Halloween…sort of….

Well..it is Halloween…well, sort of….but there are no costumes, no school, no trick or treating…..everything has been postponed until Friday.  Hurricane Sandy has come and gone.  We were lucky….we had no damage in our area.  We never lost our electricity and we barely had any branches fall down.  A lot of New Jersey wasn’t so lucky.  So much flooding and devastation around the state….really scary stuff.  Half of our town is still without electricity..so they had to close the schools for another day.

It is very strange….being Halloween…yet…not Halloween.

First Tooth….

Well…River had a loose tooth and kept waiting and waiting for it to fall out.  Last Thursday…at the end of the kindergarten day, as she walked out of her classroom door..she tripped and fell.   There was blood everywhere.  We started to walk to the nurse when she realized her tooth was gone!  Thankfully, that was where all the blood was coming from…beside a small scrap on her nose.  We looked everywhere for the tooth…but we never found it.  So, when we got home I asked her if she wanted to make a replacement tooth..to put under her pillow.  She was very concerned that the tooth fairy might think we were tricking her.  So, she insisted that she write a note to the tooth fairy, letting her know that this was NOT her tooth, but a replacement tooth!  Too cute.

The next morning, she was very excited to find that the tooth fairy had left her two dollars!  She was even more excited to go into school and tell all her classmates about her adventure!

 

Getting ready for Halloween…..

So..things are getting a little spooky around here……every year we make ghosts.  So, of course, River wanted to make ghosts.  What a surprise!  Nothing cuter than a child deeply involved in their project!  Of course, after making the ghosts…we had to do a little photo shoot involving all the ghosts.

Then we had to hang the ghosts..along with all the cobwebs…

 

One Year Photos….

Well, Tuesday and I finally had time to take some photos for the babies one year birthday!!  It didn’t go perfectly…but, then again..does anything!  I am just happy that it was a nice day and we were able to get out and get some cute photos!  I love how in some of the photos their expressions look so similar.  By the end, Escher was not happy.  Neither was River.  River thought the photo shoot should have been just for her and she did NOT want to share the spotlight.  I told her that we could take some photos of her, for a school project..but she did not want to cooperate.  But, we managed to get quite a few cute photos….One of the problems was that we didn’t have shoes for the babies.  And though, I love them without shoes…they did NOT like touching the grass!!  So…next stop…shoe store!!

First Day of School….

After much anticipation, River started Kindergarten!  She was so nervous and excited!  The rain stopped, just long enough to be able to walk to school.  Tuesday started high school, and almost missed her bus on the first day (though she missed it the next two days!).  Quinn took everything in stride and didn’t seem fazed by the first day of 7th grade!

Seeing River on her first day of school reminded me of Tuesday and Quinn…oh, so long ago!  I just had to post some photos from Tuesday and Quinn’s first days of Kindergarten.  Tuesday was terrified..as you can see by the look on her face.  Quinn was so excited..I don’t think he had time to be nervous!!

 

I survived the beach…..

Yes…I survived taking the babies to the beach.  I don’t like the beach…all the sun, sand and water.  But every year we go to the beach.  We don’t just go to the beach…that would be too easy…we bike to the beach, which seems crazy.  It is a tradition that my brother started, with his children, 15 years ago.  So, we continue the tradition, with him and our children.  But someone has to drive there..so I drive one way and my husband drives the other way.  It is a lot of fun…but I knew this year…it would be a lot of work.  Somehow, it all worked out and we all had a blast.  Thank goodness I insisted on bringing a baby pool because the babies loved it as much as they loved the pool and the sand.  Well, Escher did not like the sand..but Grey loved it!  She didn’t want to leave.  Also, I had a great time biking back from the beach.  It was Tuesday’s second year riding and Quinn’s first….and he did great!  He even rode back.

Blankets and Babies….

All summer long, the babies stayed on their blanket. Every day we walked to the swim club and the babies played on the blanket, while River had swim practice. Day after day the babies were awesome.  We had so much fun playing on the blanket with all the pool toys.  I’m not able, by myself, to handle both of the babies in the baby pool, so we hung out on our blanket.   They would play with the toys and sometimes crawl to the nearby chair or stroller and explore a bit.

Until one day, Grey looked beyond the blanket and realized, there was indeed a world beyond the blanket.  And, at that point, there was no looking back.  Life at the swim club has never been the same!  Thank goodness swim team only had a couple days left because it was too much running around for me.

Also, I love my double stroller (Baby Jogger City Select Double Stroller), but River is at that age where she gets tired, especially after swimming.  She wants to ride in the stroller and we tried that, but it doesn’t work well. So, I bought this lovely contraption that you stick on the back of your stroller.  I looked into so many different models, and I didn’t love the one that was for my actual stroller.  I ended up buying one that was a universal one that fit on many different stroller. (Valco Baby Hitch Hiker Ride on Board). It was supposed to be a bit higher, which would make walking behind it easier.  At first, we tried River standing and she didn’t like that too much.  Then, I came up with the sitting method, and she loves it.  It couldn’t be more perfect.  She can rest, hang out, eat, drink….heck, she could take a nap back there.  As for me, it is a lot of extra weight, especially up our big hill!  But, hey, I can always use an extra workout!

Blueberry picking….

We went blueberry picking with my niece and brother.  It was a gorgeous day and there were so many blueberries!  It was a great day.  Tuesday and Quinn stayed home to catch up on sleep.  It was an adventure to bring two ten month old babies along..but we managed.  All the blueberries were gone by the next day!  I think I need to go and pick some more!  Happy Friday!