This may have been my favorited Halloween EVER!! Earlier today we made pumpkin muffins to bring to the neighbors we know and to friends whose houses we were going to stop by. We had so much fun going out tonight! Around 5 Esme and I went over to Gollie's new house to Trick or Treat. He and Sue were excited to see us and gave Esme some candy. Then we went to another person from our church's house, and came back to our street. This was Esme's time really Trick or Treating. We went to the end of our road and down a couple side ones - Esme was a huge hit in her Halloween costume and people were giving her handfuls of candy! She was so happy to see lights on and kept saying, "Let's get more candy!" It seemed like a dream come true for her. She was very good about saying, "Twick aw Tweat," and, "Tank you," at everyone's doors. She was so sooo sweet and I loved spending this time with her!

Going home to take over passing out candy on the other hand, wasn't such a good experience. As we were walking up to our own door, a teenager tried to steal one of our gourds right in front of us. I yelled, "Hey!," and started screaming at him to put it back until he threw it into one of our bushes. Punk! We had adults trick or treating at our house. I don't mean young adults either - people gray hair who didn't even have kids with them. I think that is really lame. Then right toward the end of the night I was running low on candy and got a group of about 13 people. I said I was going to give it to the kids only and an adult held out her bag. I said, "I really want to save it for the kids.," and she said, "Well this is for the baby!," and pointed to a child less than one. I said, "Oh does the baby eat Milky Ways?!?," and she said, "Yes she does!" So I finally gave her one, but she was pissed and talked about me all the way down the street. I was irritated because the other kids had to miss out so the mom could either keep the candy for herself or give it to someone who doesn't even have teeth. Sigh.

I love Karen Burinston's work and I was so excited to see she started a blog! I added her to my links list!

I was just sitting here reading my email when I heard Esme start crying. She'd really started wailing, "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!," by the time I got to the top of the basement steps. I went upstairs to her room and opened the door and asked her what was the matter. She smiled sweetly at me and said brightly, "Mommy, tell me a story!"

Esme and I made out own applesauce today and it was soooo good! I'd never made applesauce before - my grandmother Adams' was soooo good I knew I couldn't live up to those standards. Recently though I saw a post on the peaboard about how to make it in your crockpot, so I decided we should give it a try. We used the apples we picked with my mom a while ago. It was incredibly easy and came out so well. I was so glad we tried it - there's nothing like warm applesauce on a cool Fall night!

I'm a little worried about adjusting to Ethan's new work schedule. I'm so excited for him, and can't wait to hear about all his interesting new work stuff, but he's going to be working a ton of hours. That means less hours with him and more hours alone with Esme. As much as I love her, that can be very stressful at times.

So, I'm starting to plan ahead. I found a couple local parent drops in centers that we can go to, just to get out the house, play with other kids, talk to other parents, and one even has a music class once a week. I think it's important for Esme to start doing things in groups so that's an added bonus. We have our membership to the Chilren's Museum which is great for rainy days now or the cold days that are coming up. Esme could spend hours and hours there. Kidsports in Hadley looks like it might be fun too, and it's a lot less expensive than I thought. We might be able to go there once a month or so just for a change of scenery. Friday and Saturday are going to be our hardest days, so hopefully I can visit and be visited a lot by my friends and family in CT those days.

I would do whatever it took to make these jobs work for Ethan! I'm so happy to see the spring back in his step and to know he'll be working somewhere he'll be appreciated!

OMG I am being buried under Fall photos!! I cannot believe how many photos I have from this year so far - as Stephanie pointed out, I have enough to fill an entire scrapbook with just this year! So far we've
-been to the Big E
-been to a small, local fair
-been apple picking
-been to the pumpkin patch
-been to Mt. Sugarloaf to look at the leaves, and been in the newspaper on top of that!
-gone to Halloween activities at Look Park
-made Jack o Lantern Crafts
-gone to Fright Fest at Six Flags
-done Fall photo shoots with on a nice stroll, and of course with pumpkins
-gone to Pumpkin people
Plus we are still going to:
-go to a Halloween party
-do a photo shoot of Esme in her costume of course - this is a must!
-rake and jump in the leaves
-go Trick or Treating
-make pumpkin muffins for our neighbors
-Thanksgiving dinner preparations (whether making the meal or just pies)
-eating Thanksgiving dinner
-and of course I have to make a page about why we're thankful for Esme

I've been tagged by Stephanie!!

