Cooper was my inspiration for a recent project I posted to Craftzine called "Soft" Rock Guitar. He had an inflatable one that was just too big so I wanted to make him a miniature-sized felt guitar with all the bad-ass attitude of the real thing. Christmas came early for our little Eddie Van Halen.
Practice makes perfect!
The final shot used in the article.
"Dear Santa - I didn't pinch, bite, push or tease Cooper today. I made sure to finish all of my dinner minus the vegetables. I also did a good job eating my Advent Calendar treat this morning. Please bring me a Barbie and an iPhone. Sincerely, Adeline"
"Coop! Come and make a sand castle with me while we can still feel our fingers!"
"The salty sea is calling me. I must grab my net and set sail."
Adeline has taken on the role of Mother's Assistant lately. Here she even helped Cooper get ready for the bath.
Afterwards she lent him her robe. No, he's not crying in shame, he's actually doing the motions of the "babies on the bus".
Now that's a party!
"But for now I'll settle for my handsome Princess Oscar." 
Adeline got to spent a morning making messy art with her buddy Finnegan at an amazing art studio called CHAP.
Better here then in our house! The kids had a blast.
He's got both the sound and the body movement down. This kid is suddenly obsessed with elephants!
It's that time of year again! Adeline helped me craft her "Cupcake Fairy" costume and Cooper went as my all-time idol "Evel Knievel" complete with cape and cane. We made a whisk wand and crafted wings out of cupcake papers. So sweet!
That morning we went to the local Farmer's Market so we let the kids put on some silly dress-up clothes. Adeline was so excited to get to wear her Belle dress out of the house. Wings and crown are a dress-up must-have.
For Cooper we put together some fun clothes from his stash to create this dapper gent. The mustache wore well, but eventually rubbed off.
The weekend before Halloween, Adeline & Cooper's school did an evening Lantern Walk where the kids wore their costumes and collected goodies. We borrowed this adorable elephant costume from some friends to keep Cooper warm. Adeline had no problem keeping warm with all the excitement and jumping that came along with her Cupcake Fairy persona.
We went to an Apple Festival where we enjoyed free popcorn, hot apple cider, apple-tasting and of course, pumpkin painting. Pass the glitter, please!
Now you can hook your purse and your toddler in public restrooms. Genius!
My apologies for the graininess of this image (we still haven't located our camera in the move!). Adeline was very excited to help out with the construction of her Halloween costume this year. Ah, a magical moment indeed...
See Coop, this is the bell. When you hear this noise, you'd better get the heck out of my way.
Alright, I guess you can hitch a ride now and then. Hold on tight - I like to go FAST!
Our garden produced 2 small pumpkins! We decided to paint them, rather than carve them since it's a bit early for Halloween (and the ants seem really hungry around here).
Adeline and I had fun cutting scraps of colored paper from magazines and gluing them on to paper plates. She's really getting good with those scissors. However, she tried to use the glue has a hand moisturizer once the mosaics were done. Time to wash up!
Adeline spent quite some time in the sand pit.
On this particular day, the kids took full advantage of the face-painting station. Future "Kiss" cover band?
Mom and Cooper spent the morning at the zoo recently. As luck would have it, it was "Senior Safari" day! Needless to say, the stroller parking areas were overflowing with walkers & wheelchairs. Cooper loved all the silver-haired hotties, though.
We made it! 12.5 hours in a car and we made it to our new Portland home. Loving the new house and bustling neighborhood. We need to buy bikes just to burn off the extra calories we've consumed! We have 2 yards complete with a garden and a family of raccoons who live in our fir tree. They demolished our inflatable pool the first couple nights we were here. Oops! We've been taking advantage of the warm evenings and later sunsets by sitting on our lawn and eating our homegrown strawberries. As soon as we find the box with our camera in it, we'll take more pics of the house itself. So far so good!
We are convinced that this kid could escape from Alcatraz if need be. He's smart, crafty & agile. His climbing skills are increasingly disturbing. Already this week he climbed to standing on a chair, his walker-wagon (shown here) and somehow Hoodini'd out of the strap on his highchair, almost making it to the top of the tray table! It's to the point where when we say "Cooper, no no!", he just mocks us by taking his pointer finger and waving it back and forth with a devilish grin across his face.
In our quest to see all the friends we can and experience all the fun things we love about SF before we head North, we met up with Oscar & family at the Golden Gate Park kid's playground today. Adeline comforted Cooper on the carousel.
These two are inseparable! Good thing Oscar's grandparents live in Portland. She's really going to miss him.
Happy as a clam on such a gorgeous Summer day.
Apparently it's a BIG DEAL to have the spot during "circle time" next to their teacher, Miss Evelyn. Adeline has had 2 weeks in a row where she got the choice spot.
In this lesson, Adeline was asked to select the sphere shape beneath a blanket.
She got the "h" card right, but the position is upside down. Well, technically it's right-side-up from her angle. She's really into her alphabet letters lately. She's constantly pointing out "A's" in signs and billboards.
Landing a new job in Portland meant having the opportunity to move to a larger house and more room for the kids to roam. We found a gorgeous restored Craftsman home, complete with a huge yard, 3-bedrooms and a porch for lounging.
The house is on a double lot so the kids literally have a "park" for a yard next door. That picnic table will get lots of use (at least for the 6 dry months a year).
Hiking down to the lake.
Adeline helps Opa navigate the lake.
Cooper, cool as a cucumber, in his sister's shades.
