First Snow

When the boys woke up today they immediately wanted to go outside and play in the fresh snow. (After finding Elfie of course - our Elf on the Shelf who moves to a new location every night.)

There was not very much snow, but it was enough to have a good time. After finding all our snow gear (and finding out that Cayden's pants are about six inches too short, and Allie's are about six inches too long!) they headed outside and made snow angels, slid down the little (but perfect!) hill in our backyard, and ate some snow. Our hill is just steep enough to get some speed, but not too steep for them to climb back up over and over again.

Ahoy Matey

Cayden wanted a Pirate Party for his fourth birthday, so our basement was transformed into a pirate ship, and everything pirate we could think of, we did! He practiced this look for weeks, and began to greet his friends by saying argh!

The Cake

The hats, the beads, and decorating treasure chests.

The Grub

Walking the Plank

X Marks the Spot

The Presents

Allie slept through most of the party, and seemed very confused when she woke up. She immediately wanted to look like a pirate, like the other kids.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAYDEN!!! We Love You!!

Thanksgiving Visitors

We were very lucky to have Grammie, Grandpa, Uncle Mike & Aunt Alli come visit for Thanksgiving! Cayden has said several times (in a very pouty sad face) that he misses them all so much. Thanks for visiting - come back any time!

It is sad, but I only have two pictures from Thanksgiving day. One of the turkey on the BBQ - which was amazing! Moist, tender, and tasty! Ask Keir if you want the recipe.

THANKS KEIR!!

And, one of Allie before she poured cranberry cider down her white shirt.

On Friday we all went on a Duck tour, which was the best way (in our humble opinion) to see so much of the city without strollers, umbrellas, or having to worry about Grammie and Grandpa walking for hours. If you are not familiar with these, they are vehicles that drive around town on land, and then drive right into the river.

Our tour guide let Conner and Cayden each have a turn driving the Duck - when we were in the river, of course.

On Saturday, everyone (minus Lindsay, who had a shower to attend) went to Salem. I am sure there were more interesting aspects of the visit, but the two I heard about most were the graveyards, and this bookstore. Look closely. The owner of this shop should be on a show for disorganized hoarders. And YES, that bookcase is leaning to the right. It is not the camera angle. I am surprised it is still standing.

On Monday, we celebrated Cayden's fourth birthday with cupcakes and Chuck E Cheese. I think Mike and Keir had as much fun (if not more) as the kids! More to come on Saturday . . .

This is the Big Dig. Alli took this picture, and I thought it was great. After making five trips to the airport in about a week, I am beginning to know my way around beyond my normal school-gym -grocery store route.

Thanks again for visiting!

You don't rake leaves in New England

We walked into Lowes one evening, and an employee was demonstrating a leaf blower. We pretended to know what we were talking about, and somehow it came up that we had just moved to the area. The guy got a funny look on his face and then said, "so, you will be raking your leaves this year, right?" So, of course we had to buy the leaf blower. We obviously did not know what we were in for. Well, we soon found out. I am still bummed I did not take some pictures of the hundreds of landscape trucks turned into leaf eating/mulching machines that lined the streets of every neighborhood. The sound of fall in New England is the humming of leaf blowers outside. Anyhow, the guy at Lowes did not tell us that 90% of the people do not even attempt their "fall cleanup" on their own. They hire professionals. And, by that I mean six men walking in a line with their commercial leaf blowers across your yard in the direction of their truck which has a giant vacuum attached to suck up all the leaves. If you cannot already tell, I am amazed by the amount of leaves here in the fall, and by the army of men who clean them up. Keir and the boys cleaned up our leaves while Allie and I were in California for Grammie's birthday. Here is the before shot. (Which is actually not a true before shot, because you can see some green grass, and a pile of leaves at the bottom of the slide.)

Please notice all the leaves still in the trees . . . which means we are not done yet.

Next year we will have to go on one of the many "leaf looking" tours so we can appreciate the beautiful leaves, and not just think about cleaning them up when they fall - because they are beautiful!

Halloween (round three)

Trick-Or-Treating

Allison wanted NOTHING to do with the beautiful Snow White dress that was supposed to be her costume. She ended up wearing the chicken costume Cayden wore a couple years ago. She loved it, and walked around clucking all night.

Halloween (round two)

Halloween party at church. There were lots of swords!

The winner of the costume contest. Orville Redenbacher, of course! Too funny!

Happy Halloween (round one)

Cayden had a Halloween party at school, and I (being a room mom) was able to help plan, and attend the party. Fun was had by all!! Cayden did not want to wear his costume for some reason.

Helping his pumpkin tatoo dry.

Decorating (and eating) cookies.

Playing in the leaves. I got him to put on his Knight jacket when we went outside. Still missing are the helmet and pants.

Cayden was excited to find his treasure at the end of the treasure hunt.

Conner had a costume parade at school. He was very excited to walk in the parade with his reading buddy - a big 4th grader! Conner was a great pirate!