I have been waiting for this day....

For those of you who know me, know I love turtles.  I think they are just adorable. Unfortunately for me my love of turtles came later in life and I never got to dress up as one. Although for my 16th birthday party the theme was 50's and my Mom made me a poodle skirt. But instead of a poodle on my skirt it had a turtle :)  I also had a box turtle as a pet for a while, his name was Irving.

So when I thought about motherhood, I looked forward to Halloween and dressing up my little ones as all different things.  I knew there would definitely be a turtle or two in there if I had anything to do with it.  Once again, Luna is my dress up doll.  Guess what she is this year?  A TURTLE!   Isn't she adorable?

Check out that little tail.

Grandma came and visited.  She wanted to see the little turtle.

Luna Sunshine, sitting on the porch with her pumpkins.

We went to Google for the Halloween Party.  Here is Luna and Daddy on the dance floor.

This little girl made my day!

Over the course of many years, I have received a lot of different turtle gifts (i.e. statues, wind chime, ceramic pot, etc.).  But I had never seen this...a turtle balloon animal!

I love it!

A Different Kind of Mom...

It is always interesting to try to explain what a foster family is to little kids.  They have the hardest time understanding the concept.  It can be quite comical and precious they way their little minds work.

One night we had some friends over to dinner while we had a foster baby.  Our friends had a 7 year old little boy and during dinner we were trying to explain to him what fostering means and why we had the baby.  It was one of those conversations that you don't quite know how much the little boy is understanding and then it was over.  The little boy played with the baby after dinner. Then while the family was getting ready to leave the little boy looked at me and said "Did you born him?"  He was trying so hard to figure it all out.

Another time I was outside with our neighbors who have a little girl.  She is about 10 years old.  We had another foster baby and again I tried to explain the concept of fostering.    Over the course of time the baby and I saw the little girl frequently outside.  She would bring over old toys for the baby and clothes, it was precious.  Then one day she came up to me and said "You are still a Mommy, just a different kind."  She got it!  It was a precious moment.

Colorful New England

We recently spend 10+ days in New England visiting with dear friends and enjoying the beautiful fall colors.  It was fun being back in our old stomping grounds.  

The trip started with me flying out early to attend a Women's Retreat up in New Hampshire. This was my 7th year attending and I am so glad I was still able to go even though we had moved.  I loved the time away with friends and the amazing speakers. We always have a blast!

Brian, then flew out solo with Luna.  As one of our friends once said "Beev is the best husband." He sure earned that title.  He did great with Luna, they arrived Sunday morning.  Then we all headed up to Vermont with our friends the Hanlons.  We spent 3 days in Vermont enjoying the fall foilage.

The rest of our trip was spent back in Massachusetts.  We enjoyed catching up with old friends that we said goodbye to last fall.  It was fun seeing how all the kids had grown a year older but the adults all looked the same.  

Goodbye New England until next time!