Well the short break is over and we're back to being on our own. We dropped Art off this morning at the airport and then stopped at Nanny and Grampy's for breakfast. We don't see them as often when Art is home as we're always so busy. It's another beautiful day and Dad has just taken the children for a walk to feed the ducks so I have a bit of time on my own. I have a yoga class to plan for tomorrow and I really should do some cleaning but it's nice to just do a bit of writing instead. One thing I miss with being so busy is that I don't get to write very often. Josiah is getting to the age where he can entertain himself for a bit but if I sit down he's in my lap so I would have to write from a standing position and I'm afraid that isn't productive. Preparations for Christmas have begun. Although there is no snow and not even any 'cold' weather Hannah is still hyped for Christmas so Art got the lights up and even put out our blowup Frosty that Nanny bought last year for the lawn. Oh, how I love those tacky Christmas decorations! Today is the first day of lobster season and I can hear the helicopters flying overhead as they make passes over the boats to make sure that everything goes smoothly. It's a great day to be on the water but it isn't always like this. It's the time of year that is so unpredictible on the east coast and although it's calm out there today that can change in a heartbeat. Although we are in for a mild winter I am sure that there are a few winter storms on the way.

My most recent photograph of Hannah and Josiah.

Art and I enjoying a beautiful October afternoon.

Art put this up for the children while he was home in October and they both love it!

Me relaxing on our new deck in October.

Rileigh, Hannah and Josiah on their way out trick or treating.




















Our little pumpkin!



Hannah and Josiah Hallowe'en night

This is in costume for her Sparks party.

The Big Birthday/Hallowe'en Bash!

Well, I think we're glad it's all over. The party 'talk' started in August when Mom first mentioned it to Hannah. "Why don't we have a Hallowe'en Party for your birthday this year?!" Well, everyone was excited except for me, in fact I'm quite sure I sounded like the proverbial party pooper but I had a good idea what was going to have to go into this. Mom had grand ideas of costumes, pin the tail on the donkey and bobbing for apples. No one lets their kids bob for apples anymore for fear of catching god only knows what and we never did find the pin the tail on the donkey which was supposed to be somewhere in the house. Linda ended up making us a 'pin the tail on the black cat' which actually turned out to be a pretty big hit with the children. So anyway, the Monday before the big day we began making preparations which consisted of dollar store hunting for spooky bargains, the perfect vampire costume for Hannah and the menu outline. We needed to stay on the 'healthy' side of things because...well, mostly because it's important to me and because some of our invited goblins follow pretty healthy diets too. That's a real challenge, sticking to healthy food choices at a child's birthday party. We caved in on a few things but we'll get to that later. We began designing and carving pumpkins on Tuesday, I think, which consisted of Linda freehand drawing the designs then I painted and carved. From what I hear I turned out to be a bit picky on the whole design issue but you know, I knew what I liked and wanted and I knew Linda could deliver. We spent much less time on the gourds on which we paintd ghoulish faces. The menu consisted of mac and cheese, mummy dogs, sweet potato chips, apple cider eye ball punch and a very healthy pumpkin and carob cake from Heartwood Bakery in Halifax. Mac and cheese, a staple with kids, went over well as did the mummy dogs which I could have lived without. I thought we'd have vegie dogs but I've never found a brand I like more than once so I opted for all beef which I'm not crazy about either. The dogs were wrapped in Pillsbury bread stick dough, mmmmm another healthy food choice! There's just something about hot dogs you know and wrapping them in Pillsbury dough didn't make them seem any more appetizing to me but the kids loved them. Unfortunately the sweet potato chips never got crispy. We could only assume that we didn't slice them thinly enough. And then the cake...well, the carob icing was more like tar than anything and was a big flop. Heartwood made Josiah's 1st birthday cake and it was delicious but we didn't have the carob that time. On party day, I found myself scrambling around for last minute items, namely the apple cider which was sold out at the Superstore. I had a moment of panic but Sobeys came through for me. We had been decorating all week so we only had last minute things to pull together and with the spooky sounds playing in the background it all looked pretty good. Hannah looked like a very scary vampire princess, Mom was a cross between Dame Edna and a 1-900 dial a psycic and I pulled up the rear as a very tired looking goth princess. Linda and Mom's friend Lillian were sans-costume but I don't think the kids noticed because they didn't comment and you know kids...if it matters they will point it out. Oh and Josiah, well he was a battered and bruised pumpkin! The children arrived and after the boys scoped out the house and counted how many bedrooms there were the party got underway. Except for food fiascos things went pretty well and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The only real mishap was about 15 minutes into the party when Josiah fell and struck Mom's glass top coffee table against the bridge of his nose! One more bruise among many although I'm beginning to think that so many hits to the frontal lobe might be the reason he keeps intentionally whacking his head on the floor when he's mad, frustrated or just plain excited about anything. It was a busy week though and I felt burnt out at the end of it as did the other adults.

It was far from over for me though. Hannah had a Sparks Hallowe'en party on Monday night and then of course the big event was Tuesday. I taught my first yoga class at one of our high schools Tuesday afternoon and I had so much nervous energy built up from that and the previous week that by Wendesday I could have fallen asleep standing up. I'm teaching a class to teens at our local high school, actually the school I graduated from, which is a weird full circle. I did not like high school and liked that particular school even less but here I am 20 odd years later teaching yoga there. The kids seem to be loving it although turn out seems to be a problem but a smaller class is good for me and them too actually.

Some other very exciting news which took place at the end of September is that I became a great aunt! My nephew Dene and his girlfriend, Bobi had a baby girl on September 29th. This is a picture of her and her mommy. Her very beautiful name is Jorja Rayne. She came a little early which was nice because she was early enough to be at her own shower. It's nice to spend time in the presence of newborns, it almost makes you want one. I did say almost! So the countdown is on, Art will be home on the 18th of the month and we can't wait. It seems like it has been a long shift this time. The next shift will be shorter as the plant will shut down around the 19th of December for Christmas. So there you have it, it's time to start making preparations for Christmas again. And on that note I will end for now.