It Was Bound to Happen

Georgia 42

Georgia Tech 45

Yes, yes. Georgia lost today. Fair and square, we played terrible, and Tech deserved the W. They had not won this rivarly game since the year 1999 . . . since November of my senior year at UGA.

I was not a sore loser, and Jim was not a gloater (although he really, really wanted to be, I could tell). There was bound to be a time in our lives together when my team would lose this game, and today was the day. I accept that.

But, it still stings. (pun intended)

Congratulations, GT. You guys now have bragging rights for the year.

(My bad -- correction!! GT won in 2000!! Thanks, Ryan, for the correction -- it was an honest mistake, I promise!)

Thankful

On this Thankful Weekend, here are a few things we are so very thankful for.

Each Other

Our Newest Turkey

Our Curious Toddler

Being a Mom

Princess Slippers (and early holiday gift)

Sisters

And the love of our Family

(and -- I'll admit I'm also thankful for this decent picture of us!)

She's Coming!

Sarah Palin is coming to Atlanta . . . Monday, 12/2, to help Saxby with his Senate race.

All I know is that there is a 4pm rally somewhere in 'North Metro Atlanta' and the details are TBD. If I find out more, I'll post.

You know I want to go. Oh, please let it work out so that I can find a way to get there!!

Meg's First Publication

Another plug, from me . . . the photographer.

If you are interested in a photo book for yourself or a holiday gift, allow me to endorse my favorite: Blurb Books. They are just lovely. Hard cover, dust jacket, 100% customizable. And not outrageously expensive.

www.blurb.com

And here is a sample of the one I created with Meg's 2nd Year shots . . . it cost me $36.95 (a little extra because I wanted to include my business logo). I can't wait to get my little hands on it.

http://www.blurb.com/books/445107

Happy Book Making!

I Make It Sound So Hard

It was brought to my attention that I make having 2 kids sound . . . well, very hard.

A pregnant friend, due in February with her 2nd child, said to me yesterday . . .
"(Another friend) told me I shouldn't read your blog or I'll never want to have this baby."

I grimaced. That's not what I intended when I began this blog, and it's certainly not what I have in mind for readers right now. Is that really what people are getting from this blog? All the negative . . . none of the positive? All the bare bones truth and no appreciation for it?

Do I make it sound that hard?

Ok, so I very well may make having 2 kids sound difficult. The truth of the matter is that -- for me -- it IS hard. The transition from one to two kids has socked me so hard, I'm still seeing starry-eyed and trying to regain my composure. I didn't envision for one second the amount of work, lack of sleep, and strength of spirit it would take just to make it through each day, week, month. I was naive to think that welcoming an additional baby into our house would be just as easy as it was to welcome the first.

That's ME, though. Not everyone. Not everyone has as much trouble adjusting to this change. For some families, the change from 0 to 1 kid is earth-shattering. And for others, like us, it's the addition of multiple kids that changes their world in ways they didn't expect.

I'll admit that we do have some extenuating circumstances. The whole Jim-traveling thing is something that many moms do not deal with. I do, and it certainly doesn't make having 2 darling little girls easier. Flying solo for 4 out of 7 days each week takes it tole on me, as you have no-doubt had your fill of reading about.

I don't have immediate family any closer than one hour away, which could also compound the difficulty I face. Where some moms (many of them being my friends) can ask Nana or Papa to come over and relieve them for a bit, I just cannot. My family is also not as willing to help me out, when I do need it . . . unless I bring the kids to them, which is often more trouble than it's worth. That's just the way my family operates, and I've learned to deal with it.

I also tend to carry to much of the responsibility of our family on myself. I know this . . . it's the only child, the perfectionist in me. I find it so hard to ask for help. And now, asking for help with TWO kids just seems like so much to ask of anyone . . . I rarely do it. I suffer in silence, and then I freak out and melt down when I reach a breaking point. Jim, my darling husband, can attest to all of this. I'm working on it (with help).

So, maybe I do make it sound hard. Because for me, it has been. It is. It will continue to be for a while . . . until the girls needs are a little more similar and there is a little less work to be done.

But for everyone, it's NOT this hard. I promise.

