Frankenstorm

Hurricane Sandy certainly did a number on New York, but we here in Bay Ridge were safe and sound. Though the winds howled and trees fell, we never lost power or experienced even a bit of flooding. The kids and I have pitched in to the relief effort by donating money, jackets, toiletries, socks and underwear, and PB& J sandwiches. If you are interested in helping out, you can donate money to the Mayor's fund, Brooklyn Foundation, or Staten Island Recovers. 

The main effect Hurricane Sandy has had on our life is that Justin is now working 15-hours a day, seven days a week. When Justin is gone, I enter some zen-mothering state, where I have endless patience and come up with lots of projects. 

So, the kids have been decorating cupcakes, 

Bliss!

painting T-shirts,

playing with play dough,

styling each other's hair,

dressing up for Halloween as Alice in Wonderland and the Cheshire Cat,

Henry's costume is an inside out sweat suit that I drew on with washable marker. Classy!

posing with Batman (aka neighbor Khalil),

Little Red Riding Hood (bestie Emma),

and two foxes (Fritz and Felix) and a monkey (Hannah)

My friend Joy designed and made the fox costumes. I am impressed.

showing of their stripes, 

preparing to go out in a snow storm, 

hating the snow storm, 

loving the snow storm,

enjoying the snow the next morning,

Henry kept yelling, "No, no." He meant snow.

and building a snowman.

Long weekend, abbreviated

Just over a week ago, we headed to Maryland to attend the wedding of our dear friend Keyvan and his bride Rachel. As Justin needed to arrive early for the rehearsal, I drove the kids down by myself. This was the first distance car ride I have taken the kids on, and it went smoothly. I drive so rarely, that Elizabeth felt compelled to be a back seat driver, and a very encouraging one at that. She said things like, "Just turn around like  Daddy, Mama. That's right! Good job! You got it!" We made one stop on our way at the Lehigh Valley Mall, where Henry found a tractor to drive.

 The wedding itself was in Thurmont, MD, and was lovely.We unfortunately had to leave partway through the reception due to Elizabeth running a high fever (the kids were with my mom).

 We then spent a night and a morning with Jay and Linda, but have no pictures as most of that time was spent with Elizabeth feeling crummy on the sofa, and Justin and I taking turns working. Due to Sandy's impending arrival, we had to beat a swift retreat to NY. Fortunately, we were able to squeeze in a visit with Barbara and Bill at the College Park Aviation Museum . . .

 There was a haunted house that day.

 and celebrate Elizabeth's fourth birthday at Chevy's.

It was a quick weekend, but lots of fun.

Bug Birthday

It's E's birthday week. It's also the beginning of cold and flu season, which means that the kids' colds continue to wreck birthday plans. On Wednesday of last week, E had the croup and on Thursday H threw up in bed, causing E to miss two days of school and causing us to cancel E's birthday party on Saturday. Both kids were miraculously better on E's actual birthday, which allowed us to do our annual birthday photo shoot (polka dot dress pics) as well as take some birthday pictures around the house. However .... 

One of three dresses from Aunt Breanna. E loved them all!

A pink-and-white cookie for E's birthday breakfast

H thinks this is a throwing mitt

We put prizes in a mixture of sand, salt, flour and coffee grounds and baked them to make surprise rocks 

A special treat: The most sickeningly sweet confection imaginable

A special treat: E watches Tangled while eating dinner

On Sunday the sicknesses were back. E's whining reached its patience-sapping zenith while H developed a flu. They were of course healthy enough to make cupcakes.

Both kids were well enough on Tuesday for a postponed bug-themed party that included bug cake, pin-the-spider-on-the-web as well as a gross feel box that included slugs (mini marshmallows in oil), worms (noodles in oil), and butterfly wings (onion skin). But, yet again, H went to bed early with a fever. I guess you could say he caught a bug.