October

Hi Everyone,
Well October just seemed like a really long month to me. It's our second full month with
Matt commuting, we went to PA twice in two weeks, we celebrated Halloween three times, and hanging like a pall over it all was constant election news and discussions. Boy am I glad October is over. Don't get me wrong, the leaves were stunning this year and we did have a good time picking apples and visiting with everyone but I'm just glad it's November.

Below is a summary of the month in pictures.

We went apple picking locally at a very nice farm. They had a tractor ride that went to the top of the hill where there were tons of apple trees. From there you could see out over the Thames Valley to the other side where the leaves were in full color. It was just beautiful... and the boys got to ride a tractor, pick apples, pick out a pumpkin and drink apple cider. YEAH!!!

During our first trip to PA, Grandpop got out the leafblower and made a pile for the boys to jump in... as you can see that was a big hit.

Then we got dressed up in costume for the second time. What fun... where's the candy.

We went back to CT and the next Thursday vicki came up to CT and we drove together down to Nazareth again. Then on Friday we drove out to Pittsburgh for homecoming. The weather actually cooperated and they boys got a taste of our college years. I told Nathan that this was where mommy and daddy went to school and he was amazed that our school was soooo big. Of course all they really wanted was to play cymbals and drums... here they get a taste of a staple of all drumlines, the cowbell. Why is it only the boys who are playing it???
Then we went to the Kiltie Band reception where you can see the boys were getting a taste of college life. Nicholas and andrew were playing pool and nathan is playing fooseball (sp?) in the back.

After that we drove out to Bill and Terri's house, during which the boys fell asleep. They were soo exhausted we couldn't wake them up. We got them in PJ's (as best we could) and put them to sleep on Gage's bed. They slept the entire time we were there (from 7:30PM to 1:00AM), we put them back in the car and took them to Randy and Elizabeth's, got them in the house and they slept till 7:30 the next morning. College life really wears you out.Then we drove back home. My boys are very used to spending 4 hours at a time in the car and doing that drive back and forth in a matter of 3 days. No problem. But driving a total 18 hours in a span of 5 days was not good. We didn't really have much problems going out, but by the last leg on the way home, mommy and the boys had just about had it. They were getting all punch happy (literally.. hitting each other with pillows) in the back seat. One moment they would be giggling their heads off... then the next one was crying. It was just good to finally be home.

Then it was finally real Halloween. Nathan had been excited about it up until Halloween morning. Then he decided that he didn't want to go. So we compromised and said he only had to go to two houses and if he didn't like it he could come home. It was also PJ day at school. Not sure if I blogged this when it happened, but the last time I thought it was PJ day, it really wasn't PJ day. They had sent out an email reminder that wednesday on a certain date was PJ day. Well turns out the date and wednesday did not correspond.... so I dressed them on Wednesday but everyone else realized they meant friday (probably from all the flyers around the school that were printed correctly that I failed to notice). So poor nathan and nicholas were the only kids in school with PJ's that day and he was very upset about it. Well... this time it really was PJ day and I told him about it all week. But the morning of Halloween he also decided that mommy was wrong and it really wasn't PJ day. I finally convinced him it was and we got to school. He then proceeded to sit in his seat in the car and say "I'm not getting out of the car... It's not really PJ day". So again more cajoling and trying to convince him that mommy was on top of things on this day. After much hiding behind my legs, we finally got to his classroom and low and behold all the kids were in PJ's. Well then he was just fine.

That night he was still giving us a hard time about trick or treating. We convinced him to try two houses (especially since the next door neighbors were giving his favorite treat, donuts). So he went to two houses and then Nicholas' costume got a little too heavy so they came home for a little bit. Daddy convinced Nathan to try a few more houses. Nicholas was too busy diving into his halloween basket to be too concerned that Daddy and Nathan had just left. But after about 5 minutes, he decided he wanted to go too. So once Daddy and Nathan come home, daddy took Nicholas back out. Nathan had a great time handing out candy to all the kids that came to the house.

BTW, look at the craftsmanship on that tractor. It took all of matt's and mine crafty skills to put it together (plus we still needed some help from Grandpop). But it's still mostly standing today. Pretty good huh.


That's it. Then it was November and we all voted. I had planned on voting before work and taking the boys with me. I told them we were going to vote. Nathan said... "we are going to school in a boat?" I said, no we are going to vote. Then after a pause, he said "ok... you'll take the paddle and we'll go in a boat." I said no we are going to vote. I reminded him about an experiment they did in school where they all decided which color of apple they liked best (green, yellow, or red) and raised their hands and the teachers counted. I said that's what voting is... picking the one you like and being counted. Well... then he was all excited about voting. Until we drove by the town hall and all the parking was gone and the line was out the door and around the corner. I decided I would come back at lunch time and vote by myself. Nathan was very disappointed. He wanted to come and vote after school but I said that by then it would be too late. It's funny how his mind works. This morning I was looking at his shoes and decided that with two big holes in them, we would go shopping after school for new shoes and I told him this. Then when I went to pick him up today, I said do you remember what we are going to do after school today? He said "Go VOTE????" How come he can remember something I said 3 days ago, but not something I said a couple of hours before. Just tonight in the tub he said, "when do you think we will eat in my room again?" I said, we never eat in your room. And he said, yes we did once. Then I remembered, back in April when we got the floors refinished, there was one day were we needed to eat dinner but we couldn't use the dining room to eat and we couldn't get downstairs... we had to eat upstairs and so we had a picnic in Nathan's room. That was one time 7 months ago and out of the blue he remembers it. The mind is a strange and wonderful thing.

Happy November everyone.