This Brick House: October 2009

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Halloween 2009

For Halloween this year we decided to have some friends and family over for chili and trick-or-treating. We had the Varca Family, Shwam Family, Moysa Family, Rogers Family, Ryan and Hayle, Mike and Lynn Reehl and Jason's parents (it was a full house!). The kids all looked so cute in their costumes. There were two fire fighters, Robin (from Batman and Robin, a butterfly, Cinderella, a little kitty, banana (aka Banana boy) and a cute little puppy dog. All of the kids did great! We played in the tents out in front of our house then had dinner and we were off to trick-or-treat. This place is amazing, people had great decorations, neighbors were gathered outside on their porches handing out candy and greeting kids and some houses were even passing out grown up goodies :-) All the kids did great, even when the first house we went to we were greeted by a VERY scary mask. I was worried that would be the end of trick-or-treating right there. After we made our rounds we came back to the house for pumpkin pie and coffee and just enjoyed the company of our friends. It was a great night and we were so happy to share it with great company, I'm thinking it might be a new Halloween tradition for us.

Watching the Word Series

Dinner Time

My Little Hero

The Big Kids

Yikes! The first house we went to.

Part of the Gang

More of the Gang

These people went all out with the decorations

This little guy was done

Checking out her loot!

Friday, October 30, 2009

Halloween Card from Great Grandma and Grandpa Brick

Every year Great Grandma and Grandpa Brick send out Halloween cards and it's one of the highlights of Ashley's year. It's one of the few times she receives mail addressed to her and she LOVES it. She carefully examines the envelope and gingerly opens the card. When that crisp $1 bill falls out she jumps up and down with joy and then we listen to her talk about it all for the rest of the night. For some reason that is one of the signs that the holiday season has begun and I love it!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

R.I.P. Two Four

Poor Two Four passed away on October 29, 2009. We said a prayer and then flushed him away so he could be with his fishy friends in heaven. Ashley misses him a lot.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Little Lambs Halloween

Ashley sings in the Little Lambs choir at our church and is loving it! They have to learn 8 songs and we'll start performances the first week of December. She's mostly looking forward to singing on the BIG stage in the sanctuary, she talks about it A LOT!

The Tuesday before Halloween, Little Lambs had a Prince and Princess party. So all the kids were dressed up and after rehearsal they trick-or-treated from the parents and then ended the party with a cookie and juice. Ashley was thrilled because she was given a cookie with purple frosting. Could life get any better for a girl that LOVES purple??

Pumpkin Patch with Dylan

Grandma Maddy Dog (aka Jason's mom), Dylan, Ash, Colin and I headed to the pumpkin patch the Tuesday before Halloween. The kids started off in a funky mood but after a ride on the cars they seemed to shake it off. Then Ashley's pinky was bitten by a turkey which almost resulted in a major melt down but we bipassed that with a ride on the tractor :-) The cousins had a great time together.

We ended he trip with an ice cream cone at Mc Donalds- I think the kids were in heaven!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

My Big Boy

Friday, October 23, 2009

New York, NY

For my Birthday my mom surprised me with a quick trip to New York City. It was a VERY quick trip but it was just the right amount of time to see the city and get back home to my babies before I started having melt downs. We took the red-eye flight on Friday the 23, landed in NYC at 8am, checked into our awesome hotel on Park Avenue then we headed out we walked the city until 7pm. We went to the NY Library (that is what a Library is supposed to look like! This is also where Carrie and Mr. Big planned to have their wedding), we walked to the upper east side, had a hot dog at Gray's Papaya (Regis Philbin talks about that place a lot! It was also where Carrie ate after her book party on Sex and the City) then we had a Wicked Hot Chocolate at Jaques Torres' chocolate shop. After getting toasty while we had cocoa we walked through Central Park, saw the Boathouse restaurant (another spot in Sex and the City) and some gorgeous trees. Then we headed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art where we walked through some exhibits and then had an appetizer and glass of wine in one of the restaurants that had a wall of windows that looked out to Cleopatra's Obelisk in Central Park- very fun! Then we went to FAO Schwartz and Tiffany's. Ladies, let me tell you, the Tiffany's store in NY is massive and magical. It's 5 stories and absolutely beautiful. There's so much sparkle on each floor and the employees are so nice and just want everyone to enjoy their visit. After admiring diamond necklaces we hobbled our tired bodies back to the hotel and ended up having a wonderful dinner there where we watched the rain really come down. When we woke up Sunday morning we left the hotel at 8am and walked to Greenwich Village (where Sarah Jessica Parker really lives). It was amazing how quiet the city was at 8am on a Sunday. We enjoyed a great brunch at the Hudson diner across from a beautiful old church. Then we started to explore some more and ended up doing some SERIOUS walking. We headed to pier 40 and saw the Hudson River and a million runners (probably training for the upcoming NY marathon). Then we started to head to the 9/11 site and financial district. On our way back to park avenue we walked through Little Italy (which smelled DELISH) then we hit China Town (which smelled DISGUSTING- like rotten fish). We walked through SoHo and then back to our hotel just in time to pick up our bags and hop in a cab at 3pm to make our 4:15 flight. It was a very fun trip. It rained on and off the first day so we were able to see what life is like in NY with the rain (can't imagine it with all the snow) and the following day it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. At times my mom and I would talk about how we would love to live in new york but then we would realize we were talking about living in the ritzy area (park avenue, madison avenue, etc). When we saw where we would probably be afford to live we questioned the idea. I just love the city. Everything from the food vendors on the street to the world renowned restaurants, the stores selling cheap tourist clothes to the major designers' stores. Everywhere you look there is something to see. One of my favorite things is walking down the streets feeling like the buildings are about to gobble you up because they are just so big and remind you just how small you are. It was a great trip and I'll always remember it- thanks MOM!