Fall walk & Blue Nights

D&I went on a walk to find the color maroon...

I read Blue Nights By Joan Didion. I have never read her books before but she is one of the authors you keep hearing about. She loves California as much as I do. I felt like I should read something by her. Blue Nights is Didion's newest book. It is a follow up memoir to A Year of Magical Thinking (I love that title). In A Year of Magical Thinking she writes about her husband's death. Blue Nights is about her daughter's illness and eventual death. Although this book is sad she writes candidly about motherhood, aging & loss that will never heal.

The memoir flows along like it's a long conversation & she is talking to herself in the car. "When we talk about mortality we are talking about our children." I like how she name drops about Hollywood in the 60s,70s&80s. It's a somber memoir but I really liked it.

Children Books for Thanksgiving...

It shouldn't surprise me that stores are already playing Christmas music the day after Halloween. Seems like it happens earlier and earlier every year. Not to be a Ba Hum Bug but it really BUGS me! It makes me feel rushed. Like I can't even enjoy Fall or Thanksgiving! So to ward off the Christmas chaos. I am embracing Autumn!! Here are some Thanksgiving and Fall theme books that you and your young readers might enjoy. Maybe one of these books will become part of your Thanksgiving traditions.

In November By Cynthia Rylant has beautiful pictures. Good for ages 3-7
Leaf Jumpers By Carole Gerber ages 3-6 Great for your budding naturalist or scientist. This is a great book to read before a walk. Then you can look for the leaves mentioned in the book.

Thanksgiving Day By Anne Rockwell ages 3-7 This book gives a light history on the Pilgrims coming to America and meeting the Wampanoag people.

Thanksgiving Mice! By Bethany Roberts 2-6 Good for pre schoolers but older kids may enjoy the mice putting on a play about Thanksgiving.

Turkey Bowl age 4-?Great pictures! Even big kids like being read to. A good book about growing up and traditions. Football theme.

What books do you and your family like to read during this time of year??

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle...

This Halloween both the boys wanted to dress up as something I couldn't buy at Party City. So the Hubby and I went head to head in a costume building composition. The challenge was for him to help FW be a shower. His inspiration: the original Karate Kid. I had to help D become Leonardo aka the blue Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. I think both the costumes turned out great! Happy Halloween
D was a very lucky turtle. He got to go trick or treating with both his Grandmas, an Aunt and Mom&Dad!

I found this backpack at Sea World. It really pulls the whole ensemble together!

Pre Halloween prep...

That's a lot of guts
What friendly Jack O' Lanterns.

What time is it?

How was your weekend? Here is a peek into mine...

This weekend the dog woke me at 3:45am to be let outside. I let him out and I crawled back into bed. Moments later I hear "Moooooom I need to go to the bathroom." I get out of bed and the bed is already WET! Once you change a child and remake a bed at 4am you know you're not going back to sleep. I laid in bed till 5am waiting for the sandman. He never showed up. So at 5 I slipped out of the house in search of coffee. I left in such a rush that I didn't grab my phone or camera. I hung out at a Starbucks in silence till 6. I figured if I was awake this early I might as well make the most of it. I drove to the Pacific ocean for the sunrise. It was really strange for me to be awake that early on a Saturday. However it was really peaceful. The birds were awake. The sea lions were already making lots of noise. I kept wishing I had my camera!! The sunrise was beautiful because there were a few clouds. I don't want to get woken up again that early anytime soon but it was really nice me time...next time I'll remember my camera!

Read to me

There is a chill in the air. Fall makes me feel like drinking a latte and reading a good book. I am having a hard time finding a book of fiction that I want to read. I just finished Peg Tyre's book The Trouble with Boys: A Surprising Report Card on our Sons, Their Problems at School and What Parents Can Do. If you have sons I highly recommend this book. It helped me to not feel alone as a parent...that other boys are struggling in school. However it also made me feel like the school system is going to the dogs. Peg Tyre's new book The Good School: How Smart Parents get Their Kids the Education They Deserve sounds good. I want to read that book but I need some brian candy before I start it. I've been looking at the best seller list and nothing has caught my eye. Are there any must reads out there?

Oma's Pumpkin Patch

You know you are at a California pumpkin patch when there are palm trees and it's 80 outside!

The kids really enjoyed moving the rubber ducks using a water pump.

Hey Cowboy

Having a son means having to take a lot of butt pictures.

Every year we go to the pumpkin patch with my friend Karen and her family. We went to kindergarten together and we've been friends ever since. Karen is the Mom of 3 lovely girls. We don't live super close to each other but we try to get the families together seasonally. This year we went to Oma's pumpkin patch in Lakeside. They do not grow pumpkins at Oma's but it is a working self sustaining dairy farm. Very interesting for my city boys.