How Tayne likes to spend Saturday afternoons...

Ok,so can you believe this is the pool at the new YMCA near our house?!

If the main play area and slides(off the other side, but I was too lazy to walk around and get a picture from over there) aren't enough -there's a giant water slide.

Over past the mushroom and the chairs there is an actual swimming pool, but this kid friendly monstrosity is the main pool area -and it's huge!
Pallas recommends the lounge chairs for napping poolside...
This is a picture from our back yard -we really are very close!
Sadly, it's Novemeber and that pool isn't heated, so things are winding down for the season this month, but come spring and summer when it gets hot again -come on over and we'll all get wet!

November is Bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-N-A-S…

It's fall again - and that means harvest time. For some people it's pumpkins or apples or potatoes, for us it's banana time!

Organic bananas anyone? For saying we didn’t do anything to our banana trees this entire year (you’ve gotta love Houston for outdoor plants –we don’t even water and the plants do fine, I can’t imagine how things would do if I took an interest in them - probably worse...) we have a pretty good crop of bananas out there. Our first bunch of the season was ready to pick today – actually it was overly ready, they were falling off the stalk as Troy and Tayne were carrying them into the house, but they were super tasty-Tayne had 3 of them before we made it into the house (since they are kind of tiny that’s really like a banana and a half from the store). Unfortunately, because we waited so long to pick them I had to mash this whole bunch up for storage – that's about 11 cups of mashed bananas! I see many smoothies and banana breads are in our future, and seeing that there’s at least 3 more bunches on the trees that will be ready soon and a tiny bunch just getting started, I see banana bread in the future of friends and family too - ahh banana bread - not only tastes great, it ships nicely...

Halloween

So Happy Together!

Just hangin' out with the other fish...
When is that sun gonna set!?!

Here are some pictures from Halloween - the camera isn't working the best for me these days, I really have to get my own instead of trying to use the one Tayne uses -he's always got it set some weird way I can't figure out (annoying kids and their ability to use technology better than adults!) The fish turned out pretty good for Tayne - I had to make something he could sit in the car in and get in and out of easily in case he got tired of it, so we put velcro on both sides of the tail so it could come off completely, and the mouth had a little bag/pocket so he could put stuff in there - he really liked that feature as well. It also worked out well that we found some material with sequins on it ($1 bin at Wal-mart no less!) so that really made the tail and fins sparkle.

Tayne had a pretty fun Halloween - we went to a community carnival where he got to play a few games & then we went trick-or-treating, which he lost enthusiasm for pretty quickly when nobody really had any candy he was interested in (here are these houses with the "good" (name brand chocolate) candy and this kid being all put out/not wanting their selections - too funny!)

Pallas slept through most of it - except when we went to visit Gavin & baby Carina (sorry you had to work Jen!) and when I sat on the floor to give her a bottle the two large doggies gave her a good sniffing - she didn't cry, but she sure didn't know what to make of that, it was a fun stop though I think we depressed one of the dogs - I don't think Roxy knew there could be other babies and I think she was a little worried that a crying Pallas would be staying there & she would be stuck with two of "them" - hopefully she cheered up after we left - just in time to bark at other trick-or-treaters and make them think twice about wanting candy from that house!

Luckily we made it home in time for Tayne to give out some of our candy (not the "good" stuff) to trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood - I don't think he could decide which he liked best, giving out candy or going trick-or treating. Then after that Troy and Tayne went through all the candy he collected and traded out for the candy we had that he wanted - although Troy did manage to get a little tricking in, after a bunch of trades, Tayne was so excited about trading Troy actaully managed to trick him into trading some skittles back for more chocolate bars -you can imagine Tayne didn't care so much for the "tricks" and thought we should just focus on the "treats" -but it's good to get a little of both on Halloween!

Give Me Candy!

Let's get this party started!

It's finally Halloween!

Is this a fish?

-No, just Tayne!

Whew! October 31st is finally here – Happy Halloween to everyone! – It’s been a whirlwind with the new little one and the overzealous older one, but I managed to finish Tayne’s costume about 11pm last night (with a very excited Tayne demanding updates on my progress from his bedroom – he only went to sleep after he was sure I had finished it in time for Halloween & then only after we told him he could not wear it to bed and he would have to wait until after 6am to wear it today (otherwise he would have found a way to keep himself up until midnight so he could put it on)) – it turned out pretty cute & I even put a little pocket in the mouth so he could “feed” the fish & I can’t wait until later when we get pictures of the kiddos all dressed up. Even with all the chaos of adjusting to having two kids & recovering from the hospital, I’m pleased that we managed to get in all the Halloween activities that make the day/season fun - we even have a pumpkin to carve today sometime (Tayne remembered he likes the pumpkin with the candle in it so we picked one up yesterday and he agreed to draw the face for me to carve) – my favorite thing to do at Halloween, so I’m excited. Tayne is very excited about trick-or-treating this year, and he’s got it all figured out – when we were at the store last night and I was asked him to help pick out candy for the trick-or-treaters he told me that we didn’t need to buy candy because we would get some when we went trick-or-treating – why didn’t I think of that (wink, wink – grin, grin!)? The weather should be great here tonight, no rain and temps in the low 70’s to mid 60’s –a nice treat for me since that weather fits the warmth /weatherproofness of the costumes & it will be decent weather for taking the baby out – all in all it should be a really fun day. Hope your Halloween is safe and happy & check back tomorrow for your photo "treat" of our fun filled Halloween!

Painting Pumpkins

Halloween is only a few days away - where has the month of October gone? Anyway, since Tayne hates carving pumpkins so much this year we thought we'd try our hand at painting pumpkins instead - as you can see a fun time was had by all (who would have guessed that a two week old baby who was asleep the whole time could manage to wiggle around enough to get paint on herself even before we helped her "pose" for some pictures).

2 week check-up

As you can see, Tayne loves being a big brother. Pallas had her two week Dr. appointment today -she was such a sweet girl, she didn't cry at all when the Dr. checked her out, and she recovered pretty quick from the little heel stick blood draw they do; I think the whole thing was more tramatic for Tayne - perhaps we shouldn't bring him when they have to give her shots...
Anyway, for those who like stats :

weight : 8lbs 9.5 oz (75%) -Troy says I should note that she drank a 2oz. bottle right before they weighed her, so take that into account however you want.
length : 22in. (95%) -she grew 1.5in. since we brought her home, guess that explains why we have to keep closing her little diapers tighter to keep them on her -the other day one had wiggled half way down her butt by the time I checked her!
head : 34.5cm. (25%) -it doesn't look small to me, but that would explain why her little hats keep falling over her eyes...

Now her check-up is out of the way we are in hyper-countdown-to-Halloween mode here. I picked up the material to make Tayne's fish costume (note to self & others with kids: don't let Troy make costume suggestions any more -not only can you not find pre-made fish costumes, they don't even have patterns for fish costumes!) and he's very excited about me finishing it. Only 6 days to go (Maybe I can power though on a candy fueled sugar high, although I am breastfeeding, and I don't think this baby needs to be any sweeter!) luckily if it doesn't turn out so great it will be dark when he wears it- either way there's bound to be lots of fun and lots of pictures next week!