Here Piggie, piggie, piggie...

Thanks to the lovely Swine flu, this is how November began.

Man, that is a nasty virus. Wiped us right out for a week. Before the pig got us, we had a great October.

We spend the last couple weeks preparing for Halloween and celebrating Zoe's half birthday. We don't routinely celebrate our children's half birthdays - but for some reason Zoe was really excited about this one. She decided that since she was turning four-and-a-half before Halloween, there was no way she'd be scared of ANYTHING!

To mark the occasion, we headed to the Pet Emporium in Ann Arbor. They display a bunch of cool animals on their grounds. They had everything from a sloth living in the vet hospital (though we couldn't see him well since he decided to hang out in a high window) to peacocks roaming the sidewalks (watch your step). Zoe thought all the animals were great, but Mitchell and Alyse were a little freaked out by the curious animals that were all too used to people. When the turkeys rushed the gate as we approached, they wailed like I stuck 'em with hot pokers. I guess from the stroller huge, unattractive birds rushing at your face is not an appealing sight.

Duly noted.

Here's a couple of the more benign inhabitants of the Pet Emporium.

When we returned from our outing. Zoe said, "Is that it? That's all we're going to do on my four-and-a-half birthday?"

Ummmmm. Of course not!

This led to a trip to the store for a little cake, candles and a red recorder (which has since disappeared since the sound of a recorder is rather grating after a few hours). And presto - we had ourselves a party and a happy four-an-a-half year old.

Mitchell and Alyse enjoyed the perks of celebrating Zoe's half birthday.

On to Halloween!

Zoe was full of theories in October. Not only would she NOT be scared this year because she was four-and-a-half, she also wouldn't be scared because SHE was going to be SCARY! She chose to be a witch for just that reason. Isn't she just frightening?

Along with the ghoulish witch came the dashing lion...

and the darling bunny.

The babies weren't all that thrilled with Halloween at first. They were cold and a bit miserable. They made it to about five houses and Mitchell took a tumble, so my mom and I headed back to the house with them. They did manage to get a little candy from those five houses. Once we were inside, all warm and cozy, they dug in...

After a few minutes of savoring their suckers while watching Daddy pass out candy to neighborhood kids, a light bulb went off in Mitchell's head. He looked at his sparsely populated candy bucket and back to the door and POOF - he was off. He called to Honey with an outstretched hand never looked back. Alyse was running after him in no time. They refused to put their costumes back on, so we walked to about five more houses and called it a night.

I should mention my family make the long trip from Newaygo to celebrate Halloween with us. Thank you for that! Sorry to the Adams family for sending you home with a parting gift. Oink!

One last picture I want to share and along with it, a tip. Ketchup is not the condiment that can double as a hair conditioner - that's mayonnaise. We forgot to tell Mitchell that until it was too late.

Take care and stay healthy!!

ZMA's mama