A couple of weeks before Halloween, Nana and Grandpa came to visit (and to babysit while we went to Jen and Pete's shower... wedding time is just around the corner!). On Sunday, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and spent the day outside having some classic fall fun together. We decided this year's destination would be Sugartown Strawberries in Malvern, and this one will definitely remain on the list for next year!
We got lost in a hay-bale maze:
Posed for some silly pictures:
Picked (and hauled) a great big pumpkin:
Waited patiently for our turn on the hayride:
And then had a blast on our hayride!
After a great day running around the pumpkin patch, we had a yummy dinner at Victory together before having to say goodbye to Nana and Grandpa and heading home to carve that pumpkin.
Joergen was already in bed (what else is new?), so Dad and Liam went solo on the task. The most time-consuming part was definitely scooping out those guts!
Liam really wanted a MAD pumpkin, so we did our best to do just that:
The best part was when we turned out the lights...
...and saw the look on Liam's face!
The week before Halloween, then, was Liam's first preschool field trip to Merrymead Farm, which is actually where we went pumpkin-picking last year as a family. He was so excited! And especially excited that it was an all-school trip, which meant he got to play with his best buddies Emmy and Kaelyn too:
The 3 Muskateers
I took the morning off work to take Liam on the trip and was so glad for the chance to meet some of the other kids and parents that Liam talks about so much every day!
Mrs. Tenney (Liam's teacher), Liam, Joseph, and Liam's "best friend" Neil
The field trip included a trip through the corn maze, which was seriously the most challenging maze I had ever been in. I wandered around that thing for a good 15 minutes, thought I found the way out, and was humbled to realize that I had come back out the entrance. Sigh. At least the kids had fun!
Mrs. Tenney attempted to get a class photo, but these were the only 3 who stayed put long enough to have their photo taken... and even that left a bit to be desired!
On Sunday morning, Anthony left for a 4-day conference at the National Harbor. On Monday, Hurricane Sandy paid us a visit. Yikes!
First and foremost, we are all fine-- dry, warm, and safe. We know we are incredibly fortunate in that regard, as this was one of the most devastating weather events in history for the mid-Atlantic region... and I would be lying if I said this storm didn't scare the living daylights out of me. Between worrying about my own home and children, worrying about Anthony's safety in DC, and then worrying about all the implications for my students and staff at Villanova, I was a nervous wreck! Because Liam picks up on pretty much everything these days, though, I knew I had to keep my game face on.
After Uncle Tim left to go back his base in NJ on Sunday afternoon, I took the boys to campus for an emergency staff meeting to prepare our response plan for the hurricane. I figured this was probably our last chance to get out of the house for a while, and both kids pretty much ran out the door at the very suggestion! They were clearly happy to have a change of scenery, and I was happy to let them run around and play with some of my students for a while.
After the boys fell asleep on Sunday night and as I was busy preparing for an inevitable power outage once Sandy came to town, the phone rang-- Uncle Tim! By the grace of God above, his training program was put on hold until after the hurricane, and he was given permission to leave until Tuesday. And truly, it could have only been divine intervention to have postponed that training, because his program is otherwise utterly relentless! Tim let me know he'd be back at the house in a couple of hours and we would weather this storm together. I literally cried out of relief.
On Monday, the four of us did our best to pass the time while the effects of Sandy began to rage outside. Since we weren't sure how long we'd have power, I let the boys go "swimming" in the bathtub while Uncle Tim supervised (and did his best to keep the water in the tub-- good luck!). We played games and watched movies. We made "dinner" for lunch to make sure we got a hot meal. We were thrilled to still have power at dinner time, so we made "dinner" for dinner too! We watched as the winds and the rain got progressively worse. Then our neighbor's tree, the big beautiful one right along our property line, split like a banana before Sandy even made landfall. So we told the story of the 3 Little Pigs and reassured Liam that the big, big storm was no match for our strong brick house. We maybe even believed it.
After we got the boys to bed (together in Joergen's room, where the noise machine would help drown out the sound of that awful storm!), Tim and I headed down to the basement to check for any water damage. The walls in the utility room were a little damp, but otherwise fine. Tim found a little puddle of water on the window sill, which I snapped a picture of to show Anthony later:
and then...
Blackout.
We made our way back upstairs, lit a candle, and just stared at each other. The storm screamed outside, and we decided there was nothing left to do but just try to get some sleep.
The next morning, I woke up at dawn to check the basement again (dry! hallelujah!), and went back to sleep. The boys slept in until 8 am, which is a miracle in itself, and we went downstairs to survey the damage. Poor Ms. Susan's tree took another hit-- unbelievable!-- and there were roof shingles all over our back yard. I was pretty sure they weren't ours.
The power was still out, so we got busy keeping busy! We checked in with family and friends, and after learning that Aunt Doreen's power was in tact, we ran some stuff over to her fridge. We made up some games to help burn off energy indoors. Behold the Game of Lap:
Joergen spent an impressive amount of time throwing beer koozies down the basement steps (this pic was taken the day before when we still had lights, but the game continued relentlessly throughout the outage):
We snuggled for warmth under blankets:
We did many, many other things too to try to stay busy. We played balloon volleyball. Liam and I made an outfit for "Bony", his toy dinosaur skeleton, who was cold without heat (!). We struggled and strained to put together a puzzle in the fading daylight. We sadly said goodbye to Uncle Tim, so grateful for his help and our time together.