Five Things I Plan to Do Before I Die
1) Go to Seattle - I haven't been since my first birthday.
2) Finish a scrapbook about myself.
3) Get a car with less than 50,000 miles on it.
4) Learn to make a souffle.
5) Win HOF.

Five Things I Can Do
1) Scrapbook.
2) Plan enough activities to entertain a 2 yo any day.
3) Remember almost my entire life.
4) Organize numbers into patterns.
5) Make pumpkin muffins.

Five Things I Can't Do
1) Get anywhere new without getting lost.
2) Do any complex computing in my head.
3) Beat my brother at arm wrestling.
4) Win a video game against Ethan.
5) See scary movies.

Five Things That Attract Me to the Opposite Sex
1) Sense of Humor.
2) Kindness.
3) Intelligence.
4) Cool Hair.
5) Being a good Kisser.

Five Things You Say Most Often
1) I love you!
2) Stop right there!
3) Don't hug the kitties!
4) Do it again and you'll be in bed!
5) That sucks. (trying to stop this one.)

Five Celebrity Crushes
1) Alan Rickman
2) Colin Firth
3) Anthony Hopkins
4) Sean Connery
5) Orlando Bloom

I tagged Glo-Girl!

We had such a nice weekend! We woke up fairly early Saturday and went to see Sesame Street Live. Esme and I had been earlier in the year but this time Ethan got to go. We came home and took a family nap afterward, which was very relaxing. Today we went to Six Flags. We all painted pumpkins and we took turns going on rides with Esme. It was just a fun day all together - my favorite kind of day!

I'm so proud of Ethan! He interviewed several times and landed an awesome new job! He was the Textbook Manager at a severely struggling college store, and now he's got a cooler Textbook Manager job at a healthier trade and textbook store! I'm so happy for him because they take him for granted where he is now and I know he'll be given more respect and appreciated more at his new store. It seems like a more professional environment, and will definitely give him some new skills. Plus they have a great trade (regular) book section and my discount on books is going up to 40% off! Whoo-hoo!

I'm finally feeling a bit better!

Ethan and I are hooked on Dr. Mario again. We have the game for his original Nintendo set, and it's set up in our basement. In the past we've gone through spurts when we played maniacally for hours every night. The last few days since he set it up we've been playing a few rounds every night. Although we are almost equally matched, he is slightly better than me and wins more. I blame my parents for not letting me play video games at an early age!

Between being sick and playing Dr. Mario, it's no wonder I'm hardly getting any sbing done. I'll get back down to business when my next DT package arrives next week.

I'm so tired of being sick now. This cold is now officially kicking my butt. I woke up this morning with a sinus headache so bad I couldn't open my eyes. I have to work tomorrow so I am pray that this improves before then.

I started reading The Sound and the Fury a few by William Faulkner a few days ago. Normally I am the kind of person who HAS to finish a book if I start it, but I am considering putting this book down. I got through the first section, which is from Benjy's perspective and is supposed to be the hardest to read, but now that I'm in Quentin's section I'm not so sure I want to go through with it. I might stick a bookmark in it and set it aside for a time while I decide.

Last night we had the Alfredos Angels reunion! It was so good to scrap with our group again. It had been a really long time and I've missed having that regular scheduled time to meet with friends and get out of the house. I finished two pages with difficult journaling, which is always more difficult at a crop. Plus I got to sit next to Stephanie which is always a pleasure!  

Even though I wasn't feeling well I managed to do 2 pages last night that I'm really happy with. You can see them here:
My Scraptalk Gallery. Silly is really a departure for me from most things I do - I don't usually leave anywhere near that much negative space!

I've done a lot of pages for my All About Me album lately but I feel like I'm only scratching the surface of what I want to express. I want this album to really express who I am. I'm going to a crop tonight (health permitting) and I might take my copy of The Book of Me along for inspiration.

I woke up this morning with a sore throat. I feel like I just got over being sick and I am sooo no ready to be sick again! Plus I have a big crop on Tuesday that I'm really looking forward to, and I really don't want to miss it! Wah!

I love October. I never cared much about Fall until Esme was born, but the last two years Fall has been a fun and happy time for us. We do lots of Fall activities like going apple picking, hayrides, pumpkin picking, playing in the leaves, baking Fall foods, going to see the Pumpkin People. I love the weather because it is just so generally comfortable. Last year in October I got to see Stephanie a lot and that made is great too. I'm so glad today is October 1st.