Fun With Grandpa

Grandpa broke out Great Grandpa Rice's Lincoln Logs today. He braved the floor long enough to show her how to build a much better house than her Daddy built for her, which still wasn't all that great. Tomorrow Matt goes home and we'll hopefully get Grandma and Grandpa's tree lit and decorated before he leaves us for the week. Alice and I will be spending another week here in J'ville, and I'm sure we'll have a great time!

By the way, this is my first iPhone post so bare with me.

Happy Halloween!

A little over a week late. Seriously you really can't complain, it's pretty par for the course for me. :) This was the first year Alice actually went Trick-or-Treating and MAN did she have a blast! We went over to Nicole and Paul's house so we could go out with them, and later we ate dinner together. Alice nearly jumped out of her skin when she realized that we could go from door to door with a little bag and say "Trick-or-Treat" and complete strangers would give us candy. 9 times out of 10 she said those words long before we ever got to the door. One observation I made was that my BARELY two year old had MUCH better manners than 90% of the kids (and a good portion of the adults too) we saw - and for the most part she did it unprompted.

She had a hard time going up the stairs carrying a bag bogged down with candy (she refused to let anyone else carry it) so I usually went up with her which meant people had to wait for the two of us to come up and down the narrow stairs (most of the homes we went to were all by the same builder so they had the same stairs) together. There were even a few ADULTS who pushed their way in front of Alice and I just so they could get to the door with their babies sooner. Needless to say I was quite happy when some of the homeowners refused to give them candy until Alice got hers because afterall she was there first. It wasn't the Halloween I remember when I was a kid (is it really Halloween when it's sunny and a high of 72*F?), but it was a good night that we ended in Paul and Nicole's backyard roasting S'mores.

Alice's Bday Party - By the Numbers

2 - number of years Alice has been on earth.
3 - number of people who were here to celebrate Alice's actual Bday (Uncle Chuck came a day earlier than most).


60 - the number of dollars Dad spent on Panera and White Castle for the Rice clan before we set up for the party (Uh, I mean 50. Yeah, 50).
1,200 - number of square feet in our house, and that's a generous estimate.
24 - number of people who crammed into about 500 of that.
5 - number of people who didn't outwardly mind sitting next to a cat box (not my idea, I promise!).
1 - the number of people in attendance who DIDN'T know I'm pregnant (maybe that someone should check his email more often then).
5 - number of dishes we made to serve all of our hungry guests (one being an excellent rendition of mom's potato salad - MMMMMM!).
1 - number of train wrecked, albeit very tasty, cakes.


1 - number of children I have with a split personality (Alice laughed, then cried, then laughed, etc when we sang "Happy Birthday" to her).
16 - number of presents received.
4 - number of presents thrown to the wayside - and they were all clothing.


10 - number of years worth of PlayDough we now have.
3 - the number of hours most people stayed.
0 - the number of dishes I personally ended up washing - thanks to my MIL and Cindy.
5 - number of guests who slept on the floor or couches (Dad got Alice's bed).
1 - number of scratched eyes endured at the hand of a balloon on a stick (and of course it was the Bday girl).
1 - number of migraines I had by the end of the night.
MANY - the number of people we wish could have been there.

That's all the pictures you get from the weekend. Why you ask? Well because we don't have many more that are worth sharing. When your house is crowded, you've got a migraine that just won't go away, and 20+ guests on their way in or out of your house the last think I think about is taking pictures (plus I'm thinking we REALLY need a zoom - anyone want to buy one for me?!). Of course that's MY excuse, Matt will have to find his own.

If any of you who were here have pictures you are willing to share, please email them to me!