Trick-or-Treat Night

 Our little horse was so excited to wear her costume again and practice putting candy into her plastic pumpkin.  But when the actual trick-or-treating began, we asked her to walk up to the neighbor, who she knows well, to get something to put in her pumpkin, she clung to Joshua with all of her might.  Of course, after knocking on a few houses, she got the hang of it and was then trying to transfer all of their candy into her pumpkin. 

We only visited a dozen neighbors (the ones who were especially excited to see Alma, since she won't be eating the candy anyway) and then came home to sit on the porch, hand out candy and watch the parade of costumes go by while Alma enjoyed a lollipop.

Zombie Pumpkins

Every year we end up throwing away our pumpkins before Halloween even happens.

Halloween horse

Not sure if Alma could love this costume more.  Joshua and I had a great time bringing her to story hour at the library dressed as a horse on Monday. 

Cannot wait for trick-or-treat night!!

Happy Halloween!

Hanging out in Joshua's front porch swing (one of his many birthday gifts)

 Saying hello to the neighbor's dog Frizzy the Poodle

 Giving some love to our neighbor Pat and her grandson Cole

Knocking on our front door

Earlier in the day, I got excited for the evening's festivities and dressed the dog and Alma in her costume.  Simon should be used to being dressed in female roles at this point. 

Happy New Year!

We rang in the new year by going on a family walk over to Broad Street to enjoy the Mummer's Parade.

Our 2009 felt like The Year of Advent with most of the year focused on the arrival of our little Alma. (She was definitely worth the wait!)

However, in glancing at the photos we snapped this year, our year was more than simply waiting. We had a great year with family, friends, trips, work, outdoor adventures, weddings, birthdays and so much else. This might have been my favorite year ever ... I really enjoyed 2009.

Here's to a joyful 2010 with time to wonder at all the blessings in our lives.

Adam and Jen's Wedding

Adam and Jen's Halloween wedding was such a great event. Quite possibly one of the most enjoyable weddings I have ever attended and easily one of the greatest Halloween parties I've attended.

Jen was beautiful and Adam was all smiles at the ceremony in the little Lutheran Church in Lutherville, Maryland. Once the ceremony started, we were told not to take photos, so I didn't get to capture all of the magic.
After the ceremony, we went back to the hotel where the reception was being held to change into our costumes. Patrick, Carrie, Megan, Adam, Joshua and I dressed as the running of the bulls. I decided to be the bull, since I figured that I was the slowest in the group -- you know, being eight months pregnant and all. We made a grand entrance into the cocktail hour by having a grand chase. Then, later in the evening, we had another chase in which Patrick threw Joshua into the path of the bull (me), I gored him and then (pretend) stomped on him while he was laying on the dance floor. The crowd seemed to like our antics.

I got lot of comments on my speed as the bull. I have to admit that it was nice to have an excuse to run. I've been feeling very fit these days. My pregnant belly feels more like awesomely tight ab muscles more than the burdensome bump that many pregnant women describe. And with this cooler weather, I often feel like going for a run more than I feel like pigging out on food. Thank goodness I have prenatal yoga class four days a week so I can expend some energy. Revelers at the party had great costumes; like this group who dressed as a bouquet of flowers. Cute!

At last!

At last, our computer is fixed! It took only 30 minutes but it was 30 minutes with the right person. That last part was key. Now I don't have to rush off to school to write all of my papers or send emails. I can go back to lounging around in my pjs and playing with the pets all day! (I wish.)

So on to the photos and stories!

Right before Halloween, I was able to carve a pumpkin with my neighbor who is in third grade and has never carved a pumpkin before. Can you believe that!?! Obviously the Philadelphia school system is failing our youth!

Each week we have been sharing a meal with our neighbors, Dottie, H, their young son Owen and their pup Sampson. Since they couldn't come to Joshua's birthday party, they had us over the day before for an awesome dinner and fun presents. They are great and we are so blessed to have them as neighbors.
Simon has begun having play dates with Sampson. They are such good dogs and both are part lab-pit bull. Sampson is older and just wants to play fetch. Simon acts like the younger sibling, wanting to get in the way and show Sampson all of his toys. Here they are playing with an invincible ball. They once played tug-a-war for four hours straight!

Patrick and his fiance Carrie threw a fun child-game inspired 30th birthday party to celebrate his entry into adulthood. Among many others, we played SPUD, freeze tag, red-light-green-light and with a parachut. Hooray for Patrick and Carrie's creativity! And hooray for Patrick always being older than me!

Joshua's best friend Scott came to Philadelphia to visit. Scott seems to always be chocked full of "interesting" -- he just moved back to Chicago from Australia, outbid Tim Meadows on an awesome condo and, when we saw him, he was on his way to NYC to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Rockettes and his family. It was really fun to hang out with him. We cannot wait to see him in Chicago and crash in his beautiful home.

We went to Carlisle to my folk's house for Thanksgiving. This was the grandbaby's first Thanksgiving. Mr. Grandbaby was as wonderful as always. He is so snugly and sweet. Joshua and I are continuing to falling more and more in love with him. Brian and Bridgette are such good parents; it is really fun to watch them with him.

It was also Simon's first Thanksgiving. Generally he was a good pup. He proved himself as a great hiking dog; we were able to take him off-leash on a few hikes. He also demonstrated his speed by stealing some meatloaf, turkey and even some Poviticia from us.

[It is nice to have the computer back and share all of these photos! I have to admit that I missed it. Blogging may be passe these days, but I like sharing photos with friends and family.]