November 2, 2011 Day of the Dead: October Snowstorm and Power Outage

Hi Kids!
   So I printed out the reports I wrote for your days here this summer from 6/23-9/1.  In September and October I only had you a total of ten days, I think since both your mom and dad had their separate work related vacation time to use or lose.   Now we are back on track and you are trapped like rats with me on Mondays and Thursdays!  Ho!  Ho!  I am having SO much fun with you both.  We had the best Halloween!  What a difference the year made.  You were both very brave, running from house to house.  Last year Dylan didn't even want to wear his costume.  You were Iron Man and Transformer Man this year.  (cheap ass store bought costs which were sadly very common, in particular those two) We started on Arlington Street and walked towards you dad's friend's house, Tina and met her and her daughter who is 9.  She loves you both and held Noah's hand quite a ways...at one point, Noah, you called my attention to show me you were holding hands!  So cute!  The whole neighborhood was done up quite impressively for Halloween...fog machines, life size monsters, mummies, you name it, motion-activated zombies coming out of coffins, murder scenes in windows, it was great!  Uncle Don and Auntie Kim went with us.  Cuddles too...since I had a costume for her.  She wagged her tail the whole time and was quite the hit with some babies.  You were both exhausted and came home to our house and stayed up until 9:00!  Your dad finally put you to bed downstairs.  We never even looked at your candy!  Today your dad is bringing you both here after school so you can sort it, classify it, count it, etc.  I'm watching you both tomorrow and thinking we might go for a ride out to P.I refuge and walk the boardwalks there!  Cool!  It's a  nice, sunny week in the 50's.
     Leading up to Halloween was a bit disastrous this year.  We had a major snowstorm over the weekend!  Not so much snow here but wet and heavy enough to bring down limbs and power lines. We lost power at our house form Saturday 8pm to Monday 11am.  Some people in Western mass still w/o power and may be until end of week.  Craziness!  Your neighborhood in Haverhill at Daddy's house looked like a war zone with so many branches down, hug lies.  Your dad called in a panic Saturday night telling me how he could hear all these limbs (trees as he exaggerated it) crashing down outside the window.  You guys were with your mom and she lost power, too.
   So my house got so cold Monday, Halloween, when you were supposed to be here, that I decided to drive to your house.  I brought my cake mix and pan to make our fish cake together.  We had a blast! We also took a walk to the junk store near the train tracks an at they had mummies and things inside and tables decorated with jack o'lanterns on their porch.  I saw a couch I wanted to buy!  It would have been perfect for my living room since  I don't like the leather loveseat.  No firm enough for my back.  Only $50! Cool colors, too.  I resisted!
     While I was making you guys lunch, I called the house and the answering machine picked up so I knew power was back on.  We packed up the car, Halloween orange donut spice pumpkin cake with sprinkles and all and went back to Newburyport.  Noah slept in the car and Dylan took a nap at the house while Noah continued sleeping in car at a 90 degree angle, hopefully not resulting in permanent neck damage.  After Noah's nap, he had a little accident.  Didn't make it to the toilet in time to pee but he wasn't going to tell me.  He asked for his backpack.  I could see his pants were wet so I helped him change his clothes and soap down a bit so the pee wouldn't burn.  He was very upset but I explained that this always happens when kids are very small and it is OK!  It broke my heart to see him so sad, but as soon as I sprinkled some flowery powder on him, he was good as new and happy again!  Noah is still having problems peeing the bed a night and has to wear pull-ups for that.  But both of you are peeing in the toilet, and pooping!  It's great! Dylan did the largest turd I've ever seen the other day.  It was truly amazing.  It would have been large for an adult.