One Fish, Two Fish, Dead Fish, New Fish

36 hours of new pet owner drama--that's what we've had at our house.

The 2 new fish from the Fall Festival came home Friday night. Saturday we made the trip to the store to get a fish bowl and food. By Saturday evening, Mary's fish, Goldie, was hanging out down by the rocks. And that night...dead. We had lots of crying and lots of those important talks about Goldie's happy hours of feeling loved. There was gratitute for Cookie, Andrew's fish, and his great health. There was a promised trip to the pet store Monday to get a new fish. After sweet bedtime prayers and much sadness, we had to wake up this morning and find Cookie dead as well. Mary was still mourning over Goldie, Andrew was shocked and sad about Cookie, but then happy about getting a new fish from the pet store. Whitney has caught on to the whole fish ownership idea, so I believe we'll be getting three.

All I can say is thank heavens the kids weren't winning puppies at the festival! Fish drama is about all I can handle!

If I Had a Million Dollars

The song title worked, so I had to use it, even though the gist of the post is our ward Fall Festival last night. There was a chili cookoff, carnival, pumpkin carving contest, and trunk or treat rolled into one. The kids have been counting down the days. Mom and Dad too, b/c we love Halloween.

Here's Matt and I in our 'Million Dollar' costume, or better said, 'Ten Million Dollar' costume. He was the Publishers Clearing House Prize Patrol and I was the surprized winner. A fun idea--thank you internet.

Mary was Dorothy

Andrew was a bat
Whitney was a dragon--or a 'ragon' as she would say.
Annie got stuck being my curlers and pjs partner. She didn't seem to mind, and all was well til she discovered the curlers. Annie's costume was perfect though, since she fell asleep in the car on the way home, we just put her right in bed. I was tempted to fall asleep in the car on the way home too since I was in my pjs, but Matt threatened to leave me in the garage.

Matt won 2nd prize in the chili cookoff and received his 2nd trophy ever (the last one was in kindergarten soccer). I worry it will grace our living room for weeks to come. My pumpkin won 3rd prize--fun fun. I give the credit to a slow growing pumpkin in the garden that just wouldn't turn orange.

The man and his trophy--a proud Singer moment.

A fun activity and fun family night! The kids LOVED the carnival games, especially the fact that we came home not only with a 2 liter of Root Beer as a prize but also 2 GOLDFISH--yes, real GOLDFISH. Today brought an unexpected trip to Wal-mart for a fish bowl and some food--oh yea, we have to feed these things. I've never seen kids more excited to go to Wal-mart. Good stuff.

For the First Time

It was a full, crazy and fun weekend here at the Singer home and it involved a lot of firsts...

let's begin.

Megan came in town for the weekend with 2 friends and she ran the Hartford 1/2 Marathon! A FIRST for her and a FIRST for me in watching a big race. She did great--I was a proud sister, even if I did miss watching her cross the finish line! Talk about inspiring...I hope I'll be having a first of the same sort next year--my goal is to run it!

An excited Megan, post-race

ING was the race sponsor--Andrew loved all the orange free stuff--here he is cheering on runners.

That same afternoon, we all went apple picking for the FIRST time. Why we have lived in ruralish CT for 2 years and have not gone until now is beyond me. It was a lot of fun.

Cute,dwarf apple trees--just the perfect size for kids.

Happy Annie!
Except for my insane-o hair, not a bad picture. Notice the background too--seriously, we live in one of the most beautiful places.

Can't pick apples without making caramel apples--the kids LOVE them (so do I!)
Monday took us to Boston (not a first) to see Katelynne and Julie Hunt. I was one of their Young Women's leaders back in NC like 842 years ago. They were in Boston for the weekend so I took the kids up on Monday and we spent the day with them. It was the FIRST North Carolina friends we have seen since we moved to Connecticut.

The kids didn't really remember them but obviously you can see they warmed up quickly.

Katelynne, me, and Julie outside Cheers (I forgot to tell Andrew to try and take a picture of the sign too). The girls made me feel old b/c they had only vaguely heard of the show.

Andrew's FIRST (and last) picture outside a bar.

I just liked this one of Whit (and I like that Julie's curls are long and pretty--something mine have never quite accomplished)

The long weekend continued as Mary was off school both Monday and Tuesday. Matt didn't teach on Tuesday and so we took the kid's to the Rain Forest Cafe for lunch (another FIRST). This was a celebration of the fact that we finished reading the Book of Mormon for the FIRST time as a whole family. We try and read a chapter a night at the dinner table--it took us 10 months, but we did it. The kids were so excited and really deserved a special treat.

A whole flurry of emotions about the restaurant!
I don't think Whitney would think the restaurant was a reward--she was SO SCARED! There were animals everywhere and sounds galore. She had to be carried in, with her eyes closed. We had to sit in a booth with a high back so she couldn't see anything. She liked the fish tank we were by, but everytime the animals did cool things and Mary and Andrew jumped up to look, she stayed LOW and refused to look. It was so sweet and cute. Just look how tiny she looked in that booth--just how she wanted!

I do think these are faces of happy kids...though it's hard to tell. :)

And, for a final FIRST...we got our FIRST snow of the year this afternoon--

October 15th...simply ridiculous.