Polar Express

Abuelo & Abuela gave us an early Christmas present and sent us on the Polar Express (or the Polar Bear Express as Daniel calls it)!  Norma, Daniel, Catherine, and I all went on Friday night, and Daniel had the time of his life.  Not exaggerating - he was the most excited kid there, waiting to get on that train.  He could not stop jumping up and down and was giggling with excitement!  He LOVED the train and spent a lot of time looking out the window at the trucks passing by (he logically reasoned that they were 18-wheelers filled with toys that the elves had made)!  He got to have cookies and hot chocolate while riding to the North Pole.  At the North Pole, Santa Claus and a few of his elves hopped aboard the train.  Daniel was excited to see Santa (in his funny little quiet way).  He kept watching Santa as he made his way closer, then he turned to me and said quietly with a little smile, "This is my first time!"  Santa gave him and Catherine a little silver bell each (which Catherine loved more than anything else on the trip).  Santa also signed Daniel's Polar Express book.  It was incredibly sweet to see Daniel so excited about such a magical evening!  It really did bring tears to my eyes.  Thank you to Abuelo & Abuela for the nice present!

Catherine's Milestones

I think we can say that Catherine is officially taking those "first steps!"  She's not necessarily "walking" because she will only take about 5-6 steps at a time, but I've seen her do as many as eight without falling!

She's also recently learned how to give high-fives and how to wave bye-bye.

The other big news is that she's got a mouth full of teeth.  Just within the last week, there were three that popped through on the top, so she's got a total of five now.  Sheesh!  So stinkin' grown up!

The Lion King

We had told Daniel that when the blister on his thumb finally disappeared (from his thumb-sucking days), he could watch a movie. 

That day finally happened!  It took two months for that blister to disappear!  So on Saturday we rented The Lion King, per his request.  We popped a bowl of popcorn, Daniel got to stay up past his bed-time, and the three of us watched the movie together. 

This was the first movie we'd ever done, and Daniel was uber-excited!  You know how Daniel talks non-stop most of the time?  Yeah, that doesn't change during a movie.  :)  He asked a question about every 15 seconds - literally, and the most popular question (by far) was, "Where are the hyenas now?"

Those hyenas were definitely a little scary for him, and we fast-forwarded through several parts.

All in all - big success! 

Avocado

This is how the girl looks all. the. time.

The good thing is that she'll eat almost anything.

In the last few weeks she's eaten coconut curry chicken soup and gingery pork meatballs with rice noodles without skipping a beat.

Halloween

Daniel dressed up as "Captain Lightning" this year, and Catherine was a pumpkin.  When we got Daniel all dressed for the night, he stood up and said, "I'm ready to go fight some crime!"  We first walked to a small festival at a nearby church where we met some neighbors.  We then trick-or-treated around our neighborhood.  Daniel loved trick-or-treating the most and is super excited about all the candy.  We were ultra proud that he volunteered to give up almost half of it to Ms. Marcy without us even asking!  He had fun with Ms. Marcy that day too, who came to our house dressed as a witch!  All in all - a successful Halloween!