Halloween

The day finally arrived where the Princess was able to change to her double identity, BATGIRL. Batgirl was on the streets to keep the neighborhood safe, and of course pick up some candy along the way. She was accompanied by her sidekick, Scarecrow Mimi. Mommy decided to sit out the dressing up since she dressed up yesterday at the cupcake party. Besides, it was quite windy and chilly out.


Overheard as we walked the neighborhood……“Trick or Treat”, “Thank You!”, “No, I’m not Batman, I’m BATGIRL!”, “Trick or Treat!”, “Hi so and so from school!”, “I’m BATGIRL!”, “Mimi, I got you the yellow m&m’s like you like!”, “Mommy, that was my friend from school!”, “Happy Halloween”, “I’m cold”, “I can’t carry my bag, it’s too heavy!”

The first goblins to visit were Zoe’s friend from school, Phoebe, and her sister Aurora. They live a few houses down from us and Zoe was ecstatic to get to go to a few houses with them. It was pretty fun seeing all the neighborhood kids and their parents dressed up.


In keeping with the holiday spirit, you know how I love to keep in theme of the holidays. For dinner we had scary soy tacos (thanks Aunt Pam!) We hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween!!!

Girls & Cupcakes

Zoe invited her two best friends over for a little pre-Halloween fun! The girls (& their Mom’s) got dressed up and came over for cupcake decorating and pizza.

After about four hours, all the kids were on a sugar high. The kids ate candy, played upstairs, played downstairs, ate pizza, watched TV, played some more, and then right before everyone started coming down from their sugar high, it was time for bed.

Zoe loves having her friends over! All the girls looked beautiful. It was a fun afternoon!

Early This Morning.......

I was in the kitchen getting coffee and I heard Miss Zoe telling her baby all about Alice in Wonderland last night. Adorable.

Play

This week was pretty rough for me. I was home sick with a nasty ear infection and minor strep throat so, after what felt like weeks in bed, and being on antibiotics several days, I pulled myself together and made it to the play we bought tickets for a couple weeks ago. I knew Zoe was looking forward to going and I didn’t want to let her down.

We went to see Alice and Wonderland and it was fabulous. It wasn’t Broadway but, it was excellent! It was playing at a local theater for ‘kids’ so, it only ran about forty-five minutes which went by way too fast. They let all the kids sit on the floor (front row). Zoe of course made friends right away. I’d keep looking over to check on her, and she’d be chatting away with all the other kids.

Once the play was over, everyone was able to meet the cast and even get autographs. Zoe about knocked chairs over trying to get to me for a pen! She wanted to get everyone to sign her ‘playbill’ and get photos with the cast members too.

When we left, Zoe was beside herself and cannot wait to go back to see other plays there. This was a super small venue but, for the price and how close it was to the house, you cannot beat it. I look forward to checking out several more plays there. Zoe is totally into theater. My parents ALWAYS took me to stuff like that when I was growing up and I always thought it was super cool. I loved all the lights, costumes, and of course the make-up.

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I couldn’t be more thrilled!

Pumpkin Carving 101

Pumpkin carving PLUS special ghost cookies that mommy made = AWESOME! (per Zoe)

Allowance

Since Shelli was gone for the greater part of two weeks, she told Zoe that while she was gone, she would up the antie on her allowance if she was ‘super good’. Zoe has had her eye on a nerf gun. Yes, a nerf gun. Her cousins (Tess and Tucker) have them and she wanted one of her own so when she went over there, she could join in and play with her own instead of having to get what was left over.

Last night was her lucky night. She officially earned enough over the two week period to buy her gun. ($8). We all drove over to the store and Zoe was on a mission! She bee-lined right to the toy section to get her long awaited nerf gun. Once she found the one she wanted, she waited in line patiently with her money and couldn’t wait to get up to the cashier to pay for it with the money SHE earned.

I know it’s hard on her getting up early sometimes and trying to get all her ‘chores’ done but, I’m very proud of her. She has been so good through all the chaos of our not so normal schedules.

BFF's

Girls just wanna have fun!

Cake

Zoe's (yellow) ghost cake from start to finish.....

Apples, Apples, Apples

Shelli was out of town on business last week and she will be leaving again soon. It seems like every time she turns around, she is off somewhere else. It’s always been a way of life for me but for Zoe, she doesn’t like it when her Mimi is gone too many days. This has been a very hard year for Shelli and I. After the boys went home, we had to step back and analyze a few things. Having three kids for a year really took a toll on us and our relationship. It was always about the kids, no time for ‘us’, let alone time for just the three of us!

After Zoe and I got home from our charity walk this morning we both took a little nap. When Zoe woke up, she was ready to spend a little quality time with her Mommy and Mimi especially since Mimi just got back into town and was due to leave again this week. Our first stop was to pick up some apples from a local apple orchard. We had driven by this place several times, always vowing to stop but never having a chance. We picked up all kinds of different (in season) apples, looked at all the pumpkins, and snacked on a yummy caramel apple.

Our schedules in this house tend to get a bit crazy. Between my commute to work, Shelli’s travel, and Zoe in school full time, there is always something going on and there are just not enough hours in the day to do everything I long to do. Life may be hectic but, one thing is for sure, Shelli and I will always make time for the one thing that means the most to us, Zoe!

Charity Walk

This morning, we headed to Pottstown to walk for a great cause – Operation Backpack! We were there by 8:30 to get registered and it was about an hour drive so, we were up super early! Zoe was excited all week to be able to get out there and help raise a little money for these kids who were not as fortunate as we are. From the time Zoe was old enough to walk, we’ve always done some kind of charity/volunteer work. I grew up doing it and loving it and Zoe enjoys it just as much.

There was a 5K and a 1 mile walk. We did the mile walk and then stood on the sidelines cheering for Tammy and her husband, Jamal (who ran the 5K). Zoe was sad Cadance was under the weather and couldn’t make it but, she was glad she had her other BFF Jaylyn there to run around with.

Operation Backpack provides local students with backpacks filled with food provisions for the weekend. In Pottstown alone there are more than 10% of families living below poverty level and more than 60% of students qualify for free and reduced lunches. True To Life Ministries works with individuals and organizations to gather donated food and supplies. Volunteers use these items to fill backpacks and distribute them to qualifying students at the end of each week. The backpacks protect the students’ confidentiality, and they are discretely returned on Mondays so the process can start over. http://ttlm.org/

It was a chilly morning with wind whipping us around but we all sucked it up and put our best foot forward for a cause we think is pretty fantastic!