Kellys 1st Cookie

How cute is this picture...take note of the shmeared cookie all over her face and clothes as well as the stellar shot of her new top teeth...classic.

1st Halloween Party

My little ladybugs and Lightning McQueen Pit Crew Chief...
Shelaghs school had a Halloween party last night. The kids were all happy with their costumes. Here's a sneak peek!

Potty Words

"When you go to the potty you get to say my favorite words...POTTY WORDS!"

"Why are potty words your favorite words, buddy?"

"Because they are fun to say, of course!"

Laurie Berkners Pajama Party

Last Sunday, we brought the kids to Portland, ME for a "Pajama Party". That's all they knew, but as soon as the lights went down, Laurie Berkner and her band came on stage and the kids were super-surprised. Lots of dancing and singing along and all around a great day. Even Kelly clapped along! We went over to our friends house in So Portland afterwards to relax, catch up , and have dinner. All in all, a wonderful day.

My Little Artists

My kids love to paint and I don't let them do it enough. I need to get Shelagh in an art class...she would paint and draw all day if she could.

Snow. In October.

On Thursday, October 16th, we awoke to snow. I had heard it raining in the early morning hours when I was up with Kelly, but snow????? Add this to the list of ridiculous shit prior to Halloween. Another such item is Christmas Decorations being out in the stores. Now I have to schedule my annual way-earlier-than-holiday-shopping-shopping-trip so that I can enjoy picking out some things for my kids before the insanity of this over-marketed, way-too-pushy, road-rage, irritating holiday season actually begins.

By the way, it snowed again last night in case you didn't happen to see the Patriots pound Tennessee last night 59-0, I think. We do a nice job in unexpected, crappy weather. They had no chance really. We also had to drive home in that snow last night from Maine. More on that later when I can get my pictures posted.

Top Teeth

And the top 2 teeth have come in...as shown in the below left picture and based on the total hours of sleep I got in the last 2 weeks. Not nearly enough. But, look at this face, could you deny her quiet nighttime comfort, nursing, and closeness???? In honor of Where the Wild Things Are doing well in the box office - "We'll eat you up. We love you so."

Antipasto Pasta Salad

My typical go-to pasta salad is a balsamic, mozzarella, tomato, basil version. It's good, but it was time for a new one. Enter the fantastic Antipasto Pasta Salad my friend made when we visited her over Labor Day weekend. It's an Emeril recipe she got from the Food Network website. Other than some slicing and dicing, this is a quick and easy recipe and it's delicious. I like most the blending of the dressing ingredients into the bowl before the solids are added. It was the perfect amount of dressing too, with nice hints of garlic and balsamic, but not soggy or liquidy. It seemed to be a hit at the baby shower I hosted this past weekend and I'm still eating what was left this week happily.

My Girls

All that love...Kelly lights up the minute she sees or hears Shelagh come in the room.

Harvest Kelly

Wasn't sure I loved this outfit she got as a gift until I put her in it...What a little pumpkin! She's clapping and "singing" here...

Kelly the Actress

Am I wrong in predicting that Kelly might be an actress? Look at that mug.

Lots of smiles from my younger 2 on a home day last week.

Red Sox Fans

Sorry you are out, Red Sox. We still love you!

1st Few Weeks of Soccer

Just in case any of the kids grow by 4 feet within the 8 week season, they provide room to grow in the team uniform...She jumped right in the first week and was a happy participant! The 2nd week she was having some pain in her hip and wasn't as into it. Hopefully that's temporary...we've been counting down to her being able to do an active sport and run off some of that insane energy she possesses!

Block Parties & Boy Parts

The block party was a success! We almost had a 2nd rain out, but right at 2pm the sun came out and everything was dry. The bouncy house was filled up and the kids started running around and playing. Patriots came on (awesome last minute outdoor setup) and music was playing. The fire truck parked for awhile too. There were over 100 people there, plenty of food (albeit mostly desserts!), and lots of neighbors to meet and chat with.

I have to say I sort of lost track of the kids here and there, but they seemed good with the neighbors treehouse, the bouncy house, the crafts, and face painting. At one point both Joe and I couldn't find Rory. When I came out from looking in the house, Joe was marching him in with pants around his ankles. Yes, you read that right. Pants around his ankles and poop on the back end. Despite having been brought in for an unsuccessful bathroom run just 20 minutes earlier, Rory decided that he would rather go outdoors (I think he faked me out in the house on purpose in retrospect). So, to the back of the neighbors yard he went, dropped his drawers and pooped away. And, while Rory was attempting to climb up the treehouse ladder with his pants around his ankles a group of neighborhood boys was asking to use the neighbors hose to wash off the "dog poop" someone mysteriously stepped in. Joe caught him just in time and was able to hose him off in our house. He just loves peeing outside. Pooping, not so much.

the Dollar Store

Block Party is tomorrow so I ran out tonight to the Christmas Tree Shop and the Dollar Store to get some crap for a prize box. At 8-830 on a Saturday night, you should see the psychos hanging out buying carts full of cheap garbage. Seriously. There was a security alert in the Dollar Store when I was trolling for cheap-ass plastic cars and shitty pencils. Ha.

Fingers crossed that the rain finishes early or doesn't happen at all! At least the temp should be good. Originally we were pretty well planned out. Now I feel like we lost some momentum when we postponed and I'm just hoping people eat and are happy enough just meeting and hanging out. Not much else organized. I'm full of ideas and too tired for follow through.

Video: Kelly Clapping

First time posting video. Unforatunately, I can't figure out how to rotate the movie so you'll have to crank your head sideways to enjoy it for now! Lesson learned.

Note to self: Hold camera the normal way when making video and don't force baby to re-film 3 times b/c you screwed up. She will not like it and won't do all the same cute things again.