Halloween Festivities

 The Tollacks came to the Bay Area for the weekend before Halloween and we had a lot of fun going out just the grown-ups and celebrating Halloween with the kids.  We went to the Clayton Valley Pumpkin Farm with the Walters and the Garzas. The kids had a great time in spite of the fact that it was a mini heat wave and they were all in their warm costumes. The hit was the kiddie pools filled with beans!

On actual Halloween Liliana started the day in her Halloween jammies that her Grammy gave her eating pumpkin pancakes that her Grandma made her...lucky girl. Then, Liliana had a Halloween parade at school and a party in her class afterwards. Because I am the room parent I got to stay and help with the craft and snack. I loved watching her have fun with her friends and I love that I have time to be the room mom for her. I'm pretty sure she loves it too. :) 

My mom and Liliana worked very hard on this costume. Lila had a hard time deciding what she wanted to be this year, but she is a big fan of the Pippi chapter books right now because she likes that Pippi is such a rascal. Just what our little rascal needs in a role model! The costume turned out great and she looked absolutely darling. 

For the real Halloween, we went to a party at the William's house in Sleepy Hollow. The house was decorated and all of the grown ups were dressed up. It was very festive and a lot of fun, but I got called home early because Maverick was home sick with my parents and would not take a bottle (stubborn little guy). Adam said he and Liliana had a great time. She was really into collecting (and eating) the candy and because she is not shy at all, she had a blast chatting with everyone and meeting other trick or treaters in the street. Her favorite costume that she spotted in the streets this year was a devil. She wanted to be a devil herself this year for some reason but I was able to talk her out if it. I told her it was a costume for older girls. When she saw the other trick or treater dressed as a fancy devil she immediately asked her how old she was. The little girl happened to be 5. Something tells me Liliana is not going to forget that.

Liliana Rose Update

Liliana Rose has had a lot of "new" in her life lately. We moved, she has a new brother, and a new school. All things considered, she is doing pretty well and is a happy girl. But, there are definitely things going on in her behavior that have always been issues but have gotten much worse since the move. We started a behavior chart to focus on listening (she ignores rules), being kind to others (she has been really sassy and even mean to some people--mostly boys and men), and being happy (she throws tantrums when she doesn't get her way). When she fills her sticker chart up, she gets to choose a special adventure. For example, when she filled up her first chart she chose to go to the Hello Kitty store with Grandma and have a fancy lunch in San Francisco. But, where she really wants to go is, "London". We had to make the rule that it needs to be within driving distance.

She is obsessed with wearing clips all over her head. She spends about 15 minutes in the bathroom every morning clipping her hair with 10+ mismatched clips all over. The school secretary filled me in on the fact that an older girl at school has the same hairstyle and must have started a trend.

Liliana is really enjoying chapter books. We started by reading a couple books from the Junie B. Jones series in Capistrano Beach and have more recently read Charlotte's Web and Pippi Longstocking. She looks forward to the next chapter each night.

Her favorite characters right now are Eloise, Pippi Longstocking and Shirley Temple.

She is getting more coordinated! She can skip and ride her bike!! Huge break through!

She is making so many new friends and we are so proud of how social she is and pleased about all of the new connections she is making.


Singin' In the Rain...

 The new 'do...

 Dressing up...

 Proud Big Sis at Uncle and B's Wedding

Lemos Farm Pumpkin Patch with the Walters

We headed to Half Moon Bay for their well known pumpkin patch. Half Moon Bay had so many pumpkin patches that it felt instantly festive as soon as we arrived...pumpkins everywhere! Lemos Farm had a train ride, pony rides, bounce houses, face painting, and a haunted house that after some debate, Pax and Lila decided they were too scared to go into.

After the Patch we headed back to the Walters for a perfect fall evening...pumpkin carving, a yummy chile dinner, fall sangria, pumpkin and banana muffins, and lots of laughs.

Maverick and Liliana Play in the Bay Area

In true Morrison family fashion, we have been keeping busy since we moved up here. Our schedules are jam-packed as always with lots of fun and we have been enjoying all of the 'QT' with Grandma and Grandpa. Here is a photo dump from my iphone of a few of our adventures and past times... 

Grandma cooks everything Liliana requests. Here she is enjoying one of Grandma's famous pies.

Fancy Napa lunch with Grandpa

Liliana and grandma make pancakes together on the weekends.

Trips to Powell's, the local sweet shop

Snuggling up and watching cartoons in the morning

Giants Game with Grandpa. Liliana is a newly converted Giants fan, but she keeps reminding us that the Super Chargers are her favorite team. We are trying to explain that they are different sports and she can like both, but she hasn't quite grasped the concept.

Lawrence Hall of Science

Lunch with buddy Rhys

Lots of cooking with Grandma

Trip to Point Reyes where we stayed at an Inn with a farm

 Sleep Overs at Shannon and Neil's beautiful "Two Dog Ranch"

 Classes at "The Club" (as Lila refers to it). She takes Creative Dance, Tumbling, Music and Swimming there. She absolutely loves it.

 Lots of BBQ'ing and hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa in the warm weather

 San Francisco Aquarium

 The Marine Mammal Center in the Marin Headlands

 The Walnut Festival with Mila

 The Lindsey Museum

 Making Uncle a present at Color Me Mine

Fun dinners and sleep overs at The Hamman's

Fun dinners and sleep overs at The Hammans