Halloween Fun!

We've had some good Fall fun around here!  The last week has been a little crazy...both Eli and Lucy have been at the doctor's office (at separate times, of course)...both have ear infections in their left ears and now have (different?) antibiotics.  So, we continue to pay tuition to schools we're not attending regularly, but this is how immune systems get built, right?  We've enjoyed all-things pumpkin lately...carving, making pumpkin-spice cupcakes, and lots of chocolate-chip pumpkin bread!

Mom visited us over Halloween weekend!  She and Kay came to Lucy's Halloween parade at school.  And, when I found out THAT MORNING that Lucy's Halloween party is supposed to be "parent-led", Mom helped me with the party that afternoon!  It was wonderful to have her here...I desperately needed some "mothering!"  We started September with a lot of back-to-school busy-ness that hasn't slowed down like I thought it would.  Mom observed our craziness, made some good suggestions, and we are feeling calmer now (except for blog-management...obvioulsy...hey, we couldn't cover all my issues in one weekend...thanks for reading anyway!)

Lu has had her butterfly costume since August and wears it all the time...especially to the grocery store!  Eli got a lot of laughs in his Elvis costume (thanks to Claiborne for letting us borrow it!)...some folks thought he was Evil Kenevil since he didn't want to wear the glasses with sideburns, but a good-sized boy in a white jumpsuit is really funny whatever he's supposed to be!  Eli insisted that Mom read "Llama, Llama Misses Mama" about 187 times during her visit...they both almost have it memorized.  :-)  Kay, Fred and Kelly joined us for trick-or-treating...it was a fun evening! 

Halloween Memories!

 Halloween 2006 ~ Lucy is 2-months old!

Halloween 2007 ~ Lucy is 14-months old!

Halloween 2008 ~ Lucy is 2!

Halloween 2009 ~ Lucy is 3 & Eli is 9-months old!

Happy Birthday to Amy!

One of the girls in the picture above is turning 30 TODAY...can you believe it?  I cannot.  Because, if she is 30 then we are not kids anymore...really, it has been a bit since we were playing soccer, or dancing or cruising to Sonic...but both of us being in our thirties sounds very...um...mature.

Amy is fabulous at surprises and she surprised me with tickets to Tina Turner (!) when I turned 30 so we wanted to do something really fun to celebrate her big birthday!  An adults-only trip to NYC was perfect...Lucy and Eli stayed with Kay & Fred and Avery stayed with Mom & Dad...many thanks to them for making it easy for us to get-away for a few days!

Since I'm not-so-fabulous at surprises, this trip wasn't a surprise and actually involved months of Amy's travel input.  She and Matt reached out to all of their Bank of America NYC peeps and got awesome tickets (GO YANKEES!) and yummy restaurant reservations.  Chris declared himself "Master of the Subway" and guided us through the city on mass-transit with no problems...he also did that in Paris and London a few years ago...he is seriously good at that...which leaves me wondering aimlessly with a Starbucks in my hand...it was all good! 

I remembered that Amy and I had posed for a picture at the Statue of Liberty museum in the summer of 1986 when we visited NYC with Mom, Grandma and Uncle Phil.  I see that Amy still has that great smile with the raised eyebrows (that's how you know she is really enjoying herself) and I've left the high-tops at home.

On Saturday morning, we met Hunter and Suzanne to walk the Brooklyn Bridge and have breakfast...it was great to catch up with them and hear about their NYC lives! 

We toured the Statue of Liberty...we ate Magnolia Cupcakes...we shopped...a lot...we toured the MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art...we ran in Central Park...we saw a fabulous show, "Love Loss & What I Wore", with Stacy London (you know, from TLC's "What Not to Wear")...and we cheered for the Yankees and/or The Red Sox!

After our dinner on Saturday night, we decided to go sing karaoke!  It was awesome!  We were all impressed with Amy's ability to sing Jay-Z's part of "Empire State of Mind"...who knew my sister (or should I say "sista?") could rap? 

I'm hopeful that our trip made Amy feel special and celebrated...she is a wonderful Wife, Mother, Aunt, Daughter, Friend...and, to me, a dear Sister!  I still cringe when I think about how I would tell Mom that I was too busy to pick her up from Junior High, then go driving by with my friends in my car (obviously not busy)...Amy was way cool then and I hate that I didn't realize it!  Lucky me that she forgave my teenage selfishness and recognized my potential...I'm so glad we get to be part of each others lives!  Happy 30th Birthday Amy!