Actually, it's significantly harder for many families. We have some extenuating-ly GOOD circumstances, in addition to the bad ones. We are blessed with many things . . . a lovely home, no financial troubles, loving friends and family (yes, our families do love us, no matter what their actions are). I have to remember how lucky I am, even if I'm having a little trouble right now. Sometimes, when I'm stuck in a rut of 'woe is me', I forget how good I have it. And then I feel bad for feeling bad because I do know how great my life is . . . how I'm exactly where I always hoped I'd be at this point in my life. When I feel bad for feeling bad, it just compounds the problem . . . it's an exhausting cycle. Ugh.

But honestly -- the truth of the matter is -- it's worth it. I know that and believe it 100%. Every time I look at my girls, I know that these temporary struggles are worth every second. Last week, Meg tickled Kate and Kate belly-laughed at her big sister. In that moment, I closed my eyes and thought, "THIS is what it's all about."

I might not blog about the good as much as the bad these days . . . but that is because I'm using the blog as my journal, my outlet for everything. But there is lots and LOTS of good going on around her. And, with some help, I'm hoping to see and appreciate more and more of it.

Sorry if I make it sound hard. I get through the really hard days knowing that millions of women do the same thing, and that families with multiple kids are far more common than families with only one. If everyone else can do it, I can, too. It's not that hard.

Potty Talk

On Friday, I gave Meg a bath, as I normally do each evening. And as she normally does each evening, she declared, "Meg have to potty!" in the middle of her bath.

I took her out of the tub and placed her on the toliet, getting myself and my floor soaked in the process. I've done this potty-during-bath thing so many times, it's strange when the girls get a bath and I don't get wet. Pottying in the middle of bath is either a cool thing to do (meaning Meg does it for the attention) or it's something about the water (meaning the bath must be a laxitive for my toddler).

For whatever reason, Meg had to "stinky" during Friday's bathtub potty break. She cracks me up with her grunts and her groans . . . there is no mistaking it when the kid has to poop. And on this particular occassion, she had about the biggest #2 I had ever seen come out of her tiny little body. Seriously, I felt my eyes bulge out of my head when I saw it in the toliet.

"Meg! That is the biggest "stinky" I ever saw!" I exclaimed.

"Biggest "stinky" you ever saw?" Meg asked.

"Yes! Mommy has never seen you do such a big "stinky"!!" I replied.

She giggled about it and agreed that, yes, it was the biggest "stinky" Meg had ever seen, too.

The next night, we were dining at a neighbors house. During dinner, Meg informed the group that she had to -- you guessed it -- go potty. About the only time you can guarantee that Meg will have to potty (aside from in the tub, of course) is at the dinner table.

I excused myself as I do at nearly EVERY meal these days, and I took her to the powder room. I seriously think the kid can muster up poop . . . because there we were, at a nice dinner with our neighbors, and she had to poop in their hall bath.

And you know what she asked me, when I was cleaning her up and getting us ready to return to dinner?

"Is that the biggest "stinky" you ever saw, Mommy?"

I just laughed.

I survived the holiday rush.

And the angels came down from heaven to sing . . .




I owe Jim an big THANKS for all of his help and patience through this crazy month of November. I owe my friends a THANK YOU for putting up with me, my stress, and my craziness.

The next several days will be filled with editing, then I'll be filling card orders like a mad woman . . . but I do plan to STOP and enjoy Thanksgiving with everyone. And, barring nothing unforeseen, I should be done by about the 10th of December . . . just in time to enjoy a few days with friends and family before we go to the Land of Ice and Snow (Iowa) for the actual Christmas event.

I survived the holiday rush. Hallelujuah!

Favorite Photo Friday, Week ??

Hudson, Canton GA, November 20, 2008




Okay, so I've lost track of the weeks for Fav Photo Fri, but I'll figure it out and correct it next week.



Meet Hudson. Acutally, many of you have already 'met' him in this blog or on my website (http://www.hdportraitsonline.com/). He's a favorite. Yes, I admit . . . I do have some favs when it comes to photography.

This kid, he's always so fun to be around. His mom worries too much that we won't get good pictures because Hudson is, as all little boys are, always on the move. This always produces 100% candid, natural photography when we are together. He seems to like me . . . he's always dressed to the 9's . . . and I just love working with him. And yes, the pictures are always good.

His family was one of my very, very first families that paid me for doing something I so enjoy. June 12, 2007. That first morning, I showed up with my camera, my baby, and a stomach full of nerves. Was I really going to do this . . . be a 'photographer'? Would it work when I'm shooting someone else's kid? That first session went so well that I left thinking, "Maybe I could make a little business out of this . . ."

