Happy Halloween 2011

Julia's first Halloween!  

Julia's not so sure why we get all the candy.  She likes attacking it and playing with the wrappers, but since none of hers was opened, it's just not as interesting.

Sammy on the other hand, was faster than every kid on our block and lead the charge from one dark sidewalk with stairs to the next!

And Elliot, mid way through needed someone else to carry her bag of candy for her...just too heavy (mind you it was half the weight of Sam's who is half the weight of Elliot, who had no trouble sprinting between houses...but we all have different motivations, right?

Snowtober before Halloween

Seriously, the costume that my kids put on first today was their full winter snow gear!  And they played outside for 45 minutes in the 3-4 inches of SNOW that fell.  So not cool New England.  We had a jam packed weekend.  Ben was gone all week at TedMed, so we greeted him at the airport Saturday at 6:30 am.  Since he was at a medical conference, he wasn't in the mood to indulge in Kanes Donuts, but was happy to go to Barry's Deli in Waban.  Then he took the girls to Elliot's last soccer game of the season.  At lunchtime we switched, and I took her to a birthday party.  Which turned out to be our first DROP OFF birthday party.  Laaaaa! really, I don't have to stay?  You want me to leave and come back in 75 minutes?! And I am alone?  Good gravy!  What to do with my time?  Head down the street to shop.  For MYSELF.  And run into Auntie Wendy while I am there.   Back to get Elliot & reunite with Ben, Julia & Sam to head to a pumpkin carving party in Cambridge...where we had no blizzard contingency plan.  Today we lazed around in the morning and then went shopping, to a dress up and dance ballet class, and then to see the Circus for the last time this run.  Auntie Kassi hit the circus while I cooked dinner and Ben & Julia watched football.  The girls helped me make a pin the nose on the pumpkin for the class Halloween party tomorrow.  Good times.  And Good Night.

That is Quinn.  I work with him.  He probably did not expect "holding baby" as part of his job description last week, but it is one of the few pictures we have with the girls all in their costumes and facing the camera.  

Not the most flattering picture, but I love it.  Samantha is like the hamburglar sitting over in the corner window watching Boston below, stuffing as many halloween oreos in her mouth as she could muster before I spotted her, snapped her picture, and then stopped her.

Apple Picking 2011

 We hit up Honey Pot Hill Orchard this year again.  This time with cousin Zoe and friends Zoe and Benjamin.  Before we even set foot in the orchard, we were chomping on cider donuts, sipping cider, running the hedge maze, and basking in the sun.  It was a great day for apples.  Even if all the honey crisps were gone by the time we got there!

 Hay ride!  Anyone remember the year the tractor hit a bump and Samantha fell backward over her hay bale and was saved from going overboard by an ankle grab of a stranger (while mommy and daddy held their coffees)?  Nothing like that happened this year.

oops, intermission cupcakes with Ruby andZoe at Ruby's house.

Julia was picking anything she could get her swiper hands on.  She's awesome.

This and That

 Love the styling Missoni girls...thanks Auntie Wendy!

 Above is the post script to Elliot's first day of Kindergarten...sleeping soundly, clutching her goggles for swimming class so she would not forget.

 Oh look at this delicious pucker!

 And Samantha's first day of her new PreSchool, Jams.  Sam goes to Jams.

Here we have dueling cousins stuck in car seats.  Miles and Julia party on.

Chandeliers! DIY: Painting a Brass Chandelier

Did you hear?  My house had 15 chandeliers when we bought it.  No joke.  Not one that we would ever pick out or wish to live with.  We replaced one of them with a purchase from West Elm.  Next up:  paint one for the kids' bedroom.   After doing adequate research on the topic and making an "urgent" trip to Home Depot...you know, must get there before it closes on Saturday night to be armed to tackle project at break of dawn Sunday morning?  And then pulling the trigger to get it done, dragging myself and paying a babysister to watch the sleeping babies while we are trudging the aisles at 10PM on a Saturday night to load up on the needed kit of tools?  Yeah, that was the start of this project.  And turns out, that trip to Home Depot, was actually a joke, since I did not actually get to this project for a full 3 weeks after said "urgent" trip.  Uggh, I hate it when that happens.  The upside is that when I had a random, unexpected free block of several hours on that future Saturday, voila! I already had all the tools needed and did not have to spend those day light hours at Home Depot.

