I Got A Rock

Today is the day Drew had been waiting for all year. We've actually been celebrating Halloween for about a month now, but the big day is finally here. I think he's more excited by Halloween than he will be by Christmas, but we'll see about that in a month or so.

Today started out with trying to get Drew dressed and into his costume and over to daycare on time. The ladies at daycare were appropriately scared by the skeleton boy until he told them it was just a costume. They were so relieved.

This afternoon was the big parade at school. All of the kids get to make the rounds both inside and outside so everybody gets to see all of the costumes. Here's Drew lined up and ready to head out on parade. Right behind him is Shania. Isn't she a cutie? Shania had the most decorated house in the neighborhood, and Drew was very excited to go trick or treating there.

I wound up being in the parade (only to try to keep the kids in line) so I didn't get a lot of good shots, but the one below was taken right before Drew's class went back into the school to watch the rest of kids go by. Outside the school, it was like a gathering of the paparazzi, so I was kind of glad to be out of the crush.

After work, it was time for a quick dinner before trick or treating. Drew was in full regalia when he and Adam headed out tonight, and he was hoping to scare all of our neighbors when making the rounds. I stayed home to hand out the candy, and I sat out on the porch and chatted with Liz, my next door neighbor between each onslaught. We get a LOT of trick or treaters here--I think they bus them in.

After Adam and Drew got home, it was time for bath and bed. Adam finished up with handing out the candy, and then Halloween was over for another year.

I'm sure everyone got my Charlie Brown reference in the title.

We Booked It!

I AM SO EXCITED! Yes, I do mean to use all caps for that declaration. After a couple of months of discussion, I booked our 4 day cruise on the Disney Wonder! We leave on April 27th, and I can promise that I'll spend the next six months completely overplanning and obsessing about this vacation. Adam and I had first considered a trip to Disney World along with a visit to Great-Grandma's house next spring, but we decided that Drew wasn't quite up to the rigors of the parks just yet. Plus, the cruise offers their wonderful kids club which pretty much guarantee that (to quote my hairdresser, Karen) "they'll keep your kids away from you as much as you want." Not that we don't want to spend time with Drew, of course, but it will be great to have some alone time as well.

So, back to reality. Tonight, we had to get our pumpkin carved so it would be ready for the trick-or-treaters tomorrow night. Drew drew the face with some help from Adam, and then Adam and I took turns with the carving.

Doesn't this picture make you think of that cheesy horror film music?

Green Eggs and Ham

Drew has been fascinated by the book Green Eggs and Ham for quite a while. He's read the book and watched the video dozens of times now and practically knows the story by heart. He's been asking me for green eggs and ham for breakfast for about a week, so I decided that today was the day. As you can see, the eggs turned out a particularly unappetizing shade of green (1 less drop of blue food coloring next time), but we ate and enjoyed them anyway. I didn't have a brilliant idea for how to turn the ham green (other than leaving it in the refrigerator for several months), but I thought that green eggs would be good enough. How's that for promoting reading?


This afternoon, Drew and I picked up Hailey and Alex from a birthday party and took them home so we could visit for a little bit. Adam made it there in time for dinner, but not before being attacked by Alex, Drew and Purl. I don't know what it is about Adam, but the kids will not leave him alone once he walks in the door.

I can't believe I'm finally up to date. Now it's time for another work week to begin!

Fall is Finally Here

It finally cooled off here. I got home from Texas and was greeted by the same weather. Now it's starting to feel like October in Baltimore. Drew put on his flannel Thomas pj's tonight. I tried to get a good picture of him, but he just wanted to crawl all over Adam.

One week until Halloween. It's the only thing getting talked about around here!

Austin Is Still Weird

I just got yesterday back from a trip to see Sharon in Austin. I always love getting to spend time with Sharon and Doug, and Austin is the coolest, funkiest city I know (although most people who have lived in Austin for any length of time say that it really USED to be cool, although it's still better than most places). This trip was a wonderful, relaxing, recharging experience for me. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, and Sharon didn't even get hers out for a couple of days, so I didn't get nearly as much blog fodder as I would have liked. I'm especially sorry I didn't get any pictures of Central Market, even though I managed to make it there twice during my stay. I know, who else but me would be that excited about going to a grocery store?

