Happy Halloween 2012

Halloween was crazy again this year! Last year we battled snow and this year we were worried Halloween would be cancelled altogether.

In the morning we visited Mummum (my grandmother) in West Milford. We drove over every hill and dale (and under every downed tree and wire) in the town to get to her. A 20 minute ride turned into an hour-long adventure. We almost turned around several times, but Gia freaked when I even suggested that we might not be able to see Mummum and her dog Corkie. So, we forged ahead and made it there in one piece.

Later in the afternoon we went trick or treating in our neighborhood with Gia's favorite friends, Adrianna & Christopher (aka Aurora and Cookie Monster).

Getting a good group shot of 2 year olds is like trying to herd cats.

My Little Owl

SO happy to be trick or treating!

My favorite moment of the day was a two-fold. When Gia and Jon went to the first house (our neighbor Marianne), Gia rang the bell and Marianne answered the door. Gia walked right into the house! She didn't quite have the hang of trick or treating yet...

Jon reminded her to say "trick or treat" and then she took her candy -- a full size bag of M&Ms.  She was SO excited. She turned around, held up the bag for me to see and yelled "LOOK Mommy! Candy!" Then she ran as fast as she could to me--I was at the end of the driveway just waiting to check out her loot. She couldn't wait to show me the candy. That moment melted my heart. I loved seeing the innocence and awe and wonder --and just pure joy -- in her eyes and in her heart.  There is nothing greater than experiencing all these things with Gia. I don't think I'll ever forget that moment, the one with the M&Ms.

I hope everyone had as happy of a Halloween as we did!

Conversations with a 2 year old

It's no surprise to any one that knows me or Jon that our daughter loves to talk. We both talk quite a bit, so it was sort of natural that Gia would be the same.

She's been stringing together sentences for a while now, but as she gets older we have longer conversations. And, she comes up with the funniest things to say. Here are a few from the past few months in our house.

1. On the way home from food shopping, where we'd purchased strawberries:
Me: What do you want for dinner? Chicken or rona-mac (aka macaroni)?
Gia: What about the strawberries? I want straaaaaawberries!

2. Jon putting Gia to bed right after mowing the lawn (he was still wearing his grassy sneakers):
Gia: Daddy, lay down.
Jon: No Gia, it's bed time. You need to go to sleep.
Gia: Daddy, lay down.
Jon: I can't lay in your bed with you because my feet are dirty. I don't want to get your bed all dirty. Go to sleep, ok?
Gia: Daddy, wash your feet. Then lay down!

3. After nap time the other day Gia & I hung Minnie Mouse decal stickers on the back of her bedroom door. She LOVES them and was so excited to show Jon, but he had left for work while she was napping, which she didn't realize. I told her that she could show him the following morning. Here's the convo from the next morning:
Gia: I'm going upstairs!  
Me: Why do you need to go upstairs? 
:::footsteps::: as she stomps up there
Gia: Mommy!  I'm upstairs! Come up!
Me: Why are you up there Gia?
Gia: Mommy, I show Daddy my new stickers.  DADDY! Come up to my roooooom!

4. Gia's new favorite sayings: "Oh my!" and "Oh man!"

5. Me: Gia what do you want for breakfast?
Gia: Cheeries (aka cheerios)!!  In an orange bowl!
Me: Ok.
Gia: yellow spoon, Mommy!




 

Update: Aftermath of Sandy

So Sandy DID live up to the hype, and more.

I'm so thankful to be able to say that the Quinns are all safe and sound. We lost power around 9 pm on Monday. The wind was scary, but luckily all we had was a few branches that broke off the trees in our front lawn. The rain wasn't too bad here, and thankfully there wasn't any flooding.

On Tuesday morning, Sandy was on her way out.  The contractors were able to make it to our house and began the demolition of our kitchen, even though we didn't have power.

Since our house was freezing and a construction zone, we spent the morning with some good friends in Suffern who had power. Gia played with her pal Adrianna and I was able to charge my phone and store some food in their freezer.

After the contractors finished, we headed to Wayne to spend the afternoon and evening with my cousin, who kindly took us in and fed us. Gia had SO much fun playing with her cousins and Aunt Dawn and Uncle V.

Hanging out, eating popcorn, watching Tangled.

We came home around 8pm and as we drove toward our street we realized that all of the houses on the way had power. We turned on our street and, house by house, everyone had power...AND SO DID WE! Yippee---we were so happy! No cable, but who cares?! We're safe and warm.

Since then, we've been surviving. The kitchen work continues on. Halloween was lots of fun...more on that soon!