Reading...The Cruelest Month

The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny.

This is the 3rd book she has written, they are all murder mysteries and feature the same characters.

I feel as though I am "getting to know" the characters in the books. As if I were to stumble upon the village of Three Pines I could stop at the bistro for lunch, and then maybe walk over to Peter and Clara's house for a quick visit.  I love books like this that make you feel like you really know the characters.

'til next time...

Reading...A Fatal Grace

A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny.

This book was also published under the name "Dead Cold". I believe that name was used in the Canadian or French publishing.

This is Louise Penny's second book and it is also a murder mystery featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Once again he is called to the sleepy little village called Three Pines to investigate a murder.  The characters in this book, the villagers, the police force, they are starting to feel very real. It is hard to believe that the village of Three Pines doesn't really exist.

I loved this book as much as the first and am looking forward to reading the next book. Fortunately, I am late to start reading her books so there are several already out!

'til next time...

Breakfast with a toddler...

"what would you like for breakfast?"




"yogurt"



1 bowl of yogurt later...



"are you finished?"



"no, cereal bar please?"



2 cereal bars later...



"are you finished?"



"no, cheerios please?"



1 bowl of cheerios later...



"are you finished?"



"no, toast please!"



1 piece of peanut butter toast later...



"ARE YOU FINISHED???"



"No, turkey please!"



4 pieces of turkey later...



"Ok, you are finished."



"more turkey please??"



"no"



"more cereal bar?"



"no"



"more toast??"



"no"



"COOKIE?"



"no"



"MORE TURKEY??"



"breakfast is over, go play."



.'til next time...

Reading...Ellen Crosby

"Merlot Murders"

I found this book at a local used bookshop, I picked it up simply because of the title, who can resist a title with wine in it??  

I really enjoyed this book, probably because it is set in a fictional location not too far from my house. Yes, I know that sounds odd but I knew from the descriptions that the location was obviously fictional because some of the geography doesn't work, such as a river running through the wrong area. But the book was enticing enough that we took a drive just to see where the vineyard should have been. The real area has lots of large farms but no vineyards that I could see.
I'm looking forward to reading the other books in the series!

'til next time...

Toddlers are scary enough for Halloween...

Next year I believe I will have my oldest toddler dress up as....himself. I believe toddlers can trump all the scariness of the other costumes out there! Or he can dress up as Grumpy from Snow White, he is capable of staying in character all day.

We actually had a great Halloween this year, despite some protests over dressing up!

We started out our holiday weekend by recruiting Peter to carve the first pumpkin. I intended to carve a pumpkin for each of us but I ended up running out of time and ended up with 2 pumpkins carved.

watching daddy carving the pumpkin

Peter's handiwork

I carved the one of the left, rather evil looking

On Saturday morning we dressed the children in their costumes, Wythe as a bumblebee and Ainsley as a duckie. They both looked charming, though I'm sure I am not at all biased.

my little bumblebee

my little duckie

 We took the kids to downtown Warrenton for the kids Halloween Happyfest Parade. It was a cold, sunny morning, great day for a parade. The children all looked so cute dressed up in their costumes. Many parents had decorated wagons and strollers for the parade.

parade in old town Warrenton

 Wythe & Peter in the Parade

 Miss Ainsley in the parade

 

The shops along Main Street were handing out candy to all the trick-or-treaters. Great Harvest Bakery was handing out cookies to the children. That was Wythe's favorite, he really doesn't know what candy is but he loves cookies!

Wythe getting cookie crumbs in daddy hair

After the parade and trick-or-treating at the shops, the kids were absolutely worn out!

 

                  

That afternoon we went to a Boo Bash birthday party for a friend of Wythe & Ainsley's. The kids were going to wear their costumes but after wearing them all morning they could not be persuaded. They had a lot of fun at the party, Wythe got to run around and play with the other children and eat cookies!

We left that party to head to another one, this party was the birthday of a friend of mine. They had a truck there that had a wood burning pizza oven on the back of it, the guys would make pizzas to order, yummy! Wythe had fun chasing and being chased by my friends little boy, they always have so much fun together! The weather was turning cold and the kids were really tired so we ended up leaving the party early. It was a great, busy day and we were only through half the weekend!

Sunday was a beautiful day, we were outside for awhile. Wythe was helping Peter with the burn pile, I'll post pictures of that on another post. That afternoon we dressed the kids in the costumes again. This time to go trick-or-treating in the neighborhood and then to go to the Orlean Fire hall for a kids Halloween party.

We tried to get some pictures of the two of them together in their costumes but they weren't as eager for a photo shoot and we were. It was strangely reminiscent of last years attempt to take Halloween pictures!

notice Wythe in the background, wailing

"I don't want to be a bee..."

"I know I look cute!"

"this is soooo not fun!!"

trick-or-treating like a zombie

trick-or-treating with a neighbor girl

"things are improving, I have a cookie!"

"aww...the cute puppy is licking me..."

"THE PUPPY IS LICKING ME, MAKE IT STOP!"

Wythe starting to cry because his sister is upset

The local fire hall had a party for the kids. They had games for the older children and some play areas set up for the younger children. Wythe, Ainsley and their neighbor friend won awards for their costumes. The picture below shows Ainsley holding her trophy, 1st trophy ever!!   I guess I will have to save this for the trophy case!  We wanted Wythe in the picture with his trophy but being the good, diligent parents we are, we couldn't find our 2 year old! His award looks just like A's. 

Ainsley holding her trophy

Wythe & the prize box

Wythe had fun emptying and refilling the prize box. He didn't seem to understand that he was supposed to pick one out to take home but it sure kept him occupied for awhile! 

Wythe putting fake spiders onto of Ainsley's head. Mommy didn't let him bring ANY spiders home!

giving sissy some love

It was a great Halloween, I can only imagine what it will be like when the kids are old enough to be really into it as well. After such a busy weekend it will probably take a few days to recoup!

'til next time...

Toddler talk...

We continue to see progress in my son's speech. Just the other night we heard him say "wuv" for the first time.  He first said "I wuv sissy". then "I wuv dada". Of course I tried to get him to say "I love mommy", he got the mischievous look in his eye and said "I wuv feet!" Then, as we tried to get him to say it again he said "I wuv cup!", that started a trend of naming all the objects in the room. But before he went to bed I did hear "I wuv mama!", that was another first that just made my heart melt.

'til next time...