Worst Halloween Evah!

This pumpkin represents our Halloween this year: soggy, sad and slumped over.
First of all, it rained. And rained and rained and rained.

In the morning I was hopeful that we'd get the rain out of the way in time for trick-or-treating--but no, it actually got worse as the day went on to the point where the sidewalks started flooding.

Although Halloween fell on a Saturday this year, our trick or treating was slated for Friday as the school parade and parties are all part of the Halloween tradition. So the plan was that the kids go to school in the morning and then come home at lunch to get their costumes on--then back to school for the parade, etc.

So I practically swam to school to get the kids at lunch and began the frenzy of costumes and makeup application.

Patrick was going to be a zombie-type Ronald McDonald. (By the way I started earching for Ronlad costumes on eBay, etc. a few weeks ago and they were expensive--like $150! Then I scored one for $20 on Craigslist!)

So anyway, I had just applied Patrick's clown makeup and was trying to get his wig adjusted when he suddenly sluped over Teddy who was sitting in a kitchen chair. At first I thought he was goofing around and bothering Teddy or something--but I was screaming "Get up Patrick!" and Teddy was screaming "Get off me!" and I was like shaking him and stuff when I realized he had fainted!

I was so scared, but he came to and seemed okay, though a little dizzy... I called the doctor who thought it was a fluke due to the humid weather, costume, wig and whatnot--so I kept him home from school for the rest of the day so he could lie down.

I call this pic Clown Down.

So that kind of put a major damper on the day, but after resting for awhile, seemed well enough for trick or treating, so we ventured out into the muck.

Now for some pics:

Pickle, for months now, has been saying she wanted to be a "Pink Girl" for Halloween--but it sounds extra cute when she says it because it kind of sounds like she has a little English accent when she says "girl." The Pink Girl is a "Supergirl" costume she saw in a catalog and she was adamant about it--so that's what she was!

She was thrilled that she could wear some "pink girl makeup" too!
Gooser was a Transformer and Teddy was (a very realistic, I think!) Michael Jackson:
Here's Patrick perked up and Pickle:
All the kids outside--Andy was the Burger King:
Here I am hiding under two umbrellas!
This is what the sidewalks looked like:
Andy had to carry Pickle through all that water!
Action trick-or-treating shot!
I love this pic:
After the candy and the rain, we came home to have our little party, but it wasn't nearly as fun as usual, because my sister and her kids always come--but they couldn't this year because one of her kids was diagnosed with stupid Swine Flu.

But I managed to make some cupcakes:
And the grossly delicious Kitty Litter cake:

And I made some chili and decorated and stuff...

...but it just wasn't the same.

Let's hope next year is better!!

Weekend Getaway: The Good, The Bad and The Scary!!

First off, I'm in a semi-rage because I wrote a looong post a couple of nights ago and uploaded a LOT of pictures--and the whole thing deleted--just like that! No back-up, nothin'. So I'm disgruntled, but I will regroup now and carrry on!

So what I was going on (and on) about was that the work on our new house is finally FINALLY done!! Well, mostly...we still have to do a little floor refinishing so we will have to evacuate in a couple of weeks for a few days--but after all that's gone on here, that doesn't seem too bad.

So now that the house is under control, we managed to go off for a little weekend getaway--well technically we were going out of town for a funeral because Don's aunt fell out a window (!?!) (although the details are sketchy and shrouded in mystery) but then there was confusion with the date of the funeral, so actually we missed it entirely. So in a nutshell--we went out of town for a non-funeral and to investigate the scene of the crime so to speak where the unfortunate window accident occured.

Are you confused yet? I am. Now you can see why I'm so mad my other post was deleted--I swear it made more sense the first time I wrote it!

So we drove to the farm town where Don's mom grew up (Trivia: Don's mom rode in a cart pulled by a pony to school every day.) (More trivia: The pony's name was Don! Is it weird he's named after a horse?).

Anyway, we went to this town which is very quaint and was extra-nice because of the fall folliage--also making for a great backdrop for photos of the kids!

Our first stop was the farm where Don's mom grew up (and also the scene of the window accident). There were so many beautiful spots for pics!

