Capes and Trunks

Saturday we had our wards trunk or treat. Abby went as a ladybug

We had a plethora of costumes for the boys to choose from, Superman, Batman, Robin, Buzz Lightyear etc. I had also made a sweet Max costume from Where the Wild Things Are. Sam decided he wanted to be Superman.

He LOVED his cape and wanted to run everywhere to make it fly. Liam decided he wanted to wear the Max costume. WE put him in his jammies and left the costume off until we got to the church. Once there he REFUSED to put the costume on. We thought this might be a problem so we brought his pirate hat and patch (he LOVES wearing these). Everytime we tried to put them on him he bolted. Don't worry he still went to all the cars and wrecked havock for Chris and I. I don't know what got into him but man was he crazy!
When we decided to take the boys to the Natural History museum the opposite happened and he and Sam and Liam refused to take off their capes. People loved seeing them run around making wind noise.

They had a fun time looking at the dinasaurs and bugs. You could tell Sam needed a nap though...

Have I mentioned it is gorgeous here right now. The colors are so vibrant I LOVE it.


We had a fun family night Monday night! We went to one of my new fav burger places Elevation burger. It was REALLY yummy and very afordable. Everything is fresh and organic, right down to the oil they cook the fries in. Plus the boys ate three tubs of mandarin oranges! I love it! But when you come to dinner with the Crawfords you get entertainment with it. Since Sam always brings a train Liam decided to bring his dolphin... who was apparently also hungry for oranges.

Then Liam yelled at him for eating his oranges:

Dinner was so good we had to get desert. The boys got choclate ice cream.


Don't worry the dolphin got some too.

Then we headed down the street to a gorgeous old church that was selling pumpkins to raise money for their choir. The boys had fun looking at all the different pumpkins (Liam won't look at me anymore to take pictures so I told him there was a monkey on my head in an attempt to get him to look at me, so he pointed to the pretend monkey on his head.)

Remember that cape... yeah it is still on

Abby was even having a blast and she didn't even get out of the car seat.

Sam and Daddy settled on this pumpkin:

Chris set Abby up for a photo opt and we tried to get the boys to join her. We kept saying where is Abby guys to try and get them to come over. Sam was kind enough to point at her for us.

Did I mention it is gorgeous here right now. This tree was in the corner of the parking lot.

The boys had fun riding the trolly up with the pumpkins and the sweet package that arrived from my parents with our new x-box-- whoo hoo!

Thank you Granny and Grandad!

If you give a Liam a Pancake

He is going to want some syrup. But not a fork, they are sooo unneccesary, it is much more fun to dip your pancake-- who doesn't love to dip anyway?

Nor is there need to wash the plate when he is done. He will totally lick it clean FOR you :)

Abby's Noggin

I try to have something decorative on Abby's head everyday. I really want her to wear hats as a toddler since we are going to be in a VERY sunny place and I don't want her perfect skin to get damaged and well lets face it I really want her to keep her dark hair and am thinking maybe limited exposure to the sun might help? Every one suggests putting something on them everyday if you don't want them pulling it off as a toddler. So she usually has a bow or flower or now that it is cold enough, one of her awesome crocheted hats. This particular one is from an Etsy store called The Irish Hook, although I also love the ones I have from The Portland Beanie company and from my sister in law Robyn. I am beginning to be a big 'ole fan of Sassy Muffins and am pretty sure I am going to break down and buy something from there soon. For right now she will wear them but I think this is a sign of things to come:

The girl has got some LUNGS!
Sammy LOVES Abby and really wanted to be in the picture with her. I think he is going to be a stellar big brother... to Abby. He could really work on his relationship with Liam haaa!

We Have Snugglers

Chris and I are big snugglers and thankfully our kids got the gene. It has been VERY cold and yucky here lately and today the boys decided to cuddle up together under our new huge costco blanket. We love that they snuggle... and still eat popsicles when it is freezing out.

I was messing around with the White Balance on my camera to see what setting is best in our apartment and I caught Abby smiling. Although the white balance is not the one I would usually use in our apt. she sure is cute! I love her dimples and her piggy shirt

Flag Day

The day we found out where we were heading for the next two years is referred to as Flag Day. Essentially all 100 FS100 students gather in the "oldest women's gym" in Virginia to hear their fate. You are allowed (encouraged) to have your family and any friends there you like. Thankfully my good friend Kerstin doesn't have work on Fridays so she joined us to help out with the boys.

