Halloween

Baking Brownies

In search of a good indoor activity, we decided to have Sam help us bake brownies.

Sam loved washing his hands.  He screamed when we tried to get him to stop to move on to the main event.

Pouring the batter with Daddy

Stirring with Mommy

Licking the spatula, the best part.

Blackout

Eating dinner (cooked on our still-working gas stove, luckily) by candlelight, flashlight, and firelight.

Pumpkin Decorating

In the early hours of a hurricane-related power outage, we decorate pumpkins by the sliding glass door in the kitchen, the brightest place in the house.

Sam carefully places Guitar Hero stickers (the only stickers I could find in the house, and a much better decorating option than Sharpies, which were the only other available decorating medium) on the pumpkin he chose himself at the pumpkin patch earlier this month.

Mommy and Daddy carved a traditional jack-o-lantern.

Fascinated by stickers

98% Unpacked

We have nearly all our boxes unpacked.  The stack in our living room is almost as tall as me!  (Full boxes in the back are all books, which won't be unpacked until we get new bookcases, which probably won't be for a long time.)

Guest room, ready for its inaugural visitors to arrive on Thursday. 

Guest room.  Purple paint will be gone as soon as we get a painter.  Any recommendations?

Guest room bathroom.  (The more astute among you might notice that these bathroom accessories have been with us through five homes now, and for the first time actually match the paint in the room.)

Fall in New England

Mah-mars

Yesterday, Sam went into the kitchen and indicated that he was hungry.  I opened the fridge and asked him what he wanted.  He pulled out the grapes, then put them back and decided on strawberries.  I went over to the sink to wash the strawberries.  With my back turned, I heard Sam call me, "Mahmah, mahmah."  I turned around to find that Sam had gotten into the cookie drawer (which I'd uncharacteristically left unlocked) and pulled out the first box of Mallomars of the season.  He wasn't saying Mama at all -- he was saying "Mah-mar" and requesting his new favorite cookie!  Finally, some definitive proof that this kid is mine.