Welcome Home!

I was welcomed home from my fabulous weekend by a happy family playing in the leaves. (Weekend synopsis: danced my heart out in North Comway Friday night, shopped Saturday, yummy food and great conversation all weekend!)

Luckily Pip and Vivie were wearing their Hoods of Protection and the leaves didn't bother them!





Even Phil was protected!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oTAC_4hEEE

The Sink-Sitter

Vivie's favorite fun-time activity is to play in the sink. If you need a half hour to make dinner, no problem! Just pull her chair over, she'll climb on up and go to town. Only downside is lately she takes to washing her hair which leads to quite the clean up afterwards.

Whoopie Cushions

I got Pip some whoopie cushions one day thinking it would be hysterical. It was, and we enjoyed some lots of fart jokes, but (as most things do) it ended up being a dragon shooter in the end. And, to my surprise, it also was a very nice tool for fine motor skills and patience. Turns out filling them isn't easy and so we implemented a straw method which worked but required lots of tries and dexterity. It's been fun watching him apply himself to make them work.

Here's a video of the action and of Vivie talking to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUwjMGGutbo


And just a cute on of my sweets.

Donalds! ... no ... *Mc*Donalds!

Ahhh, I heard this over and over again all morning. Vivi, with her still-measureable vocabulary, is very proud of herself for even being able to voice this important word. Pip has appointed himself the defendent of proper advertising and must correct Vivi each time she drops the "Mc." It was cute and funny the first 100 times. In any event, we had a grand feast, and Pip invented the next breakfast innovation by putting a pancake inside his McMuffin. You saw it here first folks!

Later, we loaded up in the wagon and trekked to the Horace Mann park. It was such a beautiful day, and the kids had a great time. As usual, Pip met another boy, and in about 2 minutes they were BFF's, running all around the park and racing down the parallel slides. Vivi enjoyed a slower pace and worked the spiral slide for most of the time. Meanwhile, a large oak tree was busy depositing acorns all over the park. Once the kids discovered this, they began collecting as many as they could fit into their pockets and taking them to the top of the climber. Then they'd unleash a flood of nuts down the slides. I would try to catch as many as I could. This would be excellent training for any number of sports' goalies! After the walk home, we enjoyed the wonderful fall day by having lunch out on the patio. Ice pops outside in November...who would have thought!

Snakes and Spiders!

Pip, Vivi, and Dad took a trip out to Lexington to hang out with Daniel and Dave. They thoughtfully invited us to see an animal show with them. Pip was very excited to see what critters would show up...on the drive over, he speculated that there would be a giant octopus and maybe a shark. While he was sort of in the wrong ecosphere, he was not disappointed by the array of beasties.

The kids all lined up along parallel blue tape lines on the floor, and each creature was showcased down the line. The brave kids were allowed to touch most of them. We started off with something cute and cuddly...a chinchilla. In what I believe was not a staged move, the little guy lept from the handler's grip and started running all about the room and in and out of parents and kids alike. What a way to start off the show! We then got to see a skunk (sans scent glands), a big tarantula, a scorpion, and a corn snake. Dave got some better pictures than I did (picture a writhing Vivian in my lap the whole time), but here's a shot of the snake on Pip's shoulder.
There was also a Chinese water dragon in the mix. At the mention of the word dragon, Pip's head snapped around to look at me. I could see in his eyes that he half-expected Smaug to come flying through the doors. We also got to see a big tortoise and of course, an alligator. Once again, Pip was brave enough to give the guy a little pet. Daniel touched a claw and was very proud of himself!

All in all, a great was to spend the morning. We took a quick stop a Wilson's Farm to score some fresh cider donuts and yummy cider samples. The two adventurers did not stay awake long on the drive home.

Mom's Weekend Get-away

Due to the rousing success of the Mom's Overnight Get-away, enter the next installment: Mom's Weekend Get-away. I'm not sure I like the direction of this trend.

Friday night at bed-time, some Moms came and whisked Natalie away from me. Pip and I watched from the window as the far more qualified parental figure left in the night, leaving us to fend for ourselves. I was ready for the challenge. Pip (who loves to take advantage of me) was probably doing all he could to hold in his glee at this stroke of good luck.

I wouldn't say the Pilot quite peeled out as it pulled away, but there was certainly no hesitation after those doors closed.


(NAB addition: I didn't exactly squeal away. First I snapped this pic of Pip and Daddy saying goodbye to me out the window.)

Leaf pile!

It's that time of year again! The leaves here go from firmly attached to completely down in about 3 weeks. Goes so fast! Pip has been good at the jumping part for a while now. This year he is even getting good at the raking part!