Another one of my most favorite pictures ever came out of that first shoot. This one will someday be framed in my house with a collection of my favorites of other people's kids.



Thanks to Hudson and his family for all they have done for me since 2 Junes ago. And thanks for continually inviting me back to work with your kiddo. I can't thank you enough.

HO HO HO

Like I said earlier this week, I've already been up to my ears in Christmas. Red, green, holly, garland, ornaments, tensil, trees . . . you name it, I've seen it.

The only thing missing? Holiday music. Nobody thinks to turn on some Christmas cheer while we are shooting.

Four shoots remain. I am suprisingly on top of editing, with only portions of last weeks sessions remaining. I still have to package up several things, and I have holiday card orders left and right . . . but I am somehow managing it all.

More pictures tomorrow . . .

The Incredible Shrinking Jim

The Incredible Shrinking Jim . . .

I'm SO SO proud of him!

He's melted away,

looks so skinny today,

worked so hard to get slim and trim!

December 2007

November 2008

70 pounds in 11 months. What an amazing feat that has taken some amazing dedication.

Proud isn't a big enough word.

Cinco

Kate hit the 5 month mark today. Five months have gone by since we endured jaundice, learning to nurse, and nighttime sleep deprivation. Now she's moved on to sleeping through the night, laughing, and rolling.

We've come a long, long way, Baby Kate.

Still swimming in edits, but when I'm able to tread water again, I'll post more interesting topics. For now, I will just keep posting pictures so you don't feel totally ignored. :)

Quick Little Updates

After 2 weeks, Meg has finally adjusted to the time change taking us off of Daylight Savings Time. I wish I had known that one hour would rock her little clock like it did . . . we had a lot of 6am wake ups and short (but NOT sweet!) naps over the last 2 weeks. Finally, we seemed to have returned to normal. Whoever thought up changing our clocks back and forth certainly did not have kids.

________________________________________________

I am in the height of the holiday season. Already, I've seen full Christmas trees, tons of Christmas attire, and lots and lots of holly and garland. All in the name of good Christmas pictures. I have a shoot Thurs-Sun, then one more the Sunday after Thanksgiving . . . and then I'm done for holiday 2008. Much like I was counting down to my maternity break in the spring, I'm counting down to December. Only a few more days to go. My mantra: I can make it. I can make it. I can make it.

_______________________________________

Jim is still away from home more than he's here. Having 2 kids and no help is really hard. I've started using babysitters more, and we found a great housekeeper that seems to genuinely want to help our family. Again: I can make it. I can make it. I can make it.

____________________________________

Kate will be 5 months old tomorrow. FIVE. Do you believe how fast the time goes? Before long she'll be eating solids and sitting up. Kate's latest accomplishment: rolling, both back to tummy and tummy to back. The only funny part is that she tends to roll from her back to her tummy and then gets stuck. I guess I shouldn't say it's funny . . . it certainly wasn't funny at 5:30am last week, when she was wailing from her room because she couldn't figure out how to roll back over. I'm sure my little peanut will figure it out with time.

__________________________________________________

We don't know what we are doing for Thanksgiving. While most families plan for holidays, my family tends to wait until the LAST minute. It drives me totally nuts. But, being that my dad and I are pretty much on-the-outs these days, I won't push him to make a plan. If my parents come here, great. If they don't want to celebrate with us, we'll figure something out. *sigh* At least I know for certain where we'll be on Christmas (Iowa).

___________________________________________________

Heather Dahlby: You've just made it through the holiday rush, you survived the first 6 months with 2 children, and your husband got his annual bonus! What are you going to do now?!

You guessed it: We're going to Disney World! The plans are set for a 5 day Orlando blitz, complete with on-the-property hotel and reservations for character dining. Meg (and Kate, in her own way) is going to have a ball. I thought we'd wait until both girls were older . . . but I just can't wait any longer. Everything at our house is princess, princess, princess right now . . . so off we go to meet some of those darling ladies in person. Late February 2009. I cannot wait.

_________________________________

If you live around Atlanta and don't know of this offer -- the aquarium has $20 tickets, including parking, through Dec 31 2008. Check it out!

http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/visitus/meandmommy.aspx

___________________________________________________

Oh, and we attempted to take some family pictures this weekend. Sometimes, with a two little ones, the outtakes are the best part.

Happy Fall . . .

Really Slammed

10 days.
7 shoots.
2 kids.
1 traveling husband.

