Trick-or Treat

Halloween night looked like it was straight off a movie set at MGM. It was a boo-tiful (aha, see what I did there!) autumn night. A crisp breeze, the smell of fireplaces and leaves in the air. The sky was lit with a beautiful moon and you could see the silhouette of the falling leaves flying across the sky. It was such a gorgeous night it made me giggle because I could hardly remember a more perfect autumn night. Jack was Buzz Light Year (from the movie toy story) he played the part quite well saying "to infinity and beyond" at every turn. Claire was a chicken. She later fought hard not to be separated from her costume, I think she wanted to sleep in the little fleece chicken legs. Nana B worked the candy bowl while we took the kids around to some neighbors. Then we headed over to Jack's school at our parish and enjoyed the Halloween Bash- caught a light supper there, before heading over to Trick-or-Treat Papa Chip. Oh, what a dream. At Papa's house, you can eat ALL the candy you want!!! You get to play with the remote!!! Did I mention that at Papa's house you get ALL of the candy you want!!! Chocolate candy and chewy candy and more candy!! Papa's house is the greatest place there EVER was for a Space Ranger and a Chicken.

Where the Redsox Reign Supreme

After much anticipation, the ladies (Claire, Nana B, and Mommy) headed for the east coast. When booking the tickets for this trip, I did the math. I dared to dream, only in hushed whispers, that our trip might coincide with destiny. The BoSox did it again. Yahooooo!!!!




It was a wonderful trip to see my family. Typically when we head east we spend the bulk of our time with the "Smurphs" the Smith/Murphy section (my cousin Donna's crew), who are just our speed. This trip was to visit with my Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin Diane and her son. We had a great time and even managed to sneak in a visit with the Smurphs. Hi guys!! I hope there will be no hard feeling after the big game on Sunday!! (wink, wink).




Claire-bear fell hard and fast for my Uncle. I think she would have been happy to stay with them. Diane was the cousin I followed around step by step. If she stopped walking I would run into her, so it was really cute to see Claire following her son around...everywhere!!!




Claire loved the Dunkin' Donuts pit stops, sweeping pine needles, watching the ocean and all of the love and attention from family!! Enjoy the pics from our trip and please welcome our newest member of the family, the Black Dog ("puppy"). A neat place: http://www.theblackdog.com/

South Cape Beach
Claire and Diane at the Beach


Sweeping the deck

Claire and her new BFF, my Uncle Arvin

Claire and "puppy" taking a stroll in Falmouth (below) and Claire watching the waves (above)

I really sick.

Man, I just lost the entire thing I wrote about Jack. eeehhhhhhh (whining). I can't write a whole thing about Claire and then not write one about Pipper. Darn... ok then... where was I...

Little man is still obsessed with baseball. We aren't officially ready to call him a southpaw yet. But if he is still cramming his glove on the wrong hand and throwing lefty. We may need to special order a glove for him from the man in the red suit.

Jack has been sick all weekend. He reminds us every 30-odd seconds that "I really sick [insert parent name]." I'm just taking a break until it is my turn in the trenches.

School is going really well for him and so is his speech therapy. His teacher is slowly going from "Mrs Leak" to her actualy name, Mrs. Fleak. We had to focus on "F" words last week. Yep, we both reacted like juveniles to that as well and got a little giggle out of it. Tired, must go. Enjoy his first day of school pictures, the only thing larger than his backpack is his head.

Claire- brought to you by Oreo

Took the kids to a ball game, Claire's first. She was really just into her
adoring fans and the Food. She is our little eater, whereas Jack continues to see exactly how little he can eat and continue his rapid growth.

It has been quite a while since I updated the blog,before I know it the dizzying spiral towards the holidays will begin and I will be seriously behind. Claire is a busy, busy girl. She loves her "woobie", her "Nanny" (Nana Brinda), the puppies, and tormenting her brother. If he is doing something she wants to try it, if he is eating something she wants half, if he is sitting somewhere then he'd better move over.

When we went up north to sift through decades of life at Jeremy's family home, preparing to put it on the market, we came across Jeremy's beloved (albeit CREEPY) monkey "George" that he loved as a child. Like father like daughter.

The two are no longer content to share an arm chair, so Claire has her own now. We let them sit at their little bistro table and watch cartoons in the morning over breakfast- Smurfs being their favorite.

She is saying more and more every day. She can hardly say anything and she already is one of the funniest people I know, better buckle up I suppose.

Claire discovered the Oreo cookie last week and my oh my does she love it!! She is an "opener". She opens the cookie and licks off the frosting, then finishes off the cookie. These being the orange frosted ones for Halloween.

Our Dear Girl

I was only seconds away from publishing a thoughtful little post all filled with love and thoughtful things about our little Claire-bear, but she is wicked smart and very, very curious and well.. she deleted it. I know, that is right up there with my dog ate my homework, but it happened. Really, it did. At any rate, that little bit of touchy-feely mush took alot out of me. Time is running slim, we have a birthday party to get to so I will give you a little run down of fun facts about the Sissy- boo.

• People of her inner circle refer to her as either Claire-bear or Sissy-boo, Sissy for short.
• She has a deep wheezy laugh, that eerily reminds me of Beavis and Butt-head.
• She is a non-discriminate eater. She will try anything you give her. This week she discovered the lima bean and the chocolate chip cookie. But, when in doubt she will eat a little of whatever Jeremy and I have on our plates.
• She snores.
• She is wicked smart.
• She lavishes more love and affection on the dogs than anyone else in the family.
• She has the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen.
• She has an unwavering devotion to her woobie (her blankie).
• She will dance whenever there is a song in the air.
• Like her brother before her, she does NOT like my singing.
• and she has already started to take things from her brother...usually food.

