i miss you already great grandpa

HALLOWEEN

Happy Halloween everybody!

We originally had some BIG & FUN plans for Halloween to spend the afternoon with Maeva, eat dinner at her house and then go trick or treating down in the Bryn Mawr neighborhood like we did last year (with Eeli.) HOWEVER, after my mom and I spent the entire day Friday on the sick couch, and went to bed super early so that we could try to kick this cold before Halloween, it is a wonder that I got to celebrate it at all. But, I did - because I woke-up this morning feeling a whole lot better - My mommy, on the other hand, is still coughing up a storm. So, we stayed home and opted for plan B: hand out candy and go trick-or-treating around the block with Papa.

My mom still managed to do some festive things with me today, though ... like carving our pumpkin! This is the drawing that I made for our jack-o-lantern. My mom translated my design to the pumpkin so that she could carve it out. The inspiration behind my design: "it is a scary face, because Halloween is a little bit scary."

My mom tried to translate the multiple layer eye with one portion of it not being cut all the way through... it kind of worked out. (I must tell you that my parents were probably more excited about this pumpkin than I was. My dad kept saying it was his favorite pumpkin of all time.)

We put the pumpkin in the window so that kids would know that we were home and handing out candy. And then I set-out in my bat costume to gather some candy. (btw: My mom did attempt to make me a ghost costume out of a sheet, but it was pretty much a catastrophe - not a good thing to attempt when not at 100%.) I had a whole lot of fun. Thank goodness I got better in time for trick or treating. When my mom asked me what my favorite part of Halloween was, I told her, "Getting this piece of candy" -(Junior Mints)- "I don't know what they taste like....."

halloween-a-comin'

i am so excited for halloween that i've been wearing my bat costume as much as my mom will let me. we haven't carved our pumpkin yet, but this is the kind of face i want it to have: a scary-halloween face. my mom thinks i'm silly.

on sunday my mom & auntie phon and i went over to st. paul to my cousin marin's house and then we all (her mom and dad and baby brother mason) piled into their 7-passenger vehicle and drove down to grand avenue for BOO BASH.

they had an animal petting station and a few other "special" event-things - but marin and i were most interested in trick or treating to the different stores to get candy. we had fun, even though some of the places ran out of candy by the time we got there. marin was a little bummed that we didn't get to go the jumpy-houses (i've never really liked them, so i didn't care) ... because they were "closed for swine flu" (or at least that is what we were told - by our parents......) ;)

we even got a little free face-painting done. nothing too elaborate, or extravagent - but it was free. i asked for a bat - because i was dressed up as a bat.

for the last couple weeks, i've been telling my mom that i want to be a ghost for halloween (like the real halloween - trick or treating - not boo bash) and she really has been fine with it, because, well let's face it. a ghost is a pretty easy costume to put together! but yesterday in the car, on the way to ma-tu's house, while i was (of course) wearing my bat costume, i just thought i would let her know ... "mom, it's ok. i can be a bat for halloween. because, we should be happy with what we have, right?"

first snow fall(s) came early this year!

the tree in front of our house has all of it's leaves, still fully intact, on its branches. they're even still green. so are the other trees on our block...but that didn't stop the snow from falling. we woke-up to our first dusting on saturday morning and i put on my snowpants and boots and was out rolling around in it even before i ate breakfast! i was afraid it might melt away... i got at least 30 minutes of good playing-time in before coming in to eat.
but, this morning was a "driffrent" story - there was more than enough snow on the ground (and more falling from the sky) to keep me busy for over 2 hours! i started with a snow angel,

monday morning snowfall from keo boun pheng on Vimeo.
then went on to build my very own snowman (the first i've done entirely on my own) ...







silo's first snowman from keo boun pheng on Vimeo.
and when it broke i got really upset. i begged my mom to come out and make another for me - but quickly realized that she was going to use-up all of the snow if she made it any bigger. so i drew the line - i told her it was big enough and that she couldn't come into my side of the yard. ;) everyone is complaining about the fact that winter has come too soon - but i don't mind. i love snow!

