Ladybug, Ladybug, fly away home!

We now have our first Halloween season under our belts and what a fun season it was. A couple of weeks ago Clare and I went to the Little 5 Points Halloween Parade and met up with Aunt Libby. Uncle Kyle (or 'Uncle Cogey' as he is called) was a zombie in the parade and we tried to see him but there were SO many people that Clare and I hung back from the main road of the parade and listened to the marching bands a few rows back instead. What great people watching at this parade! She loved the marching band music, especially the drums, and she and I had a lovely walk in the stroller through Candler Park to get there. It was a perfect evening.

With Aunt Libby at the L5P Halloween Parade

We also met a friend of mine from work, Lisa Schulze, at a local park for her to take some pictures of Clare. The pictures turned out AWESOME! I've included a couple below. I love the outside pictures the best, especially in the Fall when there's so many pretty colors in the background. I also love these pictures because they're so real and she truly captured Clare's personality!





Clare was a ladybug for Halloween (thank you, Kid 2 Kid consignment store for the $6 costume. Priceless!). I took Halloween off as a personal day so I could fully enjoy the day with my girl. We slept in a little bit later that morning...6:50 instead of 6:30...a whole extra 20 minutes! It's like gold! We went to lunch at Agnes Scott with my mom (Mimi) and saw some of her fun co-workers in costumes. We had lunch in the dining hall and visited with Mimi's lunch group. Such fun! Later on that afternoon we went to Ms. Celeste's house to see Clare's friend, Piper, in her costume and to visit with Ms. Celeste and her kids. I sat Clare in the grass to take pictures and she was not a fan of that...I think the blades of grass must have been poking her through her tights!

Lunch with Mimi's friends Theresa and Martha

That evening for Halloween there was a little neighborhood gathering for the kids and their costumes to kick off trick-or-treating. Our friend Katie came with her son, Riley and we met Meghan and her son, Drew down the street and a few other neighbors with their kids. The older kids ate cookies and we took some cute pics of the kids in their costumes. We walked back up to the house to hang out for a little bit before Meghan, Drew, Katie and Riley went out trick-or-treating. Baby Clare went to bed around 7:00 that evening and slept right through the doorbell ringing. We have such a great neighborhood and always have a lot of trick-or-treaters. I remember when we first bought our home in 2007 and experienced our first Halloween in a REAL house...we must have had no less than 60 kids come to the house that evening and we both sat on the front porch that evening convinced we'd picked the best neighborhood in which to raise a family. We've made great friends in the neighborhood now and I'm so excited for all of our kids to grow up together!

Meghan and Drew the lion (he could even roar!)

Riley the Tiger enjoying his Halloween cookie...still trying to convince Mike & Katie to move to Lilburn! :)

All the Halloween excitement led to catching a cold this past week. Andrew had it first and I thought Clare and I had dodged it, but alas, it caught up with us mid-week. I had to stay home with her on Wednesday and Thursday since she had such a runny nose and wasn't sleeping very well. I'm so lucky to work with such a wonderful co-worker who manages the classroom perfectly when I'm not there and in a job where I've accumulated enough sick leave to stay home with my girl when she needs it. She went back to Ms. Celeste's house on Friday just in time for me to come down with the head cold. So, we're all spending this weekend resting and trying to get healthy for next week. Only 2 weeks left until Thanksgiving break!