Halloween Night

So here are the photos from the evening. As promised, here's Pete dressed as Mario (yes, from the video game).

Here's the gang before we headed out. At first Allie was a little nervous and wanted me to carry her, but when she realized that people were handing her candy, she wanted to walk and collect from every door. It was really cute. The weather was 65 degrees and beautiful and we strolled up and down our street. Pete then went to more homes with a friend and his parents. After I put Sam, Tom, and Allie to bed, I took Matt out for one more street. It was lots of fun but I'm so wiped out and I have the worst sugar headache! It's good this only happens once a year!

Halloween Afternoon

For my kids, Halloween is a close second as a favorite holiday to Christmas. It's like the prom. It's more fun to dress up and get excited for the event than the actual event, only you don't get a pile of candy at the end of prom. Tommy has changed his mind about his costume about five times but finally decided he wanted to be Ord the dragon on Dragon Tales. Thanks to a great hand me down from my friend Heather, Allie was a pot of "Hunny". Here they are waiting to spot Matt and Sam in their Halloween Parade.
Sam was first. He is Spiderman but they don't allow masks (or weapons- a bummer for all the Darth Vaders out there). Allie was so upset when Sam kept marching and did not stay with us.
Matt wanted to be a creepy guy with a green face (they don't allow make-up either in the school parade). At the last minute this morning, we grabbed our beard and hat and added it to the ensemble. Combined with his cape, he looked like an Amish vampire. Allie didn't recognize him, so she was not upset when he continued.
After the parade, I picked up the boys, swung by to get Pete (his costume picture to follow) and drove by the "building house". That's what Tom calls it. He used to ask anyone he saw (including the mailman) if our "building house" was ready and the name stuck. This is how it looked this afternoon. It's a race against the clock to get it airtight. There's a rumor that it might snow next week. =(

Walls

Hmmmm. Three posts in one day...something is not getting done (dishes). I had to post this picture of our first official day with walls on the house. I snapped the photo as we did our daily drive-by after I picked the kids up from school. Between me, Bobby, and Bobby's parents constantly circling the site, the framers must think they are being stalked!

Too Warm?

I turned on the thermostat this morning as it was 55 degrees inside. As soon as the temperature hit 60 degrees Allie was demanding her shirt off. She's tough to dress as her preferences are usually not appropriate for the situation (pajamas to dressier events, bathing suits to the grocery store, no clothes at all). I wonder where she gets that from. I try to compromise now by putting a pajama dress over her existing clothes etc. This is new territory for me as the boys may have preferences but are not as choosy or demanding. They also do not take every piece of clothing they own out of their dresser and throw it on the ground. Allie does that prior to deciding she does not want to wear any clothes at all! This is her current outfit. The polka-dot shorts and muffin crumbs really complete the look.

Sam decided that he wanted to "strike a pose" too.

Global Warming II

It was 30 degrees this morning outside and 55 inside. After I corralled the morning group out the door, I went to work on getting the morning fire going. I then realized that the clothes I threw on this morning reeked like a campfire, but not in a good way. I looked at the thermostat and flipped the switch. It was so easy, and won't make me stink (more). My resolve was broken, I didn't make it to the first of November liked I had hoped. Hopefully I'll just need the heat for the morning, it's supposed to warm up. I don't want to give the utility company all my money yet. I think I'm starting to sound like my Dad (!).

Pumpkinhead II

I'm not quite sure why it always takes me a bit to get motivated to carve the pumpkins. The kids just love to do this and it's really only one hour of my day to get this going. Here are the fruits of tonight's labor. We had to work around some logistical issues. Allie's pumpkin had been attacked by squirrels on the front porch and she had a hole in middle of the front of her pumpkin, hence the cyclops. Pete thought that was a great idea so he made a triclops (Is that a word? According to my spell checker, it's not). Matt, not wanting to be left out, made a scary triclops.
Sam and Tom just wanted the scariest pumpkins ever and hopefully they are pleased. We are almost now officially ready for Halloween and are just waiting for the finishing touches of Pete's costume to arrive in the mail. I swung by McDonald's and bought the coupons to pass out (you know the ones... 12 for a dollar for free fries, apple pie, and ice cream). It's kind of novel, but no kid ever really wants to get one in their bag, they just want the immediate gratification of candy. I'm sure the parents will be cranky too; just one more excuse their kid now has to coerce them into a trip to Mickey D's. I don't want good candy in my house this year... too tempting. All I have to say is the coupons are better than buying the crappy candy like the Mary Janes we used to get or the Neccos... I hated those. Who likes Neccos? I think Bobby likes Neccos.... he has bad taste in junk food (good taste in women though!).

