Happy Halloween!!

It's so hard to get a decent picture of these two!

Here they are right before going trick-or-treating, Annabelle is a puppy and Jack is a pirate... Wearing half of his costume, which in itself is a major achievement. This is what Jack would have looked like had he not had a meltdown when I tried to put his costume on him:

It was a bit big anyway, maybe I can force him into it next year.

Trick-or-treating was a lot of fun... Following in the footsteps of his big sister, Jack assumed the role of "cat burglar" breaking and entering into several residences, only he was a pirate, so he was much less subtle as he barged through and flailed his sword about in search of some booty to plunder.

Actually, he only went into about 3 houses, which didn't even come close to the number of houses Annabelle ran into last year. Still, somehow he ended up with twice as much candy as she did this year. By the end of the night Jack's pumpkin weighed almost as much as he does and he was determined to lug that thing around all by himself... I'm guessing he was just afraid to let the candy out of his site!

Annabelle was the model trick-or-treater this year. She was super keen to wear her costume and even tried to help me convince Jack to wear his by telling him that he wouldn't be allowed any candy unless he dressed up. When that tactic failed she offered up her black cat costume from last year in hopes that he would jump on the enthusiasm band wagon. No such luck, but she does get an "A" for effort!

U.K. Visit

We've just returned from a trip across the pond to visit Granny and the rest of the family in England. We all had a very lovely time, even though the Monkeys were both suffering from coughs and a bit of jet lag.

Annabelle and Jack were so well behaved on the flight over that I had almost wondered if I had grabbed the wrong children! It wasn't until we were waiting in the line to clear customs and they kept running off in different directions while laughing hysterically at me trying to catch them that I recognized my offspring. Fortunately for me, we caused such a scene that we were allowed to jump to the front of the line, bypassing about 200 people. Apparently it pays to have a mental breakdown when in a long line.

After the incident at border control things settled down a bit. We spent the majority of the time catching up with everyone... We met up with several of Nick's friends, who all seem to have children about the same ages as Annabelle and Jack, so they had lots of little people to play with. We also saw lots of family members and finally got to meet baby Luke, Annabelle and Jack's new cousin, who they had been looking forward to seeing since he arrived back in May.

We also took the kids to Woburn Safari Park, which was very impressive. We had a giant black bear eyeing us as he brushed by the back of the car, and a REAL monkey jump on the windshield! Also, a giraffe practically stuck his head through our window!

While we were in England, Uncle Mark celebrated his 40th birthday with an Elizabethan banquet at Hatfield House. Granny watched the Monkeys while Nick and I donned our best fancy dress costumes and attended!

There are many more photos in the photo album link to the right...

And Worst Mother Of The Year Goes To...

The woman who landed her son in the emergency room by dislocating his elbow!

Um, that would be me.

Cause earlier this morning, that is what I did.

There we were, walking through a parking lot heading to the gym, yoga mat and diaper bag in one hand, Jack holding my other, Annabelle happily skipping along next to me. Next thing I know Jack decides he doesn't want to hold my hand anymore and becomes dead weight. Being the naive mother that I am, I thought that holding on to his hand and trying to pull him up might actually keep him from hitting the pavement. Boy was I wrong.

Next thing I know I hear a little *pop* and Jack is on the ground screaming. I knew before I even picked him up that this was not the typical defiant toddler scream, but rather a -I'm in a lot of pain- type of scream. Which it was. I had guessed that the *pop* I heard might have been his shoulder, as he was unable to move his arm, but apparently it was his elbow.

So I resign myself to the fact that I will not be making it to yoga and I drag my two screaming monkeys back to the car, because at this point Annabelle is in full melt down because she wants to go and play with her friends at the gym daycare, and I head home to call the Doctor, who immediately tells me to take Jack to the E.R.

After dumping Annabelle with my neighbor, Jack and I head off to meet Nick at the hospital. Once there they decide that he has what they call Nursemaid's Elbow, which I guess is very common in young children who get dragged around by their parents. The Doctor did some crazy twisty-turny maneuver with his arm and popped it back into place. Within a few minutes Jack's wing was as good as new...

But I think, having contributed to the cause of his first emergency room visit, I might take a bit longer to recover.

Rainy Day Monday

Late Night Rave?

I went to get Jack up this morning and found that he had shimmied his crib across the room! It's not that obvious from the photo but the crib is usually about 4 feet to the left. He was either having a serious dance party or he was trying to make his way out the door... Thankfully the crib is too wide, otherwise he may have ended up in our room!