Halloween 2016

We started Halloween weekend with a trip to Cape Cod. After my dissatisfying time at the Akron Marathon, I signed up for the Cape Cod Half Marathon for redemption. I put in a few solid weeks of training post-marathon, didn't bother with much of a taper (since it didn't seem to do me any favors for Akron), and went out and hammered the half in 1:22:39. I planned to run between 6:15-6:20 pace and did exactly that with 6:18s. It was good enough for third place, so I get $300 (if it ever comes in the mail!). After the race, Bruce and Phoebe wanted to go biking on a nearby trail so I put in a few more miles to cool down.

 Driving back from the Cape, we stopped at a cranberry bog. We have lived in Massachusetts for more than a decade and somehow still hadn't been to a bog. So we changed that: we stopped at this awesome little family-owned bog and took a brief tour, learned about the cranberry vines and how they grow, then checked out the cool equipment they sort it on. The kids got to try it out (above, sorting berries on a conveyor belt). We took some cranberries home and put them in an apple pie. Those little berries are tart, but they sure go well with sweet stuff. Yum.

After our cranberry bog experience, we went home and went to the church Halloween party. Phoebe was a skeleton, Oliver was Mr. Incredible, and Bruce was an obscure Jedi from Star Wars. Nobody had strong opinions about what they wanted to be for Halloween, so they raided the dress-up box and this is what they came up with.

 Phoebe found some vampire teeth at the trunk-or-treat to complete the look.

 On the real Halloween (Monday), we packed in a bunch of activities after school. We visited the fire station to get glow sticks and candy.

Then we went to Phoebe's school Halloween party at the park. The weather was fantastic so we stayed for a long time and played games, got more candy, and painted pumpkins.

After the school party, we came home and grabbed some dinner before heading out for trick-or-treating. We went to a nearby neighborhood and stopped by a senior center where a few elderly residents lined up their wheelchairs in the lobby and handed out candy in a sort-of buffet line. The place was decked out with decorations and the kids agreed it was their favorite stop of the night. By the end of the night, the kids got their weight in candy. Bruce ate a bit, then gave me the rest to donate to a food pantry. Phoebe ate a bunch of hers and is still eating it bit by bit. Oliver ate all the KitKats out of his pile and now just likes to count it and sort it, but not eat it.

Good times

Phoebe celebrated her sixth birthday in style: she invited her Primary teachers to come over for a bingo night. They have an awesome bingo game that they shared with us.

Phoebe requested the ginger chocolate cake again. I realized I was out of yellow cake mix a bit too late so used chocolate instead. It was a hit: double chocolate plus ginger is amazing.

Phoebe got a mailbox for her birthday. She was eyeing one at the Postal Museum this summer. Now we write letters to each other. 

We had a more kid-crazy birthday party a week later. We had a ninja turtle party with an obstacle course, a pizza toss game, a pin-the-mask-on-the-turtle game, and a piñata of course. Phoebe threw a toddler-sized tantrum when she wasn't the first one in line to hit the piñata (we lined up shortest to tallest), so she still has some growing up to do. Turns out it didn't matter who went first. We went through the line twice and the piñata was still intact, so we let the adults have at it...

Phoebe's kindergarten teacher stopped by the party and was the hero that busted the piñata open.

In other developments, Bruce is learning to play the trumpet at school. Unfortunately it also requires practice at home. The kids love it. Me, not so much.

We celebrated Halloween for about two weeks. There was a party at church with trunk-or-treating and a chili cook off. I signed up to bring chili because I was worried there wouldn't be enough food (everyone was signing up to bring desserts!). I don't often make chili so I searched online for a recipe that morning, made it up and substituted some ingredients that I didn't have. At the end, I tasted it and almost couldn't swallow it because it was so spicy. I threw in a bunch of corn and beans and hoped for the best. Somehow I won the cook off, which was seriously shocking. I won a pair of golden salad tongs that look like bird feet. Awesome.