I'll be back soon . . . .

A Shameless Plug

My first two holiday cards of the 2008 season. They turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself.

If you are interested in cards . . . using your own pictures or one's I've taken . . . email me at hdahlby@gmail.com . I'm pretty busy these days, but if you act early I can probably get your cards done in a jiffy.

Carpool

Every Tuesday or Thursday afternoon, I get some kind of wacky report from Meg's teacher about what Meg was up to that morning while at preschool. Each time I round the corner and take my place in the carpool line, awaiting Meg's dismissal, I wonder what I'm going to hear.

Today . . .

Becky: (as she loads Meg into the car) Does your husband have two different color eyes?

Me: (confused) Yeah . . . actually, he does. Did Meg tell you that?

Becky: (laughing) While we were coloring this morning, I said we were using brown -- and I said brown was just like (another student's) eyes. Of course, Meg piped up with "Meg has two blue eyes!!"

Me: (laugh)

Becky: (closing the door, leaning on the window) Then she declared, "Meg's daddy has one blue eye!" We were all totally confused until we asked her what color daddy's other eye was . . . and she said, "Green." So, I figured your husband must have two different colored eyes.

Me: I never know what this child will say! She remembers everything. We had the eye color discussion over dinner sometime recently . . . I had no idea . . .

Becky: (laughing) Yep, she remembered. See you Thursday!

My Meg. Always finding a way to make us all laugh . . . and reminding us to watch what we say because she remembers everything.

I just read all my complaining.

I think I'll take a break . . . I'll post more later this week or maybe sometime next week, when I have more positive stuff to post about. I know you are all tired of complaining.

HD

Monday Afternoon

Put Kate down for a nap . . . some crying, but that is usually only temporary. Make lunch. Sit down to eat with Meg, but I can't ignore Kate's crying any longer. Find her lying in her crib with both of her little legs sticking out of the slats between crib rails. Pick her up.

Attempt to console her, try to put her back to sleep. Return to lunch with Meg, but Kate's crying continues. Return to Kate's room and feed her. Put her back down for a nap. (Third time's a charm, right?)

Return to my now cold lunch, but I have to clean up my toddler before I can sit down to eat . . . she's now eaten her entire lunch while sitting alone at the table. Wipe her off, let her play, eat my lunch.

1:00 -- put Meg down for a nap. Fold clean laundry. Throw in the 3rd load of the day. Do the lunch dishes. Return a few calls, check on an insurance claim, work on some HD Portraits photo editing. Prepare Meg's dinner for tonight b/c a babysitter is coming to help with the evening shift.

90 minutes after going down, Kate wakes up. Not too bad, really. Feed her. Let her lay on my bed while I fold more laundry.

Meg wakes up. Re-dress her (remove pull up, put on new panties, return to her pre-nap outfit). Fix her a snack. Pile everyone in the car for Meg's afternoon dr appointment.

Good News: no UTI. Well, probably not, anyway. Leave the dr with something to use to collect urine so I can bring it back tomorrow for testing to be sure. That sounds like fun.

Return home -- and now it's just after 5pm. Put Kate down for another nap. Bathe Meg, which she thinks is a treat because it's out of the norm to take a bath that early in the evening. Dress her, then Kate wakes up. Oh well -- a 25 minute power nap for her is better than nothing.

Feed Kate. Throw dinner in the oven. Jim comes home. Feed Meg.

Babysitter arrives. Give her instructions for the night, which include bathing Kate for me (dude, for $11 an hour, she can give ONE kid of mine a bath). Leave with fingers crossed that there will be no meltdown from the toddler. She waves good-bye from the garage door, so she's clearly not holding any hard feelings toward us for leaving her for the night.

Leave the house at 6:30pm to attend our neighborhood annual Home Owners Assoc. Board of Directors election & meeting. Manage to get through the meeting without volunteering or getting roped into any additional commitments that I would NOT have time for.

8:30pm, go to dinner with my husband. If Jim and I have a spare moment sans children, might as well capatilize and find a way to enjoy a few minutes together.

10:10pm -- right now. So tired. Going to bed.

Not all my days are like this, but more than 1/2 of them are. Another one starts again in about 8 hours.

Monday Morning

Everyone up at 7am. I'm TOTALLY engorged b/c Kate is sleeping so well at night these days. Don't pump b/c it will only make it worse in the days to come . . . so shower and dress in total discomfort.

