The Kelefors

This year’s Halloween belonged to Adela. Last year, she had some input into her dragon costume (as part of our Shrek theme) and she ended up wearing it at least weekly throughout the following year. But this year, she very firmly let it be known that she was going to be Ariel for Halloween. The pictures are priceless, but they don’t quite capture Adela-as-Ariel. Whenever she puts on the costume… and wig… and crown… and wand… and princess shoes, she walks around the house singing Ariel’s song (if you’re a fan of the movie, it’s the tune that Ariel sings to Prince Eric on the beach and causes him to fall in love with her). And if, in the midst of her reverie, you ask her any question by name (“Adela, would you like to…), she reminds you that “I’m Ariel, not Adela.”

That’s not to say that Dylan wasn’t cool in his Batman costume (although I’m still working on the idea with him that Batman doesn’t kill bad guys). And he got to wear it for practically two days straight, between the Halloween parade at school, the actual trick-or-treating, and his sleepover costume party at Aethan’s house last night.

For us, while Halloween was fun, it was eclipsed by a magical evening tonight celebrating Dia de los Muertos. We joined thousands of San Francisco skeletons and revelers parading through the streets of the Mission with candles, flowers, offerings, incense, and photos of loved ones being remembered. At a small park, a community altar had been erected and everyone wrote messages to the dead. Dylan wrote a note to “Pop Pop Joseph” and drew a picture of him. Adela wrote to Nana and Umpa. We wrote notes to Uncle Dave Hirsch and Dave Merta. It was very special and Dylan even saw his kindergarten teacher, a real highlight for him.

Oh, and two days out from the election, we saw the best evidence yet that Obama has this thing in the bag: a sign reading “Skeletons for Obama.” I guess, like any good Chicago pol, he’s even got the votes of the dead. 😉

Happy Halloween! Happy dia de los Muertos!

Great visit from Pop Pop this weekend, along with the continued visit from Jason. Lots of boys in the house, with Jeannette gone for the weekend, but Adela held her own. We mostly did the playground circuit, as you can see from the photos. Enjoy.

Today is Adela’s third birthday and she celebrated in style — Hello Kitty style! She had HK balloons, an HK dress, HK tattoos. She gave out HK stickers and necklaces to her friends, and she ate Hello Kitty ice cream cake from Mitchell’s (this is a girl with good taste in ice cream.) Of course, after deciding on the Hello Kitty theme and sending Mommy and Grandma into a Hello Kitty buying frenzy, she told us a few days ago, “Actually, I don’t want a Hello Kitty party. I want a princess party.” Fortunately, Jeannette convinced her that she could be do princess dress up on her actual birthday (today) and still have the HK theme for her party (yesterday). It all worked out.

Indian summer has arrived in San Francisco, blessedly, and the sun was shining for Adela’s party. That came in handy with 20 kids in our house, especially when they’re all eating cake! Kids brought Adela books to add to her enormous collection. She’s an incredible “reader.” She’ll sit in her bed for 30 or 40 minutes before going to sleep at night, flipping through book after book and tossing them on the floor, so that it looks like someone toppled the bookshelf in the night.

Now that she’s three, Adela has made a big transition to full-time school, with our very special caregiver Mirian moving on to work with two new families. We wish her the best of luck and will miss her.

Dylan, meanwhile, has made the transition to kindergarten smoothly. He sings in Spanish in the shower, we have to drag him away from after-care, and the only time he cried was when Mommy forgot his backpack. He takes this school stuff VERY SERIOUSLY. He’s also a gamer now. No, not video games… the old-school games. Specifically, he’s moved from Connect 4 to chess and will be routinely trouncing Daddy by the time I write next.

Fall activities are about to get in swing… capoeira and soccer for Dylan and dance class for Adela. When we told her about class, her first reaction was, “I want to wear my princess dress to my dance class.”

More soon.