This year we almost didn’t make it to the Santa Train. Tickets sell out SO FAST, and the place that had tickets was only open from 9-5. I’m at WORK from 9-5. So yeah, I didn’t get tickets, but THEN! Craigslist to the rescue! Did you know that you can put in a search on craigslist, and then subscribe to those search results’ rss feed? GENIUS I TELL YOU! So, late last Friday, I popped open Google reader to see a woman in centreville selling 4 tickets. I quickly emailed her and begged. Beggging in email entails the use of many exclamation points, but not too many, because you don’t want to come off as crazy. I also tried to use PLEASE in a variety of ways. In fact, I’ll dig up the email I sent:

Oh lord, I would LOVE to have these!! Please oh pleasity please please!

Please let me be the lucky buyer!

PLEASE!!

So desperate sounding yes, but also a touch of cuteness with the pleasity please please, don’t you think? Well, whatever, it doesn’t matter what you think because I GOT THEM WAHOO! I didn’t dare utter a word to the kids until after I had the tickets in my hot little hands, because you never know with craigslist buying/selling, but I did get them, and they were so tickled. And I must admit, so were James and I.

So enough with the jibber jabber, fool. On to the photos!

Waiting for the train to arrive.

Jocelyn looks like a big poofy pink marshmellow.

I have taken pains in teaching my children how to make faces when someone points a camera at them.

Look! Look! The train is finally coming to get us!

Yay! We finally get to get on board! And sit for another 10 minutes before we actually get to move!

But then we DID move! And excitement ensued!

I don’t think Ethan will ever not love being on a train.

This isn’t the santa train for nothing — Santa made an appearance. Ethan was excited. He exhibited his excitement by hiding and grinning a lot.

Jocelyn sat on my lap and hardly took her eyes off him once.

That look that could be constipation is actually lots of smiling and shyness and just utter cuteness!

Santa asked her what she wanted, and for a second I thought she didn’t have an answer, but then she grinned and said, “Woody. And Jessie. Dolls.” and then looked constipated some more.

We waved goodbye, Ethan pronounced the rest of the trip “Boring,” and soon we arrived back at the station and headed home.

Santa train 2007 – big success.

new banner 🙂

Hard to believe such an AWFUL picture of Ethan…

Could be SO DARN CUTE.

Jocelyn’s didn’t turn out quite so well… I need to retake her picture and make sure her body is turned also. Still cute though:

This year, we didn’t get to doing a lot of halloweeny crafty things we wanted to do. I picked up the special Halloween issue of Martha Stewart Living, and barely got to look at it — because Ethan and Jocelyn were hogging it! They loved it and wanted to do all sorts of things. Maybe next year.. We did make it to Cox Farms (big slides, rope swings into hay piles, hay wagon rides, more slides, fresh apple cider and apples, baby animals, and free baby pumpkins on exit), which somehow we missed last year, and boy was it a hit. Ethan has a love of apples that he has reaffirmed again and again, and I’m trying to keep a good stock of apples in the house to keep him happy. I showed them both the “apple star” in the middle, and they loved it!

So this year, as you know, Jocelyn switched from a Belle costume to a Sleeping Beauty costume, and to top it off, we used her princess hat we made this past summer.

Ethan had 2 costumes this year. He long ago stated that he wanted to be a storm trooper, and that costume was bought about a month ago. His kindergarten class also had dressing up, but they had to pick a character from a nursery rhyme. Ethan decided to be a mouse, from Hickory Dickory Dock.

James and I put it off until the day before, but luckily it came together beautifully. James bought a hooded gray sweatshirt on his way to class, and I stopped by the fabric store and picked up some felt. Ears and a tummy were cut out and pinned to the clothes, and a tube sock stuffed with polyfill sufficed for the tail. It was SUCH a hit with Ethan, that he has since informed me that he wants to be a mouse for next year too!

Go home-made!! I admire the families that have a “costumes must be homemade” rule, but I would be nervous to commit to it.

Anyway – to the photos! Blurriness ensues!

Mom is making us stand here. What a drag. Can we go already?

First sweet! YES!

Trick or –Ooh! They have a dog!

Next! Next!

And off into the night…

(look at me! getting photos up in a TIMELY manner! huzzah!)

Ethan’s picture day was yesterday.

Jocelyn’s picture day was today. (Ethan of course, had to jump in after the first few pictures.)

We needed some test swatches on the wall downstairs.

First things first — Volunteers. Luckily, I had two.

Secondly, smocks. Luckily, Daddy had plenty of old tshirts he didn’t mind donating to the cause.

Thirdly… well, there is no thirdly, they just got right down to it!

The colors don’t look anything like this. Just letting you know.

We have narrowed it down (it’s like the a lighter version of the 3rd box), and purchased paint. Taping is finished, spackling and sanding is next.

I *knew* you were saying to yourself, “Amy, you haven’t posted any photos in a long long time!”

So I took a blurry camera phone picture.

JUST FOR YOU.

BECAUSE I CARE.