For trick-or-treating, Bruce was a "Jedi ambassador." He had a cape and a light saber, but most importantly he had a candy bag. He didn't really care about what he was for Halloween; he just wanted candy. Phoebe wanted to be an Incredible, so she wore Bruce's costume from a few years ago. Oliver was also indifferent to the costuming part of things, so he wore scrubs trick-or-treating. He loved it and learned to shout "TRICK OR TREAT!"

We also trick-or-treated at the fire station, so Oliver dressed as a firefighter for the occasion. Phoebe wouldn't be persuaded to dress as a firefighter; she said she was already an Incredible. Indeed.

Oliver loved getting the candy and having his own candy bag, but he actually doesn't care about eating the candy that much. He just likes having it. He has dumped out his candy and counted it, sorted it, and redistributed it many times.

Happy Halloween!

 We started our Halloween celebrations off right by visiting Phoebe's favorite guys who are always in costume. I guess since she dresses like a firefighter 364 days out of the year, she decided to be a "radiologist" for this one day. Bruce was a skeleton and Oliver was a pirate, complete with marker-made beard that he contributed to.

 We went to the school's fall party and did the usual games and pumpkin painting and such.

 Phoebe wanted to get a picture with her new best friend from school. Of course it couldn't be one with a straight face.

Continuing with last year's tradition, we brought Miss J - a fairy princess - along with us. After the party and a bite to eat at Miss J's, we went trick-or-treating on Beacon Hill. The kids got a ridiculous amount of candy and have been binge-eating it ever since.

My favorite part of the experience was hearing people comment on Phoebe's costume. When it got cold, she put her Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sweatshirt on.

Nice person passing out candy: "Oh how cute, we have a Ninja Turtle!"
Phoebe: "No, I'm a radiologist."
Nice person: "You look like a Ninja Turtle."
Phoebe: "Look at my ID badge."

Just because.

Remember that failed Halloween evening of trick-or-treating? Oliver never got to don the lobster costume, so we had to do a little photo shoot.

 He still has blue eyes - like Scott. I am hoping they stay that way; they're beautiful.

Oliver got the lobster costume and this little turkey costume from Grandma. Remind you of anything? That's okay; he is too young to protest, or remember.

 Phoebe decided she wanted to dress up too, so she put on one of her many firefighter costumes. She says the face above is her "brave face." 

Phoebe needs her brave face frequently. To say she is accident-prone is an understatement. She is constantly covered in band-aids from various injuries. Yesterday she stepped off the back of a step-stool while baking cookies and landed on her head on the floor. Last Friday she fell down the stairs while running down them in snow-boots; she split her lip open and got a nose bleed (Scott did a lot of cleanup while I heaved on the garage floor just from looking at the mess - thank you Scott!). A few weeks ago at church she was wiggling on the pew and somehow launched herself head-down onto the hard floor. There was a loud crack, everyone looked our way, Phoebe lay still for a few moments, then she started wailing and I carried her out to the hall to calm her down. The guy behind us later said that he had his phone out and ready to call 9-1-1 because he thought she was unconscious. I'm glad that Phoebe is just as accident-prone at school so that they actually believe me when I say she fell down the stairs! After the first week of school, her teacher said she went through a box of band-aids (read: please bring in another box!), and most of them are for legit injuries.

This week at the Raymond Residence

1. The infamous thong shirt finally made its way to the garbage can. It just needed a last hurrah at the cross country reunion first (see above, with Coach Shane).

2. Halloween happened! Bruce was Darth Vader, Phoebe a firefighter, and Oliver a lion. We did trick-or-treating at the fire station (pictures to come soon) and a quick stint at a school party, and then took cover from the rain at home. Instead of rainy trick-or-treating, we watched a movie and ate popcorn at home. I'm a little sad that I don't have kids' candy to pilfer this year.

