New Nephew!!!!!!!!!

 Big Dragon (so named because he was born in the year of the dragon) was born on 26 October at 7:17 a.m. in Hawaii. He was 21 inches and 6 lbs 13 oz.

I cannot wait to cuddle him!! Here are a few of the photos Local Hero and Local Heroine shared over the weekend. He is so beautiful, and we can't wait to meet him!

Halloween Costumes 2012

We got good use out of the kids' Halloween costumes this year! The pic above is just before they headed out trick-or-treating with J.

R was Hermione from Harry Potter, complete with a black grim-reaper robe J found on sale, a scarf that Grammie crocheted for her, a "Gryffindor" badge R and I drew together from an image we found online, and a stick J picked up in the Poconos.

RUS told J he wanted to be a super-hero. When J asked him which one, RUS said, "Red one!" and he stuck to it, so we made him a big red "R" (R for Red and R for RUS!), pinned it to a red shirt, had him wear red pants, and found this red hoodie complete with a very super-heroish mohawk.

The kids wore their costumes for their school parties as well as for a Halloween party hosted by one of my coworkers, whose kids are absolutely gaga for Halloween. We made a dirt cake, decorated with gummy worms and tombstones that R drew and that we taped to toothpicks, to bring along. Here are the kids helping decorate before the party.

Milburn's and Pumpkins!

While Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle G were visiting, we headed back to Milburn's to get some apple cider donuts and pumpkins to carve. We stocked up on some more apples, too--oh my gosh. Fresh apples from the orchard is seriously one of my very, VERY favorite things about fall.

We only managed to carve one of the pumpkins so far--J and R carved this while home waiting for Hurricane Sandy; RUS was too busy doing other things (reading books with me, watching Bob the Builder) and didn't end up carving that day. We're thinking we might make his a "Thanksgiving" pumpkin and carve a turkey in it now that Halloween is over.

J and R also decorated the back of her pumpkin by adding eyes with toothpicks and scooped-out pumpkin rind, and coloring on them with marker. ICK!

Delaware Football

We bought tickets for UD's Homecoming game versus Rhode Island in a battle between the two smallest states. We had a blast at the game with Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle G, who came down for the weekend. Here we are in the pre-game tent enjoying a buffet meal and really loud music from a DJ as well as the marching band.

The kids got to meet Baby Blue up close and personal! The official mascot is YouDee, who we didn't actually see at the game, or at least, I didn't, but Baby Blue was all over the place.

Hurricane Sandy Update

I've been getting a lot of emails and questions about how we are doing in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Despite fearing the worst--losing power, flooding in our basement, trees uprooting/falling--we made it through the night just fine. We still have power and until it's lighter outside we won't have a sense of how much, if any, wind damage hit our house and trees. But for now, all looks to be relatively fine, if extremely, extremely wet.

I'm thinking of everyone in New York and New Jersey who got slammed with the hurricane and flooding and all of those without power. I'm also thinking of folks west of us in West Virginia and Ohio who are living through a Halloween blizzard, much like we faced last year at this same time--wet snow plus trees with leaves still on them is a recipe for disaster.

I'm also thinking of my cousin in Brooklyn, hoping all is well, as well as J's family in Connecticut.

Weekend in the Poconos

The weekend of RUS's birthday, we headed up to the Poconos with Grammie and Grampy. It was a beautiful weekend and we had the most lovely time--cool, crisp weather, trees changing color and all kinds of leaves falling on the ground. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the weekend.

Grammie and Grampy took the kids for the afternoon while J and I went on a hike at nearby Bushkill Falls. Here's the animal taxidermy set-up, just after you purchase tickets but before you walk into the hiking area. J wanted a picture of the coyote and I agreed to pose.

This scenic overlook on the Delaware Valley was breathtaking. Of course my camera does not nearly capture how vibrant the colors and scenery were.

On the way home (about a 2.5-3 hour drive), J remembered that there was a vegan bakery in Bethlehem, PA, so when we passed by Bethlehem, we took a quick detour and stocked up on goodies at this bakery. I am not kidding when I say that the treats at this bakery were 100 times better than goodies I have gotten at just about any other bakery, ever. They were amazing. Worth driving 2 hours to go visit again, for sure. Maybe for J's birthday??

Happy 3rd Birthday, RUS!!

We celebrated RUS's 3rd birthday with a weekend in the Poconos with Grammie and Grampie. Here are the kids waking up in the morning, ready to open presents. Can you just see the excitement radiating off their faces?

GUESS WHAT! It's BOB THE BUILDER!!!!!!!!!!

And he got a castle that has a dragon's head that comes down and shoots wheels out of its mouth. Oh my gosh. The kids both love this thing! There's also an ogre (you can see it right behind the castle in the picture below) that talks to the castle--I can't remember what the ogre says--probably just arrgh, and the castle talks back, saying, "We're under attack!" and stuff like that.

After lunch, we had cupcakes!

and here's RUS wearing a fire hat he got on his card from GiGi and PopPop, telling us how old he is with both of his hands

 And my very favorite picture of the birthday boy!! He was so excited to have a birthday, I love it.

Halloween Party

The kids were invited to a really cool Halloween party at one of their friends' houses. The food was AMAZING! I couldn't resist documenting it all--there were deviled eyeballs, cake pops in various Halloween colors (see pic above) and in the pictures below you see witches' brooms, oreo spiders, popcorn balls, a skeleton veggie tray, and a dirt cake with gummy worms.

There were lots of games and crafts and all kinds of Halloween decorations. RUS loved the giant spider's web, partly because our back porch is often filled with spiders and we talk about them a lot.

My favorite activity was when the kids made mummies out of each other. Here's R converting RUS from a Skeleton into a Mummy.

Potty Training . . .

RUS wore underpants to school for the first time today and he was dry all day until his first accident around 4:00. I think we are going to take the plunge and really go for potty training now. We might be diaper-free very soon (except at night). This is simultaneously very exciting and very scary.

Matzo Ball Soup!

My awesome friend D made the kids some matzo ball soup. We served it, and after finishing her bowl, R immediately went to the art table, grabbed her markers and pencils and a writing pad and drew this picture.

She told J tonight she is going to be a beautiful artist when she grows up.

Fun with GiGi, PopPop, and H&M

Last night we had a really, really lovely visit with GiGi and PopPop and their friends H and M, who all drove down for a visit to Delaware. R pulled out Grammie's play jewelry and got all the guys decked out. They were all really good sports, and boy did we laugh and laugh.

P.S. I'll give you three guesses what RUS was doing (with Grampie, who conveniently absented himself from the room) while this was all going on!