Eat, drink, and be Meri :D: November 2013

We've been trying to keep up with holiday fun, so Minnow doesn't miss out in the midst of new-baby land (It has been fun for us, too :D)

Decorating the tree

Just horsing around

Riding the bus to the Santa Claus parade!

And dancing with Papa

Static hair

Our friend Hayley works at the Montreal Gazette, so we got a warm spot in her posh office instead of having to sit out in the freezing cold to watch the parade...nice! :D

At first the kids were more interested in the lounge than the parade :p

But they warmed up. Minnow was sharing food with her friend, Lewis

We went to play in the park after the parade, but all 3 of us were too wimpy for the cold. It's gonna be a long winter, since this isn't even half as cold as it's going to get :p

Here are some pictures (just from a cell-phone, sorry for the quality) of Minnow as the Lorax for Halloween. There was more to the costume (a tree stump she was supposed to be popping out of), but I could barely get her to wear even this part for more than 2 minutes, so this is the best I could do :p I specifically chose to make a Lorax costume because she loves the book and cartoon so much, but I've learned to never expect Minnow to be excited about any article of clothing :p

We did go to a haunted house and trick-or-treating, but we didn't last for more than 4 or 5 houses--it was a cold, rainy night (sounds like the beginning of a spooky story!), and I was carrying Minnow while 8 months pregnant--Ian was working late so he couldn't come, and all the houses were up a flight of steps, so the stroller didn't work. Minnow didn't mind too much when I pooped out; she just insisted on eating the few pieces of candy we managed to get.

She was a big fan of the haunted house, but I was freaked out the whole time...mostly anxious worrying that Minnow was doing okay, and worrying that my stroller would run over one of the actors jumping out when the lights would go out. :p But Minnow was super into it, and she talked about the "spooky house with all the monsters" for awhile afterwards. She was also enchanted by her little friend Lewis, who went with us, as he was dressed as a dragon, which is apparently wildly exciting :) All this took place in a hoity toity neighborhood that's near us, and some of the houses really went all out for the occasion--this one family had even rented (or bought?!) a fire engine just for Halloween, and they were blaring the siren and had creepy guys with hockey masks and chainsaws jumping out of it (I'm sure that's a popular movie reference that I'm missing). Again, I was terrified that Minnow would be too scared, but she seemed rather pleased with everything that was going on. Maybe next year she'll remember how much fun she had, and be more open to wearing a costume :)