I made the kids lay down in the leaves for a photo op--though they were not too keen on doing it!
They look happy--but they were complaining.
Andy and Pickle were the only ones that enjoyed it!
Here are some of the kids in front of a shed:
The farm is surrounded by corn fields as far as the eye can see--so we ended up with lots of corn pics.
Pickle was really into the corn! It's grain corn and very beautiful:
All the kids posing with their corn:
Here's Pickle with some kind of grain. Hay? I'm not too good with the farm terms...
And Pickle checking out the well water (I love this pic):
And yet another one of Pickle hanging on a windmill:
The smokehouse:
This place was infested with lady bugs! I call this pic Potrait of suitcase and Lady Bugs:
Oops--another one of Pickle ringing the dinner bell:
After that, we headed down the road to the family cemetery. There were lots of cool picture opportunities there too.


Here's the cemetery with the cornfields in the background:
I liked the way the moss looked on this gravestone:
Poor Bony Bly! Struck down by one of those newfangled automobiles!
Gooser amongst the graves:
This Way Up:
Angel grave:
Miss Pickle:
After the cemetery, we did a little more sightseeing around town. Here are the kids posing by a river:
And by some beautiful trees:
I LOVE this pic of Pickle!!

Here are the kids with a cool statue:

And now for the scary part of the trip...

We went out for a nice dinner that evening and Pickle ate the usual kid fare--grilled cheese, etc.--but she had a bite of Teddy's raspberry cheesecake and things went rapidly downhill after that.

Right after eating it she said she felt like she was going to throw up--and as soon as we got to the hotel room, she did. All over everything...

But as I was changing her pajamas I noticed that she had a bumpy rash on her stomach and I realized she was having an allergic reaction.

Patrick has a peaunut allergy (nightmare!) so I always carry Benadryl in my purse and I gave her one right away. Then she had a bath and seemed to be fine, so I put her to bed.

About a half hour later, she started coughing. At first I thought Oh no--I hope she's not getting sick. Then, as the coughing continued, I started to worry that maybe she had aspirated the vomit when she got sick and it was messing up her lungs or something.

So I got her out of the crib and realized that not only was she coughing non-stop, she was wheezing and it sounded BAD.

She was kind of scratching at herself so I lifted up her pajama top and saw that she was COVERED in a horrible rash.

By now it was about 11:00 at night, but Don and I had no choice--we had to drive her to the nearest Emergency Room. Which was unfortunately not very close.

I decided to give her one more Benadryl before we left--and I'm so glad I did--because I think it made a huge difference in her breathing. Then we had to drive on these very dark and winding roads--not really knowing where we were going. And did I mention it was raining?

But we made it in one piece and they were able to fix her right up with some steroids and antihistimines.

This is what the backs of her legs looked like:

Basically, her entire body was bright red and covered with bumps. It was SO scary!

Poor Pickle!

But she's fine now--though I have to get to the bottom of what she's allergic to. I called the restaurant, thinking there must have been nuts in that cheesecake, but they say no...I'm having her allergy tested soon.

The next day we were all exausted from our night of terror, so we didn't hang around long--just for breakfast and a few more pics.

Here are some of Teddy looking like a little model!

Gooser and Patrick:

And, finally, the kids posing on some rocks:

OMG--can you believe how long this post is? Can you believe I had to write it TWICE?? Sorry if it's incoherent--it's late, but I'm determined to post it tonight.

Fishcapades

You know when you have kids and the house is just too quiet? And not a good peaceful kind of quiet--a "what are they up to?" kind of quiet. I had one of those episodes today...

I was in the kitchen with Pickle and she was happily playing with her Little Pet Shop animals so I called my sister and, while I was talking, walked into the living room to try and clean up a little while I chatted.

A few minutes into the conversation I that that sudden "it's too quiet here" feeling. Normally, very little time can pass without Pickle asking for something to eat or drink or making general demands--I knew something was up!

What I discovered was a most disturbing sight--water everywhere and Pickle near the fish tank holding a bag of cotton balls.

Upon closer examination, I realized that she had decided to fill the tank with the cotton balls while removing stuff like plants and rocks which were strewn all over the floor.

As I removed more and more of the drenched cotton balls, I realized one of the fish was missing.

I looked all over the floor and couldn't find him anywhere. Then I spotted the poor thing in a nearby basket. I scooped him up in my hand but he was totally lifeless.

On the off chance a miracle could occur, I plunged him into the water and he took a fish gasp and came back to life!

I don't know how long he was out of the water--but apparently a fish can look totally dead and still be alive!

Anyway, Pickle got in BIG trouble and had to go on a time-out in her room which she was not the least bit happy about.

