What a fun night! After MUCH anticipation tonight was trick-or-treating and Halloween for our family... little Paul tried to explain to me tonight that his un-stellar behavior this morning (and fantastic behavior tonight) was due to being soooo excited for trick or treating (and sad that we couldn't do it in the morning)... hmm...he's either very honest or smarter than we think! We got the kids treat bags from Pottery Barn Kids- too hard to resist this year since they had ones which matched their costumes. Kaitlyn figured out what to do with it a bit quicker.... Either way, we showed up at Gram and BB's by 4pm ready to trick or treat....and managed to successfully pass the time by having dinner, playing outside and then getting ready by 6pm to head out. Our ghost and cupcake: Paul and Kate checking out Gram and BB's candy supply to make sure that they have enough. Can you tell they're excited? And they're off! At the first house: At the second house Kaitlyn hadn't yet gotten the concept of trick-or-treating and figured why not play with the big rock (don't worry, she figured it out.... "trich tree") We ended up being out for about 30 minutes, and that seemed to be plenty for our gang (no complaints from those of us starting to get cold!). Then back to the house for a treat. After a busy night, Paul and BB had an intellectual conversation about the 'new' leantoo at Raquette Lake and how it was built. Hope everyone had a great Halloween! Now onto celebrating Paul's 4th birthday in 9 days....
Last Thursday we went with Gram to the Growing Place's Fall Festival- it was lots of fun for the kids to see all of their friends from "school" in costume. Gram even won the pumpkins that both kid's classrooms decorated for a silent auction.In case you can't tall, Paul is a ghost and Kaitlyn is a cupcake this year! Although it took a while for Paul to warm up to all the activity, he and his friend Elizabeth, who was a great Dorothy, ended up playing for a bit (after he found the masks to play with at one of the stations). Paul checking out his "Paul" side of the pumpkin at night: Kaitlyn checking out her side of the pumpkin: The other day the kids somehow got a hold of their goggles and decided to wear them around the house for a while! My favorite part of this pictures may actually be the beautiful fall trees outside our front window.
We had a great day today- pumpkin carving (and painting) with Uncle Ryan and Lauren, and finished with some football watching in bed with daddy and Uncle Ryan. Kaitlyn LOVED painting her pumpkin.... she painted and dug at her pumpkin's "guts" for over an hour. In the process, she also painted herself a few times! She had pumpkin parts EVERYWHERE, including aobut 10 pumpkin seeds on her bottom. Paul was more serious in his work and eventually wrote his name on his pumpkin. He and Lauren also had some fun with the leftover carvings from some of the pumpkins.Then we played outside for a bit... and Kaitlyn of course had to play with the pumpkins some more. She figured if she likes going down the slide, so would the pumpkin.
We had an absolutely wonderful weekend in NJ celebrating Chris and Megan's wedding (Friday, October 15th). Despite a chilly, windy day on Friday, it was a magical day- and we were so happy to be a part of it! More pictures to come (fatigue and very slow internet aren't on my side tonight!) but here's a quick preview of the flower girl and ring bearer who were very excited for their 'jobs' at the wedding. Paul carefully walked the 'rings' (or at least a pillow!) up the aisle and Kaitlyn pretty much ran/bounced/smiled the whole way down. As well as the Redfern family of four And the larger family, including the 'newest' Mrs. Redfern!
Somehow it has been almost three weeks since our last post... where did this month go? I'll try to recap, although both Paul and I feel that the first few weeks of school when you work on a college campus move at warp speed (the fact that I have a new job and that he has some new responsibilities adds up as well). And thanks to all the pictures we took this summer (which I at least now have printed), combined with a few very busy weeks, I haven't cleaned off our THREE camera cards- and therefore haven't taken many pictures.
Paul traveled to NJ for Grandma Turchette's 100th birthday on Sept 11th (yes, quite a milestone!)- here's the video from her birthday cake at dinner at Forest Hill:
Our whole family went this past weekend to NJ as a belated birthday trip (little Paul and I were sick for the official birthday trip). This weekend I also got to celebrate with Chris' fiancee Megan at her bachelorette party (including Aunt Katherine), which ended with a 5K race on Sunday morning- and even squeezed in a quick visit to see Chrissy and Lyla in NYC. Here we are after the 5k race and with Grandma before leaving: Unfortunately Kaitlyn sandwiched our trip with sickness- throwing up on the way to NJ Friday afternoon (I had been meaning to wash her car seat cover anyway...) and then fever on the way home yesterday (and a sinus infection at the dr's today).
Kaitlyn and Paul continue to find ways to make us smile each day (or at least most days!). They seem to be developing a very special bond as Paul protects Kaitlyn ("Kaitlyn, don't forget your coat- it's chilly out today") and also makes sure that she knows the rules ("Kate, we don't put our feet on the table"... somehow in my tone of voice!). Tonight they were both hiding under a blanket while sitting on their chairs and totally cracking each other up (a good time for a picture, right... yeah... none taken).
As Paul's 4th birthday approaches, he is very proud that he will be four and "soon" will get to go to kindergarten (soon being fall 2012). And then proceeds to tell us that when he's in 2nd grade Kaitlyn will be in kindergarten since he's older... and that she will be sad that he won't be at the Growing Place anymore when he's in kindergarten (apparently Kaitlyn wants to try and play on the 'big kid' preschool playground rather than the toddler playground at daycare- Paul always tells us when he sees her outside at "school").
Kaitlyn continues to be a ball of energy and smiles... with a little smirk on the side. She's picking up new words every day, including "moohseey" today. She is a big fan of "uh oh" and "oh my" and wakes up in the morning and will walk around saying "Paul... Paul" until she finds him. She has a great confidence (which isn't great when you tell her she can't climb up the 20' tall slide at the playground) and will say hello to anyone or anything.
I did get a few pictures recently: The kids reading in their chairs by the window Relaxing with Gram during her quick visit to PA last week Paul 'practicing' wearing his dress shoes for Uncle Chris' wedding (we've encouraged him not to wear white socks with his tuxedo on the big day!): Hopefully there will be more posts in October!