(thank you soooo much... sorry about Liam wetting himself on you... that was not fun!) They say a few words (letting you know which posts will not be filled this time around) then they parade out the flags.

They then hold up a flag, announce its location and say the name of the person going there and everyone cheers. Apparently Christopher's class was one of the loudest in history. They were pounding their feet and hooting, it was great. They also had bingo cards with countries on it and you could mark off a spot when they called out that country. Since Chris and I couldn't sit by each other we could just trade looks every now and then. Luckily we did not have to wait long. Christopher was the 3rd or 4th person announced. When they said Dili apparently both of us looked VERY shocked because afterwards everyone was asking us if we were okay haa! Chris came up and accepted his flag

I couldn't stop Sam from running up to his Daddy and giving him a hug, which of course everyone cheered for:

Then Sam of course had to have the flag of our future home

We got to spend the rest of the hour or so trying to talk to each other through looks :) When It was all over we headed outside to get some air and try and wrap our heads around the fact that we are going to be living on a very tiny. very remote, very beautiful island.
Kerstin )who gracefully took both boys out half way through for me) snapped a pic for us

then we headed home for some pizza and a party! It was a very crazy day. Ultimately Chris and I are extremely excited to be going to Dili. Christopher's boss was in town this weekend and kindly met with us and answered a lot of questions. There are two other 3 year olds and a 2 year old in the expat community. Our house is brand new and ON the beach and in a 3 house guarded compound. We will have Internet at home (PHEW) and there is a great preschool for Sam to attend. So now we get to begin the process of packing and getting shots!

When Aunt Felicity comes to town

My sister Felicity came to visit us for her fall break from Law school! We have been having fun relaxing and visiting a few sites. We took the boys down to Jack's boat house in Georgetown to see the kayaks and canoes. It was THE cutest little place. I loved the bright colors of the boats and lights and furniture!




Felicity and the cuties:

Chris and I are seriously contemplating purchasing a kayak to take with us to Dili so it was fun showing the boys all the great bright colors.

Liam like pretending he had rocks for ears... and then throwing the rocks

We also headed up to the Cathedral or as Sam calls it "the castle". We found the Darth Vader gargoyle.

Then headed down to the Bishops Garden. Sam was thoroughly confused and kept asking where Busch Gardens was. They loved playing in the turret.

Liam got progressively grumpier with me taking pics of him :)

We also visited Mount Vernon while Sammy was at school. Liam had fun rolling around in the dirt and I got more than one "when are you going to stop him" look, but I figured I would already have to wash all his clothes anyways. I also have been doing lots of photo sessions. If you are bored and want to check them out they are on my photo blog kellycrawfordphotography.blogspot.com

That is Esquire Christopher Crawford to you

Chris passed the bar!!!! Wooo hooo Law school is officially behind us! Congratulations sweetheart all the mola and time apart was worth it.

If you are near Australia....

Then please make time to visit us in Dili East Timor!!! That is where we will be living for the next two years! Flag day was CRAZY and there will be a whole other post for that, but for now start savin up people. It is close to Australia and Bali so we will take you on a fun mini vacation if you come see us! The embassy just finished new homes for the diplomates and they are ON the beach. I don't know how I am going to suffer through it but somehow I will find a way! Here is one of the many beaches on this gorgeous island:



Dili
The capital of East Timor is a pleasant, lazy city centred on a sweeping harbour, with parkland edging the waterfront on either side. There has always been a markedly different pace of life in Dili compared to Kupang, the major city on the western, Indonesian, end of the island.
Until the Indonesian takeover in 1975, Dili was the capital of the former colony of Portuguese Timor, and it still has the feel of a tropical Portuguese outpost. Badly damaged during the Indonesian mayhem in 1999, transitional elevated prices have gradually spiralled back to more sensible levels. Baucau, the second-largest town in East Timor, is still charming, despite the ravages of 1999. The two-hour drive east along the coast from Dili via Manatuto is gorgeous, with clear water and beaches along the way. To read more about our soon to be home you can go here.