But, when the time-out was over and she calmed down, she uttered one of the better Pickle quotes: I told her to go apologize to the fish and she said "I sorry fish. I sorry I killed you."

I had to hide in the other room so she wouldn't see me laughing!

Sorry I killed you...

Apple Picking

This past weekend we decided to flee from all the chaos and construction of the new house--so at about 4:00, I kicked out all of our workmen and we headed out of town. It was SO nice to have some time away from The Move--it's been so all-consuming and we needed a break.

The highlight of the weekend was apple picking. Just being out in the fresh air on a perfectly perfect fall day was great!

Here's Teddy climbing a grain silo:

And Teddy and Pickle on the wagon that took us around the orchard:
Miss Pickle bagging some apples. Look at all those apples on the ground! What a waste...
The Gooser looking dapper in a Batman shirt and blazer (notice he's lost his front teeth):

Here's Patrick with his bag o' apples:
Group shot! I think this one has potential for the Christmas card?
Andy, Patrick and Gooser riding on the wagon...
...pulled by these:

Portrait of Gooser in the orchard:
This place also had a nice pumpkin patch. Here's Pickle amongst the pumpkins:

Andy found a good one!

A sweet brother/sister moment. Awwwwww!

I loooove this Pickle pic!!
When we were finished with the fruit and gourd picking, we stopped by the country store for cider and doughnuts and all that jazz. They also had an outdoor barbeque going with grilled corn on the cob. It was SO good!
Children of the corn!

Quick house update--things still look like this around here:
You can see why it was so nice to get away for the weekend...

Please make it end! I can't take much more!!

Happy Birthday Pickle!!

How can my little Pickle be 3??? It doesn't seem possible, but it's happening--and although I'm sad that the baby days are pretty much behind us, I am excited about all the mom/daughter adventures in our future!

We are going to have a birthday lunch at American Girl Place and I'm going to let her choose a doll as a present. She is VERY excited about this! Tonight we chose a dress and shoes for her to wear tomorrow and when I wasn't looking she took off her pajamas and was attempting to put the dress on.

She was so bent on doing it that I helped her get it on properly and she REFUSED to take it off. At one point, she was hiding behind a chair crying that she wanted to wear her dress to bed.

But I finally got her to sleep (in her pajamas!) and I have to admit I got a little teary when she gave me her last goodnight kiss as a two year old.

I've been terrible about taking pictures lately, but I'll be sure to document our birthday adventures.

Happy Birthday Pickle!!!!

Birthday Week!

A little bacon-loving girl I know is having a birthday this week (Friday to be exact) and she's fully in birthday mode.Notice that she's wearing a princess birthday hat (with a bow) and carrying a princess birthday crown? She's ready to go!

Unfortunately, I don't have anything spectacular planned since we are still mired in the move and construction. See--look at the background which is my living room:

See how the floors are covered in paper and everything is covered in plastic? That giant thing looming behind Pickle is what I call the "plastic cage":

There's kind of a cool story behind why that's there, but I'm saving it for when the project is complete and I can do the proper unveiling.

But back to Pickle--my mom was planning on hosting a party for her this weekend somewhere away from all this mess, but we just found out that one of my sister's kids has the dreaded "coxsackie virus" (Kerri--if you're reading this-remember the Coxsackie Grandma!?) also known as hand, foot and mouth disease. Apparently it is highly contagious and the poor thing's mouth and throat are covered in blisters--so I think it's best to postpone the party until everyone is healthy and non-blistery.

So we'll have some kind of small family thing on her actual birthday and her bigger extravaganza in a couple of weeks. Which is just as well because she can't make up her mind on a party theme--she's gone from My Little Pony to princess to Strawberry Shortcake and back again.

In other news:

--Gooser was diagnosed Thursday with DOUBLE pneumonia (he is much better now but it was scary.)

--He threw up all over the Persian rug at the x-ray place.

--Then he threw up some more right after we gave him the much-needed antibiotics.

--I think my foot is broken.

--My wicker furniture for the new screened-in porch was delivered today.

--I now know that a "curbside" delivery means a bunch of giant boxes are taken off the truck and deposited on the sidewalk--fun!

--But it's really nice--pictures soon!

--Because my stupid dogs can escape from our new fancy fence, I had to waste money on purchase an "Invisible Fence" to restrain them.

--Today was Day One of "training."

--Apparently my dog, Cosmo, is immune to electrical "correction."

--He stood in the force field, oblivious.

--I use a lot of quotation marks.