At dusk, I packed up our pajamas and toothbrushes, took the boys out to dinner (Liam: "Look Mommy, Old McDonald's has lights!" Ugh. Desperate times...), and drove in a rather roundabout way to avoid all the closed roads to Jen and Pete's house for our nighttime routine. The boys fell asleep in the car on the way home, and I returned home to find our porch light on. Our power, and most importantly our heat, had been restored. Thank you PECO!!! I am in awe of the way they've been working to get everyone back up and running, and couldn't believe ours only took a day.
On Wednesday morning, life began to return to normal... for us, anyway. Back to work, back to Aunt Doreen's, back to preschool. Oh, and Happy Halloween! Ms. Susan's poor tree is still a mess:
While I was making breakfast, I noticed the guy who replaced our roof 5 years ago walking around the yard, completely unprompted. He came by just to check on us and our roof and make sure we were doing okay. He confirmed the roof shingles weren't ours and said he'd come back next week to secure a loose something-or-other on the side of our house free of charge, and then plucked every one of those shingles from our backyard and took them away. He's amazing.
And best of all, Anthony came home that afternoon! Normalcy is a blessed and beautiful thing. I handed him the kids and crawled into bed.
We were truly lucky to have been so minimally impacted by the storm, and just pray for all those who are now working to put their lives back together-- especially in New York and along the Jersey shore.
Dad's birthday was last Saturday, and we were blessed with beautiful weather and a whole day to spend together to celebrate!
His number one wish for his special day was for us to go to "Boo at the Zoo" at the Philadelphia Zoo. We had never been before, and learned an awful lot about what we'll do differently next time. (Lesson 1: Go Earlier!!)
Liam and Joergen were excited to try out their Halloween costumes for trick-or-treating at the zoo. Well, let's be honest here... Liam was excited, perhaps enough for the both of them! Joergen was just a good sport.
Before we left, they were kind enough to let me take their picture on our next door neighbor's front steps. With Hurricane Sandy on her way, we weren't sure we'd have another nice day for a picture anytime soon... and as it turned out, we were right!
When we finally got to the zoo, we were stunned by the number of people there. How did we not see this coming?! We had to park literally a mile away, and the zoo was crawling with kids of all ages in costumes of all kinds. Liam was especially excited to see Iron Man, Batman, Superman, Super WHY, and many of his other favorite superhero friends.
Captain Liam, ready for action!
First Mate Joergen
It didn't take long for Liam to make a little pirate friend. They excitedly greeted each other (although they had never met!) and immediately brandished their swords for a friendly fight:
We enjoyed a picnic lunch at the zoo, and with Joergen distracted by his apple slice, I even got him to wear his pirate hat for a minute!
Liam practicing his most ferocious pirate face. ARGH!
On our way out of the zoo, we stopped to pay our respects to the hippo mural-- and Liam offered him a toothpick:
Back at home, we were super-excited to have a special guest join us for Dad's birthday celebration... Uncle Tim! He got the weekend off from his crazy training program and was able to come stay with us for the night. We went ahead and gave the boys dinner, and then we all gobbled up some of Dad's traditional birthday treat: pumpkin pie! This was my first attempt at an eggless pumpkin pie... and it was awesome. I'm not kidding, folks, this stuff is the real deal. It even passed the Dad Test with flying colors.
Make a wish!
Liam, Uncle Tim, Joergen, and the Birthday Boy
Team Derry
We were so happy to have Uncle Tim there with us!
The birthday celebration continued after we got the little guys to bed. We ordered a bunch of food from the Cheesecake Factory, turned on the Notre Dame game, and did our best to keep the screaming and cheering to a minimum so as not to wake the boys. Notre Dame 30, Oklahoma 13! The Irish are 8-0!!!
Now seriously, Anthony... what could be a better birthday present than that?!?!
It's fall break time at work, so it's time to play catch-up!
At the end of August, we got to spend one of the best. days. ever. with one of our favorite families at Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, PA. My cousin Shannon and her crew from RI came to visit their mid-Atlantic family for a long weekend, and we were so excited to be able to spend that Saturday together. We had wanted to visit Dutch Wonderland for ages, and it did not disappoint!
We went on nice, calm rides...
Anneke, Shannon, Mom, and Joergen
... and more exciting rides...
Dillon going down the giant slide
... and down-right daring rides!
Dad and a fearless Liam
Jason and Gilbey
We played on a giant pretzel (hey, it is Dutch Wonderland after all!)...
... and enjoyed a picnic lunch:
We hugged...
Gilbey and friend :)
... and hammed:
Mom, Liam, Jason, and Gilbey ready for a spin!
We hand-powered a train...
... and played a sweet air guitar!
