Frankenstorm

 

Even though tomorrow is Halloween, it seems like it should be Thanksgiving.....we are so thankful that Hurricane Sandy ("Frankenstorm") spared us!  We feel like we dodged a bullet - and we are thinking about all the people north of us that were hit pretty hard.  I'm trying to remain thankful, even though Rob will be working some incredibly long hours for Catastrophe Duty over the next week or more.

 

I was dreading being trapped in the house with the kids and was very happy when Andy said he wanted to come over with Samara to play and have lunch.  Claire was so excited!  (I didn't tell her that preschool had been cancelled because I knew she'd be very upset.)  They had fun playing around and "going batty" together.  Thanks Uncle Andy!  (We'll take Hurricane Samara Jane anyday over a real hurricane!)

 

I was more prepared for Sandy than I've ever been for a storm. I was so afraid of losing power and keeping these little kids entertained and fed! I had extra ice, water in pitchers, extra food in the freezer (to heat on the grill) - and I even made a pot of coffee before going to bed so that I could at least have iced coffee if we lost power :-)
With all the trees in our backyard and the possible 60mph winds, we all "camped out" downstairs last night. Fielder slept in his pack n' play in our room and Claire and I slept in the playroom.  She thought this was great fun, while I worried about whether Fielder would sleep, if we would lose power, etc. etc.  I couldn't believe it when we all woke up close to 7:30!  And we had power!!


Today was another rainy, cold day.  We decided it was the perfect time to carve our pumpkin and roast the seeds.  Claire "helped."  She didn't want to touch the yucky stuff so she wore gloves!

 The pumpkin, which she named Lily, is a happy pumpkin this year.  She picked the design and added eyebrows to it - definitely a step up from last year's "sad pumpkin."


All in all, we managed to have a little fun with all the storm craziness....but I am quite happy to get everyone back to their own beds tonight and to get Claire back to school tomorrow!! 

Carter Mountain

I've been wanting to take Claire to Carter Mountain for several years now and we finally made the trip this past weekend to go apple picking.  It was a gorgeous day and we had such a nice time. We drove up as early as we could after everyone told us how crowded it gets.  I couldn't believe how many people were just pouring in.  It had been at least 10-15 years since I'd been there and I certainly don't remember that much of a crowd!  See Claire poking her head through the red apple?  She said that was her favorite part of the day.  She kept getting back in line to put her head through and would smile and pose, waiting for someone/anyone to take her picture.  (We have a photo of Andy and I with that apple and Sebastian putting his head through from 15 years ago!)

 

Once we arrived, we hiked it up the mountain for the Fuji apples while Mimi stayed near the barn (and snagged us a dozen Apple Cider Donuts!)

 

I think Claire really thought it was fun, although she spent more time eating apples than actually picking them.  It didn't take long to fill 2 big bags and the apples that we sampled were delicious!  Fielder hung out on Daddy's back the whole time. 

 

After we hiked it back down, we did the hayride and then had a picnic lunch.  You couldn't have asked for better weather or a better view.  Lately I've really been "craving" the mountains and it was just great to be up there.  Such a lovely day!  Now I just have to get to work using up all 30lbs of apples.  Tomorrow I'll be baking my very first apple pie....

 

 

Let the Halloween festivities begin!

We went to the Y for their Halloween Trunk-or-Treat after dinner tonight.  (I can't find a blog post about it from last year....we went and I was huge & pregnant, tired & grumpy, and I remember an "incident" involving smores that left Claire and I both in tears....I guess that's why I never blogged about it?!)  So we decided to go tonight and give Claire a first round at dressing up.  She's come up with no less than 7 ideas of what she wants to be for Halloween.  I had found this cute little vest at the kids consignment store and came up with a cowgirl costume that she decided on for tonight.  We were very lucky to get not just 1, but 2 hand-me-down costumes for Fielder.  I love this lion one!!  He had fun riding around and watching the kids while Claire got some treats.  The night was starting to go downhill....I was told the "haunted trail" was not scary at all, but the second we started somebody jumped out of the bushes and scared Claire to death.  Then I took her over to the cookies to get her mind off of that and we waited patiently in line.  I could see that there were only a couple left and as soon as it was her turn, an adult came up behind her, reached over her head and took the very last one!!  I couldn't believe that she actually did that!!  Claire found a small piece that had been broken off and seemed content with that.  We wrapped things up and headed home before we had 2 tired and cranky kids on our hands.  It was a fun night and I'm glad we went.  I just hope I don't have a "visitor" in the middle of the night with nightmares about haunted trails!