bat

i made this drawing of a bat (inspired by my bat costume) for a birthday card for my neighbor-friend, evan. i wrote her name on the top, and my name...and i even drew the top of heart (by V in her name) - i get stuck on the bottoms.

i was inspired for the drawing by the fact that i got to try on my halloween costume from last year to see if it still fit me. it does - and i had so much fun wearing it that i wore it ALL day long -- i even wore it to evan's birthday party. i was that kid at the birthday party that was dressed-up when noone else was -- it was grrreat!

the things i put together ...

"i'm spider man and i'm going to saaaave the wooooorld!"

super(fisher)man

on saturday morning, one week after my birthday, i found a present at my front door -- another gift from uncle rikk & julie -- a superman FISHING POLE and tackle box!! the pole came with a plastic red fish on the end of the line that allowed me to practice casting & reeling the line in. i practiced in the back yard for a while before my papa took me to cedar lake to test it out in a real lake!

fishing questions from keo boun pheng on Vimeo.

i did some more practicing off the dock at the lake for quite a while. i'm getting old enough that me and my papa can take little fishing trips together like this now. by the end of the day, i even got to try a REAL worm on the end of my hook. i like worms (my auntie Phon does NOT like worms! she screams!) we didn't catch anything, but i'm really getting the hang of it!

needless to say, fishing is tiring. it wiped me out! after fishing, we visited greg & debbie to check on their small construction project and i fell asleep in the car on the way home. my papa carried me inside to the couch and i was soooo out of it i slept for another hour, oblivious to all of the noise around me. and i never let go of my animal cracker baggie (from my auntie debbie) the entire time! pretty intense.

package in the mail from the harjus

package in the mail #1 from keo boun pheng on Vimeo.

package in the mail #2 from keo boun pheng on Vimeo.

package in the mail #3 from keo boun pheng on Vimeo.

skuut abuut (think canadian accent)

my grandma & grandpa got me a skuut bike for my birthday which is a cool-wood version of a bike without pedals. (which essentially teaches you the feeling of balancing on a bike using your feet as "training wheels") my cousin lussi has a skuut, and i've heard that my friend yoko has a pedal-less bike as well ... (we also know a little finnish-buddy (artur)who has a bike without pedals, too!)

my mom thinks it is funny that i've begun sticking my tongue out of my mouth when i'm skutting abuut on my new bike - revealing the concentration it requires.... since i really like to look at my feet doing the work, or at the wheels spinning -- the mechanics, you know -- but that doesn't always bode-well for high-speeds or staying on a straight path. :)

skuut from keo boun pheng on Vimeo.

belated birthday pictures....

my papa got these great pictures of me blowing out the candles on my LEGO birthday cake. my mom has been pretty busy ever since my birthday, so she hasn't been able to post them until now. i spent august 22nd with my family: parents, grandparents, aunts & uncles and cousins. lussi and marin are about 1 year apart in age, but they got along swell, and the three of us were running all around the house together playing games that the adults never quite figured out - and it was FUN!

my uncle rikk spoiled me this year with my very own refurbished canoe, freshly painted red (my current favorite color) and my papa helped me paint my name on each side in white! rikk also got me a life jacket and my own fishing pole! (pictures from my first fishing-trip to Cedar lake will come soon...) - another highlight was a SKUUT pedal-less bike from my grandma & grandpa (picures of my first ride also coming soon.) and of course i also got some legos which have kept me busy for hours on end. i will share more about other gifts in up-coming posts.... but, it was such a great birthday, i'm really bummed that it is over and i have to wait another whole year for my next one!

birthday eve

on the eve of my birthday, my mom organized a party with some of the friends i've been spending time with this summer. my mom spent a good chunk of time (thrifty) decorating and planning food and activities for the evening.

when my friends arrived, they had to find their place at the table (there were bags with their names on them marking their place) - and took their white party hat out to the patio where we decorated them with crayons.

