2011 Letter to Santa

The following is Elliot's letter to Santa. He dictated and I wrote.  He drew the picture (drew one of the present ribbons at his request) and signed his own name.

Dear Santa, 
I've been a good boy because today I was playing with monster trucks when Bea was napping and I didn't wake her up yet. I am very quiet. Santa I am a good boy. I always listen to Mommy, sometimes I clean up. 


Come bring presents to my house, please. Please can I have Christmas toys. I would like a bumble bee car, that is a transformer, blocks please and Legos. Can you please bring me the Bat Mobile with little pieces. I also want Christmas PJs. One more thing, I want goggles for swimming. 


Bea would like a cart for pushing baby around. Bea was a little bit bad, but mostly she isn't. Bring her toys please. If Bea is bad it doesn't matter. Bea will want toys, but if you don't bring her toys I will share them. 


Thank you Santa for bringing my toys. I have one questions for you. Are there any penguins there, and will they come with you? Thank you Santa. Here is a picture of Presents and a Christmas tree for you. 


Love, 
Elliot

Fall Flew By

Where did November go? I can't believe its been almost a month since my last post. The Farnum Family had a wonderful month. It started off with Mommy (Me) leaving my job in Richmond for a new job much closer to home. Although I won't be able to telecommute four days a week, I also won't have to make the 4 hour round trip to Richmond once a week. My new job is 15 minutes from home and everyone seems to have adjusted to the transition.

We spent all of our November weekends at home. The following is a little roundup of what we have been up to.

We have gone for lots of walks/bike rides. Elliot loves the bike that he got for his birthday and he is getting to be a great biker. One of our favorite places to ride is along the Sligo Creek Parkway. On Sundays the parkway closes and bikers, runners, and hikers hit the road. Elliot was a bit nervous to ride in the street, but quickly got over his fear and enjoyed the open road.

We have also been making lots of art. Beatrice recently discovered finger paints and play dough and is a fan of both. I'll be posting more of the kids' artwork soon. 

Another one of Bea's new favorite pastimes is being a big girl. She struts her big girl stuff by wearing Elliot's backpack and pretending to talk on her cell phone (one of my old phones). She takes her job VERY seriously. 

We ended the month with a visit from Mariana (all the way from San Francisco) over the Thanksgiving holiday. It was so nice of Marianna to come over to visit and play with the kids. She had a lot of people to see during her trip here and she made time for the Farnum kids three times! Bea was a little unsure of Marianna at first but was giving hugs in less than an hour. I am pretty sure she remembers her first au pair. 

As for Thanksgiving, we went to the Haugen's and I didn't take a single picture :(. We had a great time and enjoyed spending the day with our good friends.  I did manage to take a few pictures of some of fun we had during the long Thanksgiving weekend. 

I traced Elliot then he filled in the details. This is Rocket Boy.

Trick or Treat!

Batman and his sidekick, Chipmunk, had a blast trick or treating this year! We hit the streets with some other pint sized friends in the neighborhood. Bea rode from house to house in one of her little friend's wagons. I am not sure what she liked more the wagon or running after her brother to every house.
Elliot's highlight of the night was the neighborhood "haunted" house. Its not far from ours and the owners go all out! He was too scared to go last year, but didn't hesitate this year. Lara even joined us for the festivities.

The Ranch!

A few weeks ago we traveled to Texas to spend a weekend at our friend's ranch outside of Houston. Elliot now thinks Texas is the greatest place on earth. We were joined at the ranch by several other friends from our California days. All of them have kids. Elliot was right in the thick of things with two 5 year olds and two 3 year olds. Bea spent her time with the younger crew (17 and 14 months), but also played with the big boys. We had such a wonderful time! Sorry for the picture overload, there were just so many great shots (thanks to our friends Monica, Karen and Santiago and their fancy cameras!)