New Jersey Diaries: October 2007

halloween part one

okay julie, this is for you. nothing like guilt first thing in the morning! and get batgirl over here too!

last week for FHE, since alan had to work late, i decided to take the kids to a local farm/pumpkin patch/corn maze. (note: not NEARLY as cool as the one lindsey, jake, pat and kelli went to. #1 ours closes at 6. #2 no giant slide. #3 no slide of any kind or haunting ghoulies. #4 no corn to get down our pants.)

anyway, we entered the maze at about 4:30 determined to conquer. above is alexander showing the way. (never let a 6 year old lead the way through a corn maze) not that mom did any better.

there were 6 stations to find. each had a puzzle piece with a bit of the map on the back. we found #1, #2 (tee-hee, number two), #4, and #5. what a "co-in-din" (hadley's version of the word) that i was accompanying a 3 year old and 6 year old, but we couldn't find #3 or #6! not to mention that we found our way out without finding #6 -- multiple times! we kept going back in, determined to conquer, even using the puzzle map to walk through -- we could see which areas we were missing exploring, but still couldn't find even the areas, let alone the checkpoints! poor mindi called us twice only to be told that we were "conquering the maze". i'm so embarassed. we finally had to leave because it was getting dark and the farm was about to close. luckily we had no problem finding the exit repeatedly.

in the pumpkin patch, corn maze looming in the background. it was near this spot on the way back to the farm stand that hadley pointed to the ground and tugged my arm "look, mommy, a cell phone". we managed to find it's grateful owner back at the farm stand. there was no way she ever could have found it. we were off the path and it was discovered in the way that only a 3 year old can discover things. close to the ground, not paying attention, wandering off, etc.

hadley's little pumpkin, ready for the face to be carved. you will have to wait for the "after" shots.
carve o' rama. we were all a bit tired, since this was post corn-maze and KFC but pre-bedtime when it should have been post-bedtime.

and finally, some halloween shots pre-halloween! we travelled forward in time, then back just to bring you these photos in a timely manner. two whole days before halloween! (okay, there was a trunk or treat party). alan and i were among the handful of adults to dress up, and i've got to take a moment to say "step it up Princeton 2nd! this is halloween people! dress up already!"

that said, josh was as much or more dressed up as we were, and he wins the coveted spyderette's web costume award. it involved head-shaving, ya'll! (zach looks pretty cute too!) kristin CLAIMS she was there, but i still say she's making it all up.

josh looking creepy.

swampy with a hint of a smile. bonus points if you can identify what candy dad is sneaking in the background.

yowza! someone from P1 actually asked me if that was my real hair. yes. yes it is. and the eyelashes too. and i think i like this new makeup look for daytime.

swampy really enjoyed lurking around this tree for some reason...

halloween part deux

cricket, because she was MIA in the farm photos and she just looks so darn cute.

a rare photograph of the elusive "swampy" the swamp creature. can you spot him?

girls just wanna have fun.
our decorated "trunk" (hatchback?). we literally did this in about 10 seconds by grabbing stuff we had out as decorations at home.

and we won a prize for "bootiful" decor! i'm so cheezin' it here.

family portrait a'la halloween.

lady liberty givin me some sass.

aren't we a charming couple? a litte pale maybe. guess we should get out more. notice the eyebrows on alan. monobrow works great for angry eyebrows. so do you get the connection here? alan is a butler, and i'm a maid. (can you name the particular maid that i am? maybe i should say "a domestic" instead.) i actually purchased a tray and white gloves for alan, which he left at home on accident. oh well.

the cutie pies. liberty and swampy. i think i might change their names permanently.

ooh, the angry eyebrows are really working well here!

everybody get swampy

hey everybody, do the swamp-thing boogie! we went to a combined ward trunk-or-treat on saturday night and we all had a blast! there was dinner followed by games for the kids and wrapping up with trunk or treat and a fun couple from first ward who had disco music blaring. we danced and danced. my video of hadley dancing didn't turn out, but here is alexander, which is just as entertaining. we literally had to drag hadley away from the dance party.

sorry it's sideways! amy, did you figure out how to rotate these? it's upright when i view it at the source. hmmmm.

oh the places you'll go

i've given up on trying to put blogger images in order. i can't figure it out unless i upload them one at a time, which, frankly, i'm not willing to do. consequently, these are all mixed up. deal with it and i will too.

hadley at the farm with the chickens. she wants to get some. thanks grandma and grandpa s. luckily, townhouse living will not accomidate chickens.

family portrait on liberty island. no, really. we're on liberty island, i swear.

the lovely lady herself. it is worth noting that hadley was so taken with lady liberty, that she wanted to be her for halloween. luckily, we procured a costume for a mere $12, plus torch. i will include photos in the next posting.

more at the farm. hadley's preschool class took a trip there. for those that don't know. her preschool class consists of herself and 4 other kids from the ward. the moms each decided to brave one 9-week term. mine begins in january (GULP). from left to right: joshua, buster (litte brother to cricket, who was not there that day), hazel, hadley, warren (little brother to hazel), and brianna.

"miss liz" and students.
shelley, this is for you: hadley frolics in the autumn mist. (okay, leaves, but still...)

oh, look, hadley got a big girl bed! yes, it IS a queen-size! all the better to serve as a guest room, my dears! doesn't that make you want to come and visit? just look at the luxurious pinkness of it all!

t-rex and friend. the natural history museum is amazing. we have been twice for a few hours each time and still have only seen about 1/3 of it. (but have seen the dinosaurs both times)

alexander compares his arm bone to the arm bone of a dinosaur.

the kids on the liberty ferry. ah, new york! what a view!

and once more...the grand lady herself. if you click to enlarge, you can just make out the itty, tiny people on the observation deck below her platform. we have not been able to get a time pass to enter the statue either time that we have been. maybe next time. alan says he only has one more liberty trip in him, so we had better make it a good one.

i've been a bad, bad, blogger; part 1

once school started, things got crazy around here! i was subbing 2 yoga classes a week at the gym, teaching 2 of my own, and teaching 2 private sessions per week as well. between being at the gym tuesday through friday and shuttling hadley back and forth to preschool and trying to stay on top of the housework, blogging fell by the wayside. but i'm back, with updates going way back and keeping all 4 of my loyal readers up to date on the latest adventures in jersey. first, some highlights from our summer:

have you ever seen a more literal interpretation of "kiddie pool" -- there are 6 in or around the pool, one very tired girl in the foreground and 3 babies in their own pool off to the side. i love this picture, they are just having so much fun!

one of the cutie babies.
and another. for some reason, liam was MIA for this photoshoot.

here is hadley striking her best pirate pose for the treasure hunt grandpa and grandma put together for their scurvy gang of pirates. note the squinky eye. i guess her eye patch was in the shop that day.

aaaargh!

love the determined face in this picture. by gum, she's on a treasure-seeking mission!

ditto on sheer pirate determination. love the sliding down with swords. so un-PC.

this should have come first, but i was too lazy to change it around. i love my daddy's cute face in this photo. he's reading the first clue, thus initiating the treasure hunt. they actually had to DIG UP the treasure from an area near the garden. too funny!