I Crafted!

Once in a blue moon I get the inspiration to do something crafty. In this case it was a birthday party for two little two year-old girls. I searched for inspiration from women I know who craft on a regular basis, and I came across Melissa's headband, and these hair clips. They provided good directions so all I had to do was print, cut, and copy everything they did. They turned out pretty adorable just like the little two year-old girls. Now I have a bunch of extra supplies and a lack of girls to make presents for...

Britton Olson...You've Won a Trip to...

...the scenic coastal town of Valparaiso in Chile. You'll receive a round-trip plane ride and hotel accommodations during the peak of the summer season.
What's in Valparaiso? This year's Pan-American Advanced Studies Institute or PASI. Please click on the link to find out more details about what the conference is about. (Because I'm not very good at explaining it.)
Congratulations Britton! He applied for funding to pay for the 16 hour flight down there and hotel booking, and just heard back yesterday that he was one of the applicants chosen! He'll be there for two weeks...a long time for me to give him up. Especially long considering I'll have a few-weeks-old baby, but it sounds like such a great opportunity.
He'll be able to talk to lots of fellow nerds about his computing interests, make use of his Spanish, and explore a bit of Santiago on the weekend. He is skipping the Patagonia trip one of his fellow Stanfordians is taking. Whew!

Puzzled Anyone?

Here's Will doing his favorite puzzle. OK, it's really his only puzzle and apparently he's gotten pretty good at it because I turned around today after making some lunch and he had finished it all by himself!
I am unashamedly so proud of him. I think puzzles are great for kids. My parents had a huge pile of these size puzzles when I was growing up. I wish we had more... hint, hint, anyone who got Will's name for the Christmas gift exchange:)
Anyone know where I can get more puzzles in this area?
This is a lame post, I know, but we're getting over sicknesses, and my video camera needs batteries, and the weather is affecting my mood, and there's all other kids of lame excuses for this lame post.

Halloween

We all dressed up this year, but I didn't get a picture of all of us together. How did this happen? I don't know if it's very obvious, but Will was a ninja for Halloween. He's pictured above showing off his ninja sword with one of his buddies dressed as an adorable lion. Britton was the ninja master with a larger, much cooler sword, and Will was his little apprentice. Britton admitted that this is something like his fourth Halloween dressed as a ninja. I can't blame him. It's so easy and you can actually use the costume pieces later.

We had two Halloween parties to attend this year. One for the courtyard, and one for our church. At the last minute, I decided to do the classic peeled grape/eyeball and spaghetti/worm game for the kids. I didn't have any shoeboxes so I decided to get creative with some cereal boxes. I thought I was so clever. No one else cared much:)

We borrowed this cute little bean bag toss game from someone at church. The bean bags are in the shape of pumpkin seeds! How cute! Will is throwing bean bags with his two year-old Japanese friends. It's especially fun to watch him play with the little boy he calls "Sototo". They just run around constantly laughing.
At the church Halloween party Britton's family joined us! It was a major treat for Will to have cousins, Nana, and so much candy all in one night. This is the only picture I have of my "belly dancer" costume. You can't see the belly so much from this angle, but it's really sticking out there!

Style

I can safely say Will gets his sense of style from his dad. The morning this sock/sandal combination happened Will told me he wanted to wear socks like Daddy.
It's funny because it's true. Britton wore socks with his flip flops just the previous day to a cold weather picnic.

Gilroy Gardens

Last weekend we were wondering what fun adventure we should go on, when I received a fortuitous email from someone at church. We received a coupon for Gilroy Gardens that was good for just that weekend! So we decided to forgo Will's nap and hit the road.
Gilroy Gardens is really a beautiful theme park full of Dr. Seuss-like trees, waterfalls, and the cutest little horticulture themed rides. Kids ride on strawberries, garlic, artichokes, and mushrooms. All the rides are perfect for little kids, and there were no lines!
Here's some highlights from our lonnnngg day.









After a fun-filled day Will fell asleep before we even left the parking lot.

CA Job

My new job for this year is being a CA for my courtyard. CA stands for Community Assistant. I had to complete some training on things like sexual harassment, relationship abuse, suicide prevention, and other sad topics. The BEST part of my job, however is planning activities for my neighbors!
Our opening social this year featured catered Mexican food, and a piñata. Was that all? Well, it was a ton of fun. We had a big turnout and I got to meet and talk with a lot of neighbors. I know the families who are regulars at the playground, but there's a lot of families that have babies or are busy and I don't know very well. It's still mostly girls on the playground, but Will doesn't mind. He adores all the older girls and they play with him really well. One day I came outside to follow Will and two girls ran up to me saying, "I gave Will a hug and two kisses." "I gave Will a pretty rock!" So he's well loved.
Back to the party... Will had his first whack at a watermelon piñata. And Britton invited the missionaries over for dinner that night so they joined the party towards the end!



Our next big upcoming activity is the Halloween Party! There is nothing cuter than kids in costume with a sugar high. I can't wait. Will is going to be a ninja for Halloween this year. Britton is going to show him how it's done.

Ticket to Ride

Will was SO excited to ride the train. He has been a Thomas the train fan for a while so it's really exciting for him to see real, big train tracks and trains. Unfortunately they're all diesels and not steam trains like in all the cartoons.
We invited Nikki and Gabe to come along with us. They were both jumping up and down in their seats with excitement as the train took off. We went all the way to... San Carlos. What's in San Carlos, you might ask. A donut shop and a nearby park. I'm sure there's other things, but that's all I'm familiar with.

Will amazingly ate all but two bites of this maple bar. He made his daddy proud. Then he worked off all those calories at the park.

The trip took us about four hours total because we took the bus to and from the train station. It was totally worth it! Will has been telling everyone about his train ride. I'd love to go with a bigger group next time. We could ride all the way to exotic... San Mateo and visit the bookstore/mall there.