Trick or Treat

This year we went to a Halloween party at a friends house and the went trick or treating in their neck of the woods. Shawn and I even wore costumes - the first time since before we were married! Shawn was a crashed mountain biker complete with brains and blood oozing from the stick that was impaled through his head and a broken collar bone coming out of his jersey. The kids seemed to enjoy the gore - I think it helped that they painted on the blood for him. I was Mrs. Ratt with rats pinned in my hair and crawling up my clothes. For some reason Ellen was uber-shy around the camera so I didn't get a photo of her in her Thumbelina costume. Great party, Mallory! Thanks for having us!!!

Vocabulary Parade

Instead of a Halloween parade, Ellen's school did a Vocabulary parade. They had to choose something from nature and make a costume with a sign. The sign had to include at least one descriptive word. She was a "Black Queen Ant".

Halloween Parade

It's that time of year again at Anais's preschool and we all went to watch her in their Halloween Parade. Anais was a very beautiful Snow White although found the wig a bit too itchy. The boys were Monkeys or those familiar with Go Diego Go, the Bo-Bo Brothers :-)

Science

The boys are taking a science class at the local Natural History museum. It's a 6-week session and they learn about a different subject each week. Here they are learning about the solar system.

Pump It Up

Anais was invited to a friend's birthday party at a local moonbounce place. Here's a little video of her going down one of the big slides. She had a great time. Happy Birthday, Richie!

Her 2 front teeth

Ellen lost her first and second tooth within a week. Now she can say "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!" although I have a feeling there are several other things on her list that she would prioritize :-)

The twins

Here's a recent shot of the twins side-by-side. Doesn't happen very often these days but still just as cute!

Apple Pie

Shawn's sister, Susan and her family came up for a day to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with all of us and I made an apple pie with a little help from Nic.

Helping Ghio

Dylan and the girls helped Phyllis with her embroidery during her visit with us.

Auburn Heights Steamin' Days

Papa and Ghio came out for a visit and we all went to the Auburn Heights "Steamin' Days" in Yorklyn. This is a museum that has Stanley steam cars and 1/8 size steam trains that you can ride on. The kids enjoyed themselves immensely but I think Phyllis and Jim had the biggest smiles that day. It was a great family day together. Thanks for the treat, Papa and Ghio!!!

MS Bike to the Bay

I decided to start road riding this year so Shawn found a good used road bike on Craig's List last spring and I started training with my Moms In Motion team for the 75 mile MS Bike to the Bay. After months of anxiety ridden rides, a lonely crash thanks to wet railroad tracks and I'll admit, some fun training rides at the end, I geared up for the big day. Shawn was quick to prep me for what could possibly be "the worst day of my life" but I got up bright and early on Saturday and drove down to Dover for the start of the ride, with PowerBars in hand. I rode with a couple who were on my MIM team and had a very fun (gasp!) ride! It wasn't nearly as bad as I'd thought although 5+ hours on a bike seat is not something your butt thanks you for! At the end of the race I met up with the Air Liquide team (Shawn's work) and managed to get in on their victory photo. Thank you so much to Phyllis and Jim, the Lopshire-Bratts and the Gibbs for your generous donations in helping my meet my fundraising goal, to Matt for all the training and advice and to Shawn for watching the kids so I could ride and for maintaining my bike!!!