Trick or Treat!

Dex was VERY excited for Halloween tonight.  We did a minute-by-minute countdown til 6PM, and then we rushed through the front yard and rang Mr. Pat's doorbell at promptly 6PM.  They were totally unprepared for Thomas and Mickey Mouse, on time and excited.  We went to at least 10 houses, maybe more.  Our awesome neighbors gave Dex a HUGE Kit Kat bar, which he tried to give back saying "No, it's too big."  Whose kid IS this, anyway?  He had lots of fun, and Erin was entertained.  She said "hi" to all the dogs we passed while walking down the road.  Aunt Jeanne helped hand out candy and came trick or treating with us.  And it was WARM - like 65 degrees.  So we just hung out on the front porch and handed out candy there.  Fun night!

I wondered where Erin got that pumpkin.  And then I saw these pictures...

Thomas was VERY excited to go

He had 2 glow sticks and a flashlight around his neck, and was holding another glow stick.  We were well lit.

Post-trick-or-treating candy pilfering.  Dex ditched his costume in favor of his Pentagon jersey.

Aunt Jeanne had the brilliant idea of putting the Open sign in the window.

Going Green for Halloween

Yesterday (the day before Halloween) it was cloudy.  And rainy.  And I woke up and looked out the window and said "Thank you, Mother Nature."  Which is probably the same thing Dexter's swim teacher said.  Bless her heart, she looks outside every Wednesday to see if the sun is shining.  And celebrates when it's not.  Her husband thinks she's crazy.

Sun spots.  Damn those wiggly sun spots that reflect off the pool water and on to the wall and the ceiling, thus rendering my sensitive little boy utterly useless during his swim lesson.  Go in the deep end?  No way in hell, Ms Dana.  The sun spots might get me.  Go down the slide?  No thanks.  I might land in a sun spot.

But yesterday was cloudy.  No sun spots at all.  It was an awesome awesome day for a green band swim test.  Dex had to tread water for 1 minute and swim the length of the pool to get his green band (which means now he can swim anywhere in the pool, by himself, and he can go down the slide whenever he wants to).  And he did it, no problem at all.  So easy!  When there's no sun spots.

So now Dex is wearing his green wrist band.  Still, today.  I'm so proud of him.  He's awesome.

That pumpkin behind him is what he and Daddy carved yesterday morning.  We did three pumpkins, actually.  And Dex drew the faces for the two face pumpkins all by himself.  He almost carved them all by himself, too, but John freaked out a bit when Dex plunged a steak knife in to his pumpkin...

On Tuesday we went Trunk or Treating with the MOMS Club.  I didn't decorate our trunk, so I plopped Erin in there.  Instant decoration!  Here she is pilfering the candy bowl.

I found a Thomas costume for Dex this year, and it is PERFECT.  Slides easily over his head.  Looks cool.  People like it and say "Hey, look, it's Thomas!"  And that makes him smile.  For the first time ever he is excited about wearing a costume to go trick or treating.  It's pretty cool.  I think we're gonna need umbrellas tonight, but on Tuesday night the weather was perfect.

(He chose to use his plastic pumpkin, Grandpa, so we used your bag for decoration)

After about 5 cars Dex declared himself done, removed his costume, and ate some candy.  He swears he's going to go to 86 houses tonight.  My guess is it will be more like 8.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

12 Months of Erin

Erin's birthday was a couple weeks ago.  She turned 1, ate cake, got some of the presents I got for her (I found the rest on Friday morning.  Guess I'll save them for Christmas), took an unexpected trip to New York, and then came home and was fairly mom-less for a week while I took care of Fair Hill's website.  So her birthday got a little bit overlooked this year.  It's ok.  She's 1.  It's not like she knew or cared.  It was more like she was wondering why so many people were looking at her and singing poorly, and what IS that flame on top of the cake?