Get dressed. Eat. Feed Kate and get relief on one side. Fight with Meg about behavior.

Go to preschool for a "Mom's Breakfast" -- which is supposed to be fun. Drop Meg in the playroom, keep Kate with me. Kate fusses and cries for the first 20 minutes of the event, finally going to sleep. Try to enjoy myself, but I really only talk to the 2 moms I already know.

Pick up Meg from the playroom in an effort to get to Music Class before it starts. Kate wakes up in the process. Stop everything, sit down, and feed Kate (selifishly -- I need the relief). Leave the preschool when we should be starting Music Class.

Arrive at Music Class 10 minutes after it begins. Enjoy our last Music Class of the fall session. Meg complains of needing to use the potty -- very loudly and rudely -- as the teacher is finishing up class.

Take Meg to the Potty. She goes, re-dresses, then says she has to go again. No go the second time around.

I start to wonder if she has a UTI. She's been doing this a lot in the past few days . . . and been totally irratable. Call the doctor to schedule an appointment for this afternoon. Yeah.

And now it's time to make lunch.

That Kind of Morning

Someone was NOT in the mood to have his picture taken this morning. No matter WHAT we tried.

Oh well. Sometimes it's a cake walk, sometimes it's a nightmare. Maybe that's why some photographers charge so much . . . because sometimes the work is just priceless.

Little Lab Rat

Kate volunteered to take part in a memory development study at Emory University. Isn't that kind of her? She really sees the value in research -- especially in the area of child development. I thought it was awfully nice of her to volunteer to be a part of the study, seeing as she was the perfect age for the research being conducted.

We had to venture to the Emory campus twice this week to take part in the study (which was the hardest part of the whole experience -- it's 45 min away). It was a very simple procedure . . . I held Kate on my lap and some research assistants spent 12 minutes trying to keep her attention focused upward. Alongside our chairs were 2 speakers that produced some tones, and each tone was followed by a short puff of air aimed at Kate's face. (Think glacoma test puff of air, but like 1/3 the strength). The puff would make her blink, and then we'd wait 30 seconds or so to go through the process again. The idea being that, in time, her brain would begin to associate the tone with the puff of air . . . and a flinch or a blink on Kate's part when a tone was sounded and no puff was given would indicate to the researchers that she was, in fact, making the correlation.

Kinda like Pavlov's dogs. Although the researcher didn't seem to excited when I made that comparison. She said it was something about the hippocamus and it's development . . . not about behavior, like the dogs.

Anyway, our reward for the participation was a few toys and a $25 gift card to Target. Not a huge pay off . . . but I (I mean Kate) was more interested in seeing how the research was conducted than in the compensation they offered.

In the future, Kate can look at these pictures and ask, "MOM! What did you let them do to me?!"

Big Sister was a good sport . . . she played in the lab's playroom and was delighted to pick out a special treat when it was all over.

Just something else to add to our family experiences. And I can add it to Kate's baby book . . . I'll title that section, "My Little Lab Rat."

I'm too Tired

to post today.

No break . . . Kate was awake the entire time that Meg napped today, and then she proceeded to stay awake all afternoon, too. As you can imagine, I had one cranky 4 1/2 month old by dinner time tonight. Thank goodness my toddler hung in there and didn't give me too much trouble this evening.

No Jim . . . he's coming back tonight after a 4 day trip. Out again Tuesday-Friday next week, then out again the Sunday after that. No Jim for pretty much every week in November. Yippee.

No time . . . I just have too much work right now. Eight photo sessions coming up in the next two weeks. Three each weekend plus one each Thursday. Why can't I ever say no?!

No topics of interest . . . unless you consider this boring explanation of what is going on around here interesting. The only good news that I have to share for today: I weighed myself at Publix today (for some reason our Publix has a giant scale in the lobby, which I love). The needle stopped at 143 lbs. That's back to pre-baby weight! Whooo hooo! Now I just have to see if these hips of mine squeeze in a little tighter over the next few months.

Nope, too tired to post, nothing to write about . . . yet somehow I've managed to write something. Hmmm. I guess I can amaze even myself sometimes :)

CHANGE is Scary

I think this must have been my first presidential election as a grown up. Maybe it was the first one that I really cared about . . . probably because I'm now a grown up. It was definitely the first election that I felt would actually effect my household.

And now, honestly, I'm a little scared. I don't know what the future holds for our country . . . or for our family.