Happy Birthday, Claire - Bear

Mapquest this!

We loaded up the van and headed west! YEAH.... We went to Milwaukee, WI for our first stop so we could meet our friend Sharla and her sweet baby girl, Piper for breakfast at the IHOP to catch up. Then we wound our way west. We took our time, enjoying the trip and the time together. My friend, Morty (that is her nickname in our trio and I will keep it at that, because I didn't ask her before putting her picture on here) got married in the most amazing weekend wedding! Wow, it was perfect. The setting, the people, the food.... Morty was a beautiful bride! We did it all: the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Monument, Wall Drug, Devils Tower, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons. I won't go into it all, because I don't even know if anyone really reads this! I will share what will probably be one of my favorite memories. We were staying at the Old Faithful Snowlodge on our last night at Yellowstone park. I was sitting on the window seat working on my postcards when I look out the window and it was snowing!! This beautiful snow was falling over the old faithful geyser basin, in JUNE. I couldn't believe it, it seemed magical or out of a movie or something. I told Jack it was snowing and he just kep saying "Oh, really!?!!!"

A dream vacation, even with the kids along

This was the main house of the resort my friend Morty was married at: Chico Hotsprings Resort and dayspa. AWESOME.

This picture of Jack was taken at the Wall Drug ( the biggest drug store on the planet in Wall, South Dakota). Jack was playing in the water play area and was drenched. We bought him a new shirt and he was stripped down to his skivvies. Isn't that when you would choose to take a wagon ride? He had so much fun playing there, if you have the chance, don't miss it!

Jack loved the badlands, running along the paths and seeing ALL of the rocks, did I mention that there were rocks, just sitting among the other rocks? "Hey Mom! Look, rocks!" Claire is lounging at the pool at Chico's natural hotspring fed pool. Ahhh, the most relaxing thing ever.

It was actually rather cold in Yellowstone with a winter storm warning and everything. When I was out there the last time in... around a decade ago, I did not bring enough warm stuff, this time I was prepared.

This is just a little embarrassing picture of sissy in the car watching a movie and PICKING her nose!

This is a picture of the grand canyon of the yellowstone. We hiked down to the bottom on this path that was all switch backs through trees. I bet it was beautiful, I was seeing spots from the exertion! Okay, well I wasn't seeing spots, but it was a workout! The kids weigh nearly the same and got heavy, fast! Please note, this picture was taken by Jeremy.

Sissy and mommy taking a hiking break

The whole family taking a break heading to the bottom.

The beatuful couple, Mrs. and Mr. Webb.

Devils Tower- beautiful!!!

The Badlands

The making of a Superhero

Blogger and I are NOT getting along. If I rewrite this...again it will be the third time. I am too frickin' exhausted by this techno-bunk day that I am not even going to try to come up with some kind of witty little snippet to go with this! We signed Jack up for a Gymnastics class--termed "Gym Class" in our house, but do not be fooled it was gymnastics--which would have only confused our tough guy fathers...so Gym Class, ok? For his final class, actually on his birthday, he went as his alter ego...Spiderman.

Jack LOVED gym class, especially the rings. However, not much of a future in the sport for him. If he keeps going at this rate, his feet would drag while hanging from the rings...oh, wait, they already do! Tall and skinny is still the perfect description of Pip. But I suppose the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, eh?

A little of this and a little of that...

Claire-bear's newest hobby is being a food critic. She has quite a discerning palette, and tends to lean more toward non-tradtional foods. She really loves Yats- Cajun Creole and dives right in, begging like a baby bird for spoonful, after spoonful! If she doesn't care for the food, boy does she let them know it. She will daintily drop ALL of it on the floor, a pinch at a time. Squeezing a small morsel in her hand then leaning as far as she can over the side of her high chair and -BOMBS AWAY. She waits for each clump to hit the floor before selecting her next.

Over the first weekend of May we took the kids for their first trip in an airplane! They far exceeded our expectations and both were quite happy to fly and buzz through the airport. Jack would chime in with "Ding!" after we landed-imitating the seatbelt sign turning off. We flew to Boston for a weekend out on the Cape with family and got to attend the much talked about "Derby Party". There were hats, mint julips, off-track betting, food, and drinks in the heart of Redsox Nation. What a great time!!! It was quite a whirlwind weekend can't wait to get back out there, possibly an October trip! This stroller was quite the life-saver when getting through the airport-- the security check was a NIGHTMARE--they thought about taking away the diaper rash ointment...yeh, maybe from my cold, dead hands. We made it through without losing anything other than our sanity!

Jack- Attack turns THREE

Jack had an awesome time turning the big 3. Had a pirate themed party at a play-place to end all play-places. He is still quite the camera shy boy, always turning to look away whenever a camera comes out, but we did manage to snap a few pictures of him. We toiled through the night to make "pirate cupcakes" that Jack wanted to eat for breakfast! His presents all seemed to be in some way spider man related. His favorite things are: spiderman, his woobie (blankie), chocolate chip cookies, Nana B, flying in the sky, and playing with his aqua doodle. He fancies himself as quite the big boy, often refusing to hold our hands because he wants to walk--as though by being attached to us in some way means he is not walking. He is quite stubborn, but he seems to come by the naturally.