Supplies purchased:  

1. Rubber gloves - protect those hands.

2.  TSP:  Uber cleaner rubbed on all surfaces with an old t-shirt to clean and ready for priming.

3.  Painters Tape:  tape all electrical parts, and candle sticks if not painting.

4.  Spray Paint Primer:  White by Krylon.  Apply in thin coats.  Allow ample drying time in between (1-2 hours).

5.  Super fine sand paper sponge to sand down any drip spots, or scrubby part of a sponge.  I did this and scraped off the primer in doing so, so I do not recommend this step after all.  

6.  Spray Paint:  Purchased Watermelon, Yellow, Purple, White (returned all but Watermelon, which we used).

7. Rustoleum Gloss Protective Enamel.  I messed this up.  I thought it was a clear enamel to make this shiny.  Even though I bought glossy Watermelon, I thought this would be a protective shiner.  Well, it has a brown top.  Because IT IS BROWN.  Thank goodness I, as a fluke, did a little test on the box at the last second before spraying on my finished product.  It is indeed brown...though does not say so on the can, only on the price tag, which I missed.  So, I do not know if there is such a thing like clear nail polish to apply. I just skipped it after all.

The chandelier we started with.  Actually took it out of the girls' bathroom.

I'm kinda proud of my rigged up spray area.  Other posts did it directly on the ground, one recommended a cardboard box.  I used 2 saw horses draped in drop cloth, with our broom taped up to hang the chandelier upside down.  Which is really good, since you mostly see chandeliers from the bottom up anyway, so you want that part to be really good. I was just lucky that this lamp had a loop at the bottom to hang with already. All I had to do was find a dowel thin enough for it (our broom).

I took off the candle sleeves, and then taped the electrical parts.  This is it after the primer coat.

And this is it.  Dried already - see its shiny on its own.  

Hanging with the lights on above.  And lights off below.  Couldn't bring myself to buy more fun bulbs.  Our house came stocked with about 200 bulbs, so it is just a waste to go outside of our inventory. I do however long for these fun candle covers.  

And for those of you interested in Elliot's room make-over.

Here is the room when we bought the house. (Chandelier is different than the pink one we installed - this one is ready for its own repurposing.)

 Some might argue that the "before" in this instance is an eeensy bit better.  No more carpet, hard wood floors.  New pink chandelier.  Fancy purple walls.  Whole lotta kid stuff.  

Hooray for Kindergarten!

Elliot is at her first morning of kindergarten right now.  A rainy morning is not keeping us down...tho working the umbrella and the oversized backpack with the huge lunch box to house just plain carrots for a snack, maybe contributed to the wipeout that occurred before Ben ever finished his question, "Do you think we would let her walk to school alone?" Then wipeout in the wet mud.  Good thing we were just across the street from our house.  No injuries, Elliot got to switch to her new leggings that she wanted to wear in the first place, and we were back on our way.  We all did great at drop off.  I am going to pick her up at 12:30.  Then there is no school tomorrow.  Then the rest of September she is done at 12:30.  But then in October she has class until 12:30 3 days a week and 3 PM 2 days a week.  Really?! How confusing could they make this?  I hope she loves it - she told me she already knows everything, so I expect her to be reading by the time I pick her up today.

Bindi Kitty Post Script

It's been a bummer week at our place.  We had to take Bindi kitty back to the Animal Rescue League to find a new family to adopt her and we (mostly Ben & I) are taking it pretty hard.  I mentioned before that we were all a little allergic - but, it seemed to be getting better / livable.  We made her appointments at her new vet, we tore the packaging off her new climbing posts and toys, we posted her on our blog.  She had been sleeping on our bed for 3 weeks...she was in!  And shaping up to be a pretty good kitty.  But then Samantha had a nighttime cough.
We gave her Allegra for allergies in the morning (our first treatment to see if it would help at all, thinking we may need to do it more often, since we are keeping the kitty and Samantha cant keep her face out of Bindi's belly).
Then Samantha got a fever during the day.
Kassi called.  Gave her motrin for fever.
Kassi called again later (this should have been a sign for us in itself).
More fever + quick breathing+fast heart rate.
After work, we came home and saw Samantha.  Fevery & sick.  And wheezing with her quick shallow breaths.
Called the doctor.
Took Samantha to the ER to be assessed for respiratory distress.
They gave her a triple dose of Albuterol to open up her breathing and took chest x-rays.
Ruled out pneumonia, but said she showed signs of "Reactive Airways" which is baby asthma.

