Parks and Pumpkins

We had our annual trip to the pumpkin patch last weekend with Nathanh's adoption group (well two of the the families were missing, but we hope to see them soon).  That is really something I am going to to miss for Thianna.  Having a group of children and families that adopted kids at the same time from the same orphanage.  It is really too bad too as she is at an age where she would know and remember them and they could form a strong, lifetime connection.  I always tell Nathanh that these are his special friends, that he has known them even longer than he has known mommy and daddy - and that they probably shared a crib at some point!  I am definitely grateful to have these families in our lives and I know that they will embrace Thianna just as much as Nathanh but I really do wish she could stay connected with some of her little friends from the orphanage.  That was Sunday...

On Monday, we enjoyed a day at the park, beach and another park with friends!  The kids loved it!  It was an all day event and both kiddos were asleep in the car on the way home!

Thianna, such a happy little girl!  She loved the motorcycle, perhaps it reminded her of Vietnam:)

This is Molly - a friendly little dog that we met at the park.  She is the second dog that Thianna has had the chance to pet.  She is definitely no longer trying to scare dogs away.  She actually seems to think it is her right to visit all dogs that she sees.  I just have to keep reminding her that she can't approach all dogs and that she needs to ask their owner first.  

Thianna was absolutely delighted with the ducks at this park.

Playing with a branch in the water.  All of the kids were thrilled with this activity. 

They are starting to play together more and more cooperatively.   I actually prefer taking them out to play.  When we are out there is no fighting over toys as there is nothing that belongs to either one of them.  And really, what kids don't like just being outside?

Of course, this was Halloween week too so we did a variety of things to get ready for the big event.  This is Thianna scooping the seeds out of her pumpkin.  I didn't know what she would think of cutting her pumpkin open but I think we had read enough books about it and seen a enough shows on tv that she knew what was going on.

Of course, after all that scooping you have to take the time to roast some pumpkin seeds!

I tried a new pumpkin seed recipe this year that included cinnamon and lots of sugar!  It was a hit!  Thianna opted to eat hers with a spoon.  I would say so that she didn't get her hands sticky but that would be untrue!

Thianna with her carved pumpkin.  She said she wanted star eyes, so star eyes she got:)

Yup, she was pretty happy with her pumpkin and somehow, at Nathanh's suggestion, got to sleep with it in her room as a night light.  Not to worry, it was a battery powered candle.

Nathanh and Daddy carving Nathanh's pumpkin.

Nathanh's pumpkin.  What would Halloween be without a little bit of Star Wars?

Ready for bed after pumpkin carving.

On Halloween day, my goal was to tire them both out in the morning so that they would both have a nap in the afternoon.  Here we are at the Y after open gym.  Thianna insisted on taking a cucumber for her snack.  Her choices were banana, cucumber or orange.  I thought for sure she would choose the banana however, when she saw that Nathanh took the cucumber, she insisted on having a cucumber too.  So far I have not gotten her to take more than a lick with a couple of teeth marks when it comes to cucumber, before spitting it out.  But since she insisted, I did not bring a back up snack for  her.  When she realized this, I thought I was in for a meltdown but she surprised me and (although she didn't like it) ate the whole thing!

There was still a little bit of Hallowen cooking to do before nap time.  I wanted to try out this pumpkin rice krispie recipe.  It actually was not that much fun to do with the kids.  They were tired (which was my plan) and the marshmallows were just a bit too sticky for them not to whine about sticky fingers!  But they did like the end result!!

Our pumpkins!  Thianna is nicely displaying a blue licorice in her mouth...her teeth are not really that colour!

And they are off...it was very hard to wait for daddy to get home from work so that we could leave the house for some tick-or-treating.

As I had predicted, Thianna did just fine with trick-or-treating.  Nathanh has never really gotten too into it.  This year we went out with our neighbours so that helped Nathanh a bit.  Thianna was very enthusiastic to knock on doors and get candy just given to her.  I am sure it seemed magical to her!  And I was so proud of her as I could hear her little voice try it's very best to say "trick-or-treat" when each and every door opened.  And even more proud when she always had the biggest and clearest "thank you" of the whole group:)

Nathanh wanted to head home after just one street.  Thianna didn't seem to mind as her bag was getting a bit full and heavy for her.  I was a bit disappointed to pack it in so quickly but really, they didn't need anymore candy!  Here they are enjoying their stash!

Everyone in our cul-de-sac is really good about turning off lights and calling it quits at 8:00 and this year was no different.  But since both kids had a good nap and a fair amount of candy we knew they were not ready to sleep.  So we decided to finish of our Halloween with a family movie night.  It is so much fun to watch Thianna enjoy all of the new experiences in her life.  Next up will be Christmas!