The Holiday Season Has Begun.

On Sunday Laura, Tierney, me and all three of our moms went down to New York to see "How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying" as a day long birthday extravaganza and it was FANTASTIC. Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette headlined and it was incredibly funny. The whole trip was so wonderful, from spending time with my friends and our moms to eating at Carmine's and watching the show, everything was fun. When I was thinking about the whole trip I couldn't put my finger on what exactly made it so special, above and beyond the obvious, when I realized that what really sealed the deal and made it such a relaxing break was the fact that I was not in charge. I didn't have to plan a thing!
I am so thankful that these wonderful women arranged for show tickets, train times, reservations and a carpool to the train station. My friend Tierney even had warm bagels waiting for everyone right as we left that morning. The most strenuous decision I had to make was what to order for dessert (and trust me it was one I really pondered over). What a nice break to just be able to show up for the fun and not be in charge of arrangements. My friends are the best.


Now that the fun of that trip is over we are heading straight into Holiday Mania. Today Aiden and I sat down to write out the invitations for his birthday party which we have to hand out this week since next week we'll be in... DISNEY WORLD! Yay! Then four days after our return we're having Thanksgiving at our house and a week after that will be his actual party. And then it's a slippery slope straight into Christmas and New Year and we'll reemerge in 2012 with our heads still spinning from the madness. Full steam ahead.

Happy Halloween!

Aiden has his party at school today along with the costume parade and a little show with lots of Fall an Halloween songs. Aiden sings his heart out at home but the minute he saw all of the parents watching he clammed right up. Still, he was adorable and all of the kids at the school had fantastic costumes.

All the kids singing! Except Aiden of course.



Aiden the bumblebee.




Aiden and his wonderful teacher Mrs. Booth




Even Bo is getting into the holiday!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like....Halloween?

It snowed last night, which is not all that unusual for late October except for the fact that it actually accumulated a little. It started in the afternoon and when Aiden got up from his nap and saw the snow he turned to me and shouted "MOM! GET MY SLED! GET MY SKIS! WE'VE GOTTA GO OUTSIDE!". After dinner we did spend a little time outside making and throwing snowballs and watching our boot prints fill with wet flakes.

Suddenly it felt like Christmas rather than Halloween. It was lots of fun until 8:30ish when the power flickered a few times and finally went out. Apparently the combination of wet snow and trees with all their leaves proved too much for a power line. I was bumbling around in the dark looking for the flashlight when Aiden came running into our room completely terrified. Sean was the only person who remained calm. We all climbed into our bed and watched Harry Potter on the portable DVD player until the power came back an hour or so later. It was definitely a fun adventure but I'm ready to have fall back at least until Thanksgiving.

Autumn in New York

Stuff keeps happening, and I keep intending to sit and write it down but then life happens. Honestly, between October and January we're booked solid. It's truly nuts.

It's finally, actually fall! The leaves have finally changed color thank goodness. This weekend we plan to go get a pumpkin to carve, while on Sunday we're hoping to help my best bud Laura carve one of her 100 pumpkins. Yes, that's right, 100 pumpkins. They love Halloween over at her house, and they've previously carved 50, but this year it's 100. I don't have the talent or energy to do it so I'm glad she does because I know it's going to look really amazing on Halloween.

On Sunday afternoon we'll be heading to a Halloween party hosted by one of Aiden's school friends. It's a costume party and Aiden has decided to be a bumblebee this year. He originally wanted to be a shark, then he thought he might go as Buzz Lightyear again, but then he found an old bumblebee costume that used to belong to Sean's sister and that sealed the deal. It's kind of funny, this costume is meant to bee a large costume for a small child (1 to 2 years) but Aiden is so skinny he can still fit into it despite the fact that it's more of a bumblebee vest than a full bumblebee suit. Still, he's resolute in his decision, so we've added some wings and he's good to go.

Then the next weekend Sean and I have a Halloween party, followed by Aiden's school parade and party on Monday. I'm making some goody bags for that and I can't wait to see all the kids marching with their costumes. So cute.

We've also got big things going on for every weekend in November, but I'm trying not to get too far ahead of myself or I collapse in a pile of stress and anxiety. I'm trying to remember to actually enjoy everything as it unfolds rather than rush around planning for the next event.

Hopefully we'll get some good pictures of Aiden out having fun that we can share with everyone.

Bo

Happy birthday to Bo, who is a year old today! He was born on 10/10/10, how cool is that?

Nap Time

The Good, The Bad and The House

We've been quite busy these past couple of weeks. It seems like the fall and early winter are always the busiest times of the year. The biggest thing has been Sean's work. He spent the past three weeks living at work and coming home every 17 hours or so for a brief visit, or so it seemed. Just thinking about the amount of time he spent there and the fact that we never knew when he'd actually be home is exhausting. It was awful, but it's over. Test passed, promotion granted, life moving forward. Now he'll actually be able to take some time off and we're trying to plan a trip to Disney in November. Just thinking about how much fun Aiden will have is getting me twice as excited for it. I've tried to explain to him what Disney World is about and he doesn't really get it, so seeing his face when we get there is going to be one of those moments that makes the stress of raising a child SO WORTH IT.

Aiden is still cruising through school. He loves it and is making lots of friends, mostly girls since there are only 3 boys in a class of 11 and the other two boys are very reserved. He has already been invited to 2 parties which is something Sean and I forgot was a big part of school. Everyone has birthday parties, the whole class gets invited, gifts must be purchased and Saturday morning must be given up. I'm already trying to figure out what we're going to do for Aiden in December. Oh the pressure.

Now that Sean's work is leveling off, we're trying to fix up the house a little bit. It seems like everything has fallen apart as of late. That dishwasher and oven we purchased over the summer? The oven is still not installed. We thought we had a drop-in stove, two professional installers thought we had a drop-in stove. Only once the second installer had sawed through the wood cabinet that the stove is set into did we all realize that we have a free standing stove that was hidden behind the cabinet front. The stove cannot be returned. It also cannot be installed without serious work. While we tried to figure out what to do, the furnace broke. And then the garage door broke and the SUV in on the fritz. Basically we've been making phone calls and filling out paperwork in our free time.

Luckily, in the midst of the madness, we got to spend part of the weekend at the gorgeous Boston Harbor Hotel for the wedding of our friends Ben and Angela. It was a beautiful day and the wedding was right on the waterfront. My mom watched Aiden for us so we could have a child-free night which was something we desperately needed.


So we've been having fun, having some not- so- fun and doing a lot of repair work.