 

Folk Festival 2012

Claire and her "Crazy Hat"

Getting ready to join the Kazoo Parade!

We hadn't been to the folk festival since Claire was little.  Since the weather was gorgeous and we needed a fun activity today, we decided to go check it out.  Claire enjoyed the kids area where they had all kinds of crafts.  Then we marched in the kazoo parade - led by drums and the CMOR guy (a dinosaur right?)  After the kids stuff, we headed back to the main stage and had some snacks while we sat in the grass clapping along to the music.  Nathan and the Zydeco Cha-Chas was the band playing and we all loved it!!  I could have sat there all day listening to the music and people-watching.  It was really a great afternoon.  Even though Claire had her hopes up for a bounce house and bumper cars (huh?) I know she had fun.  She told me several times today that she wants to go back.  And then at dinner Rob and I attempted to explain what the word "culture" means.  Hmm....maybe I'll go google that now. 

Daddy and Fielder dancing to some zydeco

 

Pumpkins at Grandma's

Every year since Claire was born, we've gone to "Grandma's Pumpkins" which is a little farm very close to our house.  Of course as usual, I went camera-crazy!  I can remember our trip there last year when my belly was bigger than any pumpkin there!!  I enjoyed chatting with the woman that lives there - she told me that they've been selling pumpkins for 55 years! They are always very friendly and sweet with the kids.  Claire was excited for the pumpkins for about 2 minutes and then all she cared about was their playground.  Fielder tried to keep up and I tried to keep him from eating the pumpkins.  (I mostly succeeded.)

 

 

11 months

11 months!  Wow.  I know I've said it before.....the days can be oh-so-long, but this year has gone by SO FAST.  The big news for the month: we have a walker!  Fielder took his first steps at 10 months and 1 week.  Rob was out of town and I was trying really hard to get it on video....except since I was not right next to him, he fell and got his 2nd busted lip.  Every day he gets a little better and can do a few more steps than the day before, but he's still pretty unsteady.  He seems to have a new bruise appear every day.  It's like he gets so excited that he's actually walking that he loses all control of his body and falls face first!   

 

Otherwise, nothing much new to report.  He's busy busy busy all the time and still loves to eat.  Now when he sees us cooking something that he knows he likes, he'll stand at the gate and cry until it's time to eat.  He's sleeping later in the mornings - hallelujah!  I better knock on wood.  We've had several days where he refuses the morning nap so we might be transitioning to 1 nap a day?  This will make my life easier since we can be more flexible with activities and being out of the house, but also SO MUCH HARDER!  I don't know how I'll ever get anything done when he only takes 1 little nap! 

 

Anyway, that's about it for this month.  I'm counting down the days til the Big #1!  :-) 

Here's a quick video of him taking a couple steps...

 

5 Year Check-up

Turning 5 is a big deal......and so is the 5 year check-up at the doctor's office.  I knew what was in store for her so I was pretty nervous about it.  We met with a new doctor that I really liked and she was very friendly with Claire.  I was proud of Claire for handling all the normal check-up stuff really well.  She's 36lbs and 44"...or 46" I can't remember.  She did great on the eye test - marched back there all by herself and they said she knew all the letters.
Then came the shots.  She had several shots plus a finger prick AND flu mist (which to her is worse than a shot.)  Poor girl, I had to hold her down while she screamed and Fielder cried in his stroller.  I get a nervous laugh so I was laughing like crazy and the whole time thinking "please let this be over soon....please be done....I'll give you anything you want...I'm so sorry!"  I took her to pick out a toy at Five and Below and she picked this really cool jumping frog game.  Then we got ice cream on the way home!
***Note to self:  The urine test is NEXT year.  Perhaps giving her a ton of juice on the way to the doctor so that she'd be ready to pee in a cup kind of backfired since I completely forgot to have her use the potty when we were done.  And also, FYI...Five and Below does NOT have a public bathroom.

Here she is showing off her band-aids (along with witches hat, sunglasses, princess heels, and sad face.)  She refused to take the band-aids off and would have kept them for days, but Fielder ripped them right off for her.  Problem solved!

Even Rob (who really isn't a "game guy") likes playing the frog game!  Here he is playing some serious Flippin' Frogs with his girl.



In other news, the following day was Lunch Bunch at school.  This was the first time Claire has gotten to stay for lunch bunch and she was SO excited about it.  She's showing off her new lunch box from Aunt Sally.  When I picked her up, I noticed she looked especially tired.  We got home, she went straight upstairs, climbed in bed (shoes still on) and said she needed a rest.  I guess it was a combination of the shots and the longer day at school, but she took a nice little nap for the first time in ages.