--I just got into a fight with Don about what temperature to keep the thermostat on.

--I know you would all side with me in this argument!!

Check Out My Spine!

Over the weekend we went to one of those salvage stores that are filled with stuff removed from old buildings and houses that are about to be torn down--we were searching for some period lighting to use in our new (old) house.

We didn't find anything that panned out, but when I saw this old model of a human spine, I knew I had to have it! It was salvaged from the basement of a hospital that was torn down.
I have it displayed in my new dining room (you can see the color we chose in the background: yam. Likey?). I like the way it looks with my funky old bejeweled lamp.

Here it is a little closer:

I love the red and yellow and green representing the nerves and cartilage and whatnot. It's totally a cool sculpture!

And a bonus pic--this is the dinner I made on Sunday night:

I was so happy to FINALLY have my kitchen back to myself (painters are done in there now) that I went whole-hog and made Julia Child's cheese souffle. I found an old PBS video and cooked along with her--it was fun! And very delicious--I highly recommend it.

Have you guys seen the Julia and Julie movie? It inspired my to try some of Julia's recipes. I got the fixins for the Beef Bourguignon so I'll be making that one next.

Way Overdue

Man, this move is ruining my blog!

That's right, we've moved--and I'm living amongst piles and piles of boxes and lots of confusion. And there is extra confusion because the painters are still here (even though they started almost a MONTH ago!) so the piles of boxes are covered with plastic and tarps.

The house i s a complete disaster area, but I'm hopeful that when the painters are done with the kitchen, I can at least set up a base there and make things semi-normal for the kids.

Oh the kids--they STILL haven't started back to school! Which has made the moving ordeal seem so much more chaotic. The school decided to do a huge renovation over the summer that dragged on (and on) so they postponed the opening. But they will return on Monday and hopefully some kind of routine here (that will include blogging!) can be established.

I'll leave with a few blogworthy highlights (well, really lowlights) that I haven't had time to write about:

--The movers were here for over 15 hours!!! Translation: the move was waaaaay more expensive than we anticipated.

--There was a mix-up and we were phoneless/Internetless until a day ago.

--Something I learned: If a box of cocoa powder explodes in a box packed with paperwork and other miscellaneous kitchen items--it's nearly impossible to clean.

--Another thing I learned: I have way too many boxes of cocoa powder.

--We installed a new fence in the yard which the dogs promptly escaped from.

--In my frenzy to catch them, I slipped and fell flat on my back and twisted my ankle in the process.

--We painted the family room purple!

Thanks for being patient with my logy blogging practices. I promise I'll be better soon...

Swimming With Dolphins!

The continuing saga of my vacation...

Get comfortable, because I took so many pictures of this day, I used up my entire memory card--that's a lot!

This was hands-down the most fun day of our trip. We set out out super early in the morning to take a ferry to Tortola which is one of the Britsh Virgin Islands so we had to bring our passports and stuff.

The ferry ride was a complete freak show--it was like one of those crazy amusement park water rides with all the bouncing and splashing--but it went on for like an hour! I was holding onto Pickle and Gooser for dear life, because one big wave could have sent them right over the side. It was...exciting?

Here's Teddy and Patrick at the beginning of the ride--by the time it was over we were all soaking wet!

I also want to mention that I had ONE prescription-strength motion sickness pill left over from years ago when my friend got married on a boat. If I hadn't taken that pill I never would have survived this ferry ride--or the rest of the day.

We arrived in Tortola and after the whole passport/customs thing walked outside to meet our trusty guide for the day: Captain Friendly.

Captain Friendly lived up to his name--he is one of the friendiest and nicest guys ever! Here's Don with The Captain:

He drove us over to the dophin swimming place on his kooky bus, telling lots of cool stories about the island along the way.

We got the the "Dolphin Adventure" and got suited up in our life jackets. Don, Pickle and Gooser don't know how to swim, so Don was the photographer and Gooser and Pickle got to sit nearby while we played with the dolphins.

First, though, we listened to a dolphin lecture so we knew what to expect. Do you know where dolphin's ears are located? I do!
Then it was dolphin time! And it was SO fun. Here's Teddy getting a ride from our dolphin friends:

Patrick doing something called a "foot push" where the dolphins swim up underneath and lift you up!
Here I am kissing a dolphin:
I can't even believe I'm showing pics of myself in a bathing suit--but while I'm at it, here I am getting a dolphin ride:

Teddy dancing with a dolphin:
This dolphin looks really into his dance with Andy!