Babies no more... =(

I was just marveling about how grown up my guys looked this morning as they were heading out to school so I snapped their picture. I don't have any commentary or witty remarks, just wondering where my babies went. If my kids have any say, I will be posting pumpkin carving pictures today as well. We still need to do that. As far as house construction news, we have framers on site for the first time today. Between rain and other scheduling delays our construction time line was pushed back and they probably won't be there tomorrow because of rain. If there is anything picture worthy, I'll post it.

Pumpkinhead

Today was pumpkin day... it was extra special because we splurged and went for the $3 pumpkin table. Don't worry, I still asked for the discount ("buy 4 get 1 free?" *grin*). They have grand plans for their extra large artistic surface areas... pictures to follow.

Global Warming

Every year this time of the season, we play a fun little game to see how long we can go without turning on our thermostat. In actuality, it is my little tightwad preoccupation with seeing what the date is when we need to rely on the utility company to keep warm. No one else in the household has any joy in this experiment. My goal is to try leave the furnace off until October 15th, and most of the time it is close to that. I never want to turn on the heat before October 1st, but one year when we lived in Cheektowaga, I had to turn on the thermostat on Sept 20th.... bleak times. This year though, thanks to greenhouse gases, Buffalo is a lovely place to be. There were two days last week that were a little chilly (highs in the low to mid 50's). This would normally be grounds for firing up the furnace (prematurely, I might add). For the first time though, I have an ally in my quest. Since my
childhood home, I have not had a functioning fireplace. The home we are currently renting has a fireplace that works and helps take the edge off. However, this is the smallest fireplace I have ever seen. We need pygmy pieces of wood to make it work. We learned the first time we fired it up that if the wood/flame is too close to the front doors it fills our home with smoke. As a result, our home smelled like a backyard barbecue. Hopefully, the char-broil smell has subsided somewhat. I still think it's a small price to pay to keep the furnace-free streak alive. I'll keep you posted on when we turn on the thermostat.... my new goal is November 1st. The weather report looks promising and I think we can get by with a little help from our friend. On a completely unrelated note, Tommy noticed me taking pictures of inanimate objects in our home and wanted in on the fun. This is his version of a "natural" smile.

Hole in the ground

So this is the land we bought. We couldn't even walk 10 feet into the land because of the dense trees. I forgot to take a picture of the forested land...but you can use your imagination. This is after the land was cleared and the topsoil stripped. The big dirt pile in the back is blocking the 50 cords of wood that was stacked in the back of the land from the trees that were cleared. One evening we took the bikes over and let the boys ride down the hill (even Tommy). It was lots of fun.


Some of our neighbors are already wary of us...they feel we have defaced their private forest. No one has said anything directly to us, but sometimes comments have been shouted at the workers on site. We're making friends already! Just wait until we move in.... there goes the neighborhood!


This photo was taken today. We have a foundation and are backfilling now. We are also laying the steel beams and expect to start framing Tuesday of next week. I always promised myself I would never be the person who would e-mail (or post) the picture of the "hole in the ground" of the new home as it is only interesting to the person building the home. In general, if there is an absolute stated in my life (living in Wyoming, getting married before I'm 30, stopping at four kids...) it usually gets broken. I guess this can be added to the list. ;)

Goodbye Miss Mullet...

Hello Miss Buzzy.......



Allie wouldn't hold still for her haircut and she got the "Morgan Brother Special". She looks just like the others now! As an aside, she will not smile for pictures...you just have to try to catch her looking pleasant.

Welcome

Hi All! As life does not show any signs of slowing down, I figured we should start a blog not only to share with friends and family but to also document our kid's life. They are growing up too fast! Hope you enjoy it and we'd love hearing from you.

~Steph