My dear sister-in-law, Elizabeth, has taken so many photos of our family out of the goodness of her heart. She even flew to Denver to photograph Greta's birth. It was awesome and I'm so glad I have those photos. As a thank-you, I made a collection of hats and diaper covers for her to use. I think they turned out darling. I sent everything off without telling Liz it was coming so it sure was fun to get an excited phonecall!

We were going to go to the pumpkin festival in Half Moon Bay, but when we arrived at the backed up 92, we quickly changed our plans and happily headed north rather than west to the city. We spent the afternoon at Golden Gate Park. We rode the carousel and played at the Children's Playground and that's it! The park is huge and there's so much to see. Luckily we live here in Northern California and can go back pretty much whenever. Both Holly and Greta loved the carousel. And I love all carousels - the older the better! The entire time, Greta was "ooohing" and completely entranced with the whole thing. The playground was so fun too! There's so many museums and other attractions in Golden Gate Park. We definitely need to go back soon. One of the neatest things about the park is all the big trees so we literally felt removed from the city even though we were surrounded by it. That part of it reminded me of Central Park in NYC.

On the drive home, we stopped in at Trader Joe's and spent $20 on treats. I bought a little carton of peanut butter cups, which are so good. Reeses' peanut butter cups are pretty much garbage compared to these! I love California!

PS: we're planning to go to LA for the weekend soon. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Balance. It's something we all strive for. I think I may have too many good things going on right now, and I may need to edit  and keep only the best. I have a feeling dishes and laundry and grocery shopping cannot be edited out. Too bad. This week has felt really busy and overwhelming to me. Halloween is creeping up and I'm making (sewing and crocheting) the girls Halloween dresses, I mean costumes. Today I had to undo nearly half of my progress on the dress I'm crocheting for Greta. That was at least 3 hours of work all unravelled in no time. It's hard for me to find time to work on my little projects because often Greta takes a poor afternoon nap. 

I've been trying to exercise. It usually helps me feel better about everything. But I can't run as far as I used to and I feel more sore in general after my runs. I know I'm being a weenie and should just suck it up but to add to it, something usually deters me from getting out the door and then I have a melt down. Somedays I have as many melt downs as Holly. Speaking of Holly, she can open our front door. The other day she went to go get Daddy from the train all by herself. And then was so upset with me for bringing her back without Daddy that she pulled my hair really, really hard.

I have about 50 minutes of video on my mino right now, a sink full of dirty dishes, a living room that is in a constant state of disarray, and I'm exhausted every night. I do as little grocery shopping as I can manage. And when people ask me if I have help (meaning in raising my two, young children), I feel tempted to ask them if they mean mental help. 

I write all this, (and I could list a ton of other things that are weighing on my shoulders), but I'm happy. I have an extremely active toddler, but silly marching with her to bed and acting goofy and playing ring around the rosie and chasing her all over the apartment trying to get her pajamas on and cheering for her when she pees in the potty all by herself - those things they make me happy. And when I'm sad, Holly always knows and asks me, "a sad Mommy?" She knows what tears on my cheeks mean and she'll softly touch my cheek and give me hugs and kisses and sympathy. And Greta, she may cry when I'm making supper, but today, she just wanted to be held so bad. She did her best to scoot over to where I was because she just wanted her Mom. She stopped crying as soon as I scooped her up. And when I picked her up out of her bed after her nap, she cuddled right into me, limp noodle style, and stayed there. And I loved her with all my being. With all that I am. I have a husband who adores me and cares about me and forgives me so quickly when I'm ridiculous. He supports me and listens to me. He loves me. Things may get a little crazy around here, and you may not want to drop in unannounced (although you're always welcome), but this is my family, my home and I love them. I definitely need to figure some things out about life and how to live it, however, I think I'm making progress and that's what matters. 

Through the grapevine I heard someone say that they have forever to spend with their children as adults. So they're going to do their best to enjoy this small amount of time they have to spend with their children when they're small and actually children. And that's my goal. To enjoy my children. And to worry less about the state of my apartment. Because one day, there won't be any children living in my home and then I can tidy and clean all I want. But for now, I'm going to sneak in one more kiss, cuddle, and trip to the park. 

Yesterday, the girls and I headed to a local quilting store to buy the last 3 fabrics for a gradient quilt I'm going to make for Holly. I had ordered 5 of the 8 fabrics, but I felt it was too risky to order the last three and figured it was worth the splurge to just go to a store and pick them out. I'm really excited about this quilt. Holly originally inspired me and it's also become a collaboration between Conor and I. I love it already! This is the fabric I want to use for the back. I need 2 yards... just in case you'd like to treat me.

We had a lovely weekend. We went to a pumpkin in the park festival in San Jose and we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving. For the last 3 years I've made a butternut squash and sage lasagna with homemade noodles. We look forward to this little tradition all year long! 

The most exciting part of our weekend was watching little Greta get up onto her hands and knees and rock! I can hardly believe it! We're all on pins and needles waiting for Greta to take her furst "step". I try to always watch her, even if it's just out of the corner of my eye, because I don't want to miss it! So far she's found getting on her knees handy for helping her to lunge further forward. She sometimes scoots both knees forward and looks like a monkey. It's been really fun for all of us to cheer her on together. Holly's totally Greta's number one fan. This is what family is all about!