Arrggh, meet Anne Bonney

Halloween was the night all hell broke loose. Literally. That was when the call came from my mom that Papa had just gone into cardiac arrest and been taken to the ICU. Half and hour later we were on the road.

Two weeks later and weaker but recovered Papa is back at home and doing OK for the moment. And I am finally home pulling the pieces of my life back into place. With a lot of effort, a child that won't sleep, and a calm but crazed husband who is defending his master's thesis this Friday.

And in classic pagan tradition, before all hell broke loose there was much celebration!!

But first some background. Halloween has always been a holiday that I have held close to my heart. I feel sometimes like it is part of my identity. Not because I am evil (though some will argue here), and not because I like to dress up or pretend to be someone else (I don't), but because my birthday falls just two days before All Hallow's eve. And because more than 50% of my birthday parties since puberty have been Halloween costume parties.

This year was no exception! The exception in this case was the sheer number of people I shared the party with. You see, between my softball team and Mike's department there are 7, count them, 7 birthdays between Oct. 13 and Oct. 29. Granted Mike and I are two of them, but still. Several people within this group thought it would be fun (and efficient) if we just threw one party to celebrate the overwhelming number of birthdays, Halloween, and the end of the softball season. I agreed, and in a moment of sheer insanity, offered to have it at our house. I guess an inner part of me figured I should end our two softball seasons the way I began them - by shooting off my big mouth. What this provided was an opportunity for the Bean to show off what she is made of.

(The only thing missing is her parrot puppet, which she carried around religiously at times)

We decided awhile ago, based on various coincidences, that Bean should be a pirate for Halloween. In honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day I had stumbled on a quiz that tells you your true pirate name. Prior to Halloween I revisited the quiz and entered what I thought would have been Luci's responses to the questions (the questions that involved Muppets were easy.) Come to find out her pirate name is none other than Anne Bonney. Fearsome, independent, and blood-thirsty - that's my girl! (I'm intentionally excluding the sexually promiscuous, violent, and law-breaking tendencies here for obvious reasons).

Anne Bonney and her pirate love, John Rackham.

In spite of her fierce reputation, Pirate Bean still had time to enjoy a pony ride

Now if only we could get her to take the costume off!!!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day 2006 -- our first

Mother's Day 2007:

No pictures, sorry. In short, it was a busy but productive day spent shopping, gardening, fixing sprinklers, and at softball practice. I sat on the couch in the evening sore, smiling, and happy to have my Mike, my bean, and my Nana and Papa comfortably nestled in the same house.

Easter Egg Hunting

Last Friday, our playgroup had an Easter egg hunt for all the kids. Talk about an event. Imagine 13 wee ones between nine and 16 months ambling around a yard. Now envision twice that many parents and grandparents following them around with cameras trying to keep them focused on collecting plastic eggs and not eating the wood chips. It was laughable, let me tell you.
Kim, who was hosting, was sweet enough to fill the eggs with goldfish crackers for the kids to eat. The Bean loves goldfish. So as she's picking up eggs, she shakes one and decided to see what's inside. Well, that was the end of the hunt for her for awhile. She happily sat down and began munching away, only to renew the search when her supply ran out.

Other highlights:
Luci taking off her bunny-ear headband was predictable. But then she decided it was her moral obligation to take the ears off all the other kids too. She had this look of determination, "No, babies don't have big ears. Bunnies have big ears. Babies are not bunnies."

Afterward she ran off without me, crawled up in chair, grabbed a muffin off the table and began to chow down. Easter egg hunts are hard work mom!