Trick or Treat!

On Halloween night, we went trick or treating in our neighborhood with a bunch of neighborhood kids. We had a Halloween potluck at Henriette's house (one of Lily's school friends) and then walked the Sea View Lane loop. Luckily, here in the US we didn't set our clocks back yet (Daylight Savings Time is next weekend) so it was still light out when we started the trick or treating around 5 PM. The sun set around 6ish. Next weekend, it'll be dark already at 5 PM! Not looking forward to that so much :-(

Lily and Henriette, and Egyptian princess!

Pirate Ennio and his booty!

The witch and the princess were partners in crime :-)

Group picture!

Halloween Parade

I loved Lily's and Ennio's costumes this year! Lily got tons of compliments on her Sia outfit and Ennio's Super Mario costume trademark was his big blow-up belly! The other kids looked awesome too! Room 3 (Ennio's classroom) and Room 5 (Lily's classroom) had practiced a dance to the "Ghostbusters" song. It was cute to watch, even though Ennio did NOT participate at all! Lily did better, even though she could hardly see anything with the wig on :-) All the teachers got dressed up as well, most of them as witches or super women!

Happy Halloween (Weekend)

Lily and Ennio were very excited about this weekend. It all started on Friday night with the Monster Mash Halloween Bash at school, a dance party held on the schoolyard with a haunted house, game booths, popcorn and cotton candy stands, and much more. Ennio went as Super Mario, the video game hero (he loves playing Mario on the Wii), and Lily wanted to be a witch. She was the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz.
They dressed up again on Saturday morning, for Dutch School (see photo of Lily in front of the Mondriaan artwork they made in class). Ennio wanted to be a pirate (a costume that has lasted us at least 3 years now!)
On Sunday, Lily tried on her outfit for the Halloween Parade in school on Monday. She decided to go as "Sia" (we got the wig when we went to the concert a couple of weeks ago). She loves the music and couldn't stop singing and dancing that night! So fun! More photos of the parade in my next post!

Time for us!

To celebrate our 10 year anniversary, Marcus and I went out this weekend in Huntington Beach! The kids had a sleepover with friends, and we enjoyed a night a the Waterfront Beach Resort! We loved it! We started out the evening with cocktails at the hotel's fire pit and then dinner at Duke's (upon recommendation of the hotel manager), which was so cool, because the restaurant serves mainly Hawaiian fare, and Hawaii is the island where Marcus proposed to me! (back in June 2006!) It was so nice to enjoy a delicious dinner without having to feed kids first :-) So, thank you, Rainer and Kathryn!!! We also knew Lily and Ennio were not missing us at all! They were too busy having a good time with Karl in the hot tub :-)

Red Ribbon Week

This week is Red Ribbon Week in school. Red Ribbon is a national campaign to raise awareness among kids about the destruction caused by drugs in America. Every day, some type of activity was planned to educate the kids about drug prevention and the dangers of drugs.
Monday: "Turn your back to drugs and other unhealthy habits!" Wear your shirt backwards.
Tuesday: "Be RED-y to say No to Drugs!" Wear RED to school.
Wednesday: "We're crazy about being Healthy and Drug Free!" Crazy Hair Day.
Thursday: "Sock it to drugs!" Wear your most outrageous, colorful or mismatched socks.
Friday: "Team up against drugs and unhealthy habits!" Wear athletic wear or team shirts

Lily on crazy hair day!

The funny thing is, that we had an appointment with the German Consulate later that day to renew Lily's German passport. The passport photo we had brought in (her school photo from last year), didn't pass the criteria because her mouth was open and her teeth were showing. So, we had to take a new photo... with her crazy hair-do!!! It was taken in the photo booth at the Consulate and accepted :-) I love it!!!

10 Year Anniversary!

Married 10 years today to this great guy! 

Love him to bits and wishing ourselves many more decades together!

First field trip for Ennio!

Two years ago, Lily got to go on her first field trip, and this time, it was Ennio's turn! The trip went to Underwood Farms, and I was able to go along as a chaperone! Ennio was very excited to go! Unfortunately, it took a loooong time before the kids could actually get on the bus and leave on their trip. Apparently, it is required by law in California that buses have passenger belts and this school bus didn't have seat belts, so we had to wait until the seat belts arrived! The teachers had the kids play in the Kindergarten yard and then showed a movie (an educational one :-)) inside the classroom until the bus was ready to go. We left at around 10:00 and arrived at the farm at 11:15 AM. The pumpkin farm looked lovely! Pumpkins, fresh fruit and vegetables, and scarecrows everywhere! The kids got to go on a hayride through the fields, pick their own pumpkin, play and have lunch. Then, unfortunately, it was already time to go again! (We had to be back in school by 2:30 PM). I enjoyed being able to participate in the field trip as a parent volunteer (it was my first time!) even though my main task was to bring all the kids to the bathroom :-) Well, I suppose that was a very helpful contribution and it was appreciated by all the teachers :-)
Here are some photos. Enjoy!

Showing off his Field Trip T-shirt!

On the way to school!

The bus is there already! (unfortunately, the seat belts are not!!!)

Ennio and Kai (still in school)

Watching a movie in Room 1

Ennio's classroom is lining up to get on the bus!

And here we are at the farm!!!

The kids get a presentation and learn all about the farm!

It was a HOT day! Ennio sits in the middle, next to Clara and Elisa.

Our driver!

The ride was so much fun!

So much to see!

Picking a pumpkin and imitating the scarecrow!

Pumpkin kids!