Luca making Juliette laugh

Luca and Juliette

This is Thanksgiving's week, no school in Seattle Public Schools due to parent/teacher conferences and the holiday= a long week in the Walker household.
Jessica and I are going to run a fun 10 K on Thurs. and John has his big 1/2 marathon on Sunday! I got the day off of work and look forward to cheering him on!
Juliette cut two more teeth and is cruising all over the house! Luca learned how to play Chutes and Ladder's today and really enjoyed it. I think this kid is going to love board games, among many other things. Here is a few pictures of the kids just hanging out this week.

Well...just tried to upload the pictures and it turns out that I have hit my quota for free picture uploads on the blog. What??? I guess I have to buy more storage space if I want to upload more pictures? Anyone know about this?  Evan? Andy? ....to be continued....

Luca making Juliette laugh

PJ's!

Luca was a big fan of Juliette's PJ "suits" so I found a pair for Luca at Lollipop's store for 99 cents. Here they both are before bed in their "suits". I am glad size 4T fits over Luca's AFO's.

They look pretty cute together!

Dance party

The other day Luca was in the last few mins. of his "rest time" and Juliette was playing in the living room. I had time to clean (so I thought) and I put on the music in the living room and Luca came out of his room wondering what kind of fun we were having in the living room. He asked if we could all dance. Of course we can all dance.  And here a few pictures of the party.

 

cute girl

 Thanks Alissa for this adorable coat from Butapest!

Welcome Baby Anya

My dear friend, Jamie, had her baby girl, Anya Jubilee, last week. Here are a few pictures of Luca's meeting her! What love and great joy she brings to the Alm family and all of us! Welcome Anya, we are so glad you are here! Luca says, "she is still tiny, but she won't stay tiny long, babies grow really fast!"

Juliette and Luca

Friday

Friday, Friday....usually Friday is a day many in the working world look forward to...a upcoming weekend, something fun in the evening perhaps. I remember those Fridays and use to enjoy them. Now Fridays are not those Fridays. They are the beginning of a long few day. (every other week John works Th to Sunday.) There is no school on Friday which is a great disappointment to Luca (and to me)
So today, I thought, we will make this Friday a special, "Field Trip Friday"
Luca has been asking to go on the new Seattle Farris Wheel for months (ever since it opened in July). It was not raining today, so I thought...we would go on the Farris Wheel then meet Alicia and Scarlett at Gymnastics-open gym. Great morning. And even I was excited to go on this new Farris Wheel.
By 9:30 am Luca was ready, I was ready, Juliette was ready, (that is not an easy feat to get three people ready) smooth transitions, he has eaten breakfast, was dressed, we are walking out the door when I discover I don't have keys...any keys. I called John, who brought them to work by accident. He kindly offered to send them home in a taxi but I thought that was a little excessive and thought we would make due with no car.
I stop the key search. Broke the news that we were not going on the Farris Wheel today, to Luca, (who was sitting on the front steps determined to wait for as long as necessary for John to get home from work) Luca finally accepted the disappointment that we have to go on the Farris Wheel a different day and watched another episode of Dora while we waited for Alicia to pick us up. Thankfully, Juliette's car seat was not locked in the car. Alicia kindly picked us up and took us to gymnastics.
Then when we got loaded back in the car to come home, I was blown away by Scarlett. Alicia gave her a cheese stick. (I had snacks for Luca but not a cheese stick) and Luca asked for one. I explained I had other snacks for him, that was Scarlett's cheese stick and on and on when out of the corner of my eye I saw something yellow. And Luca said, "there is a cheese stick, she is sharing with me." Scarlett without being asked, prompted or begged had on her own accord broken the cheese stick in two and offered the larger half to Luca.
I was blown away! I said, "wow, Scarlett, that is so kind of you to share your cheese stick with Luca." She then processed to break her small remaining half again and lifted up to me, "here you go, Katie" she said. I almost start crying just thinking about her sweet voice and kind heart.
A two year old giving away their special snack is no trivial act!
I want to be a generous person. I want my children to be generous. Thank you Scarlett for tangibly teaching us this lesson on generosity today. (her parents are also great role models on generosity)
Those were the life lessons so far today, accepting disappointment and living generously.

Here is the sweet Scarlett who shared with us: (dressed in her pirate costume) She has a lesson for all those pirates out there too!

Happy Halloween from Luca

Halloween

Luca and Layna (fire fighter and Dora) had a blast trick or treating around our block last night! They gave every house quite a greeting with repeated, "Happy Halloween, Trick or Treat, Happy Halloween, Thank you for the candy, Happy Halloween, thank you for the candy, trick or treat!" One house said, "we hear you a few houses away so we knew you were coming."

 Serious fire fighter face

 Ready to GO!

 Partners in fighting crime and collecting candy

 Wonderful neighbors- Kevin and Kelly- with adorable Mayzie

 Eating the candy of choice-Dots (he got to pick one candy to eat)

Juliette trying to get in on the action