Halloween Pictures

I have to admit...I'm just one of those moms who likes to match her kids. Granted, mine are a boy and girl and 3 years apart. But I try to make it happen on occasion. I know, I know...it's just me. So for Halloween, I always present the idea to Abby like she and Ben should be pair...Mickey and Minnie, Raggedy Ann & Andy, etc. Her idea was Tom and Jerry. She loves that cartoon. Loves it. But the costumes for it were few and far between and kinda ugly. So our second idea was for Bob and Larry from Veggietales. The costumes were cute and comfortable. There's nothing like a cute costume that's so uncomfortable the kid won't even wear it. What's the point?
So our version of Halloween is to stop at our neighbor's homes to say hello and then head over to our church for our Trunk or Treat. All the teenagers at church come up with different themes and dress up and decorate the trunks of their vehicles. They are all set up in a big circle, so it's fun for the little kids to go around the parking lot, get some candy, play some games, eat cotton candy, and jump in the big bouncy house inside. Then we're done and home by bedtime. Simple and innocent.
This was our first Halloween on Blueberry Lane. Most of our neighbors are older retired couples. We found out the were the old school Halloween candy givers..they gave a real candy bar. As in the original size! I haven't seen that in years! We got to meet a few that we hadn't had the chance to meet yet. Very sweet people on this street (no pun intended). Anyway...church was a lot of fun. We got quite a few comments on the Bob and Larry costumes.

Enjoying the Fall Weather

Just a few pictures outside with the kids. It was one of those gorgeous fall days you wish you could bottle up and save for many more days. We were just enjoying having a big yard and a neighborhood sidewalk. My mums were in full bloom, my huge red maple tree in the front yard was blazing its beautiful fiery colors, and my address plaque was just put up (yeah!).

Apple Trees and Pumpkin Patches

Early in October, we decided all four of us desperately needed a Family Fun Day. So we thought that a trip out to Bishops Orchards would be a great way to spend a Saturday morning. The forecast was calling for rain, but all we saw were cloudy skies. I called to make sure that apple picking was still open that day (due to the forecast..so far, so good). We loaded up and talked all the way there about how fun it's going to be to pick apples off the trees...my daughter was beyond excited. When we get there, we first stop to check out the pumpkin patch, the animals, the tractor...all that fun stuff. Then we head off to pick apples and realize that they had indeed decided to cancel apple picking that day (still no rain though). Mercy me, my Abby was so upset. I was kicking myself for talking about it so much with her earlier. She sobbed and sobbed...our only reconciliation was to head back to their country store and buy some apples and maybe a sweet treat for all of us. 30 minutes later, we went through the checkout lane and paid $75 for all of our goodies....apples, fudge, kettle corn popcorn, apple pie, etc. Picking apples would've been much cheaper...but we had a good day after all.

Abby's First Day of Preschool

Yes, I'm horribly late in updating. My need-to-do list is never-ending and overwhelming at times. But I'll show you the fruits of our labors in a different post. So-back to September. Here's our sweet girl's first day of preschool (her 2nd year). Last year, she went to Susanna Wesley Nursery School two days a week. I loved that preschool. It was wonderful. But with moving to a different town, it would have made the drive there 25 minutes each way. Doing that 3 days a week wasn't my idea of a good experience. So we checked out New Life Nursery School which is only 8 minutes away and got the last available opening for the 3 day program. At first, it took a bit to get used to everything and meet new people. I am quite happy with it though. It has more of a Christian educational approach with learning Bible verses, etc. Abby is quite the outgoing girl and has made a whole new set of good friends. (In the picture of her sitting down to color...the little boy next to her is Christopher. He was her first friend there and they are quite the pair. He and Abby are the best of friends. It's so cute...it's hard to contain myself when they see each other and shyly say, "Hi Abby" and "Hi Christopher" and then 5 minutes later they start playing together like old times.)
Here's her first day of school pictures. She also got her new hot pink booster seat the day before so it was a thrilling ride to preschool.

A Mower, A Key, A Call, & A Trip to the ER (4 INSANE DAYS)

