Books Read in 2008

As part of the '08 resolutions, I had hoped to read just one book a month. I did it; here's my list:

Change of Heart

The Art of Mending

The Year of Pleasures

Roseflower Creek

Cold Rock River

A Three Dog Life

Light on Snow

The Year of Fog

Everyday Sacred

Water for Elephants

Real.Life.Scrapbooking

My Sister's Keeper

Life Artist

The Friendship Test

Remember Today 12.31.08

{remember} the traditional Chinese Food takeout dinner with the boys, and me going to bed at 9:30 and seeing zippo of the New Year's celebrations on TV. Just physically and emotionally drained this year. . .

Remember Today 12.30.08

{remember} bowling with friends (forgot my camera). Maddox's excitement at knocking pins down and his animation about the game in general was priceless.

Remember Today 12.29.08

{remember} playdates for L & C--Logan's friend stayed straight through dinner--L was psyched.

Remember Today 12.27.08

{remember} another day of nothingness that I so need and deserve (and a little nap).

Remember Today 12.26.08

{remember} a day of playing with the boys, nothing but playing: Rock Band, Wii Sports, Cadoo, hockey, skateboarding. This is my favorite day of the holiday season.

Remember Today 12.25.08

{remember} a wonderful Christmas: the boys' excitement at what Santa brought, spending the day with my family: giving, receiving, eating, laughing, crying, talking, oh and more eating; and crawling into bed exhausted and relieved that it's over and looking forward to a day of playing tomorrow. Merry Chritmas to all, and to all a good night.

Remember Today 12.24.08

{remember} a leisurely Christmas Eve day, delicious Christmas Eve dinner with Perry's family, and a teary-eyed Christmas Eve church service.

Cookies for Santa

This year I am incredibly late baking the Christmas cookies, which isn't necessarily a bad thing--they'll be fresher for Santa. This year we made 4 kinds:

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Thumbprint (these were Perry's faves)

taken from allrecipes.com

1 1/2 c flour

1/3 c baking cocoa (or grind baking chocolate pieces in the blender like I did to get 1/3 c of powder cause I didn't check my ingredients list before I began--I digress)

1 1/2 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

Combine the above in a small bowl.

Melt 1 c. semi-sweet morsels in saucepan, stirring constantly until smooth.

Beat 1 c. granuated sugar, 1/3 c. peanut butter, 1/3 c. softened butter, and 1 1/2 t vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy.

Beat in melted chocolate.

Add 2 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in remaining package of semi-sweet morsels.

Cover and refrigerate until firm.

Shape dough into 1 1/2" balls; press thumb into tops and fill with 1/2 t peanut butter.

Bake on an ungreased baking sheet for 10-15 minutes at 350--until sides are set but centers are slightly soft.

Cool on wire racks.

Sugar Cookie Cut-outs (the kids' faves)

my Godmother's mother's recipe

3/4 c. butter softened (can be part shortening, but I never have this on hand)

1 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 t lemon extract

Beat above until creamy.

In separate bowl combine 2 1/2 c flour, 1 t baking powder, 1 t salt. Blend into the butter/sugar mixture.

Chill dough overnight.

Roll dough to 1/8" thick and cut with cookie cutters and decorate with sprinkles (hence the boys' favorite cookies). Bake on ungreased cookie sheet in 400 degree oven for 6-8 minutes until golden but not browned.

Raspberry Almond Thumbprints

from Land-O-Lakes Holiday cookbook

2/3 c sugar

2 sticks butter softened (1 c)

1/2 t almond extract

Beat above in large mixer bowl.

Gradually add 2 cups flour. Blend until mixed well.

Shape dough into 1" balls. Press thumb into top and fill wth 1/4 t raspberry jam.

Bake at 350 for 14-18 minutes until golden.

Mint Spritz with Mint Kisses

In large mixer bowl combine 2/3 c sugar, 2 sticks softened butter, 1 egg, 1/2 t salt, and 1/4 t mint extract until creamy.

Gradually add 2 1/4 c flour until well mixed. Use a cookie press (I got mine for like $6 at CTS years ago and it works like a charm. Look at these perfect little flowers:

Bake at 400 for 6-8 minutes. Immediately after removing cookies from the oven place one mint filled chocolate kiss in the center of each flower. Cool completely before storing.

Enjoy!

Remember Today 12.23.08

{remember} a day of cookie baking with M.

