Halloween Parade

Well, we finally broke down and bought a new laptop last week and I have to say that it has made things so much easier. It now doesn't take me a whole day to upload photos or videos from my camera to the computer and then to Kodak or You Tube. I now have no excuse not to keep this blog current. So, I will start now to blog about the Vienna Halloween Parade. This is one event that everyone I ran into kept telling me about. For me though, I wouldn't have missed it--I love Halloween and I love parades. All week I have been getting our Wonder Pets costumes ready to wear to the parade. Yesterday I had all the supplies and made the costumes during Henry's nap. Before David left for work I let him know that it would be really great if he could get home by 6pm so we could have plenty of time to walk up to the parade and get a good spot. Of course, I had already been told that some people put blankets and chairs out the night before. In order for David to get home by 6pm he would need to leave work by 5:15. At 5:30 I still hadn't heard from him. Not a good sign since that usually means something big has come up and he is swamped with work. I was starting to think we might not be going b/c my excitement was waning. I heard from David at 5:45 and something had come up at work but he was on his way. After pouting for about 15 minutes and thinking we couldn't go, I then decided to put Henry in the car and check out the option of driving some of the way to the parade and then walking the rest of the way. I found that there was a lot of parking in our neighborhood and failry close to the parade route . When we went to get David I let him know our new plan. We rushed home and David changed from "Downtown DC Attorney" to "Linnie the Wonder Pet" in 2 minutes flat. It was so awesome seeing David make the transformation and make it so quick (I have never seen David rush like he did--it was pretty awesome). We shoved the wagon in the trunk and were off to the parade. It was a great parade. Full of fire trucks, marching bands, dance troupes and local politicos. David got a message on his blackberry that his boss needed some documents emailed to him by 9pm and Henry did NOT want to leave until the end of the parade so David went home, did his work and came back and caught the last 30 minutes of the 2 1/2 hour parade (It was pretty long). Henry loved the parade. Of course, he loved the firetrucks. He didn't like some of the scary costumes which was something I was worried about. I have to say this right now. I don't care how much begging Henry does at 9 or 10, he will NOT ever go as the Grim Reaper. I can't believe how many young kids had that costume. Henry also liked the attention he was getting. We had lots of people yell out "hey, it's the Wonder Pets". Or "Look, it's Tuck" (Henry's costume).

Click here for pictures

Home Sweet Home

It's been awhile since I have posted a blog (ugg!). Not having a laptop has really hindered my ability to jump on the computer and check email and all that. I really can't believe we have been in our new house for 6 weeks! It seems like our life in our old house is a distant memory but I am also continually walking around feeling like I should pinch myself. I still can't believe we got the house we wanted in the neighborhood we wanted. If anyone has read that housing is hurting in Northern VA, they aren't talking about the areas we were looking. It is still a tight market in parts of Falls Church, Arlington and Vienna. If a house is priced right it sells in days.
Today Henry and I were in our old neighborhood (looking at scooters for David) and I wanted to drive by the old house. When we pulled up to it I asked Henry if he missed the old house and he said "No, we have a new house now". Henry has now fully adjusted to the move. Actually, before the move he started acting out and throwing really bad temper tantrums. It was really scary b/c I started thinking I had lost my sweet little boy and now have a monster child. Well, it was a tough few weeks but I just avoided unpacking or doing much around the house and just focused on Henry and his needs and it toally paid off. He, of course, has his moments but it's typical two year old tantrums (usually when he is hungry or tired). Henry actually loves the house so much it is hard to get him out of the house. If I have to run an errand I usually have to bribe him with a new Matchbox car or truck. That doesn't always work though. Henry is still totally into trucks and cars. He also loves the show Backyardigans. Henry also really enjoys music. A few weeks ago we were listening to music in the car and I skipped a song on a CD and Henry yells "Hey, I like that one!". Henry will pick up a toy block give it to me and say here's your banjo. He is a fun little guy with a lot of energy. Luckily, he takes good 2-3 hour naps everyday so I can get some stuff done around the house and take a snooze too.
I promise pictures soon. I can't seem to get them loaded on our desktop computer so I will ask my IT guy to help me (David has a 3 day weekend this weekend so he will be my IT guy, plumper, carpenter and babysitter!!!)