Halloween

Katie went out with her friends for the first time "Trick or Treating." She met up with her pals Maggie and Dylan and hit the neighborhood - 4 houses. Katie had a lot of fun. She also enjoyed giving the candy to the "older" kids who came to our house. She had a few M&M's and then ran around the house like a crazy pixie. So much fun!

Fire!

We're fine, but the fire did get quite close as you can see the heavy smoke in the pictures. We were on the Western edge of the "Buckweed Fire" that started in Canyon Country on Saturday. By Sunday they closed Anissa's school. We saw the smoke but didn't think there was any danger to us since it was several miles away. Well overnight the winds whipped it our way. We were up at 5am with Katie anyway when a kindly neighbor rang our doorbell to say she saw flames coming up over the hill about a mile or so away. We started packing. Anissa and Katie decided to stay in Long Beach for the day and left just before 8am. The city evacuated our entire development by 9:30am. Luckily the winds changed later in the day and blew the fire away from us. We stayed down in Long Beach Monday night to stay out of the smoke. By the time Anissa returned to the house on Tuesday everyone in the neighborhood was back and safe. Katie enjoyed her day with the cousins. Thanks to Deb, Matt, Olivia, Gaby, and Antonio for a very fun evacuation.

Big Sister

Yes Katie will be a big sister in June 2008. Anissa is pregnant and we couldn't be happier. Katie is mostly oblivious but she has started taking her dolls for a double stroller walk. And the news sometimes sinks in and she just has to hit the bottle.





She's hit quite a growth spurt recently and with the weather turning colder we've been shopping to keep up with her.

Eating!

Katie has 4 good teeth (2 up, 2 down) and is making fine use of them. She is done with "baby food" and eats yogurt, sweet potato slices, fish sticks, chicken nuggets, watermelon, grilled cheese sandwich, and the obligatory french fries. She really likes when she can feed herself and gets mommy and daddy to sing when she gets the "spoon in her mouth." She's not too messy and likes sitting in her booster chair with mom and dad. She tells us to "siiiiit, sssssiiiiiiiiiit, sssssssssssiiiiiiiiiiiit" and pats the chair next to her - very cute.

Green Acres

Farm living might not agree with Katie but she sure liked the pumpkin farm we went to out in Moorpark with her BFF Petra. Katie and Petra played on the toy tractors. Rode the train several times with lots of giggles and dizziness. They weren't too interested in picking out pumpkins, but a lot of fun was had by all. The pig races were amusing to the parents, but Katie and Petra were too busy chasing each other through the tunnels next door to notice.
Katie is still pondering her choices for Halloween costume, but she really likes Daddy's dark pullover. It makes her look like a miniature Darth Vader wearing red crocks. Petra wants Katie to be a pirate. Unfortunately Katie hates hats right now so it is hard to find a kid's costume without a hat,hood, etc.