Comic Halloween!
From left to right: Olive Oyl, Swee'Pea and Popeye!

Our little cartoon family:

Olive Oyl

Popeye

Swee'Pea














This year's Halloween was, well, comic indeed. Brandy and I did lots of planning, scheming, and preparing, and even persuaded Brandy's talented neighbor to sew costumes for the Peanuts. Yes, real needles and threads were involved. The result is simply adorable! If we ignore the fact that the Peanuts would not cooperate in the grander scheme of taking pictures of the result. Popeye hated his shirt and wanted to show muscles only, Olive Oyl refused to put her pearl earrings on, and Swee'Pea... yeah Swee'Pea was the sweetest little pea who stayed out of trouble. Unlike Popeye and his beloved Olive Oyl, who are always getting into trouble! But anyone familiar with the famous cartoon knows that spinach and the power of love always bring forth a perfect happy end.

Love, love, love!

picture by B. Cardarelli

And a kiss blown by Olive Oyl:

picture by B. Cardarelli

A Kindermusik special:

And plenty of adorable little Halloween videos:


Popeye and Olive Oyl getting silly

Popeye and Olive Oyl getting close

Popeye, Olive Oyl, and Swee'Pea getting noisy

Code Orange

No, we haven't been trying to interfere with affairs of state again. Instead of setting off political alarm bells, the Peanuts are busy getting ready for Halloween! We were invited by Brandy's neighbor to a pumpkin carving and coloring extravaganza.

picture of sunset peanut by B. Cardarelli

At the end of the day our kids' clothes looked just as colorful as their pumpins, a variegated sign that this day was successful! The pumpkins are now adorning our entrance and provide the necessary atmosphere for the most spooky day of the year: Halloween.

Two more days....

A little video of two focused peanuts coloring their pumpkins.

911

or

Toddlers Trying to Vote for Obama

pictures taken by a Democratic photographer

This blog post was supposed to be one of our regular cute photoalbum style posts. However, the political content and portrayed behavior have added an explosive flavor. If Democratic toddlers go to vote in the South, things can get a little bit rough.

Let's first take a look at our two Democratic troopers:

Lia and I decided to witness the presidential elections first hand by accompanying our dear friends to the nearest early voting location. And although Barack Obama has a good chance of winning in North Carolina, the odds were that the line of voters was heavily leaning to the conservative right. Or so it seemed. Ok, we have to admit, Lia and Lorenzo, our wild toddler Democrats, were anything BUT standing in line. They were actually running up and down alongside the line of patient and not so patient voters, flashing their liberal shirts. As Brandy mentioned earlier, religion and politics are two topics that are not publicly discussed in the South. Whether it was the shirts or our childrens' unmannerly behavior remains unclear, but a mean, old, and probably Republican supervisor told us that our kids were not supposed to run around and need to stand in line - with waiting time being an hour! Very nice (and probably Democratic) people who were standing at the very top offered to let Brandy (with newborn strapped to her chest) have the place in front of them, so that she wouldn't have to wait while wrestling her kids, but mean supervisor lady said that we had to ask every single person in line! And we did! Guess what, all the Republicans voted AGAINST Democratic toddlers and Mom skipping the line. The highlight of this unearthly conservative freak show? Mean supervisor lady actually threatened to call 911! "Hello? Mr. Police officer? Two Democratic toddlers won't stand at the end of the line! Please arrest Obama kids!" Well, Senator McCain might approve this moronic message. But we don't! Dear Senator Obama, our kids could not make it standing in line for an hour among hostile (Republican?) antagonists, but you sure have one adult and two toddlers voting for you tomorrow! We will find our way to the top of the line. Yes, we can. Yes, we will. (Possibly in McCain shirts.)

VIP Guests

Lia's Opa came to visit! After driving up and down the East Coast and seeing ALL great tourist places in record time, Opa and his co-pilot Auntie Dana came to Charlotte to hang out with Peanut. (Savta stayed at home and actually had a blast! Lots of ice cream on the couch and long phonecalls with her granddaughter "Lila" - that's what Peanut calls herself now!) Ok, reading books with 'Appa' is great fun, but Charlotte does have a couple of nice places to offer that can compete with Niagara Falls and such. How about Lia take you there?

Tour guide Peanut getting ready to drive her guests to one of her favorite places: the pumpkin patch.

Aah! How nice! Little pumpkins everywhere. Say cheese!

Let's pick a souvenir!

Oh, never mind. We have our memories. Right, Opa?

And so Lila walks away from cute orange pumpkin, dreaming of purple pumpkin patches...

Field Study

"A cow says 'moo', a sheep says 'baa', three singing pigs say: 'La La La!'" Lia's and Lorenzo's favorite animal book begins like this. And continues as follows: "'No, no!', you say, 'that isn't right! The pigs say 'oink!' all day and night!" Well do pigs sing or not?? Toddlers are a very curious species, and in order to find out whether pigs can sing, Lia and Lorenzo demanded a trip to a petting zoo.

"Hmm," thinks Lia, "I wonder what makes a pig sing. Maybe Miss Sandy offers Pigsmusik?" Lia will make sure to ask her next Tuesday. The little piglets certainly have their charm, and a singing career doesn't seem too far-fetched when you look cute and have a nice pink complexion.

Meanwile, Superphotographer Brandy and her little assistant took pictures of the sheep. Which in fact do say 'baaa' all day long. No promising career here.

Lia and Lorenzo continued to discuss 'Pigs on Broadway'.

Of course there were lots of other adorable animals like ducks, chicks, cows, and goats. But the pigs simply stole the show. Even if they were too shy to perform. Maybe some other time? A simple 'oink' cannot be it!

