Hurricane Sandy

We got hit with a pretty nasty storm as a result of Hurricane Sandy earlier this week, but we tried to make the best of it. We had plenty of notice, so I was all stocked up on food, water, and ideas to keep Sammy entertained if the power went out. We ended up losing power for about 18 hours, which left me with nothing better to do than snuggle with Christopher and take pictures of Sammy. Here's how we stayed busy!

Grandma had left a bunch of little wrapped toys for Sammy for tough days, so I let her open one (a treasure chest).  We spent hours opening and closing the lock and hiding our treasure from Captain Hook.

Keeping Christopher warm by covering him with the baby doll quilt Grandma had made.  Christopher is not impressed.

Playing with water beads (other moms...if you haven't done this yet, it should definitely go on your to do list).  This was right after we added them to the water, so they've only grown a little bit.  Sammy had fun stirring them around and trying to pick them up and squish them.

While we were waiting for the water beads to finish growing, I gave her some cleaned egg shells to play with.  She liked cracking them, and decided to make a chair and a helmet for her toy cat.

Dance party with a battery-powered CD player to get the blood flowing and stay warm!



Playing with the water beads once they were fully grown.  So fun!

They bounce!

Scooping them into cups.

We had three different kinds: regular round ones, giant ones, and ones that looked like ice cubes.  I think the regular round ones were the most fun.  The biggers ones tended to fall apart when Sammy would squish them.  She thought that was pretty cool, though.

Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween.  This was a big one for us.  It was Christopher's very first Halloween, and the first one where Sammy really understood what was going on.  We went out trick or treating with some of the neighbors and Sammy sprinted from door to door until she was exhausted and told me she was ready to go home.  She was so proud of herself for remembering to say "trick or treat!"and "thank you!".

My theory at this point, it to have Samantha's costumes be something that she can use for dress-up after Halloween is over.  Last year, my mom made her an apron and Chef's hat and got her a little wire wisk, that is still a regular in our toy rotation.  This year, I got her a pirate dress-up outfit, because she's very in to pirates these days.  Christopher didn't have an opinion on what to be this year, so he was a lion because the costume was warm and snuggly.