Remember Today 12.22.08

{remember} being able to join in Logan's classroom holiday celebration and being witness to this class group hug--love this woman:

Remember Today 12.21.08

{remember} making the gingerbread house with the boys and being lucky we had enough candy after their "samplings" to decorate it.

Guess where Camden was? Yup, watching the Bruins on tv.

Remember Today 12.20.08

{remember} our annual family Christmas party at our home: lots of good food, seeing and catching up with family we don't often see, a Yankee Swap with lots of laughs--good Christmas cheer!

Remember Today 12.19.08

{remember} an early release day for the boys due to snow, and them building snowforts with friends in the neighbor's front yard.

Simple Act of Kindness

Today I dragged Camden and Maddox around on several last-minute holiday errands after picking C up from school. He absolutely despises having to go anywhere after school, but with Christmas next week, I had no choice. He moaned, groaned, complained and whined every step through every store: "I just want to go home and play Webkinz" over and over and over again. We finally pull onto our street and as we drove along I noticed a little old man struggling to clear the ice off his driveway before the next batch of snow was due to hit. I thought of how "Hallmark" it would be to help him, but my mind quickly raced through all of its censoring that adults just seem to have: what if he doesn't want our help, what if he's too proud to accept help, what if he's particular about what type of shovel scrapes across his driveway. "Camden, wouldn't it be nice to walk up and help that man shovel his driveway?" I called to the backseat, expecting him to cry out, "No, I'm playing Webkinz." He replied very simply, "Let's do it." Ahh, to think with the simple mind of a child, and none of the complicatedness of an adult.

Remember Today 12.18.08

{remember today} shoveling out an elderly neighbor's driveway with C & M.

The Snowy Day

The view from our backyard this morning:

Today marked the first real snow of the season. After the boys got off to school, Maddox asked if he could go out to play in the snow, something he never did last year. Despite the cleaning I had to do to get ready for a family party this weekend, there was no way I could turn down his precious request. So geared in snowpants, boots, mittens, hats, and coats we trudged out into the one inch of snow. He had a ball and I got some great shots:

Note the snotty nose in this one. Guess it's time to go inside.

Remember Today 12.17.08

{remember} the neighborhood kids (and then some) having a blast sledding down the hill in our backyard. It didn't matter that the snow was only an inch thick (if that), or that it was getting dark, or that they'd been at it for an hour and 45 minutes. Does anything compare to the first real snow of the season?

The shutter stayed open way too long for this shot, but I love the rainbow of color from everyone's jackets.

Yippee!

A few days ago I sent a layout to Donna Downey's inbox based on a sketch she had posted on her blog from her book. I hadn't scrapbooked in months, and it felt so good to drop everything at this crazy time of the year and scrapbook. Well, I just checked out a new posting on her blog, and guess what? She picked my layout as one of her favorites! I am beyond excited. Go check it out here.

This afternoon, as is our daily ritual every school day at 3:45, C & M & I walked out of our house to go down to the bus stop to greet Logan. Except, today, unlike any other day, there was a large, full-color box in the driveway with a highly-detailed picture of a drum set on it. Did I mention this box was large and full-color? The two boys squealed with delight and ran to the box, saying "Drums! Is that ours? I want that!" I followed quickly behind and did my best to cover up the shipping label with items I had in my hand. But, of course, even with the shipping label covered, Camden spots the address hand-scrawled in large Sharpie letters, with, what? our street and house number! "It is ours, see," he exclaimed leaving me clamoring for the right words. "Uhhh, I think UPS messed up. This can't be ours. I don't know. I'll have to check with your Dad {to consult on the lie that we will concoct to cover up this huge blunder of gift giving}. I have one question, at this time of year what is BJ's thinking sending a box in it's original packaging?
So now we are left with a few lies options: tell the boys that Daddy ordered this for a friend at work to give to his child {might raise the question of how sneaky parents can be to hide presents from their children}; tell L & C that Santa couldn't fit this in his sleigh so he shipped it early and it's for M {starts them wondering exactly how does Santa fit all those gifts in his sleigh, and they probably wouldn't keep the surprise secret from M}, tell the boys that Santa has started some trial runs in preparation for his big trip next week, and this box must have fallen out of his sleigh {ok, really far-fetched, and the laws of physics would come into play here, even for a 5- and 7-year-old}. So here's the one we settled on, thought up by my brilliant husband: we'll tell them that UPS messed up in the delivery, but Mommy saw how excited you were when you saw the box that Daddy made a trip to the mall after work to ask Santa if he could possibly bring drums for you. Whew, problem solved. Now let's just hope they BELIEVE. And if this starts them questioning the reality of Santa, we'll just bring out the movie Miracle on 34th Street.