A hay ride diverted all attention from swinish behavior.

Our day of fall fun ended with a pumpkin photoshoot.

With B. Cardarelli behind the lens. Who else?

Interested in watching two crazy toddlers roaming a petting zoo? Click on: oink!

Introducing Walter

Yes, our little secret is all visible and official. And male!

Hugs and kisses for Walter, Lia's little brother-to-be.

Peanut # 2 is expected to arrive in February.

And no, his formal name won't be Walter once he's out!

Brandy Cardarelli Photography

Thank you, Brandy, for the adorable pictures.

Big girl

Big girl has started potty training! And it's absolute fun. The first time she peed on our carpet while running around our living room, and I tried to catch the last drops in the potty and also did not forget to applaud! The second time Lia held the potty up to her legs while standing, as she was convinced that this is the way it should be. So I got her a book about 'Big Girl Potty' who actually sits and reads books while waiting for her pee and poop to miraculously appear. And now Lia reads a ton of books while sitting on her potty, and usually pees on the carpet when getting up to fetch the next book (I'm kind of glad we're soon leaving this apartment. If the next tenants ask about the smell, we'll tell them that we had an untrained puppy). But Lia is actually getting the hang of it! We already had a couple of very successful moments that did not include the carpet. Of course it will take a while before Lia is fully 'potty trained'. It's more of a game now, a reading game that might allow her to attend school before being able to pee on command.There is no stress, and it's Lia who decides when to go potty and for how long to read her books on it or collect her bows in it. And in case she pees on her bows, there will totally be standing ovations!

Balloonatic

Lia loves balloons. Always has. Here in the States you get a balloon in every supermarket for free, which is awesome. This Sunday Lia's relationship with balloons has changed forever. It was the first time that Lia let go of her balloon by mistake, an incident close to being traumatic. This happened in our living room, and as we have very high ceilings, we couldn't even get the balloon down with a ladder (not that we own one). Big tears were shed, yet the balloon would not be moved to come back down (insensitive piece of ... plastic). A balloon only lasts so long, so when we got home in the evening the balloon was on the floor, ready to be grabbed. Which Lia did. And she never let go. She was so absolutely terrified that the balloon would fly away again if she lost her grip on it that she simply held on to it for dear life. At dinner she sat in her high chair with her balloon, eating her avocado bread with only one hand. And then it was Lia AND a balloon whom we had to get ready for bed. Trying to explain to her that the balloon was in its late thirties and too old to make another escape didn't lead us anywhere, and neither did our one attempt to take the balloon away by force. We didn't even get a chance to demonstrate that the balloon needed a wheelchair to get places. There was only one solution: cut the string and let Lia fall asleep with her beloved balloon. Yes, Stevie was certainly jealous. But he's a really good friend and decided to scoot over. We can always fit a balloon in!

Next day at the supermarket I got Lia another balloon. She was excited and happy, and also scared s...less that this one would fly away, too. Her arms were actually shaking with fear (and I'm not exaggerating here). I told her that everything was ok, and Lia kept repeating 'key, key', but just couldn't stop shaking. Another night hugging a balloon? Well, we certainly took a shower with it, but successfully kept it out of bed. Getting over a traumatic incident takes one balloon at a time.

Addition: At our last supermarket spree I offered Lia a balloon and she actually said no. Smart choice. Those buggers are unreliable.

Pixie

At this time of the year North Carolina has a ton of festivals to offer. Today we visited the Carolina Renaissance Festival and brought our own little pixie along. If you look closely you'll find a Peanut underneath the fairy hat. Yes, the little lady UNDER the hat and BEHIND the gigantic glasses. There she is.

There were so many wondrous things to admire! Even if you are used to casting magic spells on a daily basis. Pixie Peanut was overwhelmed, as there was much to do and even more to see. There were knights in shining armor, more pixies, kings and queens, witches and wizards, jugglers and belly dancers, fire-eaters and ticket sellers, and other funny creatures that were roaming the festival village. Here's a short video of little Pixie.

Lia also witnessed her first jousting tournament. Which was totally scary! So we went to take a look at the elephants and camels instead. Which were really big! And then said hello to funny smelling sheep and geese, which all said 'kaka'! Oh, we had a great time! And enough entertainment for the whole week. Good night, dear knight, tomorrow you'll need to do battle for another lady's honor!

A weekend in Charleston

Another great weekend in Charleston, with the temperatures ranging from 18 to 28 degrees Celsius. We were enjoying both the 'cold' and warm weather, as Charleston is always charming, no matter what. Our indoor activities included the South Carolina Aquarium and two evenings at Lana's, the best restaurant ever. The food is soooo delicious. I guess we are lucky that we don't live in Charleston, otherwise we would be broke and overweight, not a very flattering combination.

Squatting is Lia's new thing. Every time I pull out my camera, she is squatting down, trying to pose. Here is a little video of Lia squatting at Lana's. (No, she's not pooping.)
And a picture of Lia in leg warmers. I seriously have fallen for these. They are perfect for changing diapers and ideal for the East Coast fall, allowing for a light breeze. Not to mention gym classes, where she needs to be barefoot.

So much for 18 degrees. 28 degrees on Saturday made us strip and drive out to the beach.

Another short video of Lia at the Isle of Palms.

Some cuddly pics at the beach (ok, nothing like Tamara's immaculate and arty shots, but cute all the same)

Mama & Penaut

Papa & Peanut

And a well deserved foot massage in our hotel room after three days of Southern fun. Aaah.