Power's Back! Happy Halloween Post!

Even though Halloween was only two days ago it already feels like days and days have gone by...life's been nuts!
Before Halloween arrived we had quiet a few crazy days starting with Saturday.  I was part of a committee that threw a huge Halloween party at one of our elementary schools.  I have been working on the party planning since August and finally the party came and went.  It was a huge success and lots of fun!  I, of course, was working the whole time so I had to steal a couple of pictures from my brother and sister-in-law (thank you uncle michael and aunt crista!) to show off how cute the kids were!

Braden didn't smile once in his costume because he was always roaring!
This is our best "cousin shot" we could get!

Gracie, me, Aunt Crista and Anna

so I bought the costume and tights in 18 months
but the head piece and shoes in 2T, oops!

Gracie wasn't so sure she liked sitting on hay in tights,
can you blame her?

Is there anything more rewarding than
 getting your 3 month old niece to smile!?

That night leaving the party we drove home in a big, wet snowstorm!  On October 29th!?  What!?  The roads were covered in snow and the winds were blowing!  As tired as I was after the kid party, Pete and I still had some partying to do.  We had planned to have a little costume party for my group of girlfriends and our husbands in honor of my 31st birthday.  We all acted like bunch of college students again.  We dressed up, ate yummy food and drank lots of adult beverages.  We even played a few adult beverage games.  I owe a big shout out to, Emma, Erin, Whitney, Liz and Erin for making the night a blast!  I know how much you all have been wanting to make the blog.  Unfortunately, the photos from that night just aren't really blog friendly.  But trust me...it was fun! :o)
Everyone made it home safely that night but we all woke up to dark and cold houses!  Not a great situations after having a big, messy party, I'll tell you.  Dips in dishes, cake, plates, wine glasses, bottles, etc. that all needed to be cleaned but no disposal or warm water made that very difficult!  Yuck!

The next few days is where I feel I've lost time.  We lived in the dark for three days.  We're lucky to have a woodstove so our house didn't completely freeze, although it was still pretty cold.  Actual Halloween came on Monday but it was a snow day for the kids and our town even postponed trick-or-treating until this Friday.  We had already planned on trick-or-treating at my parents' neighborhood since they have a great road for taking the kids out safely, unlike ours unfortunately.  Once again, I was completely neglectful to my camera and I'm SO grateful my friend Whitney took on the paparazzi role for the night...

earlier in the night Braden and Maisie said, "I love you"
and then trick-or-treated holding hands....SO CUTE!

close up of the hand holding

Braden the Dragon making sure someone was home 

Gracie wore her skeleton jammies instead of her
costume because it was way too cold!

All in all it's been a crazy couple of a days.  I'm SO happy to have power back and my poor neglected house is really ready to be cleaned and laundry is begging me to do it.  In fact, instead of blogging, I should be doing that...but, I missed writing!

Happy Halloween 2011!

Wet Wednesday

Yesterday was the rainiest, darkest and most yucky day we've had in awhile.  I had a bunch of errands I wanted to get finished while B was in school and unfortunately for Gracie she was forced to be dragged around with me while I did them.  Little did she know she'd have a car companion though.  Ever since we got the sexy swagger wagon (i.e. my mommy mobile - toyota sienna) Fenway has decided that if the slider door is open on the side he has to get in.  It completely cracks me up because I find him in there all the time.  I'll take Gracie out and head in the house (yes, forgetting to push that easy little button that shuts the slider door) and then come out later on and find Fenway laying on the bench in the back as if it's his futon in the house.  Poor dog, just doesn't want to be left behind.

So back to yesterday - Gracie, Fenway and I dropped Braden off at preschool at 9 a.m.  He waltzed in with his cute little yellow rain jacket and back pack.  This kid is so cute.  Gracie and I ran behind both rain jacket free.  Clearly this situation rings a bell in my head that I need to go buy Gracie a rain jacket asap.  Back in the car we go heading off to Carters only to remember that our trusty black dog is hanging out in the back.  Even though it was cold outside I thought it would be unfair to leave him in the car while we shopped so we turned around, went home, dropped him off, picked up some coupons I had at home and started out again.  Poor Gracie was wondering what in the world is going on!?  Nothing is quick or easy when it comes to kids, dogs and rain.  Scratch that nothing is easy when it comes to doing anything with kids.  Period.

For 3 hours Gracie and I ran around like crazy kids in the rain.  She got an adorable rain jacket and  I got my new crochet hook, yarn and a magazine (that reads to me like a foreign language!) on how to crochet.  By the end of our running around I had a few minutes to spare before we had to pick up the little guy so I spun home and picked black dog up again.  I'm such a sucker for his cute furry face in the rearview mirror.  Braden was more than thrilled to have his furry companion waiting excitedly in the back when he got in the mini.  He even had to show his newest art project to him because he was so proud of his hard work.  Kids are cute.  Especially on rainy, yucky, cold days.

my crocheting materials

being lazy before school

Gracie's new raincoat