Halloween- Just a few

Last year, Halloween turned out to be rather confusing because of Hurricane Sandy having just come through our area. This year, we got a better taste of what Halloween is like in our neighborhood. Almost everyone participates! It was great! Jack had a swimming lesson at 5:30, but Justin had been working from home, so I left the other kids with him to get ready. Jack and I rushed home after lessons and found that Noah, dressed adorably as a Ninja Turtle, had fallen asleep in his chair. I guess he has to wait until next year to say "trick or treat!" Thanks to "Sew-Nya" for Alexander and Jack's penguin costumes. I didn't get many pictures, but here they are:

Pumpkin Carving

This year Alexander did most of his carving on his own. He did get some help from Dad with scooping out the guts. Jack was also able to handle some knife wielding, and got some help from me for the gut scooping and with finishing up the carving when his arm got tired. Kai was happy to direct me verbally in the design and execution of his pumpkin. Noah adorably got in everyone's way. Our pumpkins weren't fancy, but the kids were proud to have done them with relative independence. 

Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend we decided it was time to find our new pumpkin patch. I had been given the heads up from a local friend that one of the pumpkin patches in the area was a bit silly (wait for it), but I wasn't sure which one it was, so we chose the farm we would go to based on other factors. The boys were super excited to be at the farm, to go on the hay ride, and to be picking pumpkins! We purchased our tickets, took some photos, and boarded the hay ride. As we approached the pumpkin patch, we realized that we had, indeed, picked the silly pumpkin patch. The pumpkins had been set in a field of grass. They were not growing there. Someone had actually strewn them across this grassy field in some strange, forced mockery of an actual pumpkin patch. It was weird and unnatural. And the boys loved it. Oh, how happy Jack was not to be tripping over vines. How Alexander appreciated that the grass did not make his legs itch. So now I'm just not sure... next year will we return to this abomination? Will we embrace the farce? Or will I force the children to accept that this was NOT, in fact, a real pumpkin patch? For this year, at least, the important thing is that we have three lovely pumpkins to turn into jack-o-lanterns on Halloween weekend. We'll figure out the rest later.

Waiting for the hayride to the pumpkin patch

A rare photo of me, in desperate need of a haircut

Mommy making the boys pose for more photos while waiting for the hayride

Yep, lots of photos

Visiting the turkeys and rooster

Acting like a turkey... or something

The silliest pumpkin patch I've ever seen

The picks

This photo is interesting for so many reasons

Hi, I'm cute

And still cute

Look, another grownup!

Our Summer Vacation: Part One, The Journey

For the past few summers, we've had a Summer To Do List, filled with fun and meaningful activities that we try to accomplish over the summer. This summer, we had one main goal, with about a bazillion little "to dos." RELOCATE. New job, new house, new city, new state, new health insurance, new doctors, new dentists, new friends, new license plates, new drivers licenses, new grocery store, new everything. Okay, so we didn't change our names...

We told the kids it would be an adventure. The details are already getting fuzzy. We made the decision to relocate on May 29th. Noah was six weeks old. Three days later we had our first meeting with our realtor, who would help us sell our house. Some of my MOMS Club friends managed to throw together an extremely touching going away party for me (thanks, T!) and a couple even got me the sweetest, most meaningful little gift that I treasure (thanks, K and S!). Justin and I (mostly Justin) scurried around prepping the house for sale, doing repairs, putting stuff in storage, and staging. Just two and a half weeks after making the decision, the kids and I left for Pennsylvania, with me crying all the way out of our Frederick neighborhood.

In order to use the space of the van wisely, Alexander and Jack rode with my dad, who was helpful enough to be escorting us up to the hotel where we would be living temporarily, for up to three months while we waited for our house in MD to sell. I had Noah and Kai with me, along with most of the selected belongings that we had chosen to bring to the hotel. Justin was going to stay in MD for an extra day to finish staging the house without the hurricane we call our sons ruining it at every step of the way.

I think we were probably three quarters of the way there when I got separated from my dad. I went through a yellow light I didn't think I could stop for, and he got stuck behind. My van was driving really weird, oddly sluggish. It kept getting weirder and weirder. Eventually it got to the point where I was on the highway, flooring it, and only going about 40 mph. The people around me were not amused. I was not amused, either. There were jersey walls and construction all around. I had very little idea where I was and I had my two little babies to think of. I was way too nervous to just stop on the highway, even though I was very nervous that the van would just STOP, and there I'd be in the middle of the road.

