BOO to YOU!

  so…let me share a wonderful thing i learned this Halloween……the trick-or-treat excitement is crazy with a 6 and 4 year old…..but when i told them i needed help cleaning the house before family and friends came over……they were cleaning MANIACS! Caroline dusted everything in site..although i thought the cobwebs were very festive, i wasn’t going to stop her! And we gave Cooper the dryvac…at this point in the day hubby and i actually had a beer and said CHEERS!

final touches on the pumpkins….

hair in curlers…..eating dinner…every year we eat all orange!!! well…except for the sandwiches…and the cannolis we bought in the North End on our trip to Boston….

she is happy as a clam wearing all of her dress up clothes…no need to spend money on a new costume….she went as a tooth fairy.

   never mind the costume….the hair was a big hit this year! 

and we enjoyed the 5 minutes of sun….and then it turned cold….maybe 45 degrees….and then came the rain…..and yes, snow.

a quick interruption to vent my Halloween pet peeves…sorry to offend anyone…just sayin….

#1  you should not be trick-or-treating if you are under 1 year of age and over 20 years of age…..don’t get me wrong, i love to see all the kids dressed up but the baby holding a candy bag, really??!! or then there is the dad dressed up…holding a candy bag for himself…really?!?

#2 please parents…get out of the mini-van and WALK with your kids.

#3 the kids who say, “i can’t have that…do you have any candy that is not chewy?” really?! what happened  to saying “trick-or-treat!” and “thank you!”

#4 i don’t mind the teenagers who come around…..put please put on a costume…and please don’t smash our pumpkins.

now back to more pictures…..

 

 

we just couldn’t stop giggling at the back of Cooper’s costume.

hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

laundry, pie and wine

what caught your eye…..the laundry right?

he “let” me throw in his bunny(his favorite stuffed animal)….and has asked for it 78 times.

the bunny that looks gross even AFTER i clean it.

he carries it with him everywhere….except when he goes to preschool…he leaves it in his car seat….and the first thing he does when he gets in the car is smell it….it is very smelly.

our days have been rainy and dreary around here….time to bake and warm up the kitchen…Cooper and i got busy making an apple pie….he loves to help! Chop sticks come in handy when working with apple peels says Coop.

we add a praline topping to make it extra yummy….

Praline topping:

melt 1/4 cup of butter, stir in 1/2 cup of firmly packed light brown sugar and 2 Tbsp. of whipping cream.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly for 1 minute. Remove from heat, stir in  1/2 cup of chopped pecans and let stand for a couple of  minutes but don’t let it thicken too much….drizzle over pie…yum!

   

it rained so much on our vacation to the Outer Banks we were forced to find a few indoor activities…..a wine tasting sounded good after the 4th day of rain….brought the kids with us, yes we did….brought the babysitter iPods too  and toasted ourselves for good parenting! We bought a couple bottles of this….its called ChocoVine…..oddly good…..like a mudslide or Baileys….I'm going to see how it tastes with ice cream tonight.

Cheers to Monday!!!

time to tackle the playroom

when we bought the house the previous owners used this room as a dining room…painted a dark plum color…very dark with only one window….this is a picture i took during our walk through.

after we moved in we moved the chandelier to a bigger room off the living room….gave this room a coat of white paint and then proceeded to pack it full with as many toys as we could in the last 5 years.

now its out of control and i avoid this room as much as possible…..and i think its even too much for the kids…..so 5 minutes after i took these pictures I started to clean it out.

now the room is a disaster…you know the point of no return, where it has to get worse in order to get better….and this room has now exploded to every adjoining room in order to make any sense of it all.

and why is it when you want to weed out the baby toys….the toys that have an inch of dust on them….NOW the kids can’t live with out?!?

off to the hardware store to look at paint for the 2nd time….at first i get excited and then after 78 shades of tan i go bonkers!

to be continued…..

Life

Jen over at Denton Sanatorium put out a challenge to write a real life post….but since i won’t be able to carry my camera around today i decided to take a look back at our “real” pictures….only a blogger would be proud to capture some of these moments…i admit …they make me laugh.

but…in the day to day madness of raising these kiddos i tend to think crazy thoughts….let me share

on days like this i think cooper will never like long car rides.

or boat rides…

the bathroom will never be clean.

i am never going to get a good family picture.

(we were going for a St. Patrick’s Day picture in case you are wondering about all the green :)

  i am never going to be able to keep clothes on this kid.

Christmas will never be calm and relaxing.

and then i look at this one…and think…hubby is very proud of himself…..he figured out how to help coop with his teething.

