Magnus has decided that standing up isn’t such a bad idea…

There were many things going on in the days leading up to Halloween…

First, Hunter built a “Haunted House” at preschool (Hunter is wearing her brother’s hat and vest…):

Then there was the Halloween Party at preschool:

Magnus went to the party too:

And Cousin Sydney’s birthday trick-or-treat party:

Magnus and his cousin Charlie:

All in all, a good, busy Halloween.

So I am the worst mother blogger ever…  but we’ve been busy doing fun stuff like going on family walks around the neighborhood in the evenings.

This has been quite the month for our little boy.  Magnus is growing like a weed, measuring 32.5 inches long and weighing 24 pounds and literally doing something new every day.  He tears around the house after his sister, any unattended shoes, and his favorite, the cat water dish.  He isn’t terribly interested in standing yet, probably because he can sit up on his knees and reach pretty much everything he wants to get to that’s sitting on the couch or the coffee table.

Magnus has also been sampling all manner of “real” foods this month, and even though he only has one little tooth, he’s getting the hang of chewing.  Magnus has also decided that he likes his food to have flavor.  In fact, he’s to the point where he pretty much refuses to eat any of the baby food dinners that he used to like before.  He’s also getting quite good at feeding himself but he’ll still allow us to feed him (unlike his sister at this age…).  So far the food he seems to like the best is spaghetti with tomato sauce.

One of the biggest changes this month is that Magnus is no longer going to daycare.  We’ve hired a nanny to stay home with the kids and make sure they’re getting the attention (and the naps…) that they need.  So far it’s working out great.  Magnus is also done with his corrective helmet.  Watching him now it’s hard to believe that he used to like to lay in one spot so often.  In fact, he’s developed a rather annoying habit of refusing to lay on his back at all… especially during diaper changes.  And he’s so strong… it takes real effort to hold him still these days.

Last weekend our friends the Hammerstrand family came up from San Diego for a visit.  We went to the apple orchard to pick apples, but the apples were all picked out.  So we were going to pick berries, but the berries were all picked out.  We could have picked pumpkins but we didn’t want to carry them.  So, well, we had lunch and went home.

James and I took the kids on a bit of a hayride back to the car while Michael and Beth walked Magnus and the strollers.  The strange woman on the left who is posing for our picture was not part of our group.

We were able to go out to dinner without the kids on Saturday night which was nice.  And the next morning Hunter and Jocelyn were wearing their jammies and Beth’s and my boots:

All in all, a fun weekend…

Last week sometime, Hunter and I were sitting in the family room.  I was working on something for school and she was playing with her magnetic writing pad.  Apparently she was practicing her letters.  This is actually a picture of the second ‘H’ she had ever written.  She erased the first one before I could get the camera, but quickly wrote another one at my request.

Hunter really loves preschool.  She comes home with new songs and can recognize most of her letters and tell us what each letter “says”.  Her counting skills are improving too.

Some funny things she’s been doing:

According to her preschool teacher, Hunter refuses to partake of any art projects that do not coordinate with her clothing.

She also turned a ‘monster-mash’ dance activity at school into a boy-girl couples dance.  (The princess thing is really getting out of hand…)

And then there was the day she was sitting in her chair singing the welcome song from school.  It goes something like this:  “(name), (name), (name)’s here, we’re so happy (name)’s here.”

Hunter was running through the different names, Ari, Chloe, etc.  And then I heard her sing, “Stupid, stupid, stupid’s here, we’re so happy stupid’s here.”

The things they pick up…

We celebrated Hunter’s birthday by going to Disneyland.  Auntie Janice, Uncle Charles, cousin Sydney, and our friends Elaine, Rachel, and Zach Foytik went with us.

Check out these cute little girls:

Uncle Charles took this picture, and while it’s out of focus, I still like it:

One of the advantages of being a giant child is that Hunter was able to ride most of the rides, including the Matterhorn, and her favorite, Splash Mountain.  We love Disneyland.

Hunter had a big birthday week… filled with cakes…

…and presents…

…most with a decidedly princess theme…

Our little girl is three years old and she had a very happy birthday.

Turns out one small tooth is enough to cause quite a bit of bleeding in your mouth when your sister pushes your face into the tile.

Let the bloodletting begin!

Here is Magnus enjoying his first taste of yogurt.  He really did enjoy it, opening his mouth like a baby bird for each bite until the container was gone.  He never eats like that.  And here is his first bite of egg:

He made a pretty funny face every time he took a bite of egg, but he kept eating it anyway.  Ah, the joys of table food.  So much good stuff on the horizon.