Another All Hallows, in the bag

Needless to say Sylvie (the butterfly - thanks Grandma!) had a great time tonight trick or treating with pals Madeline (Alice in Wonderland) and Jake (I can't tell you - his identity is a secret.  But he does whatever a spider can).  We went out on the early side to try and miss the cold snap that came with dark - and as a result we caught a few households unprepared.  The kids seemed unperturbed.  About fifteen houses in, they conferred briefly and announced a consensus - it was time to pack it in.  No complaints from the elder contingent.  We retreated to the warmth and safety of the O'Leary household, where we enjoyed Trystan's famous chili (and the guys caught up with the Pats game).

Some shots here - more at the tail end of the October Gallery.

Cool Ms. Butterfly

Front and Back

The gang

Alice (Wonderland)

Staging Area

The work of a Big Sister...

Make a break for it!

You ring it.  No, you ring it.

Teaming up

Seriously.  You ring it.

Into the stash

Syl's Favorites - M&Ms

Happy Halloween!

This actually took quite a bit longer than it looks...



We're heading out in a little while to go trick or treating with the O'Learys.  Syl is REALLY looking forward to getting into the butterfly costume that Grandma Lynne made for her.  It's supposed to be pretty cold tonight, so we're getting in some houses early and then having dinner with Madeline and Jake!

Happy Halloween everybody!

Spooky!

Jack-o-Lantern test run tonight.  All systems go for Halloween.

Back on the campaign trail

Sylvie was PUMPED to attend a Charlie Baker rally with me this morning.  She's met Charlie plenty of times now, but she was pretty psyched to meet Senator Scott Brown in person.

Afterwards, Sylvie was so enthused that she agreed to record this message to Massachusetts voters.  Her dad thinks this might just be what puts Charlie over the top on Tuesday...

Carving (just in time!)

It's been a hectic few weeks.  Both Mom and Dad have been slammed at work, and Dad has spent all his "extra" time on the campaign.  We almost didn't get those three pumpkins that Syl picked out so carefully a couple of weeks back carved in time!

Luckily, this morning was clear and so Sylvie and I got focused and got 'em done.  Syl wanted one happy, one sad, and one scary.  We gave it a shot... but I think maybe they all came out looking pretty uniformly perturbed.  She seems pleased with them though.

Cousins

Some excellent photos of Sylvie and her cousin Aya over on Aya's blog.  They are finally both old enough to truly play together - and they had a great time doing so when Sylvie and Melissa went over to Aya's house on Sunday for lunch (Daddy had to campaign).

An Excellent Daddy Day

Saturday was a perfect fall day in New England.  Bright sun, a cool breeze, leaves turning (and blowing).  Mom had some shopping to do, so Sylvie and I decided to go get some pumpkins at Outpost Farm.

Sylvie then declared her desire to go to a playground.  As much as we love our standby, Oak Grove, we decided to try something a little new.  Madeline had told Syl that the playground behind the elementary school had a few things going for it, so we gave it a try.  It seems a little more geared to kids a bit older than Syl, but she loved it nonetheless.  Her big accomplishment was a couple of tentative back-and-forths on her first unassisted balance beam.  I promise I did not enhance the colors in any of these shots - the day was just that beautiful.  More in the October Gallery.

After all of that playing, Syl proclaimed herself "hungry for hamburgers."  So it was off again to Burger King, where Syl pounded down not only a cheeseburger (most of it, anyhow), but also a Mac & Cheese.  As she polished off the latter, she said to me, "You like this astronaut, Daddy?"  'Astronaut' is Sylvie for 'restaurant,' by the way.  I replied that I did.  "Burger King is a GOOD astronaut," Sylvie told me.  Then she pondered for a moment, looking at her burger.  "But for me, it be CHEESEburger King."

I thought that was pretty smart for a not-yet-three-year-old.

After lunch we played for a while in the driveway - and I snapped my favorite recent Blackberry photo.

All in all, it was a very good Daddy Day.

Cinderella - starring Madeline the Mouse!!

Last night Sylvie was honored to attend Madeline O'Leary's big stage debut as a mouse in the PRANA production of Cinderella!  It really was very cute - and just the right length (about an hour).  Madeline was a very convincing mouse.  The most expressive of the bunch by far.  And Syl was also very excited to see our neighbor Kristen on the stage.

After the show, Syl was very excited when Madeline invited her up on stage and showed her some of the mouse troupe's dance moves.  Next year...

Maine

First thing to say about this weekend - wow.  The house the Greens rented on Saturday Pond in Otisfield, Maine was really out of this world.  First of all it is huge - way too big for our little band, in fact.  Second, it is beautiful - a relatively new log "cabin" style house, with all sorts of cool, family-friendly stuff - a huge yard, a dock on the lake with kayak, canoe and small motor boat (we didn't even try the latter).  A game room, a hot tub, a swing set.... it was really decked out.  We probably could have stayed a month and not done everything the house and area had to offer.  Here's the house...

The October water was way too cold for swimming, tubing or waterskiing, but we did go out in the canoe and kayak a few times.  The first time we were caught in a sudden wind storm that blew little Avery and me in the kayak most of the way across the lake before I was able to get the thing turned around.  That was quite an experience.  Avery was pretty calm about it, even though her parents were quickly out of sight.  "I go back now," was all she said - calmly, if repeatedly...

Anyhow, here's my favorite photo of the weekend. There are more in the October 2010 Gallery, which is suddenly quite full...

One Gal Band

I've been wanting to post this one for the past week, and just stayed up way too late on a Sunday to do it...

Syl broke into her store of musical instruments to play a new song she's written about Pax - loosely based on Mary Had a Little Lamb.  Seeking to differentiate herself from other toddler artists, she even gets a hedgehog into the act.

This vid also marks the debut of Sylvie's cute new haircut.  She's still doing the hair-twirling thing, which she's done since literally day one of her life.  The problem is, now she's taken to pulling out the tangles she creates.  Nearly every morning we find a new clump on her pillow.  It got so that the right side of her head had MUCH longer hair than the left side, where she does most of her twirling.  Hence, a visit to the todler barber, and some evening out resulting in a very cute, pixieish look.

Still trying to figure out how to make her stop pulling out the tangles (or making them in the first place).  She's cognizant of it now and is trying to stop - we see her catching herself.  But it's usually an unconscious thing.

Anyhow, hope you enjoy Syl's song...

More apple picking photos

As promised I am working through my backlog.  Here are some more shots from our apple picking excursion with the O'Learys last weekend.

I've also finally put up the October 2010 gallery, which as of right now has a bunch more Belkin Farm photos, as well as some from a nice afternoon at Oak Grove earlier in the month.