(the can is really not open….really its not)

and it makes me laugh…cause ya have to be able to laugh…we are figuring out this thing called parenting….and sometimes we have no idea what we are doing….and sometimes we do……

and through the screaming, slamming doors, tantrums, and everyday craziness…i think to myself that i would not have it any other way….

and of course..i usually don’t post about all the craziness, or complain about the real life stuff….every now and then I'll vent but i try not to be a complainer…can’t stand being around other people who complain….blogging keeps me positive, capturing the little life moments that i don’t want to forget…helps we slow down time just a bit…lets me tell the stories of our crazy adventure.

so now back to the laundry, the dog whining at the door, dinner to plan, leaves to rake, the stink bug i vacuumed up yesterday…and maybe a few minutes to have a cup of coffee before i have to pick up the kiddos.

random stuff

every now and then i have to spit out a random post!!

  this is how i found the kiddos one morning watching cartoons….

have you ever had jiffy pop NOT work…..big disappointment.

we had to go outside on the grill because it says not to pop it on a glass top stove

after 15 minutes it popped about 20 times and then stopped…..bummer!

 

with Caroline in school full time and Rob working 2 jobs we have been focusing on “family time” as much as we can…..this book is full of fun activities for the two of them….she loves her “daddy time!”

this year Cooper attends preschool in the afternoon…..so we have been enjoying our mornings together…Monday morning we tackled his Trio Firehouse. I cherish these mornings when its just the two of us….knowing that this is the last year he will be home with me….our time is bittersweet for me.

he received these building pieces for his Birthday back in August but had little interest in them…at first it was a little awkward for him to put the pieces together but after a bit he got really good at it! After we finished the firehouse he went to town with all the extra pieces and i sat back and watched his amazing imagination come alive!

   today we are going to build the police station!

a fall day

this week has been filled with glorious Fall days….chilly mornings, warm sun in the afternoon.

coop and i have been walking in the morning…he pushes his baby stroller and i take lots of pictures….we usually find ourselves taking a break at the local coffee shop.

our favorite tree on our street….a red maple i think.

us New Englanders know that as soon as winter hits….we will go for days without seeing the sun…..so we are soaking it in as much as we can these days.

    after gathering a few of our favorite leaves we headed back home….Cooper got right to work shaving a few crayons down.

placed everything on a piece of waxed paper

covered it with a 2nd piece of waxed paper and then i ironed it…not directly but with a towel over everything….melting both the wax paper and crayon.

 

taped them on our door to let the light shine through!

    

stormy weather is in our forecast today…they even mentioned SNOW in the hills!!

Outer Banks 2010

the last of the vacation pictures…i promise.

i love how everyone names their home on the beach…..we loved our Layla house! It was truly a home away from home….it had an entire closet filled with pool and beach toys, shelves filled with books and movies, baskets filled with games and a well stocked kitchen! the kids loved the pool and the adults loved the hot tub!

funny story…..the night before the wedding we were invited to the rehearsal dinner…a North Carolina pig roast…so much fun! Let me remind you that this was a wedding for a friend of mine from college, Kati….a college that was over 15 hours away from home for me…..so when hubby says, “i want you to meet someone” i was a little curious…..he introduced me to Steve…who he graduated from high school with….really!?! his wife Nicole is my friend Kati’s cousin….did you follow that?!? small world people, small world! Here is a picture of Steve with his adorable daughter Ellyson…..Cooper and Caroline’s new friend.

Caroline worked hard all week on her homework…..she kept a journal of our trip….and completed a gazillion worksheets that her teacher sent with us.

hubby took this one….. we took the kids out on the beach for a little Christmas card photo shoot….i am fixing Caroline’s dress…and yes, i have my hat on backwards…have you ever taken a picture with a hat on and the flash pops up….annoying!!! I love how he captured the lifeguard truck and Caroline with her hands on her hips!

the week called for rain every day….showers, drizzle, thunderstorms….but that didn’t stop us from having fun….walks in the rain…washing the cars in the rain…swimming in the pool in the rain…

and every small window of dry skies…we headed to the beach.

        

Cooper became a wave maniac on this trip…..but the waves were so big that someone needed to be right next to him.

he had so much fun!!! and only had to be saved a few times!!!

but he was having a blast!!

so the week flew by…..and on our last morning we couldn’t resist catching the sun rise….6:48am.

goodbye beach.

goodbye waves.

goodbye warm, salty air.

goodbye sand, shells and castles.

      

till next time.