Goodbye faithful friend...

After almost 2.5 years and thousands of pictures, I am finally saying goodbye (for the most part) to my faithful red Casio point-and-shoot camera.  That's right, I am finally moving into the world of the digital SLR camera!  We had a cheapo model a few years back (think 3 cameras ago), but it was just that - cheap.  Last week, Tony surprised me with an early Christmas present.  With the holidays and baby #3 on the way, this seemed like a good time to make the transition.  The pictures it takes are AMAZING and soooo crisp!  I love it already, even though I'm still figuring it out...  The little red camera will still accompany me on excursions when I really need a camera to just stick in my pocket and go, as the new one has quite the "suitcase" with it. 

So, most of my pics from now on will come from my new friend - Canon Rebel...  As soon as I figure out how to get some pics off of it, I will share them :)

Before I wipe the memory card...

I just wanted to be sure I'd shared anything cute or worthwhile...  Here are a few pics that got lost along the way...

I think this was our last boat sleepover in September:

Fireman Lucas to the rescue!  They had firefighters come into school and talk to the kids before they took a trip to the firehouse.  Lucas was WAY into it!

Lucas' behavior chart for Lottie.  One day, whenever she bothered him, he wrote "NO" on a paper, then a check for the next time she was annoying.  Looks like he had a rough day...

Let's Go Navy!

Saturday, we went to our 2nd Navy game of the year.  Joe, Rebecca, and Gabby came with us.  It was a cloudy, windy, and chilly day...  with high temps right around 50.  We got to the parking lot to tailgate about 2 hours before the game.  Had some food, threw the football around, and tried to stay warm.  Once we got into the stadium, the sun came out and the wind was blocked.  The first half was quite pleasant.  Lottie even slept in my lap for a quarter.  The second half was cooler, but still bearable.  And, Navy won!!!

Halloween actually happened!

We had prepared the kids for the worst - that due to the hurricane, they might not go trick-or-treating this year.  They seemed ok with it.  But, when we returned to school on Halloween, we knew that Halloween was an official "go".  Lottie wore her Capt. America costume to school and me, Mommom, and Pop came to her school for the annual Halloween program.  Lucas took his costume to school.  The outdoor parade was canceled, but they still had their class party.  He came home with holes in the knees of his Transformer outfit.  Grrr...  boys.  I was very impressed that his school party consisted of fruits/veggies and minimal junk, as they'd get enough of that later. 

Mommom and Pop came over later and we headed out in search of candy around 5:30.  Lottie held Pop's hand all night.  We were amazed at how many houses were actually giving out candy.  We thought that due to the hurricane, there might've been less than normal.  After all, we didn't even buy any candy.  Oops! 

The kids did great!  They went together to each house, and used good manners.  Lottie was always on a mission!  Some houses, I don't think Lucas would've gone to without her.  Once, he actually started sobbing at a zombie wandering around someone's yard.  Tony had to go rescue him.  Lottie would run back to use and exclaim "Look what I got.  I have SO much candy".  And, she would look inside her bucket after people put stuff in...  If she didn't like it, she'd pull it out and say "I don't like that"...  Silly girl!  She even fell once and spilled her entire bucket, but didn't cry.

After about an hour, Charlotte proclaimed "I'm tired and done trick or treating.  Let's go home."  We didn't go home yet, but she was content to suck her finger and watch Lucas get candy.  She did muster up the energy to hit the last few houses!

Here is the proof of our fun... Excuse the poor night shots my camera takes:

At home, we changed into jammies and watch Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin.  It turned out to be a great Halloween after all, even though Tony was sad not to have any decorations up at home :(

The next day, look who I caught rummaging around in the goodies:

Hurricane Sandy

Last Thursday night/Friday morning, I think people around here started to really realize that it looked like a category 1 hurricane was headed our way.  Friday at school, it was all the kids talked about.  Grocery stores, gas stations, and hardware stores were mobbed.  Tony left work a bit early to make sure the generator was working and to clean the gutters.  That night, we went out for thai food :)  Saturday was lovely.  Sunny and in the mid-60s.  I did our "hurricane shopping" early in the morning.  The Halloween party was that night and the weather was perfect.  They were saying that by noon Sunday, the rain would begin.  So, much to Tony's dismay, first thing Sunday morning, all the Halloween decorations were taken down and packed away...  And brrrrrr was it chilly!

See how sad he was?  He had to take a rest in the yard with Lottie:

Lucas rode his bike - he knew it might be the last time for awhile:

We went to Mike & Brenda's for the Ravens game.  Char had fun playing with Summer:

When we got home, it was a little drizzly, but Lucas and the neighbors played football for hours:

And Char dressed up like a bag lady:

So much dressing up is hard work:

And here are my only pics of the "storm"...  They made a huge deal out of it, comparing it to hurricanes Gloria and Hazel.  There was another storm to our west that it merged with when it hit land, which caused blizzards in WVA.  But, this is all we got:

Don't get me wrong, I took many.  But, they all look exactly the same.  Sunday night into Monday, it was just rainy.  Me and the kids were off school Monday/Tuesday.  Tony went to work Monday morning early, but planned to come home around noon when they said the wind would pick up.  It really only got windy from dinnertime until around midnight.  The lights flickered once but we never lost power.  Tony was planning to stay home Tuesday (the worst day, they were saying), but around 9 it was just rain and he went in anyway.  We were back to school Wednesday.  Ocean City got hit pretty hard, but we were lucky compared to many areas in NY/NJ.  Our backyard drained better than ever... Even Mommom & Pop kept their power, and that NEVER happens!

The kids kept asking "when the big storm was coming".  I kept telling them "This is it.  This is the hurricane."  They were not impressed.  They were also hoping to lose power.  Silly kids!