This Kid

She is insane ... but so so so happy. 

Happy Birthday, K!

Our friend, Keenan, had a birthday party in mid-August, and we headed there to celebrate with laser tag, an inflatable pool, cake, and dinner before heading back home.

Tammy helping Lucy learn the rules of the
game (and also showing excellent strategy
by using her as a human shield!)

The AMAZING cake

Dress: check
Boots: check
Gun: check

Launching herself into the pool

We had so much fun celebrating with Keenan and his family. When we moved from the Berkshires, they are the family that I knew we would miss most. We were connected to them in so many ways, and we still really miss them even after 4 years.

Below are just a few of the photos of the kids and adults. Some include all three children, and some are from before Caroline even existed. All of them are good memories of the fun that we had together.

Lucy giving Keenan hugs.

This one is my favorite. That is an infant Lucy giving
Keenan kisses. 

Pumpkin Guts Revisited

One October afternoon, the girls and I carved the pumpkin we bought. This was an activity that had a lot of hype. Lucy followed through and was involved in all aspects of the carving from the emptying of the pumpkin to the face theme ("scary") to the actual carving of the face. Caroline, on the other hand, was grossed out from the beginning and after a half-hearted attempt to take some seeds out, spent a lot of time dribbling a basketball instead of working with us on the pumpkin. (As a basketball coach, I am thrilled - as the person who had to take her place in the pumpkin efforts, I was disappointed.)

F.U.N. Dance

At Lucy's school, there is a F.U.N. Dance each fall (Father, Uncle, or ... no idea what the N stands for - it's essentially to a Father Daughter dance while not being exclusive or assuming that everyone has a dad to take).

I (obviously) was not there, but I snapped a few pictures before they left:

And then this kid stayed at home with me: 

Halloween Revisited

For the months before Halloween, Lucy and Caroline were steadfast in their choices in costume: Lucy would be Elsa from Frozen and Caroline would be a wolf.

Cookie was very generous and offered to make Caroline a wolf suit. (Side note: had Cookie not offered, Caroline would most certainly be wearing gray sweatpants and a sweatshirt with a felt tail pinned to the booty.) This is certainly an improvement:

Note how serious she was in her role.
Her patch reads: I am a wolf. Hear me howl!

She was very proud of her costume and we spent a lot of time perfecting her howl.

Lucy's costume was much easier and basically involved going to Target and throwing the dress and tiara in the cart. She was equally as pleased with her look:

We spent about an hour trick or treating with friends and then headed home. It was low key but the kids had a great time and were happy to leave the crowds and craziness when we did finally call it quits.

YIKES.

Last post: first day of school.
Newest post: Thanksgiving?

This fall has been nuts, BUT I will try to put some pictures up from the past few months. Luckily for me, I know that my most loyal readers (my mom?) won't hold this hiatus against me.