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!

Andover Halloween

This year I also took Pip and Viv to trick or treat in Andover with Rob, Tasha, and Aislinn. I had my hands full so I didn't get many pics. I'm hoping Rob with forward some of his.

I had to let Pip go on ahead with the rest of our crew because Vivie was in slow meander-mode. This doesn't happen often. She waddled along at a snails pace, checking out costumes, decorations, dogs, and cats. I think each house took us about ten minutes!!


While most folks thought she was a boy (I guess Elmo is when I think about it) .. the kids LOVED seeing Vivie out there in her costume. She drew rave reviews from other tots!

Here she is poking her way through the leaves.

Fighting for Pip's Eggs

Vivian insisted on stealing Pip's breakfast eggs. I am not sure if she was placed in timeout by Daddy or sequestered there by Pip, but she didn't learn her lesson either way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa6CtoYxbos

Melrose Halloween

Halloween 2009 was nothing less than a miracle. I picked up Viv and Pip from daycare a bit early, planning to rush home in time to meet up with Rob, Tasha, and Aislinn and whisk ourselves down to the Melrose Halloween parade. But Pip was not his normal self. He was tried, quiet, a bit warm, and well ... deflated. At first I thought he just had a busy day at school but nothing was helping him. When we got home he needed to be carried inside and wanted only to lay in silence on the couch. He refused his temperature to be taken and wanted only a light back rub. No videos. No food. No drink. Alarming.

So I grabbed a bucket in case he chucked and alerted Rob that maybe we should skip this year. Too late, Aislinn was hopped up for the tradition and could not be denied. We figured maybe Viv would go with them and Phil or I would stay home with our sickly Pip. I gave Pip some Tylenol and told him it'd be ok.

Ten minutes later Pip bounded off the couch and began playing with Vivie in earnest. ?? I did the Scoobie -- ughughgugh?? -- noise in my head. Moments later Aislinn arrived, Pip squealed with delight and ran to greet her on the porch, and the rest was history. We were a bit late for the parade but had a great night regardless.

Here we are loading up into the wagon.



It got dark on the walk (pull) home:


Our porch n' pumpkins pic...


I love to dump the loot and bask in it's glory as part of my tradition!

Halloween Party #1

It's Halloween already!! Pip is thrilled to be the ferocious Pip Dragon and Vivian is warming up to the concept of Elmo.

Here Pip Dragon attacks the innocent villagers.


and scales the castle.


Later they pose for a pic.

October Block Party

We had to reschedule our Fall Block Party to Sunday due to the rain. Still, it was a great success. We had a fire pit for S'Mores, made caramel apples over a outdoor cooker, and carved our pumpkins.

Here Don made a S'More with Pip.



Vivian played with Justin and Jessica, our neighbors grandchildren.


Later we worked on our pumpkins.


Vivian was such a fan of the pumpkins she was eating the pumpkin pieces raw ... hope there are no side-effects.