Ten Years

Last week Chris and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. WOW!!! I am so impressed with us! It's been a very interesting path for us. We started out young, and now we have known each other for half of our lives.

I wish I could say we spent the day in Paris under the Eiffel Tower, BUT we have lives and children and limited funds.....so......we spent the day doing what we enjoy the most. Being together. We both took the day off and had a nice lunch together. Then we went to Jaron's parent/teacher conference. After school we all went to Princeton and had dessert first at the Bent Spoon and then a quick dinner at PJ's Pancake House. Oh, Chris also let me go to the mall after lunch and look around. I bought a sweater from Old Navy :)

It was a great day with my three favorite people in the world!!!!

Chris, I know I am not always the smartest person in the world. I drive like a maniac and irritate you to no end. I can be lazy, high-strung, and obnoxious. But I appreciate you always being there for me, understanding my flaws and loving me in spite of them. Thank you for taking care of our family and riding the train 6 days a week to go to work. Thank you for reading to the kids on Sunday nights and going to the grocery store for me when I am subbing. I appreciate you letting me bring home other people's garbage from the recycling center, and I love it that you bring me things that you find!! I am glad that you don't get mad at me when I have weak moments and go shopping at the Gap for things we don't need. Thank you for all of your advice and wisdom and for being the voice of reason when my mind is so often filled with nothing but nonsense. And most of all, thank you for loving me and the kids, for always keeping our best interest in mind. You are the best daddy and husband in the whole world...............

even though you wear tights and make-up to work ;)

Halloween......Jersey Style

'Nuff Said!!!

Halloween....Phantom Style

We missed the Phantom trick-or-treating last year because Chris was hurt at that time....remember his crazy torn muscle that led to his back going out? Needless to say, the kids and I were so excited to go back to the Majestic and t-or-t this year! They talked about it all week long.....

I had plans to ride the train into the city, catch the subway up to Columbus Circle and hang out in Central Park for about an hour before the t-or-t started. I have yet to see Central Park in the fall, and I wanted so badly to see all of the pretty leaves.

So we get off the NJ train in NYC and walk to the subway. I got us a Metrocard with 4 rides on it, swiped us through the turnstile, walked down the platform and waited........and waited........and waited.......and waited.......and waited, etc. The subway trains are supposed to run every few minutes. We stood there for about 20 and not one single train came by. At that point in time I had answered this question a thousand times: "When are we going to go to Daddy's work?" I also had to answer this question: "Why do we have to go see the leaves in the park?". After standing underground for what seemed like eternity (with two pouty little people) I decided to just "cab" it. I still intended to go to Central Park, but as we drove down 8th avenue, I got nervous. I got nervous we would have trouble getting back to the theater in time, so I had the cabbie drop us in front of the theater.

To make a long story short, we had some time to kill so we walked down the street to the Toys R Us in Times Square.....best decision I could have made at that point!

And here's why......we walked in and this little guy greeted us :)

Jaron was beside himself.

There were all kinds of cool things made out of Legos.....


Buzz, the Empire State Building and Lady Liberty. The kids each had $5 they could spend too, so everyone was happy. Jordan found herself a hamster webkinz and Jaron walked away with (another) Schleich figurine....an ankylosaurus. I know, what in the world is a Schleich ankylosaurus? Sorry, this is just normal vernacular in our home.

So, we made it safely to the theater where we changed in to our costumes. The kids begged me to dress up. This is what I threw together from Jaron's dress-up bin.


And there's my little dinosaur :)

And his pretty little eskimo sister......she wouldn't let me fix her hair. I wanted to put it in two braids, but she wouldn't let me near it.

I think they had as much fun in Daddy's dressing room as they did t-or-t-ing.


PIZZA!!!!!! We brought Daddy some Superman stuff to wear.



I love this picture.....all the Phantom Kids!!!!!!

This is the only picture I got while t-or-t-ing. As some of you know, it's REALLY cramped backstage...so not alot of room for doing much of anything except sucking in your gut.

Jaron was so interested in watching the people on the street below. He kept trying to talk to them. He's a mess, but we had a GREAT time!

Halloween Mayhem

The week before that crazed holiday, otherwise known as Halloween, the kids and I headed to Stult's Farm and picked pumpkins.


One of my favorite activities in the fall!!!



And, of course, we cleaned them, carved them and roasted their seeds.

Friday we had THREE Halloween parties. First I helped with Jaron's party. This is his beloved dinosaur costume....I found it on sale at the Children's Place. He was so proud of it, and so proud that he was the only one dressed as a dinosaur in his class!

He was VERY into his role as a meat-eating dino.

This was definitely the year of Mario....everyone and their dog was dressed as Super Mario.

Jaron and his adorable first grade class.

I just love this picture....this is Maithili. She sits next to Jaron. She had the most adorable peacock costume!

Me and my little angel!

I stopped by Jordan's class to make sure she got into her costume OK.......

then the parade started. They walked around the garden and around the blacktop....Jaron was growling like a T-rex the entire time. Seriously.

I just had to snap a pic of our sweet friend Emma.

And Gabriel!! Corinna says he is ready to move in with me. He LOVES to come feed the guinea pigs. And they love it when he comes because he brings them each a big piece of lettuce and two big carrots. Gabriel always wants to know if he can come to my house. And he always wants to talk to me on the phone when I call Corinna. In fact, she tells me all the time that when he hears that it's me on the phone he walks to the door and starts putting on his shoes!! How cute is that! No one could ever take the place of my most precious niece and three nephews, but Gabriel and his sister Emily and our other little friend Sarah have helped fill that void. Just the other day, as Gabriel was talking to me on the phone he said "I love you" before he was done. Sniff, sniff!! Just absolutely made my whole week!

Not really sure what Jordan is doing here, but it's the only picture I got of her during the parade. Have you figured out what she is dressed as?

After school the Girl Scouts party began at the church down the street....the same one the kids did VBS at. Jaron and I got to attend too, and I had to explain to him a dozen times that we were not going to VBS, it was just a party at the same place where they did VBS. He was so convinced I was not being truthful!!! Anyway, this is a picture of Jordan's Girl Scouts troop. I like this one the because it is childhood at it's best......random! And yes, that is the Virgin Mary over there behind Dorothy and Toto.

More Halloween Mayhem to follow in a few days.............

(Jordan is an eskimo :)