In which I finally get around to sharing some pictures I've been meaning to post...

I'm obviously not participating in NaBloPoMo this year since I haven't posted a damn thing yet this month. But there are a few participants I'm rooting for this year and will be stopping by to check on them daily (just giving them fair warning....if they happen to stop by here).

I have yet to post pictures from my October girls' birthdays! Horrors! And then of course there is Halloween. I'm slacking off around here. I guess I've been a tad busy with other things - sewing for the church fair, reading The Outlander (instead of the book I'm supposed to be reading for my book club**), failing miserably at learning to crochet (OK, so I did teach myself the basic stitch but the 'square' that was supposed to 13"x13" came out as 11"x12" and I decided to just ditch that project for now...I don't need that kind of stress! I want my projects to be fun and I use them to reduce stress, thank you very much), and just generally surviving our crazy fall schedule (I'm happy to report that this was the last week for session one of swim class - I have the girls signed up to take their swim lessons on the same day at the same time for session two - Phew!).

So, without further ado, here are a few shots from October that I wanted to share...

HALLOWEEN

R dressed as Violet from The Incredibles. Her personality changes completely when she dons this costume.

A as a Barbie...gag...cheerleader. Not my choice for a costume and I made her wear a leotard underneath for warmth and modesty. She was originally going to be a pink fairy but then found this evil lovely get up and decided to spend some birthday money on it. Her personality was not a whole lot different, just notched up a bit when she put this costume on.

Little Miss E dressed as a Ladybug - but hard to tell since all she was willing to wear was a pair of wings clipped to the back of her jacket. The cheesy grin speaks volumes about her personality.

The Thrilling Threesome ready to go get CANDY!


E's 2nd Birthday!

The birthday girl - see? there's that cheese-factor going full force again.

However, since we are talking about a 2-year-old, that cheese-factor can swiftly change to Major Meltdown in mere seconds.

E has never seen a single Dora episode, but thanks to the whacked-out world of preschool marketing she can certainly recognize a Dora figure 13 aisles away. So, I figured she would appreciate a little Dora-themed family celebration this year.

Happy Birthday, E! She did a great job blowing out her candles this year...even if she did try to actually eat the wax Dora candle later. Notice the wine in the foreground - I was not to be outdone by E's earlier whine, you see. Mothers have a way of getting by. Seriously!

Sisters three.


This year - as compared to last - there was no question in E's mind about what needed to be done with the brightly wrapped packages. Riiiiippppp!!!

A's 5th Birthday!

A chose a puppy theme for her party this year. I found a dog bone cookie cutter and the gingerbread doggy bones were a big hit!

Pink being A's favorite color, the pink poodle cake was a must-have for the party!

Oh yeah, and there isn't much of it left in this shot but I also made the girls pink poodle pancakes for breakfast that morning.
At five, she is a pro at blowing out the candles...

And she certainly knows how best to rip into the brightly wrapped packages. She had a total of five friends at her party and they all had a great time. She was thrilled with all her gifts and she is already thinking ahead to next year and coming up with party-theme ideas!

OK, enough is enough. I think I've got the October celebratory pictures covered now. I'll be back soon and next time I'll try not to inundate the blogosphere with so many pictures at once!

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**Update on the book club comment! I'm glad I put my book club book aside because I just received this email from a fellow book club member:

At church today several of us were discussing the difficulty in getting ahold of this book/as well as not being crazy about short stories. The suggestions we came up with was to change the book to another one of Sena Jeter Naslund about Marie Antoinette . How does the group feel about that? Is it too late to change (believe next meeting is 11/19). Reply all with your thoughts,

Inger

I had only read the first short story in the chosen book so I'm glad I didn't invest too much time in it! Now I just need to get cracking on whatever book they decide on because Inger was wrong and our next meeting is actually scheduled for next Monday (the 12th)!

Got Blood?

I donated my first bag o' blood today.

In the past, I had been excluded from donating because of my time spent in Denmark in the 80s. I was told a while ago that they had changed some of their restrictions so I checked online and realized I was no longer "blacklisted".

The last time they had a blood drive in the area I was unable to attend due to childcare issues and an evening meeting. Friday I happened to drive by the sign alerting me to a blood drive being held at my church today and figured I would do my best to get there. After dinner was finished and the girls were in the midst of their bedtime routine I left Rick in charge and headed off to church.

I have actually given blood samples on numerous occasions - a large percentage of them during my traumatic experience with an ectopic pregnancy back in 2004 - but I had never before donated a large quantity of blood. I found it was not really that much different from giving blood samples except that they ask you a bazillion questions, check your vitals (I had a respectable 13.8 for my iron test, a pulse of 60 bpm, and blood pressure of 98 over 66) and the time to actually give the blood is obviously longer. I think it took about 10 minutes to get a full bag o' blood out of me.

I felt no ill effects once all was said and done. I was required to sit at the 'snack table' with the other recent donors - some of whom were fellow church-goers - for about 15 minutes before I was allowed to leave. But it went well and now I'm no longer a blood-donation virgin! It was quick and relatively painless and it feels good to know that I've given to the community in a meaningful way. If you are an eligible blood donor and have not given blood recently I urge you to do so. Let those 'vampires' suck your blood this Halloween season. They will thank you for it and you might even walk away with a cool T-shirt like the one I got tonight!