalent “fun” of paddle boats, Des enjoys the ride as mom and dad peddle (with their knees to the chest) what can be best described as a manual dune buggy. Mom takes the wheel as dad engages in vehicular photo shenanigans

Practicing his mastery of the force in the corn pit

Much more confident as a four year old, Des really enjoyed the bounce pads

Duck racing, as you do

Snack break for some apple cobbler and ice cream

It’s not a John Deere, but it’ll do

Mom and dad weren’t sure how this was going to go…

There’s sometimes a fine line between thrill and terror, but Des clearly landed on exhilarating!

To be fair, no one in Team Llama got over a condescending “bumpkin”

About sums up the day-

Opening family presents

Des first Hot Wheels track!

His own music station, for mixing his noise-scapes on a whole new level 

Yeah, that’s fun

Continuing the tradition of birthday cupcakes

After half a cupcake, Ella get’s pretty wild

May Des’ Fourth Be With You

What was certain to be a good omen, Desmond starts his birthday party day with the season’s first snowfall. On a trip with dad to nab folding chairs, Des also gets a special birthday hot chocolate

All warm

A young Jedi recreating a scene in Star Wars

Eleanor is in a phase where any material, regardless of how small, is either spread out as a blanket to lay on or cover something that is “going sleepy”

Ella is as surprised as everyone else that the snow is sticking and begins to accumulate

What dad thought would be just a nice background (while Beatles played on the speakers) ended up being an early focal point of the birthday party

Getting pigtails with aunt Megan, who is significantly more skilled than mom and dad

Snack picnic

When originally prompted for birthday theme ideas, Des, almost without thinking, replied “Star Wars and Rainbows.” Safe to say, mom and dad’s baker friend nailed it. Mom took to the next level with action figures.

Ella and pa negotiating terms for sharing chips

One can only assume he’s wishing to watch Empire Strikes Back. Or for real-life dinosaurs…

Ella showing off her fork skills for great-grandma Jan

Action figures rivaling cake and ice cream for attention

When you’re so cute, everyone offers you a bite of cake

Desmond solicits help from Liam reading cards

Making the rounds

Mom demonstrating how the R2-D2 candy dispenser works

Hug pile with ma

And the party inevitably ends in some sort of balloon-oriented mayhem

(Mom gets award for best birthday installation)

A New Hope

Eleanor susses out the new crow on ma and pa’s front porch

Literally years in the waiting, Desmond finally gets to watch to watch Star Wars on the eve of his fourth birthday. In all of history, there has never been a more well-informed pre-schooler on the primary and more subtle plot points. Beyond general knowledge, Desmond and dad had even been re-reading/studying the stories before bed in preparation. With Eleanor spending the evening with grandma, and having borrowed a subwoofer from pa, it was finally time for the opening score and crawl- 

A boy first seeing R2-D2 and C-3PO landing on Tatooine 

Ok, the first scene or two with Darth Vader may have been a bit intense…

…but there’s comfort and support

After the first intermission, reinforcement stuffies arrive

“The Force will be with you. Always.”

October 8th, 2018

Desmond amidst nap-time acrobatics

Upon the first piece’s successful extraction, one thinks, “there was surely no way he was going to pull that off, but wow, he got it. Maybe he has the hang of this…” Second turn, reliably, “yeah, that’s what I was expecting.” Game over.

Leave it to Eleanor to find entertainment in not applying stickers, but attempting to remove prior installations. She hears dad’s logic to the contrary, but just doesn’t care.