Catch Up - Halloween

Halloween is not a favorite day amongst anyone in our family.  Jeff doesn't care for dressing up, Avery is scared of her own shadow, Claire goes to bed before the festivities even begin and me, well, I have to deal with all of that, so I guess it isn't a favorite day for me either.  That being said, despite ALL of that, we did have a good time hanging out with our neighbors for a little party before hitting up two houses in our culdesac for candy and promptly heading home at 5:30 p.m.

And, if it's not easy to tell, we did a family costume this year...lions, tigers and bears! Oh My! (Check out Jeff's shirt below...)

Avery trying on her costume the day it arrived.  Despite it not being an Elsa costume, she really did love it.

Halloween Day.  Our biggest struggle...getting Claire to keep her bear hat on.  

Our neighbor, JP, and I were two of three tigers at the party.

Our happy place.  At home eating candy!

FPT

Parenting Tip #57: Before trying to figure out exactly what is going on, always be sure to snap a picture.  

Catch Up - Rhode Island Getaway

Back in October (...yes, October...), we went to Rhode Island for my cousin's wedding.  While it was a great trip, it was also not a great trip.  Miss Claire was quite the sick baby during our travels and when a baby is sick, life is hard...let alone traveling on planes for hours at a time and not being in the comforts of your own home.  We left on our trip day 7 into her illness, so in between visiting family and friends back east, we were visiting urgent care centers trying to help our sweet girl.  When it was said and done, Claire was sick for 30 days with diarrhea, which caused an horrific bum rash.  Talk about uncomfortable!  Gah!

Despite Claire's issue, it was so nice to see family that we don't see nearly enough, including my 84 year old grandmother!

I took what pictures I could during our escapade, and after reviewing them, I am stoked with the number of pictures of Claire looking happy!  

Plane flight out with my little momma's helper and our sick baby.

Almost there!

She managed a smile once we were bumped up to the bigger, nicer seats on the last leg of our journey out!

We made it to Rhode Island!

My (bad) attempt at a picture during lunch with my aunt and grandma.

We loved seeing friends who just moved to Marblehead.

There's nothing like a New England pumpkin patch and apple picking!

Airport shenanigans in Chicago O'Hare.

Just.  The.  Cutest.

I wished I had more pictures of our trip.  These didn't capture a fraction of the people we saw or things we did, and I am bummed about that.  I miss my family and love New England...good thing there are two more weddings back there this year!

FPT

Air drying that tush when we could, where we could.  This is in the backyard of my great aunt's house!