Remember Today 12.16.08

{remember} Waking up to Logan telling me that he read for 42 minutes this morning in bed--love, love, love that he is a reader!

Remember Today 12.15.08

{remember} watching Maddox slide into the pool, jump off the block, and ring-around-the-rosey in his last swim class of the session without a single tear. He ended the class by swimming back the length of the pool saying, "Mommy, watch this," and then dunking his whole face into the water--so happy and proud--both of us!

Remember Today 12.14.08

{remember} knowing that I have such good people in my life and how very blessed I am.

A page

When's the last time I created a layout? I really have no idea--it has to be more than a month ago. Here's one I did tonight after seeing Donna Downey's blog post from Wednesday. Couldn't pass up a chance to whip up a page by scraplifting her layout design. And whip I did, in under 45 minutes from photos to finish. I used a flower from a SU! kit that I was saving for a new scrapbooking club that I'm starting in January--hope I don't regret that!

Remember Today 12.13.08

{remember} Camden going to his first Bruin's game with Perry and returning like this

while Logan, Maddox, and I went to the movies (Maddox's first time--loved watching him riveted to the enormous screen) to see Bolt--very cute.

Self Portrait

I can't believe I'm posting a picture of my self wearing my glasses. It's all in good fun, and I'm modeling the button headband I made in less than an hour inspired by the Elsie class. I guess I am actually putting some of her projects to use. . .

Remember Today 12.12.08

{remember} the wreck my town is in after a terrible ice storm last night: tree limbs all over yards and roads and cars, power lines draped across roadways, clumps of ice falling from trees, clumps of branches falling from trees, power outages. Here are pics of my friend's new car just bought this week:

Yikes! My parents are still without power nearly 24 hours later. My sister purchased a pricey generator to replace their lost power.

I can't help but think, "it could be worse." What else can you say at times like these.

A Visit with Santa

Today was the annual visit with Santa. I prepped Maddox ahead of time with my very sympathetic pep talk: "You're only allowed to cry once with Santa, and you used up your cry last year. So there will be no crying when you sit on Santa's lap, got it?" Well, I guessed it worked, but I don't think his big brothers had the faith in him that I did. They were more interested in watching Maddox's reaction than seeing the big man himself:

We actually got a picture with everyone smiling:

And after the photo shoot, Maddox allowed Santa to actually talk to him and he even looked him in the eyes and smiled. I'm thinking after seeing what Santa brings him this Christmas, his whole outlook on the bearded man in the red suit is going to change completely.

Poor Camden, when Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas, the pressure was just too great and his mind went totally blank. He couldn't name a single thing on his list, even after several minutes of thought:

Before we left the mall we saw this adorable display set up in Macy's. The boys set right to work writing letters to Santa:Logan's Letter:

Camden's Letter:

Remember Today 12.11.08

{remember} an unexpected bit of freedom while my Mom took the boys: volunteering in C's class for an hour, grocery shopping with my own peaceful thoughts and purchasing only those items that we need (yes, I needed that Symphony toffee and almond chocolate bar--besides it was on sale!), excitedly picking up this from the library, and ending the day with a visit with Santa at the mall--and M didn't cry, even though he really, really wanted to!

Remember Today 12.10.08

{remember} Logan coming home from school every day this week and going directly upstairs to turn on his new Metallica CD from Santa (it had to come from Santa, because I would never buy him such brain rotting music!)

Remember Today 12.9.08

{remember} finally being able to go shopping and cross some items of my list, after all there are only 15 more shopping days 'til Christmas (in case you're counting!).

Remember Today 12.8.08

{remember} Sick Day #864: Just when I thought life around here would return to normal, and I could actually get a little Christmas shopping done with Logan finally feeling healthy enough for school, Camden is home with a bellyache--ugghh!

Remember Today 12.7.08

{remember} Perry's annual family holiday party: yummy food, the coin toss, a visit from Santa, and of course, the Chicken Dance with Nani:

Remember Today 12.6.08

{remember} snapping some photos of Christmas decos this holiday season. And getting this one of my favorite wall in my home:

I scanned and printed these at the Kodak picture kiosk at Target after my Grandmother passed. They are photos of my dad, his brother, and my grandparents. Love the stories they tell.