After much discussion with the doctors and our pediatrician the next day, we knew we had to take Bindi back.  We can't risk going to the ER to breathe every time someone in our house gets sick.  Plus, we felt like we had to do it quickly, while Bindi is still a kitten, so she has the best chance of being adopted again quickly.

So, on the way home from the hard last day at their day care and saying goodbye to teachers and friends as we move on to Kindergarten next week, we broke the news to them that Bindi had to go.  Ouch.  Copacabana all over again - tho justified.

By the way, the Animal Rescue League in Boston is AWESOME.  We had been spending all our time at the MSPCA in Jamaica Plain, but really should have been with ARL that whole time. It's where we got Bindi. They are fantastic.  Super helpful and nice.  And, very good to us in this whole unfortunate situation.  We're keeping track of Bindi while she is there and until we are sure she is in a new home.

Sweet 6 Months

Last Tuesday Miss Julia, Droolia, Bejewelia, turned one half.  6 months already?!  And for her sweet six months, she got a new kitten.  Well, we all got a new kitten.  Just a coincidence that she was ready to come home on Julia's half birthday.  And, the next day, miss Julia sat up by herself!  Skipped the tri-pod and went directly to sitting (and flopping in slo mo after a few seconds).  And, she is a puree eating machine.  I am making her food for the most part, since I like to cook and all and she likes to eat, it works out well.  And, since Samantha sometimes likes to revert to babyisms, she wolfed down Julia's "potato, leek, carrots and spinach puree" like it was chocolate pudding.  Yay!  I'll let Sammy pretend to be a baby if it means she is eating good foods.

We have been a little slow to introduce our new kitten to the world.  At first, because we are busy folks.  And then b/c we think we better not get too attached...we are all somewhat allergic to her.  We hope it is coincidence.  Ben was allergic to Sheffield, but Elliot, Sam & I were not.  We've all been a little sneezy and watery eyed since our kitten came home, but Samantha (who denies being allergic) pretty much looked like Will Smith's allergic reaction in the movie Hitch on Thursday and then wheezed herself to sleep.  So, we love our new kitten, but maybe not enough yet to sign up any of us for a lifetime of shots or daily allergy meds...

This is Bindi.  We think.  Still debating names too, but Bindi Kitty and Bindi Dot seem to be sticking.

Julia sitting up!  Baby + Kitten = cuteness explosion. 

And then baby falls backward...still practicing sitting up!

My lucky day on Friday to spend the whole day with my girls.  I put them in their matching shirts to not lose them.

And this is Julia's hand being mamed by baby kitten.  

Back to Julia.  She's a keeper!  Trying to wave, swipe everything in site, and laugh hysterically when evere someone else laughs.  In fact, if you wipe her face, she hates it and starts to cry.  If you fake laugh while you are wiping her face, she starts to laugh too and let's you do it.   

Storyland 2011

Back in June, we made our 3rd annual trip to Storyland.  This time, Grandma flew in with cousin Emilee to join in the fun.  We had a great time with them visiting.  Emilee was a model guest with the best manners and general disposition, which we hoped our girls would pick up on (who might have been a bit whiny and tantrummy over that weekend).  We were crowded into the minivan for the 3 hour drive, but we made it in time for an afternoon of sunshine.  Which was followed the next day by torrential rain once our friends, the Hongs, arrived.  We were happy to have one good day of weather.  No bears this year, though they were reported in our condo complex and we drove off to find them...no dice - which I suppose is a good thing.  We got in a little pool time, and an unexpected outlet mall time since my mom's bag was lost on the flight.  She eventually was reunited with it, after we shopped for new clothes.

It might be a good thing these girls live far apart.  They are peas in a pod and little conspirators.  I heard them giggling up a storm in the condo.  And then went to check on their muffled voices, and found them here.  Under the sink with the door closed and the bathroom door closed and the lights off.  Just fine, hanging out in the dark under the sink.

Night night.