Happy Halloween - Finale

7:47 - "I'm all done!" Costume, shoes and socks are off. Candy consumption has begun in earnest!!

The loot: 3 muskateers, sour patch kids, lollipops, kit kats, m&m's, reese's peanut butter cups, a gummy finger tip {yeecccch}...even a full-size candy bar! Not bad for a few houses. Maybe next year we'll get him to the other side of the street. Maybe?

Happy Halloween - Part 3

7:37 - Tate back. He made less houses than last year! But he did get Swedish Fish for him, me and daddy! How thoughtful.

Happy Halloween - Part 2

7:29 - Tate not back yet!! Already doing better than last year.

On a side note as I man the house and pass out candy, I'd like to point out how grabby and greedy some kids are! At least say "trick-or-treat" you sugar-crazed little demons!!!

Happy Halloween - Part 1

6:20 - Pre-trick-or-treating dinner (chicken nuggets and apples)

6:30 - Attempt to get Tate back to the table to finish eating dinner and not candy

6:40 - Dinner done? Not really, but it's all we'll get in him.

6:42 - Transform Tate into Fire Chief Rizzolo

6:50 - Practice run at our door

6:52 - Head out with Dad for the real-deal, trick-or-treat neighborhood blast

* Post trick-or-treating update to follow.

Open Letter to Daddy

Hi Daddy,

I miss you. Hope you are having fun in the Bahamas. Wish I was there to go swimming. I LOVE to swim. Anyway, I ate a terrible dinner. Well, I know I'm supposed to eat a good dinner, but really... there was candy in the house. How does mom expect me to eat real food when there is chocolate and lollipops staring me down? I don't know about her sometimes! Today me and Ama made paper airplanes and I asked mommy to help me decorate one. I told her what to draw and she drew it... 

See there you are on the plane working on your laptop. And Auntie Alli, Unkie Dan and Tia Adrian are all with you and they are all working on their laptops too! I don't know how I think of these things... I just do!! So have fun, get your work done and see you in a few days. I'll try to save you some candy, but I'm not promising anything.

Love, Tate

Let's go get messy!!

I needed to finish some vases today in time to get them bisqued for this weekends upcoming raku firing. So Tate and I headed to the studio this morning. He's been to the studio many time before, but never to play with the clay. I figured he was old enough now to not eat the clay, get too crazy in the studio or commit any other heinous acts with my sharp studio tools. 

We made fish. Then I let him make whatever he wanted while I finished my vases. He cut, stamped, slapped, mushed, rounded, mounded, pressed and watered his clay and then said...

T: Ta da!!!!! A cop.

M: A cup?

T: No, a cop.

M: Like a police officer?

T: No, not a police officer. I told you. A cop.

M: A cop.

FAVORITE PART OF THE DAY

M: playing clay with Tate

T: I don't have one

Weekend Round-up

Saturday morning cartoons...all morning long.

Party at Aidan and Coleman's... playing, cake, dancing by the light of the bonfire.

Muffins for breakfast.

Baseball and soccer in the front yard.

Playground fun after lunch.

Candy!

Smiles, laughing and fun, fun, fun!

Self Aware

"Mom can you shut the door all the way so that I don't sneak out?"

Was what he said to me this afternoon a half hour into his nap and after he already snuck out of his room once where I found him sitting on the sofa looking out the window. 

He knows his limits and when temptation is too big!! Pretty big stuff for a such a little guy.

I admire that in a 3-year-old!

Four Bridges & a Pony

Bridge #1: Mount Hope Bridge

A day in Tate's life is only complete when he can say he's been over the "Bristol Bridge" or well...he's even happy if he can see it from our beach. Columbus Day began with a ride over this much loved bridge on our way to meet Stacie, Aiden and Coleman at Grandma Pat's in Jamestown.

Bridge #2: Newport Bridge 

Closer, we are now closer to the first of the day's destinations.... but oh no!!!! What is that pack of cyclists doing?? Why are there so many of them?? Why are they going so fast and heading in the same direction that I'm going to turn?? Oh sh#t... f*%k... they are going to get right in front of me!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Can I pull out in front of them???? Can I make it????

Nope.

So we follow the pack of riders slowly up the road. The long road. All the way to where I finally turn into, greet friends and say "What the f*#k was that??"

Annual island road race.

Stacie and I set up boys with lunch, kiss them all goodbye leaving them in the very capable hands of Grandma Pat and go have a peaceful lunch by ourselves overlooking the docks downtown. Ahhhh.

Bridge #3: Jamestown Bridge

Pack up boys. Head to horse stables. Knock on door. Get pony rides!!!

Pony #1: Duke

Since seeing the saddled at the ready, happy horses at Chena Hot Springs in Alaska, all Tate could talk about was going for a "pony-tail" ride. We obliged. He looked serious and told the lady leading Duke through the trail that she could NOT talk to him. Sometimes he does that. She obliged. They boys had fun. Stacie and I had many laughs. We were all much obliged.