HOWEVER, Sharon did not forget her camera when she, Deede and I went off for our spa day and the Lake Austin Spa Resort on Friday. I can only say that those people really know what they're doing. The place is just overflowing with relaxation and serenity. We lounged around in our robes for most of the day while enjoying various combinations of massages, facials, and pedicures, not to mention the delicious lunch in the Aster Cafe.

We got a chance to spend some time by the pool since it was about 85 degrees that day.

Here we are sipping our organic mint decaf iced tea.

On Saturday, we changed gears and headed to Maker Faire, which is a giant DIY festival held at the Travis County Expo Center. I've never seen more geeks assembled in one place in my life. Doug's comment was that this was the place if you needed to figure out how to use an item (machine, gadget, etc.) for something other than its intended purpose. In other words, How To Hack Everything 101. It was interesting, but I don't think I'll be running off to go to another Maker Faire should it come to my town. I think Adam would have loved it, though.

I did like the art cars -- they're always fun. This was a van completely covered in every kind of camera you could imagine.

Another highlight of a trip to Austin for me is heading to South Congress Ave. (SoCo for those in the know) for some shopping and eating. The cupcake craze has hit that city as well as many others in the country, and Austin now has six cupcake emporiums. We visited Hey Cupcake which is housed in an Airstream trailer in a vacant lot on South Congress. The red velvet cupcakes were delicious!

I was sad when it was time to leave (Austin, not the cupcake place), but I missed Adam and Drew tremendously so I was ready to go home.

When I got back on Sunday afternoon, Adam and Andy had arranged a little birthday party for me at Andy and Carole's. Dad and Melva came too, and we all enjoyed Andy's delicious chicken on the grill. Carole didn't realize that we were having a party at her house until the last minute, but everyone was there to sing Happy Birthday before we called it an evening.

Pagan Ritual at the Pastor's House

(I'm so behind in my postings. I've actually created posts with pictures, but then I don't have time to write the text. I'm going to try to catch up before this weekend.)

Last night we went to the annual October bonfire at Pastor Beth's house. We went last year for the first time and Drew had a great time. The older kids decorate the whole yard in a scary Halloween theme and then take the smaller kids on tours and try to scare them out of their wits.

This year I asked Andy if he wanted to go along with Hailey and Alex. The kids jumped at the chance to put on their Halloween costumes a couple of weeks early, but Alex was threatened with an early death if he put a hole in or otherwise ruined his costume. Luckily, he and his costume survived the night unscathed.

Unfortunately, no organized scary tours took place this year. One of the older kids wound up breaking his arm right before we got there, so the party was a little more subdued than last year. The kids still had a good time, and Hailey even got to enjoy a s'more before we headed home for the evening. I lost Drew at one point, but I should have known that he wasn't really lost. While I was searching the dark backyard for him, he was up on the deck hustling apple cider and goldfish. Won't I ever learn?

Word for the Day - Firefighter

Yesterday was the Open House at the Ellicott City Fire Station. Andy was taking his kids as part of a Cub Scouts outing so Drew and I met them there. They had lots of activities for the kids, such as trying on fire gear, finding all the fire hazards in a "dangerous" room, and completing an obstacle course where you get to shoot the fire hose at the end.

The kids loved climbing all over the fire trucks and engines (yes, I do know the difference!), and Alex and Drew especially liked getting in the driver's seat. Luckily, the keys weren't in the ignition.

Here's Drew completing the obstacle course. Right after this picture was taken, the fire house got an actual call, and it was quite the sight watching as the firefighters yanked dozens of kids off the trucks, threw on their gear and sped out with sirens blaring all within about 30 seconds. Obviously, it looked like a good time to head home.

After that excitement, we headed to Steven's 2nd birthday party, where we got to see Aunt Sue and Brian. Drew loves going to Steven's house (well, Karl John, Kelly and Karl's house, too), because of the big yard and all the animals (dogs, cats, goats, not to mention horses at the next house). Coincidentally, Karl John is the current head of Baltimore City's Fire Academy. I guess the theme of the day was firefighter!

