New 'Do

Check it out. Marci's got a new 'do!

Along Came a Spider . . . of Sorts

Silly me, I thought I had one last year of Mom's choice for Halloween costumes, and we were all set by mid-September with a pumpkin and spider costume. Well, by mid-October, Osten had made it clear that was not exactly what Osten had in mind . . .

Thanks to a pre-Halloween 50%-off sale courtesy of K-mart, Mommy was able to justify the purchase of a Spiderman costume and consequently just might clinch the superhero-mom-of-the-year award, at least in Osten's book. Well, at least the spider treat bag made the cut, so all of my early planning wasn't for naught.

Even though she didn't do any trick-or-treating, Marci stayed out way past her bedtime and was a real trooper. She stayed in the wagon and took in all of the festivities. She also had her first taste of chocolate . . .

and it was a delicious mess!

Strike a Pose

Who knows, mabye Osten has a future in pajama modeling! One thing is for certain. He is a big fan of his new Spiderman slippers! And check out the 'do! Doesn't it just complete the ensemble?

Not to be outdone, Marci has conjured up a pose or two of her own! Radio Flyer in the driveway today, stilletto heels on the cat walk tomorrow!

The Karate Kid

We had a Ralph Macchio sighting in our kitchen the other day!

Culinary Concoctions

Soon, we're hoping to have a resident chef in our midst! Here he is perfecting his chicken quesadillas . . .

and mixing up some homemade cookie dough.

Baby Boom

Osten and Marci's new cousin arrived at 2:17 p.m. on Halloween weighing 6 lbs. 7 oz. and measuring 19 3/4 inches. Boone (a/k/a "Baby Boom") is doing well and is such a cutie. When he's asleep, he looks just like his big sister. When he's awake, he is wide-eyed and very curious and has a look that is all his own. It's hard to believe the the little outfit that he is wearing used to belong to Osten. Mommy got to take a quick trip to meet him on Monday, but came home early when Osten came down with strep throat. Poor Daddy was got soaked to the skin when Osten threw up on him when they were waiting at the pharmacy for his antibiotics to be filled. Poor little Osten also got sick in the car and "spit" on his car seat, too. Mommy made out much better with Marci's trip to the pediatrician the following day. Although she also had a 102-degree fever, she didn't have strep throat. And more importantly, she didn't throw up. So, the count is still 2-0, with Daddy in the clear lead on puke patrol! But, I digress. Here is a sweet shot of the new family foursome. As you can see, Piper is a fabulous big sister!

Mother Meltdown

That would be mother as in motherboard. Tom got the news from a Dell customer-service agent in India two nights ago that our motherboard is fried. Indeed, our CPU is completely unresposive to any attempt to boot it up. No clicks. No coughs. No sputters. No smoke. Nothing. We have suspected for a while that we were in need of more memory and a new system in general, but we had no idea that we were on the brink of a meltdown. Tom has removed our memory cards, and we have our fingers crossed that we will be able to transfer them to our new computer. We are now in the market for a new computer. Shopping for electronics isn't exactly my idea of a shopping spree, but it's tough to be without a computer in the house. So, until we are up and running again, the blog posts will be on hold. Hopefully, the computer shopping will be quick and painless! Stay tuned . . .