Happy Halloween!

After trick-or-treating for two hours tonight we are ready to say goodbye to yet another great Halloween!

(L-R) Hailey, Riley, Conner, Hayden, & Matthew ready to go

Frankenstorm

Hurricane Sandy or Frankenstorm as it has been nicknamed by the media blew through here yesterday but luckily did not do any damage here other than knock a few branches from the trees in the yard and the power out for a couple of hours.

While the wind and rain blew around leaves furiously outside we kept the kids busy with pumpkin painting (Sammy) and carving (Matthew), read books, ate a lunch of  bacon and cheese muffins with eggs (recipe here), and camped out in the living room at Matthew’s instance once the power went out near his bedroom. Today school was cancelled for Matthew and Sammy had pajama day at daycare but the weather wound up being warm. We have moved on to counting down the hours until it is time to go trick-or-treating tomorrow night.

Indian Summer

I love when the weather in October turns warm to tease us before the months of cold weather kick in. We certainly made the most of it by playing outside every chance we got this weekend.

We also had some Halloween fun by making monster cookies and reading these books:

Do Not Build A Frankenstein

Arthur’s Halloween/ Franklin’s Halloween/ Corduroy’s Halloween

Tucker’s Spooky Halloween

Skeleton Hiccups

Twas the Night before Halloween

Bernstein Bears Ghost of the Forrest

Happy Halloween Stinky Face

Frankie Stein

Bob, Matthew, and I went to a Sharks hockey game on Saturday night too. Matthew's favorite moment from the game was when there was a fight.

Sammy might have celebrated a little too much this weekend as she came home sick from daycare on Monday and stayed home Tuesday. But she recovered and was back outside in no time at all.  

October Weekending

"Hey Mom, you should go to college to become a cheerleader. You would not have to work much except during Patriots games. And you could just wear your underwear!" Matthew told me this during a Patriots game. In his unprejudiced mind I could totally become Patriots cheerleader in my underwear or anything for that matter if I went to college for it. Currently his plans are to go to college to play goalie for the Bruins and to divide his time teaching and being a police officer during the off season.

Speaking of football Matthew had a special guest coach this week – his Grampa! Bob’s assistant coaches couldn’t make it to the game this week so Grampa helped out in a pinch. 

This past weekend there was a library sale and I gathered my pile of books for the winter plus some armloads for the kids. We didn’t have any plans Saturday night so we built a fort with blankets to read in. I wanted us to enjoy some chocolate chip cookies too, that were still warm from the oven, but that turned out to be a bad idea like the time I decided that we should eat pancakes on the beach. This time instead of sand getting everywhere it was little chocolate covered hands.

Naturally I’ve been coercing the children into doing Halloween crafts. I’ve used our ghost shaped cookie cutter on everything from sandwich bread to pancakes. Matthew and I made some spooky Play Doh characters and Sammy and I painted pumpkins. 

It was nice to spend a weekend at home unwinding and making messes.  

Voyage to Vermont

“What color were the Patriots jerseys in 1492?” Matthew asked Bob during the drive to Vermont.

 I had my doubts that Bob choice of DVDs for the car ride to Vermont which was History of the Patriots, Bill Belichick football life, and 21 the NFL’s longest winning streak. However Matthew watched them intently during the three hour car ride both there and home. 

If the Patriots had been around in 1942 I am certain that he would have been interested in viewing a DVD of the season highlights.  

Bear in the Big House was there to greet us

We stayed at Sarah’s house for the weekend. The first morning we had a big pancake breakfast and then went to the Ben and Jerry’s factory. 

We did the tour and both children were extremely well behaved during it except towards the very end Sammy got a little impatient while waiting for her ice cream sample. 

Then we visited the flavor graveyard. Matthew was very curious all weekend about what “dead ice cream” looks like. We also  ate some ice cream under covered picnic tables in the rain. 

We spent the rest of the day at the toy and train museum. Matthew could have spent all day at the train museum portion if we let him.

The adults were most excited to see all our favorite childhood toys, especially Bob who got to see Faker his favorite He-Man action figure. 

That night we ate dinner at an old favorite of ours Lui Lui which is now semi famous in the area because Mitt Romney ate there last month. 

I don't have a picture from Lui Lui but I do have a picture of Sammy enjoying her pancake breakfast

Matthew also played a lot of Wii there. Sammy "played" too

The second morning we had a big pancake breakfast and then went to Billings Farm and Museum.

This cow was born that morning at 4 am

Matthew loved playing with the stick and hoop toys.

Sammy could not tear herself away from the sheep nearby.

We toured an old farmhouse that made butter, and put Matthew to work making cider and peeling apples. 

After that we took a trolley into Woodstock to browse a couple stores before heading back to Sarah’s house to eat lunch. After lunch we hit the road to travel back to our home. 

Insomniac at play

With the one exception that Sammy seems to have given up sleeping from the hours of 1 am until 3, opting to cry at that time instead, this weekend was perfect. We had a lot of fun! 

First Scribbles

I can still recall seeing Matthew’s first scribble of faint orange crayon lines on paper. I scrap booked it with pride. Last night Sammy picked up a blue crayon and scribbled on paper. 

She also dotted the paper with a green crayon in her other hand. She tried to use her fingers to color on the paper and to brush her hair with the crayons but mostly she just colored. 

Hello October!

There are pumpkins on the stairs, paper bats in the window, and a scarecrow in the yard. That can only mean one thing – it’s October! This past month flew by fast – here are some of things that we have been up to: 

·         Bob and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary!

·         Matthew is mayor of our town. No, not really, it just feels that way because everywhere we go in town he runs into someone that he knows from either sports or school and a quick errand ends up in a play date.

·         Sammy is growing a third tooth on the top of her mouth – which makes a total of 2 ½ teeth.

·         Matthew comes off the bus everyday with stories from kindergarten. He is learning about Johnny Appleseed and the ‘school way’ of writing letters. At a sleepover with Grandma and Papa he showed off his Pledge of Allegiance knowledge by reciting it for them repeatedly.

·         Sammy is ear infection free for the first time in a LONG time!

·         Matthew went to his very first Patriots game with Bob. He sat and watched the entire game without getting antsy and they had a blast cheering for the team.  

·         Sammy is saying new words like, “Good Girl” and “Go!” She loves shaking her head ‘No’, riding her rocking horse, and dancing by stomping her left foot 

·         We have been enjoying our favorite fall recipes like harvest soup and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. 

This is our busiest time of the year – we still have apple picking to do and pies to make, a trip to Vermont planned, plus lots of football and Halloween plans. We're ready to dive in and to enjoy the chaos!