Live blogging Halloween 2008

6:44: Will refuses to wear costume.
6:46: First trick-or-treater scares Will sh*tless (Mommy, I very, very scared! Who was that scary man? Why did he open the door? What you give him?).
6:47: Will is in tears. I think Halloween is over for us.

7:05: Will and Matt are heading out! Will saw some much less scary kids and feels a lot better now.

7:12: Realizing that I can't nurse Ryan because I have to keep opening the door. Hmmm.

8:41: Ryan is sleeping in his crib. Matt is reading Will one more story in bed. I suspect we've seen the last of our trick-or-treaters.

Boy, Will got a lot of candy! And they only went to four or five houses, I believe. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), most of the candy he got is totally inappropriate for a two-year-old. But he had a great time and came back glowing. Figuratively and literally--one of the neighbors handed out glowstick bracelets. I think Halloween turned out to be a big success!

Catching up

Photo shoot. Anyone see where I was going with this one? Jess?



Ryan's first cereal.



The mess Will made while I talked to Julie on the phone last week.



Ryan's child dedication at our church. It exhausted him.



Trip to the National Zoo. Also purchase of baby shoes that stay on Ryan's feet and keep his socks on.



Trip to Amherst, MA. We stayed with Jenny, Chris, and Rorie for two nights. Will and Rorie are remarkably similar children and chummed around nicely, which is to say that they did a lot of chasing each other around the kitchen table screaming at the top of their lungs. Jenny invited us to UMass for Matt to do a condensed matter physics seminar and for me to talk at their Women and Minorities in Physics group..

Aunt Kate's visit

Last weekend Ryan met his Aunt Kate for the first time. She flew up from Florida to spend the weekend with us, and Meagan joined us as well. And it's a good thing too because Kate asked me to trash the pictures that I took of her and Ryan, while Meagan took some very nice ones, such as the one above.

On Saturday pretty much all we did was hang out and go to Starbucks. It is pumpkin spice latte season, after all. Here are some of Meagan's pictures from that outing:




Kate had to leave early on Sunday, but the rest of us went to a fall festival at a local orchard and pumpkin patch. Here are some of Meagan's pictures from that outing:




Finally, here's a picture of Ryan--another of Meagan's--that I just love:

The Bouncy-Bounce House

Here it is, the mystery birthday present. It was from my parents. Needless to say, it was a big hit.