Remember Today 12.5.08

{remember} making the big escape from the sick ward to attend Perry's firm's Christmas party--plans to leave by 10:30 turned into leaving close to 1 am--whoops! We didn't anticipate how fun it would be (and how much I would enjoy a night out after being cooped up all week).

Remember Today 12.4.08

{remember} Sick Day #4: Saved yet again by my Mom who came to my house this morning so that I could run to the grocery store to pick up food to actually be able to feed my family something other than scrambled eggs and hot dogs (not that Logan is eating more than 2 bites of bagel a day anyway).

Breaking all the Rules

I seem to be breaking all the rules this holiday season. First the fake tree, and now I have just ordered our family Christmas card from Shutterfly. I had full intentions of hand-making my holiday cards this year (for the 7th year). I even had an adorable layout in mind based on a birthday invitation Camden had recieved. But Halloween came and went and I hadn't created a mock up of the card to be able to order my supplies. That's when I put Plan B into action: a digitally scrapped card that I could upload and have printed. Brilliant, and it buys me a bit more time since I don't have to individually craft each card on my ever-growing list. On comes Thanksgiving with full force (and lots of turkey and fixings), and still no digital card in the works. I hadn't even settled on a photo to use. . .or maybe I would take the boys on a photo shoot by trespassing on my neighbor's property to capture the New England-esque landscaping. Well, then Logan comes down with this bug and we are set back almost an entire week (and I, in no way mean this rambling to be a series of excuses for why you all are not receiving a handmade card from me this year--I fully admit that I am a slacker and a procrastinator in the worst way). So tonight I did it. I ordered our card and it was so easy it was scary--scaring me right into wondering if I'll ever do handmade again. A couple of clicks, a few swirls of the mouse to edit the photo (specifically edit Perry and I out of the photo), and voila 75 cards on their way to us for less than it costs me to make them.

Remember Today 12.3.08

{remember} Sick Day #3: getting out of the house for the first time in three days to return library materials (don't want any late fees on my record), and pick up L's work from school--left L & M in their jammies in the car.

Remember Today 12.2.08

{remember} Sick Day #2: Logan laying in my bed ALL day long (only getting up once to pee); the four of us taking a much needed afternoon nap; and finding Cloth, Paper, Scissors mag in my mailbox (a gift from my scraping friends--love those guys!).

Remember Today 12.1.08

{remember} Sick Day #1 for Logan: making him a Lost Boy Bear (from elsie's class) and hanging out in my bedroom all day long.

{remember} taking the entire day to decorate the house for Christmas: enjoying the slowness, and knowing it's probably the only bit of slowness we'll have all month.

Remember Today 11.29.08

{remember} decorating the tree--a whole week early. Logan and Maddox actually did most of it and it shows: 2/3 of the ornaments are in the lower 1/4 of the tree.
And a movie night with Perry: Juno and 27 Dresses--brings us back to our pre-kids date nights: movies and popcorn on the couch every weekend.

The Fake Out

Never say never. I've broken possibly my first "I will never do that". We put our tree up today, the day after Thanksgiving, for the first time ever. But that's not the "never" part I was referring to. First, here's a picture of our tree this year:

Isn't it beautiful?: the shape, the proportion, the fullness, the green-ness, the abscence of needles on the floor, the missing ten gallon pot of water leaking onto the rug. Yes, we have gone fake this year. And, no, I will not be missing the daily vacuuming of needles scattered all over the rug and throughout the house, the waking in the middle of the night because I have forgotten to water the tree, and the scent? What scent? Our trees always died within the first week anyway--there was never any scent. They make a candle for that stuff anyway. I am not at all regretting going fake. And I ask you, do these look like the branches of a fake tree?

The 12 tags of Christmas

Tim Holtz is at it again this year with his 12 holiday themed technique tags from Dec 1st through the 12th. You can spark your creativity here and check out last year's creations here. If I play along, I'll be sure to post my creations, too.

Remember Today 11.28.08

{remember} resting my big ol' still-full belly by staying in bed until 8:30 this morning (not sleeping, of course with Maddox crawling all over me, but in bed nonetheless). Spending the day (down one child--L stayed over at my parents' on Thanksgiving) putting up our tree (more on that later) and lounging around (i.e. watching kid movies, laying on the couch, putzing around the kitchen, playing Balloon Lagoon with M, really accomplishing not much of anything and not feeling at all guilty about it!)--great day of nothingness.

