HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

What a wonderful Halloween night we had! The chicken went trick or treating for a little while. But, we were all anxious to get home and hand out candy. So, we set up camp on the front porch with our candy (we ran out once {after the 1st batch of 500 pieces} and had to go to the grocery store). Cassie gave out the candy. She asked every person that came up: "Who are you?". After they answered her ("I'm Darth Vader"), she would say Hi, Darth Vader" and then give them their candy. She was so sad when people left and so happy every time she had "more customers". This was a 4-hour candy-filled Halloween extravaganza and we couldn't have had more fun!!

Cassie's Chicken Dance

Halloween Eve. The chicken dances at the neighborhood festival. She could have danced all night.

(to Omah: this is a video...you have to push the triangle to make it play...)

HALLOWEEN! HALLOWEEN! HALLOWEEN!

Before I start with this post, I should mention that its been somewhat of a crazy few months, so, I have been an absent blogger. We have spent very little time at home. And, I have begun a venture into the world of Facebook which has been a distraction when I do sit down at the computer. So, I'm pretty sure that, as of today, I have caught up on the highlights of the last 4 months. And, this Halloween post brings us to the events of just a couple of hours ago. Yay and Happy Fall!

Its fall. Our favorite time of year. Halloween decorations have been up for weeks, and now we are in the final preparations for Halloween. This weekend, we had a pumpkin carving contest. We all won (Rob's is the skull (or, as Cassie calls it, the pirate). Ashley's is the cat. Cassie's is the happy face)! And, proved that power tools are effective pumpkin carvers (see Rob with the dremmel).














Weeks ago, Cassie gave us direction on what our Halloween Costumes will be (though most are still works in progress). Daddy is the farmer, Ashley is the cow, Jack is the pig and Cassie is the chicken. Stay tuned for next week's post!


Just for fun, here is another picture from today. Hershey, the 18 year old cat with about 6 of her 9 lives left, jumping on the table to try to grab a french fry before getting in trouble...

Happy 1st Birthday, Baby Nathan!

What a few months of wonderful birthday celebrations! And, how quickly a year goes by! Sweet baby Nathan turned 1 year old this weekend. And, now Cassie is sure that every time she is here, we should have a birthday party.

Epcot Food & Wine Festival

Finally a weekend at home. And, we were ready for Food and Wine festival at Epcot. October brought record-breaking temperatures to Orlando. I'm not talking frost. I'm talking 2 weeks of temps in the 90s with a heat index of over 100. Don't get me wrong. I don't miss cold. But, seriously? Getting in the car at 5pm and the temperature gauge reads 100 in October. Ugh. So, when a cold front moved in for the weekend of the Food and Wine Fest, we were most excited. However, we learned that when the temperature drops 50 degrees in 2 days, the body doesn't adjust so well.

We planned on practicing moderation this year. Last year's Food & Wine fest, we ate and drank our way around the world...twice. This year, we planned on taking our time. We had an amazing afternoon slowly working our way through. Until nightfall and we were too cold to go any further. Yes, too cold to eat when it was in the 50s (and, really windy - does that make a diff?)...we are Floridians, afterall (Mr. Chicago in the hooded sweatshirt proves this point)...

Happy 60th Birthday Mom/Lynda/Admiral/Mimi

Years ago, my Mom put in a request for a 60th birthday party. So, party we did. Rob and I left on Friday evening and drove to West Palm Beach. We picked Cassie up 1st thing Sat AM and hopped a plane to ATL where we arrived just in the nick of time to have a ginormous celebration with friends and family.

HAPPY 60TH BIRTHDAY!

We made it home late late Sunday night...in spite of booking our return tickets for Sunday November 7th rather than Sunday October 4th...an ordeal I would not recommend...

Happy 5th Birthday Cassie!!!

We had a wonderful birthday celebration for Cassie's 5th birthday! In honor of her 5th birthday, we had a "5 Little Monkeys" party. In spite of a terrible cold and fever, the birthday girl partied like the rock star that she is!

The birthday monkey got all kinds of fun new presents! She got a brand new big girl bike which she has quickly mastered (no surprise, the little speed demon!)! And, Wii Resorts is her very favorite new game in the house (the non-violent activities...after one too many boxing games, she was telling people "I'm gonna knock you down!"...oops). And, she has her very own PINK DS for the car! Thank you everyone for making the birthday girl's day so very special!

What an amazing 5 year old she is and how very lucky we are to share the celebration and our lives with her! We love you buddy!