Here we are dancing and prancing with the dolphins:
Wow--that was a great experience and now I can cross one thing off my "bucket list." I think the kids will always remember those dolphins.

Here are the kids post-dolphin swim:


And Gooser and Pickle with their stuffed dolpins from the gift shop:


When we were done, Captain Friendly was waiting for us on his bus with an icy cold bottle of Coke and fresh mangoes from his tree.

Here he is cutting up a mango (Pickle devoured them):


They were, by the way, the BEST mangoes I have ever had in my life. Here's Gooser and Patrick with their Captain Friendly treats:

Captain Friendly gave us an amazing tour of the island (again THANK GOD I took the motion sickness pill--I never would have made it!) driving up up the twisty roads of the mountains for some beautiful (though dizzying!) views):
We learned a lot of interesting new things--for instance, these are called breadfruits:
Captain Friendly said they taste like bread when they're baked and like potatoes when they're boiled (you can't eat them raw though.) I would love to try one someday!

We saw so many animals as we drove around:

Donkeys:
Lots and lots of goats:
And tons of chickens:
We stopped in the little town to look around for awhile. The streets were adorable--narrow and colorful:

I wouldn't want this job--would you?!
Then it was time for lunch. Captain Friendly drove us to this beautiful spot on the beach and we had some delicious food. This was my lunch--barbequed chicken, fried plantains and red beans and rice (also a pina colada--not pictured!).

Gooser moping--something about his stuffed dolphin...
There were also a lot of animals there which the kids were really into.
Me feeding a dog a tidbit:
There were cats too:Then we hit the beautiful white sand beach!
Pickle romping in the waves:
Gooser playing in the water:
And in the sand:

LOL!
For the last leg of our tour, Captain Friendly drove us to this crazy place called the Bomba Shack.
This place is infamous for their "Full Moon Parties." Apparently, every full moon they spike their tea with hallucinogenic mushrooms. It's not legal to sell the tea, so they give it away, but charge you for the glass. They must be pretty wild parties because the place was littered with discarded bikini tops and bottoms!
Would you drink the mushroom tea? I would be too chicken!

Anyway, we took the ferry back and just ordered a pizza that night--we were way too tired to go out for dinner. It was a GREAT day that we will always remember.

We miss you Captain Friendly!!

Please join the phabulous Candid Carrie phor some Phriday phun!

Swimming and Shopping

Thank you so much for all the positive words welcoming me back after my "hiatus!" I'm trying to get back into a new routine with overseeing the new house and packing up the old house, but the kids haven't started back to school yet, so it makes for interesting (and long!) days.

So--onto the trip recap! On this this day we headed into the town called Charlotte Amalie which is pretty tortisty because it's a port for giant cruise ships, but we wanted to check it out anyway.

The roads there were so twisty and mountainous that I almost immediately felt sick in the taxi cab and had to ask the driver to pull over--embarrassing!! Luckily, he took pity on me and drove really carefully for the rest of the trip.

Here is the view from atop one of the nausea-inducing peaks--you can see a HUGE ship out there:




Another view from way up of something called the 99 Stairs--but really there are 103 stairs--go figure!



We did some shopping in a fun outdoor market but I'm not showing any pics because I'm in all of them and look gross. The kids all bought t-shirts and fun shell necklaces and I got Pickle a cute tie-dyed dress.

We stopped for lunch at a great place called Cuzzins with lots of delicious food like fried plantains, curried conch and something called fungi which is mashed-up okra and corn meal. Also--I had a mango margarita!

Some of the streets were really narrow.
Here's the gang posing bu the water--you can see that cruise ship again.
Once we got back we were all exhausted and rested in the room for awhile, by by late afternoon we were all ready for a swim. It was a really nice hour to go swimming because the days were SO almost unbearably hot. It also made for some nice light for pictures.

Here's Pickle in the baby pool:
Practicing her floating:
A cute pic of Pickle and Gooser in the pool:
Patrick:


Teddy:

And Andy:

I also managed to get a semi-decent group shot:

That evening we decided to stay at the hotel for dinner and had a fantastic meal right on the ocean. I don't know if you can see the water in the pic because it was getting pretty dark--Pickle actually fell asleep during the meal.
Towards the end of dinner some crazy-strong winds started blowing in and wolfed down the rest of the food and ran for cover--but it was all sort of exciting and fun!

More tomorrow!