Anyway, next year we're gonna try not to make the unexpected trip to New York (how about nobody gets in a motorcycle accident again, ok?) and we'll try to have a little more organized birthday celebration for a 2 year old little girl.  But I'm sorry, Erin.  Your birthday kind of landed at the wrong time of year, and you're going to be Mama-less for that week after your birthday.  When you're older you can skip school and help at Fair Hill.  It'll be like extended birthday celebrations.

Belated birthday wishes to you, sweet baby girl.  You went last week for your 1 year well visit.  You are 30.5 inches (like 85th percentile) and 20 lbs 4 oz (like 50th percentile).  You have 2 1/2 teeth and three more just sitting right there, ready to explode in to your mouth and make you an apple eating CHAMP.  And every now and then you stand up, let go of whatever you are holding on to, and you don't fall down for a good 5 seconds.  You also have mastered the climbing of stairs.  Going down is a whole nuther story.  You sign "milk" and "eat" and "sleep" and "yes" and "no" and also some more "no" and then you sign "no" some more.  You have figured out how to clap to mean "all done", and you know to point to your books when you want to read more books.  You also, charmingly, wave "hi" and "bye" and blow kisses, which is hella cute.  Your first word is decidedly "hi" and you call the dog "hi" all the time.  You love the dog, so long as he's not trying to kiss you.  It's kind of a common theme around this house, so you're in good company.

Happy Birthday, Erin!  Here's some photos from your first year:

Birth.  This picture is technically on Oct 14th because it took a couple hours before I stopped snuggling and nursing her and they finally weighed her and cleaned her up a bit.

One month plus a day, the day after Erin got home from the hospital for her meningitis scare.

Two Months, taken under the Christmas tree

Three months

Four months

Five months

Six months, and tentatively sitting up on her own.

Seven months

Eight months, and holy crap she needs a hair cut already.

Nine months, close to crawling, first hair cut has happened.

Ten months, taken at the lake house in New York

Eleven months, pulling herself to standing

One year!  Celebrating at Aunt Jeanne's house with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Christy and Uncle Steven.

A Birthday Weekend

This has been the weekend of birthday.  Saturday Dex and I went to Cherry Crest Adventure Farm in Strasburg for a birthday party for our friend Eva.  It was HOT and dirty and HOT and fun and also HOT.  And I didn't even do anything, beyond carry Dex across the train tracks because he was terrified the train was going to hit him.  Or something.  We got home from the party with just enough time to shower and go to Mr Adam's house for Alex's first birthday party.  Fortunately I didn't need to do anything there beyond lie on the floor and play with Erin, because I was too tired to do anything else.

Dex got to hold a chick.  These poor chicks, man.  They suffered through a whole lot of kid molestation.

Tractor and little wagon ride through the corn

Slide, which he went down totally on his own.  I didn't even walk up the hill to stand in line with him.

Dirty hot kid measuring himself after climbing out of the grain barn (a little house filled with corn like a sand box)

We spent plenty of time doing this - jumping on the Air Pillow.  But it was hot and it made him tired.

We did get to watch the train go by.  I mean, RIGHT by.

So today we did nothing, because I was exhausted from Saturday, and because Nonna and Grandpa are here to celebrate Erin's birthday a little bit early.  So I made some lunch and some cupcakes, and that's about all we did all day.  It was plenty.

Dex helped me with frosting.  It was hard to tell which he frosted and which I did, because he did a pretty good job.  And also because I suck at frosting things.

Cupcakes and a little cake because I only own one cupcake tin.  The frosting was pink and purple.  And Dex made me decorate the cake with a star.  I'm so crafty...

Made Erin's favorite lunch of mac and cheese before we had cake.

That's not even a very impressive mac and cheese face.  I must not have used enough cheese...

Singing to the birthday girl

Dex did the honors and blew out the candle

First bite

Telling Daddy all about her cake

Dex picked a purple cupcake

Cute cake face

Giggles here was on a bit of a sugar high

I am all done, Mama