Remember Today 11.27.08

{remember} Happy Thanksgiving! Giving thanks for my Mom's great cooking, family togetherness, lots of laughter, healthy, happy children, a supportive, loving husband, wonderful friends, simply. . . a beautiful life.

Remember Today 11.26.08

{remember} hanging with the three boys home from school, a trip to the library for loads of reading material for all: some C George and hockey for Cam, puppies and food for MadDog, and after being shown the hockey section by Camden, Logan exchanged his graphic novels for Gretzky (of which he read the first 14 pages laying on the floor in the library: "Mom, did you know Wayne Gretzky was so good at hockey at age 6 he was placed on a team with 11 and 12 year olds? Mom, listen to this: At age 17, Wayne Gretzky was signed to pro". . .). I checked out these two: Living the Creative Life and Visual Chronicles. A trip to the Y with friends to break up the day and then dinner and a movie (Harry Potter, which the boys had never seen) before bed.

Remember Today 11.25.08

{remember} Camden helping Maddox to finally log his pet onto WebKinz for the first time. Of course, Camden had ulterior motives: 2000 webkinz cash to spend outfitting a pet with new digs; but it was so sweet to see him showing Maddox what to do and M totally engrossed in what he was doing (at least for 10 minutes or so).

Remember Today 11.24.08

{remember} getting my gas for $1.28 a gallon (thank you Stop & Shop) and lobsters for $4.99/lb. So, so yummy! I only wish I had bought one more for Logan (then I wouldn't have had to share mine!).

Remember Today 11.23.08

{remember} a day of crafting and creating this little cutie:


For more details and info on an upcoming class, check out Life Made Creations.

Remember Today 11.22.08

{remember} that as much as Perry and I can bicker about all kinds of petty issues, we really do work beautifully together (like when we moved two large pieces of furniture and a 200 lb 32" tube tv down a flight of stairs today).

Remember Today 11.21.08

{remember} chaperoning Logan's field trip: an outside, chilly, bundled up trip back in time. Our favorite: the potter and his pottery.

Remember Today 11.20.08

{remember} how afraid Maddox is of Santa. Santa's coming is something that is mentioned at least once a day around here in one form or another: "Santa's watching" or "put that on your list for Santa." Today at the grocery store, M was coveting some Lindt foil wrapped snowmen chocolates. As I made a mental note about stocking stuffers, I told him we were not buying those today and he could ask Santa for them. "No, I'm too scared of Santa" was his reply. An hour and 45 minutes later from the backseat of the car on the way to the library comes his little voice: "Mommy, who will tell Santa I wanna have those chocolates? Will you tell him, cause I'm gonna be sleeping. I don't wanna see Santa when he comes." Precious, but I'm a bit nervous that someone may be too scared to sleep on Christmas Eve!

Remember Today 11.19.08

{remember} a little afternoon tea, shopping for Christmas jammies for the boys (and me!),Perry home in time for dinner. . .

Happiness is. . .

*finding cutie owl jammies that I've been eyeing on sale for 50% off today:

*and then some adorable owl slippers to match:

*feeling inspired to sketch a jammie-inspired owl:

Remember Today 11.18.08

{remember} taking Maddox back to the Y for some more swimming, this time with me in the pool--loving watching him float around on his back all by himself.

Remember Today 11.17.08

{remember} hanging at the Y with Maddox after his swim class--so nice to have no where to be and not much to do.

Hello Blog Readers

So, apparently people other than my parents and Perry's parents actually read my blog (hi, Shannon O!). I found this out the other day and now feel like a totally bad blogger because I haven't been updating my blog much, ok, at all lately. I apologize for being 110% completely and utterly engrossed in craft fair preparations (whew, that was a lot of work, tons of fun, but a lot of work). Now that it is over, I feel like a totally new woman with all kinds of free time on my hands (shhh, don't tell my husband). So, this note is to let you know that I am back, will be caught up to date, and will be posting all kinds of craftiness at my other blog, and maybe even a few classes there, too! I am feeling totally energized and ready to concentrate on the upcoming holiday season (thank goodness for this because there are only 5 and a half more weeks until Christmas--yikes!). And the two online classes I am taking right now have me totally inspired to create, create, create.

Do me a favor and leave a comment if you read this post? Nothing elaborate (unless of course you want to), just to let me know who out there is actually reading this. :) Maybe there will even be a little free stuff (aka, leftovers from the craft fair) in it for you!