And then... then we got WET. We spent the last part of our afternoon at Duke's Lagoon where Liam, Dillon, Gilbey, and I must have rode the Pipeline Plunge, a giant water slide, about a hundred times. I couldn't believe how utterly fearless Liam was, and he was just thrilled to ride with his big cousins over and over and over again! While we did that, Joergen did this:
There was something for everyone around the lagoon. Anneke loved the little slide...
... while Liam loved the bigger slide:
The fountains of water that would spurt up from the ground, surprising whoever was walking by, were an endless amusement (for all of us!):
Somehow, we even managed to wrangle all these kids together for a photo op. Hey big kids, grab a toddler and say cheese!!
Thanks to the K crew for an awesome day! We love you and hope to play together again soon!
Liam's first day of preschool at Valley Forge Presbyterian Nursery School was on September 12 when he became a very proud member of Mrs. Tenney's 3-day class, and no surprise: Liam has taken to school like a fish to water. After being an "honorary" member of the class when he joined Miss Doreen (who has become Aunt Doreen as of late! Well-deserved!) at drop-off and pick-up for Emmy and Kaelyn when they were in that class last year, all this really did was make his status official! It was definitely a comfort for us to know that he already had such a positive relationship with his teacher. And I'm pretty sure the only jitters that day were my own.
I took the morning off work so that I could be there for his first day. It was a picture-perfect morning, just right for the occasion! Before we got in the car to go to Aunt Doreen's, the boys let me get a quick pic on the front steps:
In keeping with the usual school-day routine that Liam knew from the girls last year, we decided to go to Aunt Doreen's house first so that the kids could all walk to school together. Emmy and Kaelyn are now in the 4-day program, and their classroom is right next door to Liam's. Who's ready for their first day?!
Emily, Liam, and Kaelyn
The school is just a short 10-minute walk from Aunt Doreen's house. I loved the sight of Liam and Emmy crossing the street, hand-in-hand.
Liam was the very first kid to arrive that morning, and the school wasn't even open yet. He couldn't wait to get inside!
Yeah! They unlocked the door!
Inside, Liam hung his backpack on the hook with his name on it, and then showed me how Mrs. Tenney takes attendance. He found his name right away and put it in the basket. Thank goodness he knew what was going on, because I sure didn't!
Liam wasted no time in finding his trusty safety goggles at the work bench (which was apparently his old stomping ground last year) and then proudly put on his nametag.
Once he was off and running, I had some time to talk with Mrs. Tenney and the director of the school about Liam's allergies... and just in case you were wondering the cause of my jitters about sending our baby to preschool, this would be it! VFPNS is fortunately a peanut-free school, but it is also a co-op school-- meaning, among other things, that each family is responsible for providing the daily snack for the class on a rotating basis. Let's face it. It isn't always easy to avoid peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, and dairy in preparing preschooler snacks. And it is especially not easy to avoid these things when you aren't used to reading food labels closely. It's been a learning curve for all of us; how could I expect 12 other families to jump right in, particularly when we knew that Liam was the only one with food allergies!? We were officially that family!
With that said, I will forever be grateful to the care and concern that Liam's school showed us that day, and each school day since. Upon realizing that exposure to peanuts could put Liam back in the ER, the school director decided to implement a new policy whereby all students wash their hands upon arriving at school, just to minimize the risk of cross-contamination from another student's peanut butter breakfast. They asked us to keep a stash of safe snacks at the school for him, just in case the snack-of-the-day wouldn't be safe for him (which Liam has yet to dip into-- hooray!), and we even keep some vegan cupcakes in the freezer there in case someone's birthday falls on a preschool day. And we of course keep an emergency kit at the school at all times, complete with Benedryl and his Epi-Pen (and of course, overly detailed directives... which should be no surprise if you know me in the slightest).
After unloading all of these concerns and directions and supplies, I felt a little, well, terrified. After we worked so hard over the past year and a half to understand his allergies and to make sure his environment was consistently safe, now here we were expanding his circle exponentially... and expanding the risk of another reaction. So I just had to trust: trust his teacher, trust the school, trust the other families, and trust God. Oh yeah, and let go. I sometimes forget that part :)
At the end of the morning, Doreen and I met back at the school for pick-up. I caught the end of recess, Liam enthusiastically volunteering to be the "engine" to lead the "boxcars" back to the classroom, and the good-bye song. Mrs. Tenney also presented each child with a certificate for their first day of preschool. And so it begins!
This picture makes me laugh every time... Mrs. Tenney is definitely earning her angel wings for patience! What you don't see is that there is another kid outside of the frame, face down in the carpet, wailing. And then there is Liam, sitting straight up on the "L", watching his teacher intently, waiting for his certificate.
When the last certificate was issued, Liam couldn't wait to show Aunt Doreen and the girls his very own folder that Mrs. Tenney gave him to bring home his papers every day.
That first day was great-- for both of us! I couldn't have been prouder of my little preschooler for being so brave and strong. I learned something from him that day for sure.
Every day that he has school, I say a little prayer that he will be safe, and every day when I pick him up from Doreen's, I thank God for answering me.
