Thanksgiving ’09

Thanksgiving weekend was filled with joyous overeating, lots of  fun shopping (yes, I survived Black Friday!) and relaxing time at home with the family. 

My husband’s aunt and cousin flew in from Canada so that was extra special.  The kiddies watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for the very first time which was a blast. They loved the big balloons and bands as much as they loved all the toy commercials.  My husband, the quintessential Top Chef, cooked an amazing holiday meal that included a giant Turkey, homemade stuffing, mashed sweet potatoes, and green beans.   I made the 35 cent boxed corn muffins; THANK GOODNESS because it was one of the only things Annabel consumed. I think she ate three.  I’m still amazed how kids can just pass on the awesome deliciousness that is the annual Thanksgiving meal. Bean enjoyed most of his food, but his favorite was still the canned cranberry jelly sauce. I was THRILLED to have tons of leftovers including my mother-in-law’s awesome pumpkin pie which we devoured every night while drinking wine and watching television. 

We also dove into the Christmas spirit and bought our tree on Friday afternoon.  We put up all the Christmas decorations.  I love to start early and enjoy Christmas as long as possible.  I sent the hubbie out to the store to buy extra candles, potpourri, and house spray so not only does the house LOOK like Christmas right now, it SMELLS like Christmas too, which, as he says, is the best part.

Halloween ’09

Halloween (literally) started out a little scary this year.  We had to take our baby girl to an emergency doctor appointment early Saturday morning.  She was up all night with a crazy cough and raspy breathing.  I slept next to her crib holding her hand. It was awful.  Her small sniffle from earlier in the week had turned into a respiratory infection. The doctor gave her some medicine and she was feeling better by late Saturday afternoon. She was a little grumpy, but still ready to rally for some neighborhood trick-or-treating.

Daddy and Daniel were in charge of the pumpkins.  They carved four pumpkins in two hours and had a blast:

Daniel was our boy pirate:

(He only had that sword for photos and then it was banished to the bedroom.  It was just too much fun to swing at things, including his little sister.)

Annabel was our girl pirate:

My poor thing.  You can tell from her face that she is not 100%.  I was just happy she put on the fancy dress, tights, and shoes.  The head scarf was on and off.

Let’s go trick-or-treating!

Annabel wanted to take Pinky along for the fun since she was having a yucky day. She went to about 10 houses and Daniel went to 10 more.  It was a lot of fun for Daniel since it was his first Halloween where he really GOT the fact that you just have to knock on the door, say “trick-or-treat!” and you get candy. Oh, and of course you have to say “thank you” too.

Since Annabel was sick on Saturday, Daddy made his Jack-O-Lantern chocolate chip pancakes on Sunday morning instead.  Of course the “Fall Back” time change just added to the fun.  (Ugh, not really.)  Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch ’09

We were so excited to head out to our local pumpkin patch again this year.  We have been going to the same location for three years now.  It’s so crazy to think that the first time we were there, we only had Bean and he was only this big:

Then, we had Annabel and took her for the first time last year:

Of course, two days ago, Bean had a fight with his new train table and the train table won.  So I knew all the Pumpkin Patch 2009 photos would feature this lovely, front-and-center, eye and nose cut:

Oh well, off we went!  It was a beautiful day.  The sun was shining.  Mr. (not scary at all) Scarecrow met us at the entrance:

We grabbed the pumpkin wagon and went on our search for the perfect pumpkins:

Annabel loved playing peek-a-boo in the pumpkins.  (She will play peek-a-boo anywhere and at anytime. )

Here’s Bean on the same blue tractor he rode the first time we came to the patch:

There are also TONS of gourds and small pumpkins for sale.  I always buy a bunch to use for my dining table centerpiece.  I so LOVE these little guys. (Bean included!)

It was a great day, er 27 minutes, at the Pumpkin Patch.  See you again next year!

October

I am SO happy it’s October.  The over-the-top heat in Florida lasts from May all the way to September.  March is truly the best weather month.  Second is October.  The heat broke today.  It’s like Florida knew it was October and said, “Okay, I’ll give you guys a break already.  You can wear shorts and short sleeve tops and feel COMFORTABLE.”  It’s great.  I took Annabel out in the wagon today and I didn’t complain at all!  I didn’t walk a block and come running back into the air conditioning!  I actually STROLLED around the block.  It was nice.

October also means Halloween.  When I didn’t have kids, I really couldn’t CARE LESS about Halloween.  It’s just not my holiday.  I LOVE Christmas and save all my decorating dollars for Christmas stuff.  But now that I have kids I have to give a little in the budget to every holiday.  Number one on the Halloween list is always the costumes.  But then I have to buy a door wreath, a sign for the window, random knick-knacks for the house.  I picked up some cute stuffed pumpkins from Hallmark on clearance last year.  Since the kiddies are three and 19 months, it’s still necessary to have the non breakables.  (I’ll save the ceramic candy corn dish for later on.)

And today at Target, I found this:

It’s a Halloween countdown witch.  I love it because we have a Santa one for Christmas.  Okay, the kiddies were a TEENY bit scared of her at first, but they’ll warm up.  It’s so darn cute.  Only 30 days until Halloween!

*BTW, on a COMPLETELY different note, how GOOD did Madonna look on David Letterman last night?  She makes me want to grow my hair out, buy a sexy black dress, and wear some really expensive shades.  She rocked it.

Happy Fourth of July!

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