Friday night was TRICK OR TREAT in our neighborhood.  I can't have candy yet, but that didn't stop us from joining in the festivities of dressing up and showing off to all of our neighbors.  Mom did an awesome job making my gladiator costume.  You might remember the hat from the earlier post about croquet.  Because the hat was so fantastic, Mom made the rest of my costume: golden armor, a leather belt, and a daring red cape.  I was the bravest gladiator in all the land!  Mom and Dad dressed up like Roman Royalty to complete our family theme.  I would say it was a very successful first trick or treat!

The rest of the weekend was crazy!  On saturday we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Aunt Rachel's baby shower, and it SNOWED!  All day.  Mommy says that never in her whole life has it snowed on Halloween.  I say in my whole life it's snowed on EVERY Halloween!  We got about 8 inches at Grandma's house, and 4 inches at our house.  Because all of the trees still have most of their leaves, the snow weighed them down too much.  Lots of branches were breaking off, covering the roads, and taking out power lines.  When we got home on Saturday evening we had no electricity!  Dad went to Panera Bread so he could get some work done, and then we all went to bed early, hoping the electicity would be back in the morning.  It wasn't.  So we went to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast, and then decided to head back over the Grandma and Grandpa's house.  At least there we could play and stay warm.  Gigi and Grandpa came to visit, too!  I got to see all of my Grandparents in one weekend.  

We're spending the night and Grandma and Grandpa's house.  The electricity still wasn't on at home when we went back to feed the kitties.  So I'm distance blogging!  Mom and Dad almost forgot to take my 41 Week photo.  We're all turned around because of the crazy turn of events.  But we took it, and we'll post it soon.  

From Mommy: Preston's first Halloween weekend has been a lot of fun.  It hasn't turned out at all like we thought it would.  We were hoping to go visit baby Gavin, and see some of John's cousins today, but the weather totally threw us off course.  We are getting good at being flexible, and although we probably would have been ok at home tonight, we are happy that we have parents so close to bail us out of a chilly night of no electricity.  If it was just us, we probably would have stayed home, but with the baby it's better to be safe.  Let's hope we're back to normal tomorrow.  Who would have thought we would have had a snowstorm in October.  Preston's first year has definitely brought some crazy weather!

I got my third tooth!  That bad boy popped through yesterday to the relief of this entire family.  I think this one hurt a lot more than my first 2 teeth, not to mention my little bottom hurt from a diaper rash.  Supposedly lots of babies get one when they are teething, so it's not uncommon.  But I was miserable on Monday night.  

Tonight we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner and pumpkin carving.  This was my first time carving a pumpkin, and my favorite part was playing with the goo that's inside the pumpkin.  It's so squishy and wet.  Dad and Grandpa did all of the carving, because knives are too dangerous for babies like me.  Do you recognize the model for the pumpkin?  That's right it's ME!  You can tell by the crazy spikey hair and the two bottom teeth.  I think it's a pretty accurate representation of me.  What should we name him?  Maybe, Preskin.... or Pumpston?  We are entering him in the daycare pumpkin carving contest.  I'll let you know if we place!

Grandma got me a Halloween present: a tent with a tunnel.  I love to crawl under and around furniture, so Mom and Dad thought I might like a tunnel.  They were right!  The tunnel is so fun.  I like to crawl in halfway and then sit up and play with toys.  It's like a secret hide out... except you can see me from either end.  So maybe it's not so secret.   The tent is fun, too!  It has a hole where you can attach the tunnel.  When I'm bigger we can set it all up, and maybe even sleep in it!  I can't wait to go camping.

From Mommy:
I'm sorry that Preston and I haven't been posting much this week.  I tell myself that we need to blog no matter what, but this week has just been busy.  I've been working on a ton of projects, and once I get started on something it's hard for me to stop. 
I started working on a super cute jacket for Preston.  It's my very first "big girl" sewing  machine project (if you don't count his gladiator hat).  I bought a pattern, bought fabric and everything that I need for it, cut it out, and am in the process of putting it together.  In two nights I got 90% done with the major construction.  It still needs a lot of finishing.  


Last night Siobhan and Chris came over so that I could work on her fascinator hat for her Halloween costume.  It turned out beautiful, and I'll post a picture tomorrow (when I'm not exhausted at midnight).  

Tonight I decided that I needed to take a break from Preston's jacket and work on his Halloween costume.  He'll need it in a week for daycare festivities, and I don't want to run out of time.  He's going to be a Gladiator.  The hat is the coolest part of the costume, and that is done already, but I have a lot of little pieces that I still want to make: a tunic, vest, belt, cape, and sandals.  I finished the tunic, and need to get more precise measurements for the rest of the pieces.  Peej is in bed, so I couldn't measure him.  