(Typing with a gimp hand)....Here's our life in the last 4 days: (I can't make this stuff up!)
Wednesday: Jason gets home early to mow the grass. When you live on a street named Blueberry Lane, and everyone around you are many years into retirement....it's like living on a golf course. The lawns are perfect! Except ours, where we are like, "Whoa, we just bought 1/3 of an acre and that's a lot of mowing!" Anywhoo...Jason previously ran over our old push mower and crippled it (another story). Came home from Home Depot one day with a brand new mower that was a "great deal". It's a great deal cause it won't start very well. So after gimping along with it for a few weeks, I finally say (quite randomly) on Wednesday, "You know what. Let's return the thing." We load up everyone after dinner, and head to HD with no receipt. HD says, you need a receipt. We drive to West Haven to get it from his mom (it was a business expense). Drive to nearest HD. They say, return it to the HD that you bought it from. In the meantime, they tell us it has to be returned in 30 days.....remember my random comment? Turns out we are on the 30th day! So by golly, this thing is getting returned today! Drive to our 3rd HD of the night....finally return it, but they have no other mowers. So we have long grass and no mower. Got home way, way, way later than planned. Kids were champs-other than Ben gagging himself for fun and causing himself to throw up all over himself in his carseat. Do other kids do this?!? Abby did it at this 15 months age, thought it was a freak Abby thing that she grew out of....and now Ben does it. It's like: hop in the car with Mom; oh I'm bored so let's stick my fingers down my throat and laugh like crazy when I gag while Mom drives crazy cause she's trying to stop me. Only he did it so much (after a yummy baked potato soup dinner)...that he vomited all over himself (between the 2nd & 3rd HD). Abby grew out of it...so I'm just praying he does too. (At the 3rd HD, I stayed in the car with the vomit boy).
Thursday: Found a pair of white corner hutches on craigslist that are perfect for my dining room (need servingware storage badly). Drove 45 minutes to Stamford to look/buy them. Drove home in pouring rain in rush hour traffic with two hungry kids. Got home in time for quick dinner w/ Jason before he rushed off to a meeting. Not happy about the rushing...but the great deal on the corner cabinets is worth it. As Jason is leaving, realized that 1/2 of my Audi key fob (w/ the key) is missing. Search frantically outside, inside, car, house, yard, rain, darkness, tall grass (see above). Can't find it. It's our one & only car key cause they're so dang expensive to buy. (I'm chanting as I look...."Will only buy Hondas or Toyotas from now on!")Still haven't found the key....how can it go missing in 30 minutes of me coming home and Jason leaving?!?!? Update: New key bought from Audi dealership (over $100 later). Old key not found...need metal detector.
Friday: Other than scrambling to get Abby to preschool and borrowing father-in-law's car...a good day so far. Evening time...Jason's home, kids are playing. Oh-Ben found my hidden Air Wick Scented Oil Warmer, disassembled it, sucked on the wick like a champ, and then handed it to Jason. I rush to find info online...."Call Poison Control Center immediately!" I'm freaking out, Ben's breath smells like Harvest Spice, and the poison control lady was so nice but asking me a ton of questions. I'm just hoping DCFS isn't going to ring my doorbell for hiding Air Wicks in my house! All in all, Ben is fine, no vomiting, no illness...but please note: keep them away from children (especially adventurous boys). Continuing on....(still Friday)...I made pork chops & scalloped potatoes for dinner..yum-yum. Even sliced my potatoes so nice and so quickly with my ever so sharp Pampered Chef slicer. I even did a silent woohoo for no cuts after the slicing because I always seem to nick my fingers with those very sharp blades. Later cleaning up after Poison Control Call & dinner and loading the dishwasher...yep. I sliced myself nice and deep on my left middle finger. You know, being lefthanded and all, it's quite painful and inconvenient. I pretty much tried to remove my fingerprint from that finger-that's all I say about the cut that even grossed me out. It bled like crazy forever, so I just finally put a pressure dressing on it, and we head off to church for the kid's "VeggieTale Movie Night." One throbbing finger and restless night later.....
Saturday: I come to work for a good ol' 12 hour shift today. Only had 2 patients so after showing cut finger to fellow nurse, I am ordered to head down to the Yale ER. 3 hours later- I have been given a lecture about a 12 hour window for stitches, given a tetanus shot, glued, steri-striped, and bandaged back together, I am now journaling my four insane days to share with you. :) Stick a fork in me, cause I am done.

Summer Pictures

Here's a few pictures of us during the summer. My mom came for a visit the end of July, and the kids loved bonding with their Nana.
BIRTHDAY PICS OF THE KIDS






PICTURES @ HOME:

Blueberry Lane Pictures (Before/After)

Most of you have seen these on Facebook, but I know there are some Chiodo Chuckles fans who don't do Facebook. To answer some commonly asked questions...
1. We used Hope Kitchen in Bridgeport for the cabinets & countertops. We chose natural maple cabinets. No stains, no glazes...had NO IDEA the amount of decisions (and money!) involved in choosing cabinets. What a headache. But when it came down to what we wanted to spend...our selection was small. So the natural maple was the best for our buck. And we got UbaTuba granite. It's a black/dark green/dark blue granite. I love it. And the appliances are good ol' Lowe's Frigidaire Gallery...it was a stainless steel suite of appliances on sale. Jason picked them out all by himself. He did great!
2. We did all the demo work in the house...took out all the old cabinets, flooring in the kitchen, knocked down some walls. We just had hardwood floor put in the kitchen which when the whole house (all hardwoods) was sanded and polyurethaned...it blended right in. Other than the floor, Hope Kitchen installed the cabinets & the countertop. Everything else was us.
3. Paint colors: In kitchen/dining area: Benjamin Moore Tuscan Red. I think this is my new favorite color of paint. It's like a rusty red, and it goes great with the cabinets and granite. In the living room: BM Concord Ivory (my next favorite color). In kids rooms, I used Behr colors-yellow for Abby, blue for Ben. And painted the playroom an apple green color from Behr. Bought a green...way too bright. Took it back and they added in 8 oz. of white paint to lighten it. So it's really a no name paint. Kinda matches Behr's Asparagus color. Anywhoo....Jason doesn't like it so I'm sure it will get repainted at some point. Anyone who comes over says that they love it. We'll see.