Table for 5: October 2009

A chicken, a candy corn and a UPS guy...

October 31, 2009

I realize it may sound like the beginning of a bad joke...but it was actually the kids halloween costumes this year!

After having had to celebrate a "German" halloween the last 2 years, in which we had to send out a letter to the families in the neighborhood several weeks prior to halloween, explaining what it was and asking them to get back to us if they would be willing to participate, and still getting some strange looks as we knocked on the door....this year was a BLAST!!! The kids went crazy and didn't notice for a minute that it was even raining! From watching Charlie Brown's "The Great Pumpkin" to throwing all of the candy on their bedroom floor and trading it with each other, they truly got the full experience!!

Happy Halloween!

Our 1st trick or treater

Carsten found his spot!

the grumpiest delivery man...

a much happier delivery man

Trick or Treating in town...

Jack's "mini concert"

(at around 1:34 you can see exactly how my work will be cut out for me in the years to come...)

Grace's class in the school parade

My first trip to the E.R....

....and all I got was this lousy bracelet!!

Tonight, Carsten decided to have a little wine with his dinner!! While I was giving Grace and Jack a bath, Carsten somehow escaped his "gated community" in the living room and headed straight to the wine rack! I walked down the stairs to find him sitting in a pile of glass! After some serious deep breaths, I swooped him up and began to figure out the next steps. Chris was out enjoying a late night dinner in the city with co-workers, but of course that was about to end. (it's a good thing he got in his Caesar salad..he wasn't to happy about missing his steak though!!) Luckily Grammy & Grandpa came to the rescue at the ER while Dad (still thinking about how close he was to that steak) made the fastest commute home from NY ever!!

After being diagnosed with "possible ingestion foreign body", and having his first x-ray, we were sent home to clean up the mess...(luckily Grammy & Grandpa had already started the process). Carsten was no worse for the wear, charming all the nurses and doctors with his big smile and passing out on the car ride home! Grace and Jack loved the adventure and proceeded to tell everyone about it the next day!! As for us, we've made a few changes around here.....

this is a beer only house now!!!

"What, no wine glasses?"

The Garden State

October 10, 2009

Sure it may have high taxes and some people may make fun of our state, but New Jersey is known as the Garden State for a reason! Since it's been a couple of years since we've even been able to celebrate Halloween we took this weekend (while Nana and Poppy visited) to seek out a farm and pick our own pumpkins. I think we made out pretty well. The best part about it was that we got to go out to dinner while Nana and Poppy had the "joy" of carving the pumpkins!!!

ALL PUMPKIN PICKING PHOTOS

Sundays

October 4, 2009

For a good part of our time in Germany I found Sundays to be the hardest day for me. To begin with EVERYTHING was closed so there was very little to do. For me though, I always associated Sundays with family, football and good food. Not that I watched much of the football, but it was always on, so I began to miss hearing it on tv. Especially when the weather got cooler, Sunday just didn't feel "right". Of course we managed to make the best of it by escaping to different cities (or countries at times) but it was something I really missed. Now that we are back and it's our first fall season here, our warm cozy Sundays are back and we get to spend time with family, enjoy good food and of course watch a little football!

This Sunday we were able to meet the newest member of the Randazzo family, Mason Curren, eat yummy cheesesteaks and PLAY a little football...