Trick-or-Treat?

This year, Trick-or-Treat has a whole new meaning!  I say that because it snowed, yes you read that right snowed, on October 29th.  And not only did it snow, it snowed and snowed and snowed for hours on Saturday.  By the end of the day we had at least 10"-12" of SNOW!  When it started it was pretty and peaceful, I would call that part the "treat."  Around 3:00 that afternoon we lost power.  That was definitely the "trick."  I have lived through the Texarkana ice-storm without power.  That was an experience in itself.  This was a different type of experience.  As the mom of a toddler all you care about is keeping them warm and entertained.  Arden didn't seem to notice we had a candle-lit dinner of chicken and baked potatoes (thanks to Kevin who dug his grill out of the major limb that landed on our deck) and no TV, which is a good thing, and she didn't complain that she had to sleep in her pack-and-play in the living room for the first night but by nap time on Sunday she wasn't a fan of "camping."  Overall, it could have been worse (in the end we did get power back and we were all happy in our own beds again), I think, but it tested our limits :).

{Not really sure what is going on outside}

{Climbed onto the window seat for a closer look...and yes that is a shovel in her hand, she is ready to shovel the snow!}

{When we asked Arden what she saw outside she would say "Snowman!"  Luckily, she didn't ask us to build one!}

{This picture is just sweet to me...just trying to get a better view of the snow!}

We didn't actually Trick-or-Treat tonight but Arden did get to sport her costume today at school and she strutted her stuff!  Her school put on a Halloween parade where all of the students (from baby babies to 6th graders) wore their costumes and did a lap around the parking lot.  All of the parents lined up like papparazzi and "ohhhhed" and "ahhhhed" (as we should) because it was really stinking cute!  Granted it was cold, really cold, and there was snow that they had to walk around but for the most part no one seemed to mind (it was hard on the younger ones to see their parents and try and stay in the parade!)...

{Our strawberry all ready for the parade}

{Here she comes, the line leader for her class!}

{Once she saw me she took off running and yelled "Mommy" - it got lots of "awes" from the other parents, I loved every second of it ;)!}

 {Why will she wear this on her head and not a bow or headband?!}

{Parade line leader}

{Everyone still back there?!}

{Arden and her bestie at school, Eliza (on left), little Leah on her Dad's knee on the  right - she did not want him to leave her!}

{We went back inside after the parade and looked in the window of Arden's class to find her standing on top of the slide as if she was making sure everything was ok below...oh my, my, my}

I didn't take any pictures of our house in the snow, probably should have but I have a feeling it won't be the last snow of the year ;).  All of our neighbor friends have assured me this isn't normal (snow this early in the year) and that the only reason it was so bad this time was because most of our trees still have leaves and with the weight of the snow the branches couldn't hang on causing all sorts of damage.  There are A LOT of trees down, and our backyard has it's fair share of large limbs everywhere but we are warm and safe and have power so we are all ok BUT we hope the snow doesn't come again for a long while!

Hugs,
Hillary

Oh Happy Day(s)!

Arden is officially a 2-year old!  

Since her birthday was on a Saturday we celebrated the entire weekend,  starting with breakfast in bed and yes, she had birthday cake for breakfast :)!

{Our sweet neighbor friends made her a mini-cake with this candle, so cute and a yummy cake!}

{Arden: "Are you trying to light me on fire?!"}

{Arden: "Mom, are you really letting me do this?"}

{She went right for the candle and used it as her fork}

 

{Later that day she got her Mr. Potato Head!  We said we weren't going to do much this year and we actually followed through!  And yes, the fire is going, wasn't completely necessary but fun :)}

On Sunday we went to the Bronx Zoo.  It was a beautiful fall day and a really cool zoo, even Kevin and I were impressed with the animals!  And Arden ran around and would scream with excitement when she saw a different animal.  It was so fun for us to see her that excited.

{We started the day with the giraffe's.  She has a giraffe she sleeps with at night so she immediately knew what this was!}

{A rare picture of the 3 of us but a nice stranger offered to take our picture! }

{An even more rare pic of Arden and Mommy but of course she was too busy to stop and smile ;)}

{Checking out the ducks, she kept shouting "C'meer dux!!" (in Arden language)} 

{She LOVED the peacock!}

{The zoo is an old, historical place.  Lots of pretty buildings and detailed architecture.}

{The tiger was pretty cool!}

{The polar bear was pacing, it was feeding time!}

{The lions may have been my favorite but as Kevin said it didn't seem like there was much separating the lions from the people...yikes!!}

{Just cute pictures of my two favorite people while we were watching the lions :)}

It was a quiet, laid-back weekend but very special to Kevin and I that we were able to devote the entire weekend to her.  We did have a birthday party for her earlier in October - it was a bowling party that she  and a neighbor friend, Bridget, had together.  Bridget's actual birthday is September 29th (Kevin's birthday!) and her mom was nice enough to include Arden in the birthday party she was planning for Bridget.  It was perfect because Arden was turning 2 and Bridget was turning 3 so their party was fun for them and the adults ;).  Even though Arden didn't really understand bowling, and she didn't even really care about rolling the ball, she had so much fun watching all of the big kids bowl.  It was a special day and gave us a reason to start celebrating her birthday early!

{Bridget and Arden - the two birthday girls!  Our sweet friend Carla gave them shirts with their name and birthday year on them :)}

{Arden and her friend Danica}

{Arden and Kayla - Kayla and Danica are sisters...pretty girls!  Julia is on the right, she wasn't ready for the camera!}

{Birthday girl Bridget}

{She desperately wanted to carry a bowling ball!}

{Yay!!}

I wasn't really sure how I would feel about her turing 2...all of the cliches apply: "time flies," "they grow too fast," "they aren't babies long enough," - I agree with all of that but right now I am enjoying her so much I don't have time to be sad.  She is a super-fun girl who makes me laugh everyday.  I love how much she loves Kevin and I right now (someone remind me of this one day when she is a teenager!).  I love how she is starting to say new things, use her imagination and show her independence (although I have to remind myself this is a good thing).  All of this makes me so happy I don't have time to be sad and worry about where the time has gone, I am just soaking up every minute that I can!

A look back...

{10.22.09}

{10.22.10}

{10.23.11}

Happy Birthday to my sweet girl and hugs to everyone!

Hillary