Burk Fall Festival

Yesterday I went with Sam's school to the Burk Fall Festival at Burk Nursery. It was so awesome... and extremely stressful. It must have been field trip day because there were a zillion kids there all with matching shirts (we were supposed to wear red but I never got the memo-- literally they forgot to put it in sams bag). I was so excited thinking I was going to get some great fall pictures, but with two kids to look after and Abby in the sling I was basically running around like a chicken with my head cut off. It was not a cheap excersion but once inside I din't not feel bad about forking over the dough. Everything was for Sam and Liams age bracket. We started out on the huge mound of sand. There were buckets and shovels and the sand was filled with SPiders and dimes. You were allowed to take three of whatever you wanted. Sam only wanted one spider and Liam of course wanted the digger thing-- the one thing he couldn't take.

The only way I could tear them away from the sand was to take them down to the long wooden train. Of course Sam was in heaven.

Next to the train was this awesome tree swing. I was dying to get a picture of Sam or Liam swinging on it but they would have NONE of it. Doesn't this thing just beg to be photographed!

Really sam would have stayed here all day if I hadn't literally dragged him down to the Pirate ship. They had fun stearing the wheel and going down the slide until an older girl decided it was her turn and litterally grabbed the wheel and spun it hitting Liam in the cheek pretty brutaly. He of course started sobbing and it took everything in me not to be mean to the girl. As we were climbing down (Liam still screaming) the girl come sup and says "I want him to go back to the wheel." I let her know that we only play with nice people but thanks for the offer... I know I am a horrible person. Especially since I could totally see either of my boys doing what she did. Oh well I slipped. We headed over to the big plane but Liam just couldn't let what happened go.

He was crying out of the window of the plane and kept pointing to the pirate ship.

We finally diverted his attention with a cool tunnel where you go in the pirates mouth then climb up and slide down.

Well he couldn't climb up to slide down and I couldn't get in there and help him with Abby on my chest so he just stayed in the tunnel and wouldn't come out for about ten mins. Once Sam climbed in and told him to come ride on the horsies he relented. It was nice that you didn't have to pay for each ponyride but at the same time made it so I had no excuse as to why they had to get off.

Evenually some other kids came and darn it we had to move on... to the carpet slides! They had these great slides where you sit on a piece of carpet and ZOOM down them. The first time I didn;t think Lam would go down by himself so I went up with him. I must have given the poor worker a heart attack. He kept saying watch the baby. Haa! We zoomed to the bottom where another worker was freaking out, I thought about Abby, until I got a hefty kick to the back. It was Sam, he refused to listen and wait till we were out of the way. Next time I sent the boys up by themselves and I stayed down to take pics. I didn't want to miss this and thought I would get a horrible picture if I did it manually so I switched to auto. Bad idea, the picture is so dark. But still so cute!

Liam liked chillin at the bottom of the slide nearly being knocked over a bunch of times.

I decided we needed a break so we went on the hay ride that was included in the price of admission. Although there was no hay so it should have just been called tractor trailer ride ;)

The lady that took this pic said "um they aren't looking." I laughed and said "Hey the fact that I am even in a picture of them will be great." We hoped off and I showed the boys the HUGE long message tube.
Liam yelled BRO BRO!!! over and over

And Sam infomred this other little girl that Liam was telling him an important message...

We went down and played on the train for a few more minutes. Then I was apparenlty due for a heavy dose of humility. I was on one side of the train tying to conivnce Liam to go on the swing when I hear "Who's litle boy is that?" I think of crude please don't be mine. I rush around and there is Sam with his pants to his ankles peeing on a bush!!!! OH MY GOSH. I sprint up to him nearly dropping abby and start yelling stop stop stop. But I guess this is really hard to do. Sam starts crying as I tell him that we are going to get kicked out and why in the world didn't he just TELL me he had to pee!!! It was awful. Thankfully no workers saw and the other moms I think could tell I was sufficiently mortified.
After this lovely incident I thought Sam would have fun in the barrels that you roll down a hill in. He saw other girls doing it so he climbed in but would not listen to me about sitting in the middle. This is him before going down the hill:

I didn't get an after becase he was screaming from his stomach getting pinched between the tube and the ground... yeah that was my cue to leave. We went and picked out our tin pumpkin and hit the road. I was officially exhausted and ready for a nap. Only problem-- when I opened the door to our apt. I was met with this site:

no not the messy apt. thats normal :) Our shipment from UT had FINALLY arrived. So happy yet so tired all at once.
I had to post this today because in an hour and a half we find out where we are going!!! I am so excited yet so nevous. I actually feel physically ill!