Halloween or April Fool's?

Is this Halloween or April Fool's Day?

Meredith woke up in the wee hours with a stomach bug. By morning, it was clear she and I were going to miss her Halloween costume party at music class. How disappointing! We just couldn't risk passing the bug to her classmates, no matter how cute she would have been nor how badly she wanted to go to "ballet."

We trudged through the day with mild symptoms, until Daddy got home near dinner time. Then Meredith happily donned her Halloween costume and joined us for her first night of trick-or-treating! As with most things Meredith does, she seemed to know the drill with little explanation. She walked right out to the street and headed to our neighbor's house. Up the steps she went and knocked. When the door was opened, Meredith walked right past the candy bowl, into the house, up some steps, through the living room, past the kitchen, and toward the family room before I caught up with her. She was rather displeased at being shuffled back outside and even returned her candy to the hostess. By the fourth house, we were on to her routine and able to keep her outside, though she still tried to squeeze into each home. All in all, we were proud of our little butterfly for fluttering to more than 10 homes on our street before laying down her antennae on Daddy's shoulders and heading home to bed.

Meredith in her Butterfly costume. Notice my sad jack-o-lantern in the background? No time to carve a face with a sick baby at home. I drew a face and surrounded him with candles. The kids in the neighborhood didn't mind a bit!

Flying through the air with Daddy. No one would ever know this butterfly had a tummy ache!

"Mind if I come in?"

Costume Party

Frank, Meredith, and I attended a pre-Halloween costume party today, hosted by a mom's group I recently joined. The invitation encouraged costumes for all; prizes were to be awarded to the grown-ups with the best costumes. Always one to enjoy the festivities, I devised a family "theme." Meredith was set with her butterfly costume, which she'll wear on Halloween. Naturally, I was a Tree (a pretty lame idea I've repeated several times since 1996) and Frank fell quickly into the role of Butterfly Catcher with a large net, safari hat, and plain khaki clothes. With my contribution of homemade macaroni and cheese, we headed out.

Meredith dressed in her new butterfly costume, then ran down the hall to check out herself in the mirror.

Keep in mind:

1. I only recently joined this group and have only met a few of the other moms, once.

2. We were all wearing costumes: I had a head full of fake leaves. Frank looked like a diluted version of the Crocodile Hunter.

3. We are Vorndrans. We were late.

As we, the themed family approached the house, a kind dad answered the door. Ahh, I thought, these people seem really nice. (And, don't get me wrong, they are.) When we entered the room, we could see the party had been in full swing for some time and the food had already been consumed. Not quite sure where to place my large casserole of steaming macaroni, I headed toward the crowd. What I wasn't prepared to find were more than two dozen parents, all in plain clothes. Not a costume in site! Enter Frank and Leslie. I could feel the collective intake of breath and stifled embarrassment on our behalf.

Not much we could do (run and hide would have been fine with me!), so we jumped right in with Meredith and let her play with new children and toys. I was never so relieved to return to our car and head back to my own world where parents wear costumes and get silly for no other reason than to delight their children!


Meredith quickly found the slide (Weee!) and became the dirtiest butterfly, ever.

The Tree and her Butterfly.

Safari Frank chillin' with his favorite gal!

P.S. As a bonus, we won the costume contest (if you can call it that) and left with a Starbucks gift card.

I Don't Need Anything Else

Ever see the movie "The Jerk" with Steve Martin? Great flick! In the movie, as Steve's character, Navin, prepares to leave his wife, he storms through the house in his bathrobe, grabbing trinkets along the way. In that hilarious Steve Martin style, the scene goes something like this:

"I don't need this or this.
(grabs ashtray) Just this ashtray.
(grabs paddle game) And this paddle game. The ashtray and the paddle game and that's all I need.
(grabs remote control) And this remote control. The ashtray, the paddle game and
the remote control, and that's all I need.
(grabs matches) And these matches. The ashtray, and these
matches, and the remote control and the paddle game.
(grabs lamp) And this lamp. The ashtray, this paddle game and the remote control and the lamp and that's all I need.
And that's all I need too. I don't need one other thing, not one -- I need this!"

Meredith had a little bit of The Jerk going on today. (Don't worry, I didn't just call her a "jerk") Let's just say she played the part of Hoarder quite well...

This butterfly and this ball. I don't need anything else.

And this frog. The frog, the butterfly, and the ball. And that's all I need.

And this piano. The piano, the frog, the butterfly, and the ball.

And the duck! The piano, the duck, the butterfly, the ball, and the frog. Nothing else.

And that's all I need too. I don't need one other thing, not one --

... I need this!

Everybody Loves Broccoli

So, we're a little off-kilter in this family. But you already knew that. Our dogs, Allison and George are a bit goofy, too. Their very favorite treat is broccoli, preferably frozen. It's terrific for us because we feel like we're actually giving them something healthy, and it has the added bonus of teaching our daughter that everybody loves broccoli. Except, the thing Meredith loves most about broccoli is feeding it to the pups.


After feeding Allison, Meredith looks to give a treat to George.


When Meredith is around, the pups get their FILL of broccoli. She heads back to the bin and feeds them again and again and again.

( Now, if I could just get my videos to load, you could see my kiddo in action! )

Happy Haberdasher

Some heads are made for hats. And our Meredith realized long ago that she has one great head! She loves to wear hats, often asking for one as we lift her from the crib in the morning. She'll wear her hat of choice for hours, only taking it off for the occasional adjustment until hat!, on it goes again. Who knows, maybe she'll grow up to be a member of the Red Hat Society. Until then, here are a few recent photos of our happy haberdasher: