Halloween, Two Teeth, and Lots of Pictures

The last post didn't have any pictures of Tanja for Halloween.  She put a funny extension in her hair and called it good.  Lydia and Karina were the household stars that night anyway.  We went trick or treating along one of the main streets in our neighborhood, and then our tiny cul-de-sac.  There was a drizzle of rain that kind of put a damper on the evening's activities, but Karina and Lydia enjoyed themselves, so that's what matters.  Karina was funny trick-or-treating.  She kept going inside people's houses after they opened the door expecting to give her candy at the doorstep.  Guess we will have to work on that for next year.

We had a few trick-or-treaters (25 total) that came by after I came home early with Lydia, while Tanja and Karina continued, but not nearly as many as showed up on some of the other houses in the neighborhood.  I would guess that is because we are tucked away and off the main neighborhood streets, but it could also be that we were gone during the prime trick-or-treating hours because we were taking our girls out.  Our HOA sent out an email saying trick-or-treating shouldn't start until 6:30, and the effect was that seemingly everyone started at exactly that time, us included. 

Here are Tanja, Lydia, and Snoopy.

A few weeks ago, I was given the responsibility of getting Lydia dressed up for church.  I grabbed this beautiful dress that Karina wore many times (it's velvety black with a lacy white skirt) and tried to squeeze Lydia into it.  It barely fit, which is unfortunate since it is such a pretty dress.  We made sure to take a few pictures of her since she was in a good mood and looked so pretty, but that was likely her one and only time in this outfit.

We brought the jumparoo up for Lydia to bounce around in and practice trying to stand.  She enjoys being in control of the bouncing and having a higher vantage point to look around (especially when she can watch Karina playing).  She also likes the music and flashing lights on the toy.  If you don't believe me, just check out her smiles.

And please try to ignore all the drool on her jacket.  By the end of the day, she's usually sucked and chewed on most of the front of whatever jacket she has worn all day making it both wet and smelly.  Oh well, part of teething I suppose.

Speaking of teething, Tanja managed to take a couple cute pictures of her this afternoon where you can see her two teeth (both on the bottom in the front of her mouth).  You might have to click on the picture to enlarge it and zoom in to see them. She got her second tooth about a week after the first one popped through.

She's so cute!

Karina likes imitating Mommy.  She gets Tanja to wrap Paddington Bear up in a scarf the same way Tanja wraps Lydia up in the Boba for our walks, and then Karina will get us to put Snoopy's collar and leash on her stuffed dog Robbie so she can go on a walk around the house.  She's pretty silly sometimes.

We've been working hard around the house the last few weekends. Our current project is putting up a marble mosaic tile backsplash in our kitchen.  I did my best to cut the tile when needed and Tanja has done a great job putting it on the wall.  This weekend we will be grouting it.  Maybe we'll post a picture or two of it (and all our other projects that we have been tackling since we moved in).

Until then, bye-bye from Lydia and the rest of us!