What's spooky with the Hernandez-Tostenrude clan?

Well, nothing really. Except how freakishly cute our babies are!

This month has been pretty exciting. We enjoyed hand-picking pumpkins at the pumpkin patch with our friends, we introduced Olive to solid foods and took the girls trick-or-treating at amazon.com's campus (Nick's work). Here are some of our favorite moments, captured...

 Stella has decided that she likes to make funny faces at the camera.

 Olive was mostly excited about trying to grab Stella, as usual...

Pumpkin patches in the Pacific Northwest means wearing wellies, rain coats and hats.

 I sure am glad Stella has her cupcake wellies!

 Nick and his tennis buddy, Peng.

 Olive's first foods: brown rice cereal (she hated it), avocado (loved it), and acorn squash (loved it).

 But let's be honest, the bib was her favorite part of the meal :)

 Stella spends most of her day picking out new outfits. This one was particularly lovely!

I just love her. That's all I can say about these photos!

 For Halloween, Stella was a unicorn. She was convinced that her "horn" made rainbows :) 

 Stella the unicorn thought my rainbow wrap matched her costume nicely - and Olive the dragon :)

 Happy little unicorn trick-or-treating at her Daddy's work.

 Dinner after our Halloween festivities. As you can see, Olive's favorite game is "Grab Stella".

 Silly little girls!

Oooh, Stella hair! Olive's favorite :) 

The Happiest Place on Earth

If you didn't already know, Stella and Olive are two of the luckiest girls in the world. They have an Oma and Papa who adore them. They adore them so much that they insisted that they take them to Disneyland. Can you imagine? We had more fun than I can possibly explain. It was so awesome to watch Stella's little face light up at all the sights and sounds of the Happiest Place on Earth.

We can't thank Mike and Marlane enough for helping us create such magical memories. If it weren't for Marlane coming along, Nick and I wouldn't have had such an amazing time (and we also wouldn't have had a chance to go on Space Mountain together!).

As if we weren't lucky enough as it was, my cousin Krissy's pulled some strings and gained us entrance to both parks for free all days that we were there. How awesome is that?!

Many many thanks to everyone for helping make this trip possible and many thanks to all our friends who gave us good advice on things to do/see. The trip was spectacular and we have already started planning our next Disneyland trip!

–Liv

 Olive napped in the carrier every day for 5 days. What a trooper!

 Watching the carousel. It was REALLY hot outside!

 Our first ride at Disneland - the carousel :) 

 Olive is such a sweetie.

 Dumbo.

 Dumbo: Stella's favorite ride.

 Naptime for Olive while we go on "It's a Small World"

 California Adventures 

 My favorite part of Disneyland is the flashmob style dancing and singing that happens all over the park at random times. It's so festive!

 The Bug's Life ride.

 But mostly STELLA loved it :) 

 Cooling off in the Bug's Life water park.

 So.much.fun.

 My princess in front of the castle.

 Don't let her looks fool you - Stella was STOKED to get her picture taken with Ariel!

 One of Olive's favorite people: Oma!

 Did I tell you that Dumbo is her favorite ride?

 Yep, it is!

 The girls.

 The girls were given these special buttons to commemorate their first visit. Olive wasn't as impressed as she should've been...

 My lovely Mother-in-law/nanny/friend.

Phew! It's hard work having fun.

Stella's first hair cut

By Liv

I've been told by numerous people that I should NEVER cut Stella's beautiful locks. But the truth is, it needed it! Luckily, I have a lovely friend (who also happens to cut my hair) and agreed to tame Stella's mane. Ava owns Tigerlilly salon in Ballard and does an amazing job with hair. I'm so very thankful that she went out of her way (and out of her comfort zone) to attempt cutting little bambina's hair.

As I promised, and much to Ava's surprise, Stella was perfect in the salon chair. She sat in silence and simply observed what was happening around her. In the end, we left with no tears shed and not a peep from her little mouth until I asked if she was ready for her lollipop :)

What our 2-year-old is like.

By Liv

Stella is now 2. People often ask me if time has flown by and I can honestly say that it hasn't. We've done so much in the last two years, we've crammed so many travels and adventures in the last 24 months that the time has not flown by. I remember all the places we've been and all the wonderful people we've met and I can't help but think that it feels like Stella should already be 10!

And let's be honest, she jabbers like a ten-year-old. This child can talk until you're sure there's nothing left to say, but still she'll say more! It's quite amazing to listen to. Even when I've had enough and I stop listening, she wanders over to the cat, Lucy, and starts a conversation with her!

Here are some milestones that our bambina has met, and I want to keep track of them so I never forget!

• She speaks in full sentences and says some of the funniest things I've ever heard! Some of my favorites are, "Lucy, don't cry. We'll be right back..." (Speaking to our cat when we are leaving the house.) "Mama, call the doctor!" (After any time she hurts herself.) "Oh hi, Daddy! So happy to see you!"

• She is potty trained! Well, she was trained at 22 months, so technically before she turned two, but who's counting? (I'd like credit for this amazing feat!)

• Stella loves to sing songs and can sing in perfect tune many of her favorites, including "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Ba-ba Black Sheep"

• Still has the tiniest feet in the world. She's still barely a child's size 4, so she looks like a little mini-person!

• Sleeps in her own big-girl bed in her own room.

There's so much more to say about my little love but I figure this is enough for now. We have really enjoyed watching her grow in the last two years and can't wait to share her milestones when she's three!

 Her new favorite thing is the jewelry her Abuelo gives her. For her second birthday, she got her first pair of fresh-water pearl earrings. She insists on wearing them every single day :)

Stella, Abuelo and Seren.

The things I do and don't miss about living in Oxford.

By Liv

I know I've spouted on and on about how much I love(d) living in England. I really did love it. There were quite a few things that (now that we are back to the USA) I can honestly say that I do NOT miss about living in Oxford. Here are a few:

I do NOT miss: hang-drying all of our clothes, hearing all the goings-on and people walking past my house (i.e. drunken undegrads), Nick being away working on assignments for what seemed like 24/7, the never-ending bug problem in our flat (first moths, then spiders then slugs!), using a self-rigged shower (our bathtub didn't have a shower head but just a hand-held shower head that we had to rig to the ceiling so we could take a shower!) and not being able to call and chat with my American friends whenever I want.

But, the list of things that I DO miss is even longer. I DO miss being surrounded by academics, amazing architecture everywhere (it really looked like I was living in the Harry Potter movies), the hilarious British accents all around, making new friends that were all in the same situation together (i.e. starting from scratch in a brand new place), walking EVERYWHERE, having so many wonderful restaurants within walking distance - my favorite Indian restaurant of all time was only a block away!

Mostly, I miss the friends that we made during our stay in England. I will never forget them and hope that we stay in touch for a long time to come. Here are some photos from our last week in Oxford. Everyone really rallied together towards the end of our stay - and we ended up having more than one going away dinner, which was lovely. I wish we were heading back for Capstone and Graduation, but it doesn't look likely. For all our OX friends, please keep in touch! We miss you all :)

 Anas can really play the tennis-guitar!

 Laka and the gang put together a delicious home-cooked Indian going-away feast for me!

 

Lovely Laura and her precious son, Tenzing. Stella and Tenzing Skype almost every day :)

 Stella's best-buddy at their favorite spot: The Perch Restaurant in Oxford.

Fancy a spot of tea?