Bridge #4: Providence River Bridge

We managed to make a complete circle around the state by going home via Providence. Tate was excited to know that we were hitting yet another bridge that day. However, he was so plum tuckered from the day that he only experienced it from slumberland.

FAVORITE PART OF THE DAY

M: peaceful lunch and coming home to a clean house thanks to Dave... thanks!

T: finally a pony-tail ride!

*see more photos here

It's the Great Pumpkin

Oh pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins!! You could buy them, paint them, walk among them, see giant ones weighed in (over 1600 lbs.) and you could see them lift one 30 feet in the air and drop it to ground and watch it smash in a rather grand manner. Tate only enjoyed the mazes!

FAVORITE PART OF THE DAY
M: seeing the giant pumkin smash
T: the corn maze

Hike

Yesterday was Friday. It was hike day. Well hike may be a stretch, it's more of a walk around nicely kept paths through the scrub brush and meadows along the shore. Sachuest Point in Middletown. There are 2 loops, we did the 1.5 mile Ocean View loop. Before leaving the house Tate loaded up on chocolate chip pancakes...10 to be exact. I ate 5! So I thought he'd have some good energy. Nope. We weren't 100 feet into the trail when he promptly asked "Mommy can you pick me?" To which I said, "Nope!" Another 200 feet in and he said he was tired... oh boy this is going to be a looooong 1.5 miles.

We made it through with lots of stops for rests, a few lie downs in the middle of the trail, and only about 200 feet me of carrying him. It was warm, beautiful, peaceful (when he wasn't complaining). We saw lots of butterflies, crickets and bees. However, I committed the worst crime in the blogging world. I had my camera with me, but left the memory card in the computer at home after completing that's morning's post. Arghhhhh. So I have only words, no pictures.

FAVORITE PART OF THE DAY
T: I don't know
M: Chasing butterflies and crickets
D: I don't have one
T: I SAID.... I don't know!!!!

I might be the only one that had a good day yesterday.

Run Eat

Tate demonstrating a "run eat" for his Ama. He starts at the front door, gets in his "starter blocks", says GO and runs at top speed toward the holder of food, stopping just short of edible item and then chomps down! He promptly turns around and goes back to the start for another run eat!!

Dangerous...probably. Funny...definitely. Effective in getting him to eat...oh yeah!!

FAVORITE PART OF THE DAY
M: Picking Tate up at preschool
T: Being picked up at preschool
D: Us visiting him at work (complete with dog) after preschool

Conversation in a Restaurant Bathroom

{pointing in the toilet}
T: Mom, what's that?
M: Toilet paper
T: What called toilet paper is it?
M: White toilet paper
T: Oh.
{pauses and begins to pee}
T: And I'm turning it yellow with my pee-pee!!

Tater Stewert

Dinner last night was lasagna with homemade sauce. Tate decided that he needed to cook too. So ensues conversation...

T: Mommy can I have my cooker stuff?

M: Sure, honey. Do you want some sauce in your pan?

T: No saucy. 

M: OK

{pause}

T: Yes, I want saucy. 

M: OK

{pause}

T: No, I don't want any saucy.

M: OK

{pause}

T: Yes, saucy. I want the saucy!

M: OK

T: I need shaky salt and pepper.

M: OK

{shakes in LOTS of pepper}

M: Careful Tate. Don't use all mommy's pepper.

T: Can I taste it?

M: Sure!

{tastes his concoction}

M: Well, what do you think?

T: BLEECHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! PLECHHHHHH!!!!!! PLECHHHHHH!!!!!

There are no Food Network shows in his immediate future. Although maybe some lessons from Chef Karel are in order.

Airstream Redux

Vacation made Dave realize that he NEEDED a laptop computer. He'd been hinting around for awhile to me that he wanted one and - oh how great life would be with a laptop! We had one years ago. It broke. We fixed it. It broke again. We fixed it again. It broke again. We stopped fixing it. But when it worked it was nice to sit on the couch and surf the web, as opposed to at a desk to surf the web. 

So on vacation, Dave sat in his brother's house on the couch, next to the fire, with a beer in his hand in the evening or a coffee in his hand in the morning and using Dan's laptop checked his email, his flickr site and any other regular-ritual sites that he goes to each day (like this one, right Dave?) and he enjoyed himself greatly!

Flash to this weekend, where he toted us to the store to purchase the new family laptop. He brought it home, set it up, used it on the couch, tried to fit it in all of his carry bags and then said..."It's too big. We're taking it back." It was too big! The 17inch monitor was nice, but unwieldy to manage while relaxing on the sofa and utterly unportable as it did not fit in any of our bags. So back to the store and we now own, Laptop II.

Everyday will be like vacation!