"Did you know...

...that I have magic?

I have a magic iguana inside my head.

I found it on the sidewalk.

So I have magic."

(Seth, in a phone conversation with Grandma Cathy)

Surviving Sandy

We were extremely blessed during Hurricane Sandy. 

Our weather forecast went from 9 hours of squalls to 9 hours of heavy rain, to 3 hours of heavy rain. Basically, we saw worse wind and rain last year from Irene than we did from Sandy. Many of our friends lost power and one had a tree down on their house, but, like I said, Irene did more damage. We never lost power, though it did flicker a few times.  Seth was so mad that we didn't get to use the electric lantern.

But it wasn't until we saw what happened north of us that I truly appreciated our situation. Our thoughts and prayers are still with those who were hit. Our stake organized a money and clothing drive and trucks will be arriving today full of winter clothing, blankets, diapers, shoes and about $16,000. I'm sure that's just a drop in the bucket compared to the need, but I hope it helps. 

After the worst of the rain and wind died down, we headed outside to investigate:

(those rain boots are HUGE on her. I looked--they don't make size 4 rainboots...)

(Seth, on the other hand, actually has boots that fit him but he insists on wearing these ones that are 2 sizes too big)

Looking at how high the water behind our townhome is

This was Seth's favorite part: 

Stomping through the river that appeared behind us. 

Just to be clear, we have had several storms with a lot of rain previous to Sandy, but I have NEVER seen a river of water here before. That should give you a good indication of just how much rain we saw over those few days. We are grateful to be warm and dry and our thoughts and prayers are with those who aren't.

Fall at Preschool

Seth is loving preschool with Miss Katie and his friends, and I love seeing the pictures!

Here they are on a nature hunt:

Seth takes this very seriously:

And here they are playing the the gorgeous fall leaves (did I mention how much I love the fall here?):

And this one is my very favorite:

And, finally, here's when we went to Brad's Produce for a field trip to the pumpkin patch

(for the record, I liked our experience at Lohr's last year better):

(Oh, and I forgot my camera, so I'm stealing from Debbie's Facebook)

Investigating the 'moles' on the pumpkin with Angelina:

Following Tabor the the farthest reaches of the pumpkin patch:

Seth and Angelina: 

My sweet little man: 

Halloween, Round 1

Let the festivities begin!

Our "grumpy pumpkin": all features as specifically requested by Seth

Quite pleased with his work

Catherine was not sure about this whole jack-o-lantern thing.

And now, the costumes:

Here we have Indiana Jones, carrying the golden idol while flanked by a giant boulder and a Hovitos native.

Pretty proud of these costumes. I'm actually slightly embarrassed of how much effort I put into details that no one would notice but me. Like the color of Jon's shirt--I think I dyed/bleached/re-dyed that thing about 5-6 times...

And the boulder...that was an adventure all on its own...  I swapped a friend piano lessons for costume making (she made Catherine's gorgeous dress).  She made me a boulder costume using a hula hoop and balloons, which was pretty clever. But after I tried it on, Jon vetoed it. And so, two hours before the trunk or treat I was frantically hot gluing fabric to a giant blow-up ball. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

(Catherine insisting that I hold her)

(Our ward started the costume parade by having me chase Jon around the gym. Wish I'd gotten a picture of that!)

(Seth, nervous about the noise and people during the parade)

I love our ward Halloween party (I love our ward all the time, actually). So many awesome costumes, and not just on the kids! Now if I could just figure out what to do with all the candy my kids brought home.

Mom & Princess trick-or-treating