ever since having a blast at stella's birthday party 2 weeks ago i've wanted many details of my own party to be just like stella's (well, mostly just that i wanted a scavenger hunt, and a number4 candle on my cake) .. SO, after we decorated our hats, we each grabbed the bags with our names on it and found a map inside for my own scavenger hunt. it showed a plan of our house and our yard - with 6 numbered locations. we needed to follow our own (specific/different) order of numbers in order to find all of the treasures. we got annie's cheddar & honey bunnies, a granola bar, an egg full of gummy bears, a pencil and pad of paper (that my mom made) with our names on it, and a red LEGO key chain!

once we found all of the treasures, i had the great idea to open presents -since the pizza wasn't quite ready to eat yet - and i got some of the coolest gifts! legos, MACK, magnetic Robots, a new book (The Little House) and some "ice cream money" (Joe bucks from Sebastion Joes so that we can go out for ice cream!!) and with each gift, i received lovely cards made by my friends.

After gifts - and after some tasty salads (from the garden) and home-spun cheese take&bake pizzas from Papa Murphy's ... each of us got our own LEGO cake. they were the square shaped legos with 4 nobs on the top - perfect for 4 little candles (bummer i didn't get my number 4) and all of my friends even got a candle in the middle of theirs - so that we all could make a wish and blow them out together!

this is the first year that my mom has gone to this extent to plan a birthday party. i think it was worth it! when she asked me what my favorite part of the evening was, i said,"EVERYTHING!"

tomorrow - on my actual birthday - my cousins lussi, sofia, taavi, marin & mason are coming to another party. my grandparents and aunts and uncles will also be there! i don't know it yet - but there is a package waiting for me from EELI! i'm going to be so surprised!!!!!

another sleep over!

2 nights after we got back from our sleep over at avery's house, we had another one at our house!
maeva and meg came to hang out and sleep over at our house! i was pretty excited (and it has become clear that i now expect to sleep over whenever we see other kids!). maeva is walking around and had a lot of fun walking up and down our hallway and stairs! my mom brought the gate back so that we could all be contained in the 'playpen' that is our living room.

it was a lot of fun reading books and getting ready for bed together. we both (beautifully) were asleep by 8:30 so that our moms could watch a movie and have some girly-time!

the next day we went to the beach. (the same beach where eeli went swimming with the fish) and i had a grand-time building sandcastles and digging holes in the sand to fill with water from the lake.

maeva had a blast feeding me some veggie straws. it was a little tricky for me to coordinate my mouth with her hand, but i've been telling my mom & dad that i want a little sister, so i really don't mind one bit!!

avery's house

this is avery's house. my mom and i took a short trip south (while my papa took a long trip north to the BWCA) for a BBQ that amanda & matt hosted.

i had so much fun playing with avery. he might be a little bit younger than me, but we have so much in common! we both love trucks and construction vehicles ... and CARS! as in, cars the movie. avery has several characters that i don't have and it is super fun to play with him!

as it got darker outside, matt turned on the outside lights and it was just a lovely evening to be in their back yard.

during the BBQ, i really came out of my shell. you can see a bunch of us were sitting on a blanket singing songs and my mom was so surprised to see me stand up and sing the itsy-bitsy spider song to everyone on the blanket. not only that, but i sang it loud and confidently - without being shy like i normally am!

the best part of the whole trip was that we got to have a SLEEP OVER! avery and i had our bedtime snacks together and were so excited before we went to sleep that we were both flopping around on the bed in the guest room -- laughing our heads off.

the next morning, matt made us pancakes and we played together all morning long. legos, trucks, cars ... we even got to watch curious george together...while our mothers drank the most delicious coffee and continued their conversation from (late) night before.

after a delicious lunch, of tempeh ruebens and grilled cheeses, my mom and i got back into the car to drive home. as has become customary when i've enjoyed myself, i told my mom, "that sure was fun!" yes, i can't wait to see avery again!