Before . . . the future was not that big of a concern. If it was something that wouldn't happen in my generation, I didn't give it a second thought. When I voted in previous Novembers, it was for what would be best for me, and only me. Now I have two little legacies that will live on long past me, and I fear what life in our country will be like for them. I can handle this hard time we are facing . . . but I need to know that things are going to be OK for our girls.

Our current president has, more or less, run us into the ground. The United States is in far worse shape than it was when he took office 8 years ago. Our country is in need of some big change -- yes, CHANGE, I agree with. We need it. But, what I don't agree with is electing somebody to change our country that has no experience with changing anything. Frankly, he has next to no experience in the way things are, let alone changing things for the better.

I'm scared that things are going to get worse. I guess the thought is that they might get worse before they get better . . . but who's to say that they will get better? How long will it take? There's got to be a big learning curve for this job . . . and for someone who has such a thin foundation, that curve seems huge. Will he fulfill all these promises?

I'm scared that those people who went to the poles voted for someone without knowing who they were really voting for. On election night, some news reporters were discussing the fact that we, as a country, know very very little about our president-elect. My thoughts on that? "Well, it's a fine time to be saying that . . . here as you are declaring him to be our next Commander-In-Chief."

I'm scared that the life that Jim and I work so hard for is going to change in ways we are not able -- or willing -- to handle. Whether or not he meant it when he talked about "Spreading the wealth" . . . it's still a major, major concern for my family. Jim works too hard to be giving more of our money to the government . . . so they can give it to others. Sorry, that's not how I think our democratic society should run. Call me callous, call me Republican, call me whatever you want . . . I just want to keep our money.

I'm scared that race will play a bigger role in this than it should. Yes, I said it. I'm addressing it. Nobody talked much about race while he was running . . . but last night, the accolades about the first African-American president rang in my ears as I tried to fall asleep. Is that what this is all about? I thought we were voting for change.

We'll see what happens. I hope and pray that I'm wrong. That there is nothing to be scared of. That we will be in great shape 4 years from now, and that I can vote with confidence to re-elect the man that will be in charge come January. We'll see.

A Little Pick-me-Up

In an effort to help cheer you up . . . 'cause I definitely need some cheering up after last night's results . . . I give you the pumpkin shoot for 2008 . . .

A big thanks to my cousin Kathryn who came over to help us out yesterday . . . she was KEY in helping me get these great shots! She's also just great to have around :)

You Know What to Do

VOTE!

As if your country depends on it . . . because it does.

http://www.johnmccain.com/Undecided/WhyMcCain.htm

Goodbye, Halloween

The calendar has turned to November, and Halloween is now behind us once again. Today, as I packed up my Halloween decor, I had to explain to my toddler why we had to put away certain items and make room for new decorations around the house.

She was glad to help -- until we came to her pumpkin and ghost bowls. These two plastic bowls, which once resided in the Target $1 bin, have been staples for cereal and snack around here over the past 31 days. Meg must have helped me load and unload those cheap little things into the dishwasher more than a dozen times in the past 2 weeks . . . so she has, clearly, become quite attached to them. They are nothing more than white plastic bowls with -- you guessed it -- a pumpkin and a ghost in the bottom of each respective bowl.

When the news hit her that those bowls were being stored away with all our other orange and black paraphernalia until next Halloween, I got a full out pouty lip . . . tightly shut eyes . . . the waiving of her hands . . . followed by some relatively fake crying and huge crocodile tears.

Oh, the life of a two year old. Her greatest tragedy of the day was losing her pumpkin and ghost bowls. She didn't even lose them. She just has to pack them away.

Notice -- I didn't say had to pack them away. As a mom, you pick your battles. It doesn't hurt her to use the bowls for a few more days, even though Halloween has come and gone. Sometime after tomorrow's breakfast, we've agreed to put away the pumpkin and ghost . . . but we'll continue to use the coordinating silverware. If you come to my house over the next few months and see some purple silverware with a 'friendly ghost' on the handles, smile, think of this blog, and know that it was NOT a battle worth fighting for me.

But before we totally pack away the holiday . . . here are a few highlights from trick or treating last Friday. Meg was fearless . . . visited each house all by herself . . . and was polite enough to say "Thank you" after nearly every treat was dropped in her bag. It was a wonderful evening. I can't wait for next year.

And yes, I've already thought of costumes for the girls for 10/31/2009.