Big Bear

 We went to Big Bear this weekend,

in search of snow, and...

this is all we found!  

It may have been machine-made, and icy, but...

 We were there with our sweet cousins:

Caitlyn, Ryle, Caleb & Eliza,

 and we couldn't have picked better company!

Botanic Gardens: Our New Favorite Place!

Claire and Maya, a friend of mine and her adorable daughter 

(who calls the girls "Charlie and Lola," a nick-name we've come to love &

honestly, probably part of the reason we've been calling their soon-to-be-little-sister "Charley.")

 Thanks to Claire and Maya for introducing us to the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens.

We took daddy back there with us to show him our new favorite place.

 They provide you with nets for catching tadpoles...

and binoculars for looking at the tadpoles up close after catching them.

We mustn't forget that after all of our tadpole fun,

we have to return them to their pond, so they can go home to their mommies and daddies!

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Nola's Co-op Christmas Program was today.

 She shined on stage, but had a bit of a hard time figuring out where the audience was...

That didn't matter to her most loyal fans:

Payton and Daddy

(and Mommy, too!)

H-O-T-T

It's crazy hot here in Camarillo.  Less than a week ago, we were bundled up for trick-or-treating (Aunt Jaimee filled in as Buzz Lightyear, as Nick held down the spooky fort)

and today, we shed the layers and set out for the beach...

We picked up our sweet friends, the Fraziers, and had a wonderful afternoon at the beach.

 Rinsing the sand off.  Clothing optional, apparently.

Getting Crafty this Fall

Heading into the last trimester of pregnancy, I've officially started nesting.  And by nesting, I mean crafting. My craftsmanship leaves something to be desired, but it doesn't really stop me from getting out the glue gun and getting to work.  Here are a couple of the October projects that I wanted to share:

Pottery Barn Countdown Calendar Knockoff

I got the "how-to" from this site, but have to warn anyone else wanting to embark on this type of project, you will spend way more than the $20 implied by the site, and it will take a really long time.  At least that was the case for me, as anything like this has to be done after the girls go to sleep.  In my case, this calendar was started in late September, and was completed a few days before Halloween. I have a feeling that the average person could probably do it faster and cheaper, but I can't wait to break this calendar out for many Halloweens to come.

 Stuffed Pepper Jack-o-Lanterns, pre-baked

Cooked Jack-o-Lantern

If you hung out in the Akl Household for a couple of weeks, one dinner that you can count on eating would be stuffed peppers.  This month, we decided to carve our peppers into mini Jack-o-Lanterns, and it totally made our routine-twice-a-month-stuffed-pepper-dinner SPOOKTACULAR!

Boo at the Zoo

Our third year at Santa Barbara's Boo at the Zoo!

 Two of the Boo Crew Members were lucky enough to pose with Jessie and Woody.

 Kim and Taylor's kids: Caitlyn (Wendy Darling), Eliza (Tinkerbell), and Caleb (Peter Pan) pose here with the girls (and part of Uncle Taylor).

This is why Uncle Taylor was partially in the picture... He had a very tiny Captain Hook (Ryle) attached to him all night.

Here we are in full Toy Story effect. 

To Halloween & Beyond!

Arachnaphilia

Los Angeles Museum of Natural History has a Spider Pavilion.

We overcame our (okay, just my) fears, and decided to bug out for the day.

 I kind of love these pictures for a few reasons:

1. You can clearly see Nola's seemingly permanent purple hair extension
(this thing has to go on record as the longest lasting Chuck E Cheese prize in our home)

 2. Nola has entered this new stage of "camera awareness," 

which makes it really hard to take any candids of her, 

but she strikes some pretty sweet & hammy poses 

(five seconds before she has to come over to approve of them.)

 3. These little girls are such tender playmates (98% of the time...)

4. I should also make a note that Nola was mainly admiring her manicure,

which was another one of the many "rewards" (read: bribes) she earned for 

OFFICIALLY being potty trained.

Payton bonding with a beetle.

Nola and the mantis agree that purple braids are the must-have-accessory this Fall.

Various States of Dress and Undress

Nola is three.

She is in Preschool,

and does she ever have an opinion about what she's going to wear each day.

I thought I'd share this outfit from earlier this week,

as it was particularly unique.

You can't really see the purple hair extension she's been wearing for about a week now,

but it's there (and, as a side note, she fully earned it as she is OFFICIALLY potty trained).

What you can see is her Jessie doll 

(one of the other incentives we've been dangling over her head during potty training --

I'm sure more of these "rewards" will be popping up in upcoming blogposts).

Funny thing about her strong opinion in her attire at school,

is that Nola actually disrobed (down to underwear) the first two days of school

during dress-ups, and stripping is something we've really been working on with the girls,

trying to teach them that nudity isn't something that you can just do anywhere --

a tough concept, as they are nearly nude most of the time --

especially in our backyard, during the heat of the summer.

To demonstrate my point, this is a fairly common outfit of choice for Payton.

Rain, rain, don't go away!

It seems like it's been years since we've had a thunderstorm, but today we had one.  

We ventured out for preschool and a play date, but were stuck inside for the afternoon, which means the girls were a captive audience for some pictures...

Payton watching the rain... probably her first official rainstorm.

 During the storm, our bread maker came back from being repaired,

and the box was a major sanity saver, as it filled up a good couple of hours while the chili was cooking.

The days are long, but the years are short

It's taken nearly a full year for us to get back here, 

but after spending a few nights in a row in front of my laptop --

mainly to upload a lengthy backlog of pictures of the girls,

I happened to stumble across the quote:

The days are long, but the years are short,

and I couldn't help but feel some sense of heartache at that sentiment.

I don't know if it was because it was a particularly trying day in the world of little girls and big messes --

or if it was crazy mid-pregnancy hormonal tears --

or if it was just the fact that I've been cataloging more than a whole year's worth of

Nola and Payton 

and how these little forces of nature -- 

who didn't even exist a few years ago --

now define my life and fill my days

with combinations of immense joy, 

smatterings of "Don't touch me with that thing on your finger!!!",

and  lots of time for me to wonder if telling my daughter

not to wipe a booger on my pants

will, one day, land her in therapy.

Whatever it was that got me on here again...

 I realized that I need to start documenting these precious 

(and sometimes maddening) moments again.

We'll be back here, every now and then (I cannot promise consistency), 

but I felt a deep need to share this quote,

because, for me, it was such a wonderful reminder,

as a parent, to cherish each moment

because even though it doesn't feel like it -- especially when

 you're silently chanting to yourself to 

"Breathe, in through the nose... out through the mouth..." 

over and over again,

while watching your toddler take five minutes 

to try to snap a buckle

 that it would easily take you five seconds to do...

It's because of these moments, that seem to fill my days,

and instead of feeling drained by this,

I need to remind myself how very fleeting this small window of time is,

and remember that:

The days are long, but the years are short.

Hair Raising Good Times

Thought I'd share the effects of trampoline-induced-static-electricity on Nola's hair.