Remember Today 11.16.08

{remember} catching up on some much needed sleep with a little nap on the couch--nightie-night!

Remember Today 11.15.08

{remember} a fun-filled day at the craft fair culminating in an evening of dancing my butt off (literally!)--great friends, great music, fun, fun times.

Remember Today 11.14.08

{remember} a crazy day of last minute prep for the craft fair and, oh yeah, the You Ball gala--hello dress, wrap, jewelry, shoes, jacket. . .

Remember Today 11.13.08

{remember} the last push for craftiness before the fair, and squeezing in some time for a much needed lip and brow wax (yeah, Camden told me I had some hair growing above my lip again the other night).

Remember Today 11.11.08

{remember} all three boys home for Veteran's Day--a day of nothing while Logan recovers from the stomach bug.

Maddox playing farm on my bed:



Logan snoozing away with Camden by his side:

Creativity Interrupted

So I am sitting in my stUdio last night working on my binder for the online class Stories in Hand when from down the other end of the hall comes the yell of, "Mommmmmmy! I threw up." Oh, yeah, all over the sheets, pillow, and blanket, all over his legs and even his socks. Poor Logan. Somehow this scenario is better than the one from a week ago when Camden woke me from a dead sleep with his vomitting. Well, the vomitting ensued into the early morning hours with me dozing between episodes. The good news, he made it into the puke bucket everytime! Ahhhh, motherhood, is this fun, or what!

Remember Today 11.10.08

{remember} the start of two online classes--let the creative juices flow!

Remember Today 11.9.08

{remember} picking up my display boards that my dad built for the fair--thank you, Dad!! Here's a sneak peak:

Didn't he do a super awesome job?!

Remember Today 11.8.08

{remember} how much darn work this craft fair is--more crafting and preparations.

Remember Today 11.7.08

{remember} skipping out on Pilates to take Maddox to the library; watching Because of Winn Dixie with the boys--a new favorite family flick!

Remember Today 11.6.08

{remember} a day of crafting while my mom had the boys: 9 layouts for the craft fair--check!

Rememeber Today 11.5.08

{remember} savoring my last quiet Wednesday morning at the library while Maddox is at his last day of "school."

A free day

The boys didn't have school today for parent-teacher conferences. I love days like this thrown into the week--totally free, no rush to get up, dressed and out the door in the morning. Lounge-filled, carefree, lazy, do-nothing days. I did have to attend the boys' conferences at noon where both boys received outstanding reports. I was told that Logan "loves to read" (how thrilled am I!!!) and Camden is a very good friend (no real surprise here). Logan could pick up the pace with his work and Camden needs to work on his writing more.






The Lost Boys playing in the woods (Logan's "best day ever") Note the boots on Camden's feet complements of Kayla.

Remember Today 11.4.08

{remember} an early morning run with neighbors--ouch. I am just not a runner--give me a power walk any day.

Remember Today 11.3.08

{remember} Maddox's first swim class by himself, me being able to sit outside the glass all alone for the first time ever. He absolutely loved it, but told me after that he didn't like going under.

Remember Today 11.2.08

{remember} being woken from a sound sleep at 2:00 in the morning in a pitch dark room to the sounds of someone vomitting on the floor next to me. Fumbling for the light switch and my glasses on the nightstand to find poor Camden laying on the rug in a pool of throw up. Ahhh, the joys of motherhood.

Remember Today 11.1.08

{remember} the last soccer games of the season for both boys. Dare I say thank goodness it's over: I need a break, the boys need some downtime, and baby, it's cold out there!

Happy Halloween

Halloween this year was loads of fun for everyone. Maddox was a little trooper treking from door to door keeping right up with his brothers. He didn't complain once and didn't need to be carried until the walk back to our house. Camden was in his glory trick-or-treating with his friend Lauren. And Logan was thrilled with his spooky costume, but conservatively decided not to keep his skull light lit for fear he'd run out the batteries before the night was over--typical of him! Some snapshots from the night:

Our l'il punkin: The hat he's wearing is from Logan's infant costume; think he'll be mad about that in 10 years?


Skullzor:


What a crew: Skullzor, Tim Thomas of the BB's, and Pumpkin Boy


Trick-or-Treat!!


Lots of fun and lots of candy. We always dump it out and take an official count when we get home. Here are this year's stats:
Logan: 123 pieces
Camden: 132 pieces
Maddox: 81 pieces
Grand Total: 336 pieces of sugary, teeth-rotting, hyperactivity-inducing sweetness!