Steven got lots of great presents, and seemed to enjoy himself. He didn't even seem to get too overwhelmed with all the people at the party. Happy Birthday Steven!

Spooky Lane

This week has flown by, and I'm exhausted, but I'm trying to take pictures whenever I get a chance. This whole having to go to work every day thing is going to take some getting used to. Plus, Adam is still working on the weekends so we're sort of ships passing in the night.

Our big news of the week is that Adam got his GRE scores back,and he got a high enough score to apply to any of the schools on his list. You can imagine he was very happy and relieved. Now he has to go through the arduous application process--I'm glad I don't have to fill out all of that paperwork.

I also got an e-mail from Tom with excellent health news for both Tom and Joan. (Tom, I will get around to answering that e-mail soon.) I guess they'll be back to their old traveling ways soon, and maybe they'll head this way this year!

Drew got (almost) all of his stickers last week, so he got to pick a special treat. His pick was this lovely sign for our front yard. Our next door neighbors do up their yard for Halloween and he was feeling a little jealous. He and Adam spent some time Thursday afternoon getting it set up and into the ground, he was very excited when we came home from dinner and the sign was already on. You might be able to see that he's holding a nutcracker. He got from the treasure box at school today (if they get so many "bucks" for good behavior they get to pick something from the treasure box). He calls it his soldier, and this soldier has definitely seen better days, but Drew doesn't care.

Scouts Honor

Today, Drew and I had our normal Sunday routine. We went to church and, after some post-service playground time, he talked me into going to Mommy's Mac and Cheese, also known as Noodles and Company. I'm really sick of this restaurant, but Drew always wants to go there after church, and he does eat all of his macaroni and cheese when we do. His face looks really flushed because it was really hot today. My pastor's husband said they were going to get in their pool when they got home. In October. Oh yeah, global warming is imaginary.

After a fairly quiet afternoon doing chores around the house, Drew and I went for a turkey dinner at Andy and Carole's. Andy and Alex got dolled up in their Cub Scout finery so I could take their picture. Now you have to believe me. I can't make this stuff up.

Drewstein

Today, Drew and I finally made his "Drewstein" mask that had been sitting on the counter for a couple of weeks. I did find out that glue sticks are not the preferred adhesive for this type of project, and I'm going to have to pick up a bottle of good old Elmer's the next time I'm at Target. However, Drew was very pleased with the results. Since we're celebrating Halloween all month, he'll be able to alternate between his mask and his skeleton costume at every opportunity.

We went to Johns Hopkins Hospital today to drop something off to Adam, and Drew got quite a few stares as we walked down Monument Street (he had to show Daddy his mask), but I'm sure that you can see just about anything around there after dark.

On our way home, I got a call from Carole who was trying to head off to work, and she asked if I would be interested in having Hailey for the afternoon. It turns out that Grizzly Adams and Mini-me (Andy and Alex) were still in the woods doing their Cub Scout thing. Yes, you read that correctly. Andy is now a Cub Scout leader for Alex's troop. Along with me being a Sunday school teacher, that's about enough to knock the Earth off it's axis.

Anyway, Carole and I did the hand-off at Chick Fil-A, and I tried to relax just a little bit after we headed back home. Hailey was pretty laid back and actually fell asleep, but Drew wanted nothing to do with that program so I decided to torture them both by taking them to the brand new Costco by our house. They actually had a good time with Hailey pushing Drew in the cart and pointing out everything under the sun that they might want for Christmas (or right now if they had their way).

I think I have some pretty good ideas to share with Santa this year. Plus I loaded up on Halloween candy and got the new Springsteen cd (No, I am not yet downloading all my music -- what can I tell you?)

Get A Job Mommy!

Today was my first day back at work, and Drew's first day at his new before and after school daycare. Everything went smoothly, and Drew's same bus driver even picks him up and drops him off at the new location. He's already making new friends, and has asked if one of his new friends can have a sleepover (not that he could remember his name, though).