Camden Turns 3

This year we did Camden's party with all his little friends at Orange County Model Engineers in Costa Mesa. We got the whole place, a train and two conductors all to ourselves! The kids had a blast.

The train ride was so relaxing that Camden fell sound asleep...

Goodbye Lizzy, Hello Preschool

On September 30, 2015, we said our final farewell to Lizzy. Lizzy took care of both Avery and Camden from the time they were 10 weeks old. 

 First Day at Lizzy's

Last day at Lizzy's

It was a tough goodbye for me, she has been a second mom to them for the past six years.

The next day on October 1, Camden was thrilled to start preschool.

He dove right in to socializing and kicking a ball, and hardly had time to say goodbye to me!

He is following in big sister's footsteps; starting out in the Monkeys classroom with Miss Wendy.

Hard to admit that he is a big boy now!

Halloween

Avery got to come to work with me for our office potluck at noon... Our group did Disney Princesses (the guys) and their sidekicks (the girls), and we were one person short so we needed her (and Camden's costume from last year)! From left to right: Mouse & Cinderella, Belle & The Beast, Elsa & Olaf, and Ariel & Sebastian.

Then of course, trick-or-treating after work... Camden went as Michael Jackson from "Thriller," but threw a fit when we started putting the zombie makeup on him, so he only got about 1/3 of his makeup done and ended up looking more like Mike Tyson.  Avery was Elsa from the "Frozen Fever" animated short.

Food Art

Avery has been making some awesome artwork lately, 

which has inadvertently called me out as being a parental failure in the nutrition department. 

 The Food Book

Quesadillas

Oranges

Mixed Veggies [pictured here with spoons from Yogurtland]

Mac and Cheese

Ice Cream

Watermelon [which she hates]

Doughnuts

String Cheese

Ravioli

Strawberries

The Lunch Box Project (in which they had to decorate the outside of a lunchbox and fill it with pictures of food, cut out from magazines)

Avery: A+

Mom: F

Labor Day Weekend

For Labor Day weekend, we decided to have a little family mini-vacation and rented a beach house in San Clemente with my cousin Julie's family and my cousin Patrick's family. The kids are all close in age, the weather was beautiful, and everyone had a blast! 

There is a good chance this could become an annual event...

(Camden loves Melissa so much, he even called for her to tuck him in at bedtime!)

Tooth Fairy's First Visit

On the night of September 25, we got our first visit from the Tooth Fairy! Avery twisted her tooth out in the car on the way to the Fairmont Fall Festival, after several days of faithfully wiggling it back and forth and side to side. 

Avery wrote a sweet note, asking the Tooth Fairy to please leave the tooth (so that Avery could save it in the "My First Tooth" box that came with her baby book).  She was very happy the next morning to find that her tooth was still under her pillow, along with a $5 bill and a whole lot of glitter!