3. Phoebe had a firefighter-themed birthday party! We invited a few of her friends over, played a few firehouse games, broke the traditional pinata, and ate macaroni and cheese and cupcakes together. When Scott lit her birthday candles, she backed away, citing the fire hazard.

4. I got sick. On Sunday morning, I woke up to a sore throat, fever, and headache so nasty that it hurt to open my eyes. I stayed home from church and laid in bed all day. On Monday, the fever was gone but my head was still foggy and I was still exhausted. On Tuesday, I started hacking. On Wednesday, my voice vanished. Scott reminded me to go get my flu shot.

5. On a related note, our pediatrician recommended that Oliver get RSV vaccinations throughout the next few months because preemies are susceptible to the sickness and can get much sicker from it than "normal" kids. Unfortunately, our insurance company won't cover the shots because they only cover preemies to 31 weeks and 6 days (Oliver made it to 32 weeks by TWO HOURS). Our pediatrician appealed without success and when I looked up the cost of the injections ($8,000-16,000!!!), I think we are going to just hope we luck out and not get sick this year.

6. Bruce and Phoebe are enrolled in 100-mile Club at school and we have been spending most mornings walking or running laps at a local park. At first, Phoebe was determined to do just as many laps as Bruce. That fervor has faded back into her pokey ways. Yesterday while Bruce walked a mile, Phoebe walked one-fifth of a mile and managed to pet two dogs, fill her pockets with rocks and acorns, find a leaf to give to her teacher, poke at some trash on the ground, accept a rose from a homeless man, and walk backwards.

Oliver just woke up from his nap, so that concludes this update!

Happy Halloween!

Bruce dressed up as a skeleton this year. He wanted to be a dancing skeleton from Harry Potter because his best friend dressed up as Harry. Phoebe wasn't sure what she wanted to be, or at least she was sure but sure about something different every day.

 Some days she would want to be a princess, some days a firefighter, some days Mr. Incredible, some days a doctor, and some a tiger. She found this costume at a clothing swap at church. It is supposed to be Tigger, but she has never seen Winnie the Pooh; when people asked her if she was Tigger, she would correct them by saying she was a tiger and then growling at them.

The kids scored lots of candy this year. We had trick-or-treating among our immediate neighbors on one night, did trick-or-treating at the fire station on Halloween during the day, and then headed to Beacon Hill for their first real knock-on-the-door-style trick-or-treating. Phoebe has already eaten through a good portion of her candy. Bruce's will last until Easter unless Phoebe gets her hands on it; Bruce isn't really into candy, just into the pursuit of it.

Out with Halloween, In with Thanksgiving

Since I have neglected to put photos up for more than a week (maybe 2?), here are a few recent ones. While Phoebe didn't want to wear her Halloween costume, she liked to steal parts from Bruce's. Doesn't she look like a doting mother with her little baby? And lightsaber?
These photos are from the school Halloween party. Bruce raced this girl on the hippity hop......and won when she totally ate it. Ouch.

Scott is now on his tour of the Midwest, hoping to impress more residency programs. In 10 days, he is checking out U of Pittsburgh, U of Michigan, Cleveland Clinic, and Mayo Clinic. In between all the interviewing, he is getting pampered by my parents and Grandma Tompkins. I am not the only one who is jealous: Bruce and Phoebe are wishing they were in Ohio too. But alas, we are here and making the best of it:We headed to Plymouth last weekend. Bruce and I have had several conversations about pilgrims and freedom with Thanksgiving coming up, so we went to the place where it all began. In the above columned cage is where The Plymouth Rock lies. It sits down in a pit in the ground and isn't all that big. I'll admit I was a little disappointed the first time I saw it, which was at the end of the Run to the Rock 10K that I did a few months ago. The kids were stoked though. We hiked around and checked out statues of pilgrims and native Americans before heading over to the Mayflower.We did not tour the Mayflower - we got there long before tours began because I wanted to beat the traffic and had other things to do that day - but we walked around the pier and the shore. Bruce decided we need to come back here with Scott and take the tour next time.He also decided that we should decorate the house for Thanksgiving. I have two mini pumpkins on the table that I count as my holiday decor, but I guess that is not enough for Bruce. I asked him how we should decorate and he said (completely seriously), "like the inside of a turkey." I asked him what that looked like and he said (still seriously), "Lots of blood vessels and eggs."

