Halloween

Halloween was on a Monday this year, which meant I got to spend the day with the kids and didn't have to rush home to get them ready. Isaac stayed home from school because he was fighting off a bug, but Bill and I didn't have the heart to cancel trick or treating, so we decided to let him go but try to keep it short. Isaac was psyched to dress up as Lightning McQueen (from Cars) and while Caitlin liked her dress, she wasn't too keen on wearing the Abby Cadabby (from Sesame Street) wings or hair for Halloween (although Cesi got her to wear them the next day!).

Once they were dressed up and Bill got home, we headed to "Hilloween" at Eastern Market to meet up with friends and jump around in the bouncy houses before heading to East Capitol for some speed trick-or-treating. Isaac was a pro, running straight to the door and saying the magic words before grabbing some candy. Caitlin tried to keep up (although she still struggles with stairs) and got her fair share too. They were both troopers, but a few houses in, we decided to call it a night to get the kids out of the cold and give them a chance to give out candy.

This is the greeting that the trick-or-treaters got -- Isaac, Caitlin, and Wilson fighting to be the first to the door and then Isaac and Caitlin fighting over who got to give out the candy. Hopefully the recipients weren't too upset to find that most of the candy had bite marks as a result of our dear children's enthusiasm :)

I don't have many pictures, but Kristin came to spend time with us the weekend leading up to Halloween. She spoiled them both during a "toy run" to Target, and won both kids over easily with the charm she used on Jen, Alli and I almost 30 years ago when she was our babysitter!

Unfortunately, the "bug" Isaac was fighting off turned into a 104 degree fever with a horrible cough that led to a day-long doctor's appointment, chest x-ray, and ultimately bronchitis. After a week of nebulizer treatments and prednisone he recovered well --and generously passed it on to Caitlin. These are pictures of the two of them dutifully sitting through their nebulizer treatments.

Fortunately, they are both pretty much recovered and back to running wild around our house.

Schrutts Take DC

Jen, Jaden, Talia and Arielle flew in from Colorado to spend a long weekend in DC, and Isaac and Caitlin couldn't have been more excited to have so much time to hang with their cousins. As a bonus, Papa Rich and Mom-Mom came in for one of the nights (one was enough for them!). We packed a lot into the weekend, including an adventure on the metro, the Natural History Museum, Eastern Market, and lots of playtime at our house and on the playground. The kids all got along great, and it was awesome to have them staying right downstairs in our basement. It was total chaos and total fun, and we can't wait to see them again for Thanksgiving.

Caitlin 15 months!

Caitlin was a trooper at her 15 month checkup. She had been sick a few days prior to the appointment (and the doctor confirmed she has fluid in her ears), so I think she was a few lbs down as a result, but she weighed in a 21 pounds (15th percentile), and measured 30.5 inches (25th percentile).


An adorable video Cesi sent me of Caitlin talking before bed. Blowing kisses is her favorite thing to do, she even does it to perfect strangers on the street :)

Camping, Apple Picking and Dinosaurland

It has been a busy month! We've been filling up our weekends with fun activities like birthday parties, soccer and taking full advantage of our DC location by frequenting the Smithsonians (mainly Air & Space and Natural History), which both kids love. Isaac is doing great in school and comes home singing and talking in Spanish and even had his first field trip last week. Caitlin is 15 months (!!) but thinks she is Isaac's age and spends her time following him around and trying to do everything he does. He's a good sport though, and genuinely tries to help her along. She has given up her morning nap, which makes our days easier, but the transition was a little rough. She's talking lots, though I'm not sure all of it is in English, but we definitely piece together enough to get her what she wants.

In our determination to enjoy the beautiful fall weather we have been having, we decided it would be fun to take the kids camping a few weeks ago. So we drove to Front Royal, Virginia with the car so packed we couldn't see out the back (yes, for one night) for an adventure. First stop, the Apple House for lunch where we all fueled up for apple picking at Stribling Orchard. After being stuck in the car for awhile, the kids were excited to meet up with Charlie and Diego and they all loved wandering free through the orchards. It was pretty entertaining watching Isaac attempt to walk on the apples on the ground, he looked like one of those lumberjacks trying to walk on rolling logs. Meanwhile, Caitlin was happy to sit and eat her apple anywhere we stopped. We picked 13 pounds of apples, ate a few more, and Isaac and Charlie rolled through the grass and all the kids ran around and climbed the pumpkins.

Next stop, Outriggers Campsite in Luray. The kids were super-excited about sleeping outside in tents and had a blast wandering around the campsite and "helping" pitch the tents and set up the stuff. We borrowed a tent from a friend which was amazing - two bedrooms and huge - and relatively easy to set up.

Once the sites were set up, everyone bundled up for the cold that was setting in and the boys went foraging into the woods with their headlamps and glow sticks in search of the perfect sticks to roast hot dogs and marshmallows. While the fire was heating up, the boys were entertained by the iPad (yuppie camping). Everyone behaved great and ate well, and, for the most part (at least in our tent), went to sleep easily (with the help of the sound machine--again, yuppie camping) and slept mostly through the night. Isaac slept on a toddler-sized air mattress with sleeping bag and two covers and Caitlin slept in a "peapod" which is a self-contained air mattress, sleeping bag and mini-tent. Overall, the kids were rockstars and only stirred a couple of times when their covers came off -- the only real reason Bill and I didn't get much sleep was due to technical difficulties -- our air mattress slowly leaked all night so we woke up basically on the ground and due to the fact that it got pretty cold, down to the 40's, and there was a lot of condensation, the tent leaked slowly onto our heads all night. Not the best circumstances overall, but we were psyched that the kids did great, which was our biggest concern.

We woke up soon after dawn and after a quick breakfast and a long time packing everything back up, we headed to DinosaurLand. DinosaurLand's prime was clearly in the 1950's, but to a 3 year old it was an awe-inspiring collection of life-sized dinosaurs, some of which were depicted violently goring and devouring each other. The kids loved running around outside and climbing on the dinosaurs. Isaac, clearly not getting the violence asked repeatedly why they were "painting" each other red and laid down to cuddle with a brontasaurus on the verge of death at the hands of a ferocious t-rex.

Before we left we were convinced our itinerary was too ambitious, but while we were all exhausted at the end of it, I think everyone had a great time.