Christmas Decorations

Inside:

 

Christmas bed!

 

 



Hot chocolate station



 

 

 

 

 And outside:

 

#4. Visit Santa

 

This year's annual Santa visit at the Americana.  Beatrice and Arthur were very excited, but William was a little suspicious of the whole thing.

 

 

Chile Group Picture

Also, just in time for Christmas, Dev finished editing the group picture we took this summer at the Baños de Puritama hot springs in Chile.

#2. Write a Letter to Santa

Beatrice wrote her own letter to Santa this year.  It says:

"Dear Santa,

I want a magic wand, a magic pop[p]er which is a magic machine that makes [here she added, "Other sid[e] Santa -->] pretend stuff or things explode out of nowhere, and a real life magic cauldron and also a magic paint set.

Love,
Beatrice"

I dictated Arthur's letter, which read:

"Dear Santa,

Reindeer - because the present is for Santa's reindeers.

Present - for your reindeers.

I love Santa.  Here's a present for your reindeers. I love you, reindeers.

Love,
Arthur"

Catching up on quotes

Lots more Beatrice and Arthur quotes to catch up on - I can't wait until William has some, too.

Beatrice

(Excitedly) "I'm beginning to use idioms!"

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(In a quiet, serious voice) "In Candyland there is nothing to eat but candy and to eat it you have to destroy the entire world."

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"The worst surprise is lava."

---

Beatrice often alludes to her belief that when we die, people will write our lives down in history books so the next generation can read about us.

We were driving home from her elementary school's Family Night picnic when she looked out the window and said, "This is a good life. When we die the people who come after us will be happy to read that the people who used to live here had such a good life."

Arthur

Arthur is extremely melodramatic, especially when he is sick, when he is given to saying things like, "I'm dying," "I need to go to the emergency room," and "I'll never be well again!"  (I first noticed this when he was only eleven months old.)

When he's sick he also moans without stopping for literally hours.

Recently he had a cold. He collapsed on the sofa in his mermaid costume, moaning, and then looked up to say weakly, "Mommy, am I a beautiful mermaid?"

---

Arthur insisted he was going to play with board games in the back room by himself, and threw a huge tantrum when Beatrice tried to join him. Then a few minutes later he needed help opening one of the boxes, so he came back into the living room and declared, "Beatrice, I've made a decision - you can play board games with me."

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"Newspapers are not true! But vampires are true!"

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Summer: What do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas?
Arthur: A thunder toy.
Summer: What's a thunder toy?
Arthur: That's for Santa to figure out.

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Summer: Why is there sand in your nose?
Arthur: I decided to lie down and have a nap at the park, in the sandbox. I don't regret it.

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In response to being chastised with "you know better," Arthur wrapped himself in a bath towel and exclaimed, "I'm a queen who doesn't know better!"

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Getting dressed: "Someday I'm going to be a beautiful man."

Then, later, "When I grow up I'm going to be a beautiful engineer."

---

"Do you know what a hypothesis is? It's a guess you make, and you test it, and it's always wrong."

Best of Fall

 

It's officially winter in Los Angeles, which means another season has come to an end.

 

 

We started the season with a trip to the pumpkin festival at Underwood Family Farms.

 

Fascinated by goats

 

A goat lounging on the hood of a car

 

 

This is a really challenging corn maze.

 

Beatrice choose this giant pumpkin to bring home.

 

I also made a "hay ride" for the kids by putting some bales of hay into the wagon and pulling it around the neighborhood.  Arthur and William loved it.

 

 

We went to the LA County Fair, where William was mobbed by baby goats.

 

 

Beatrice found the queen bee.

And she rode this pretty serious ride all by herself.

We also discovered a wonderful new "hidden" spot in L.A., the Audubon Center in Montecito Heights.  On the Sunday we went we had the entire place to ourselves.  (We didn't get any photos, but we also went to the excellent Wildlife Learning Center in Sylmar for the first time - highly recommended!)

 

 

A few shots of my front yard, which always looks great in the fall, with the two Japanese maples and the autumnal colors of the Japanese barberry, Mexican feather grass, the nandina, and the three new sweet potato vines I added this year.

 

 

And our Thanksgiving decorations - everything this year was light blue and orange.

 

 

Reading while walking to school, like I used to do

We finally gave Arthur the Princess Anna coronation dress he had been asking for since last November, and I think it was truly the happiest he has ever been in his entire life.

 

The photo is blurry because he couldn't stop dancing for joy.

We went apple picking up in Willow Glen, then made a pie with the apples at home.  Our new baby apple tree in the backyard has some apples on it, too, though not quite enough for a pie yet.

Shamelessly including this photo just because my hair looks good.

And I took some photos of the kids in front of St. Mark's (I was trying to get a nice one of all three together, but I failed - again).

 

St. Mark's also shared some photos of Arthur with us - a glimpse into his life at school:

 

Eating champorado and learning about the Philippines, next to his best friend Henry

 

Learning about dental hygiene by brushing dinosaurs' teeth, with Ivy Harris

Then, at last, we went up to San Jose for Thanksgiving where we went for several long walks through Vasona Park with Aunt Julie, who just moved much closer to us! We are so happy she is in San Francisco now and not all the way across the country in New York.

Sitting on the wing of a real airplane

 

Chasing geese

 

Picking up Chinese takeout on Thanksgiving weekend

And last, a picture of me and Amy, taken by Summer St. Pierre - this might be the first picture of me and Amy I've seen since we were in seventh grade.  Thank you, Summer!