On top of all those projects I also made roasted squash babyfood and more lentil stew, and did a few loads of laundry.  Oh, and I worked today.  PHEW!  

So that's the basic update for now.  Stay tuned for pictures of all of the above-mentioned projects plus a few more surprises.  

Here's a teaser photo of the hat (and Shibbs of course!)

On Saturday night Mom and Dad went to a fancy Gala.  They got all dressed up, and Mommy looked beautiful.  Grandma and Grandpa came over to babysit, and we had a lot of fun.  We went for a walk and had dinner.  Then I took a bath, played with my toys, and Grandma and I read some stories.  

From Mommy:

Last night I met my new babysitter.  She came over to hang out with us, so we could get to know each other a little bit.  Mommy said she is an excellent sitter, because she got me to bed without so much as a peep and I slept for 8 hours.  It's only because I like to give Mom and Dad a hard time, and I wanted to make a good impression on my new friend.  She's really nice and likes to play with me. 

Tonight Mom and Dad made an awesome discovery: I can walk along with my Tonka truck!  I've tried to do it a few times before, but I would just push the truck forward and fall on my face (ok I would usually land on my knees, but I just didn't get the whole concept of one foot in front of the other).  I figured it out! And now I can push the truck across the room, bonk into the door or the wall, and then have Mommy turn me around so I can go back the other way.  Lucky for you, she got a video!  Daddy is putzing around with his camera tonight, so we'll post the video when he gets it edited and uploaded.  I know you can't stand the suspense! 

Here's a picture of my insane climbing skilz to hold you over:

Today was a big day.  Not only did I turn 38 weeks, but we also went to Byler's Farm to pick pumpkins.  They had so many activities at the farm: a hayride to and from the pumpkin patch, animals to pet, tables of corn (kind of like a water table), a super tall slide, and a haystack maze.  We got a Daddy sized pumpkin, a Mommy sized pumpkin, and THREE Preston sized pumpkins.  

Here are some photos of the day, there are a lot more on Shutterfly.

We arrived at the farm ready to go get some pumpkins, but we had to wait in line for the hayride to the pumpkin patch.  While we were waiting I got to play in the corn table  I just wanted to taste the corn, but Mom said it was yuck.  I thought it kind of looked like Cheerios... Cheerios are delicious, why isn't corn?
Then we went on the hayride!

The hayride was so fun!  We got dropped off at the pumpkin patch where we could pick as many pumpkins as we could carry.

We hitched a ride back on the hayride again, and then had to go pay for our pumpkins.  Daddy's pumpkin weighed 23 pounds. That's more than ME!  We took the pumpkins to the car so that we could go enjoy the rest of the farm.  We visited all of the animals:

We washed our hands after petting all of the animals.  Then we went on the giant slide!  Mom and Dad took turns so that I could go on the slide twice.

Mommy apparently had way more fun on the slide than I did.  It was fun, but I can't wait until I can do it by myself!  Maybe next year.
And finally, we went through the haystack maze.  This is mommy and daddy's absolute FAVORITE photo from the day.

Who needs toys when you have pots and pans?

We had busy family day today!  The morning was normal with breakfast, playing and yardwork, but after my morning nap we started our adventure!  Mom had to go to work for Children's show, so Dad and I tagged along.  We saw Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. It's a story about a donkey who finds a magic pebble, but accidentally turns himself into a rock.  He doesn't know how to turn himself back into a donkey, but he figures it out eventually.  If you want to know the rest of the story you can just go get the book:

After the show we came home to regroup, nap again, and then we went for a family bike ride!  I love being outside in general, and bike rides are SO fun.  I got to sit in my special seat and enjoy the view while Dad does all the work.  

Last night Grandma and Grandpa came over for dinner.  They were in the area, and wanted to stop by to see us.  They had crock pot beef stew for dinner, and I had homemade lentil stew!  Mom makes the most delicious baby food.

Baby Lentil Stew:
1/2 cup lentils
2 cups water
1 diced carrot
1 diced stalk of celery
Bay leaf for flavor

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan.  Bring to a boil then simmer until lentils and carrots are soft.  Add more water if needed.  At this point you can puree it or leave it chuncky.  For me Mom pureed half of it and left the other half chunky.  I LOVE it, and I gobble it up. 

Here's a pic of me hanging out with Grandpa.

Now that I can pull up on just about everything, Mom decided that it's time I start pulling my weight around here.  So I decided to help her put the clean clothes into the dryer.   

The clothes felt cool and wet, and when they are all done they are so warm and soft.  Pretty soon I'll be big enough to help fold the laundry (in Mommy's dreams).