Officially a Brownie

Heather had her initiation ceremony last Tuesday night. She is now officially a Brownie. She is in the Dryad group which are tree spirits. I remember I was an elf. She will be busy collecting badges and doing lots of different activities. She is so excited.

Remembrance Day

Heather was in the Remembrance Day parade with her Brownie group. She was right at the end of the parade. Our long time family friend Bill was in the front with the pipes. We weren't able to say hi but it was nice to see him well.

Trick or Treat

We had a wonderful Halloween night. About 160 kids came to the door and the kids had great weather for trick or treating. Todd was able to put up his new pride and joy that he ordered when he saw it in the Martha Stewart Magazine. It makes noise and lights up and took most of the width of the driveway.

Halloween Party

We had a great Halloween this year. We hosted our first Halloween Party. We set up a photo booth in the downstairs bathroom so we could take pictures of the kids making scary faces. We had brain cassarole (mac and cheese) and Montezuma's revenge chili. The kids had black punch and worms and dirt cupcakes. After a few crafts and games, the kids went downstairs to watch ET on the big screen.

First Dance Out of the Season

Vanessa made her dancing debut and entertained the seniors at the local care home. She had a great time with her big sister dancing the Bairn's Reel. She was so funny because she was telling all the other kids what to do like she was the vetran on the dance floor. Heather also did a couple of other dances and performed really well.

Vanessa Finally Gets Her Big Girl Bed

Todd has now almost completely finished Vanessa's bed. W bought the plan online and then Todd with the help of friends, Rob, Eric and Peter, helped build the bed into a reality. Vanessa really likes it and she was excited to pick out the colors she wanted. Todd just has to put the roof molding on and it will be complete. We have had to change bedtime routine a bit as it is hard to read stories in bed and give hugs and kisses. We now do it all before she climbs into bed.

Bears for Thanksgiving

We had some extra special guests for Thanksgiving weekend. I was out barbecuing steaks on the patio when I noticed a lot of the neighbors looking up the hill on their sundecks. I asked what they were looking at and they said, "Bears!!!" Two houses up they were on the fence and eventually made their way through our yard three times. Watching climb the fence was amazing and one of the cubs ripped off the last of my strawberries as the mama stomped through my vegetable garden. They came up pretty close to us but kept moving on.