Halloween is coming!

This year, if the weather is warm, Abigail can wear her ladybug costume from last year. If it's cold, she can wear the elephant costume that Frances wore when she was this age. I think Abby wants it to be cold, because she is fascinated with the elephant! For Frances, we have prowled the thrift stores. For trick-or-treating, Frances and her 26-year-old friend Haley are going to be Sonny & Cher. For Frances, as Sonny, we found a fringed vest, some black platform shoes, 1970s-looking jeans, a peace symbol necklace, and a wig that we will be using for both the hair and moustache. But she has several occasions for dressing up during the next few weeks, and she can't be half of Sonny & Cher!

That's where those great thrift stores come in handy. We found a rock star costume for $1.98, as well as a terrific, high-quality child's wig. She can use one of her dress-up costumes plus the wig to be Snow White (for a church fall festival or the piano recital), or she can be a rock star (not so appropriate for the previously mentioned events, as you can see!), and last Saturday, she wore a knight costume to a birthday/costume party.

The black wig has become an interesting fashion accessory at our house. We have been trying to get Abigail to put it on, so that we can see what she will look like when she has hair! We finally got her to try it this weekend. She was not thrilled about it, but Frances and I laughed our heads off.

Build-A-Bear Workshop

We recently took a trip to our local Build-A-Bear store, and the girls both made stuffed animals. Frances is an old pro at this, having more than 50 stuffed animals in her room! Abigail is still afraid of the machine that blows the stuffing into the animal, but she liked looking at all of her animal options. She picked up each one, kissed it, and said, "Oh, cute." She finally chose a cat, while Frances chose a bear. The girls each made a wish on the little heart that goes into the animal before it is sewn up...



Frances dressed her bear in High School Musical pajamas, but Abigail wanted her cat to be naked. When it came time to enter the animals' names into the computer, Frances typed her bear's info in all by herself. Her bear is named Cinnamon. I was typing the info for Abby's cat, and I asked her what the cat's name was. "Five," she replied.
"Is that how old the cat is?" I asked.
Abigail looked at me like I was dense. "Nooo," she replied.
Again I asked, "What's the cat's name?"
And again (but with more emphasis), she said, "Five." So her cat is named Five.

Maybe public school scares it out of her....

My fabulous babysitters pick up Abby from my work/school. They drop off three of their kids, and pick up one of mine. Abby plays in my classroom for a few minutes, and then climbs into the big 6-seat stroller (it's called a bye-bye buggy) and we go out to the front of the school to get my little students off the bus. Each morning, about 60 seconds after we enter my classroom, Abigail has a bowel movement. Great. What is it about my classroom that does it to her?! So this morning, I decided that I would drop off the purse and diaper bag in my classroom, then take Abby down the hall to the little tiny toilet, and see if she would put out. After sitting there for a few minutes (she told me, "Shhh. Hear that? Poopoo comin', mom") she did it! Yahoo! Toilet training is definitely on the agenda in the near future.

Sibling rivalry

Now that Abigail is so chatty, she has the ability to absolutely infuriate Frances. Her latest thing is coming up to me (with a sidelong glance at her big sister) and saying, "That's my mom!" Of course, Frances is immediately jealous, and the battle is on. Both of the girls climb up onto my lap, and as I try to balance one on each knee, they start trying to push each other off!

Growing like a weed...

As we have been home from China almost a year (can you believe it?!) I decided to look back and see how much Abigail has grown. I found her measurements at 18 months, and compared them to the current set, at 28 months. She has grown 6 inches taller and 10 pounds heavier in 10 months. Wow!

A blogging marathon!

Yes, I am child-free for a few moments (Abigail is napping, and Frances is across the street with our retired neighbors. They have a new puppy). So I am trying to catch up on the blogging, with multiple entries today. Enjoy!

Grampa B turns 80!

My sister and her husband visited from South Carolina, and my aunt (dad's sister)& her boyfriend joined us from Ventura. We all gathered at my parents' house in Sun City for a steak dinner. My aunt, my sister, and my brother-in-law had not seen Frances for two years, and had never met Abigail. My girls charmed the socks off of everyone.

Happy Birthday, Grampa! We love you!