'Tis the season for blood vessels and eggs.

Not slowing down.

Someday I will get back in the habit of biweekly blogging. That will be the day I blow-dry my hair and run a lint roller over my nicely pressed blouse.

For the sake of keeping up with my relatives and fellow blog-stalkers, here is a quick update:

Scott had his first residency interview. He liked Philadelphia and the program at Penn. He called me while he was walking around the city and told me how great it was. I had read somewhere that Philly has one of the highest crime rates in the United States; it even has its own "Crime in Philadelphia" wiki page. While Scott was telling me how great the city was, an emergency vehicle went by with sirens on.

I am busy with the usual: finding a Turkey Trot to race, heckling Bruce to do his homework and resist the urge to write in all caps, taking care of Baby J and Phoebe during the day, and switching our condo's management company (this alone has taken at least a year off my life).

Bruce was Darth Vader for Halloween. He has worn his costume almost every day since purchasing it a few weeks ago. He loved trick-or-treating, but isn't big into candy. He eats one piece a day and will probably still have a pile until Easter replenishes his pile.

Phoebe, on the other hand, has already had two tantrums today (it's 11 a.m.) because she wanted a piece of candy from her bag. She loves candy and will do anything to get it. Phoebe had a cute Little Mermaid costume, but absolutely refused to wear it. She ended up wearing her pajamas and went as a very tired little girl. She pulled it off well.

Photos and updates to come someday...

Slacker Blogger Update

It's been awhile since I've posted a real family update, so here's the Reader's Digest version, starting with Phoebe because she is our cover model for this post.

Phoebe is still in a trouble-making phase (hopefully this is just a phase?). It seems no matter how much we childproof, there is always something else dangerous or destructive to find. She is so ridiculously cute though. She loves playing in the leaves on the ground and managed to coat her fuzzy pumpkin Halloween costume in leafy matter, which left trails of leaf crumbs around the house.

Bruce loves school so much. He has a routine that he enjoys every morning. He puts his coat and bag in his cubby, counts objects in a counting jar and writes the number on a post-it note, washes his hands, reads "the morning message," writes his name on the board, answers a "question of the day," and puts his name tag by a symbol representing which table he wants to sit at. Friday's question of the day was, "Who does the dishes at your house?" Bruce answered, "me."

Scott is well into his OB/GYN rotation. The hours are much better than the surgery rotation, and the stories are generally much better. Labor stories never get old. Scott said he would be completely comfortable delivering a baby on an airplane.

I am staying busy keeping Phoebe out of the toilet, getting Bruce off to school, stocking the pantry with snacks for Scott, and reviewing cameras and running when I can. The camera reviews happen when Phoebe naps and Bruce is at school. Right now I'm working on a review of a camera that broke within the first few days of having it. It was sent back to the manufacturer and a new one was sent back to me so I could finish the review. Unfortunately, this camera broke too. This one won't get a stellar review. Running is happening before the kids wake up so I can avoid pushing a stroller. I'm up at 4:45 most mornings. I'm also getting back to track practice once a week with the help of some friends who have volunteered to babysit until Scott can get home from the hospital. I am planning on a 5K on Thanksgiving Day and then a cross country 6K at Club Nationals in December. I want to get fast! The Boston Marathon is only a few short months away.

We got family pictures today, thanks to Terese. We've never paid to have a family picture taken, and it's about time. We attempted to look decent and all look the same direction, but I'm sure Photoshop will have to help us out. Bruce kept making silly faces and Phoebe kept looking everywhere except at the camera. I can't wait to see the photos.