Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Tigger, a pirate captain and Fred and Wilma Flintstone!

The kids had a great time trick or treating! Austin made out with a pretty good haul and had no desire to come home after an hour and a half of trick or treating. Alex was tired of going door-to-door after about only 8 houses, but she didn't want to go home until Austin and mommy did. So she I pushed her in the stroller while Austin continued trick or treating with our neighbours.

Unlike earlier in the week, where the evening weather allowed for just a light sweater to be worn, tonight it was a winter-jacket time of night. Alex wasn't too sure about the idea of wearing her costume over her coat, but she got used to it. And Austin just looked like a really tough pirate with the coat underneath. Ahhh, Halloween in Canada -- all costumes must be flexible enough to be worn over a snowsuit if necessary.

On Saturday night, Ryan and I went to an annual Halloween party as Fred and Wilma from the Flintstones.

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Sharing a great photo of the kids

On October 1, the kids joined us at a Holoud -- part one of our friends' weekend-long wedding. We got dressed at my parents house (since the party was in Brampton) and my dad snapped this picture before we left. It's such a great picture, that I wanted to share.
More about our October and our trip to Austin, Texas shortly.

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Our big girl finally got her big girl bed

Back in July, we went to look for big girl furniture for Alex’s big girl room. Unlike when Austin was old enough for a bed and all we needed was a mattress to put on top of my childhood bed frame, this time we had nothing. We shopped and found a store in Vaughan that specializes in kids furniture with some really nice stuff.

It was over two months before we were able to get back there – between an August full of vacations for us and some weird store hours for this family-run business in the month of September -- and Alex stated almost daily during this time that she wanted to sleep in her big girl bed. We were finally able to buy her a beautiful bedroom set at the end of September and on October 16 a bed frame, a mattress, a dresser, a nightstand and a dresser mirror were delivered.

We quickly set up the room for her (it was not some assembly required furniture) and made the bed with an old set up twin sheets we had in the house (the store had told us it would take 8 weeks to get the furniture but it only took 3 so we never had a chance to buy Alex her own linens). And within an hour of the bedroom being set up, she was happily napping in her big girl bed.

The transition was that easy. She was so excited to finally have her own big girl bed that she wanted to sleep in it right away. The crib remains in her room, and she did decide she wanted to sleep in the crib that night but overall, she’s very excited to be a big girl.

Of course, the day after the bed arrived, we left for Texas so she won’t get to be back in it for another week – which means we’ll likely leave the crib in her room for a little while longer, just until she’s comfortable.

Next on the list for our big girl…pretty girlie bed lines and a fresh coat of paint. It’s bye bye baby nursery, hello big girl room.

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News and updates

I realize it's been over a month since I last posted anything, so here's a bit of catch-up as to what we've all be up to.

Austin

Austin is having a great time at school every day. He goes every morning -- from 8:40 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. -- and comes home every day full of stories from what they did in class that morning. (And my fridge is quickly filling up with school artwork.)

On Sept. 30, he participated in the Terry Fox Run at school. The kindergarten kids didn't do the run with the rest of the school, instead they simply ran laps around the playground. Alex and I hung around to cheer him on and he pretty much kept running for the entire 15 minutes or so that the class did the run.

Alexandra

Alex and I now hang out every morning while Austin is in school. It took her a little while to get used to the routine -- some days wanting to go pick him up almost as soon as we finished walking him there -- but now she's into it. Some mornings, we do shopping or errands and other morning we go to programming or the drop-in centre. One morning a week, we go to a kinger-gymnastics program which she absolutely loves!

I guess that's why I haven't written in awhile -- there's not much to write about! The routine of school keeps us busy. And even though Austin loves school, most mornings I have to pry him out of bed to get ready to go. I guess it's a little too early for him.

October is a busy month for us. The first weekend of October we went to a weekend-long wedding here in Toronto. The kids came with us to the Friday night part of the event but we left them with a sitter for the Saturday night ceremony and reception. This past weekend -- Thanksgiving Weekend -- we spent in London. And on the Sunday of the weekend, Ryan and I left the kids with Ryan's dad and drove to Niagara-on-the-Lake for another wedding.

This coming Saturday (Oct. 16), I'm brave enough to run the 10K Zoo Run again and on Sunday morning the four of us leave for Austin, Texas. My cousin is getting married on Oct. 23 (yes, three weddings in one month for us!) and we decided to take the kids and spend a week there. We're all pretty excited and the kids are particularly excited about getting to go on an airplane! So I guess there'll be more to write about when we get back.

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