I managed to make it to the exit that I needed to take to get to the hotel, but I was scared to keep driving. I pulled into an empty parking lot. I couldn't even see the street signs. I debated getting the kids out and walking down to look at the street signs, but I don't think I even had the stroller with me and there were no sidewalks. I didn't feel safe. I honestly did not know what to do with myself. I called the hotel to ask them to let my dad into the room if he got there first. Then I called Justin for advice, but he didn't pick up, busy painting and fixing up the house as he was. There were so many issues with calling a tow truck (not knowing where I was, not knowing how I'd get myself and the kids to the hotel), that I wasn't sure that was the best choice. Eventually, I decided to see if the little rest the van had gotten while I thought about things had done it any good. I had figured out with the help of my GPS that I was only about a half mile from the hotel (I could have walked there, but again: no stroller, no sidewalks, two babies). I tried out the van in the parking lot and it did seem a bit less sluggish, so I decided to give it a go. I managed to get to the hotel, check in, and take the kids up to the room.

Where I discovered that we had no bedrooms doors. And a scary loft that I thought my kids might throw themselves over. And that my dad wasn't there yet. I couldn't really even unload the car because of Kai and Noah. I finally talked to Justin and he told me to just chill. Just sit and wait for my dad. So I did. He got there about a half an hour later, having gotten lost and stopped to ask for directions I think twice. He was nice enough to unload the car for me, and stay overnight with us until Justin got there. He even went and picked up some groceries so we could actually eat. 

The next day Justin arrived in the afternoon and we got the van dropped off at a nearby mechanic. The day after that, he started his new job. And there we all were, living in a hotel in Pennsylvania, KIND OF starting our new lives.

Christmas 2011 Pictures

We had a great Christmas this year! It was super relaxing, with my dad arriving in the afternoon and a delicious dinner at Aunt Eileen's house later. We celebrated with Justin's parents later in the week. Justin took off work the entire week after Christmas and it was fabulous to have him around for so long!

Gingerbread Train

This year we found a gingerbread train kit to make, which was a fun change over the houses we've done the past few years. Fun as always! Kai and I were there, too, but we mostly kept Kai away from the icing. He did make a few contributions to the design. :)

Beach Trip

We have recently returned from a glorious week-long vacation in Ocean City, many thanks to a generous friend who lends us her beach house. The weather was gorgeous for most of the week, although we did have one afternoon of heavy thunderstorms and a day or two of extreme heat. We did all the great beachy stuff. We played in the sand, the waves, and the pool, and at the playground. The kids rode on rides (and upon me mentioning Mr. Rogers when I saw him on TV, Alexander asked if Mr. Rogers was the ruler of the Jolly Rogers amusement park). They played at least three rounds of miniature golf with Justin, got cheesy souvenir tee-shirts, and ate ice cream on the boardwalk. We let them eat donuts for breakfast and watch movies to fall asleep, all cuddled up on the pull-out couch while Kai hogged the bedroom (due to our fear of waking him!). Kai diligently sought out trash in every venue and determinedly deposited it in its rightful place. We got our first five-person family photo taken at Old Time Photos. We even had dinner with an old friend and her daughter who happened to be vacationing (and competing in dance competitions) the same week as us. There were, of course, a few annoying moments as there will be whenever you have a 6-year-old, a 3-year-old, and a 1-year-old anywhere, but we're still pretty sure this was our best vacation ever! YAY, BEACH!

Old Time Photo 2011

This is our first ever five-person family photo. Aren't we sinister little gangsters?

Summer Vacation Week #1

Week #1 of summer vacation was really just a long weekend. Wednesday was Alexander's last day of school, but we wanted to start the summer out right!

On Thursday we hosted an impromptu costume party for our Tot Lot friends. A costume party was not on our list of things to do, but maybe it should have been!

On Friday we went to Cunningham Falls Lake (List Item #3) and had a picnic there (#39).

On Saturday we went to Dutch Wonderland (#32).

Sunday was Father's Day. We gave Justin some silly tee-shirts and his favorite breakfast fritter and spent the day recovering from all the excitement of the previous few days. I think it was quite a start to our summer and I am not sure that the rest of the summer can live up to this!