Our first Halloween

Here is a little game of peek-a-boo and our daughter the dolphin.

The Babies B got dressed in their costumes and off we went to yoga, the grocery store to buy some candy and then to the nearby park to meet up with other families. 

 Who says having kids ages you?

It turned out to be quite a gathering, there were four sets of twins and probably twenty other kids. 

 Of course I only took pictures of my kids, but we met some nice people and Iman was digging on baby Giovanni... Amine is applying for his gun license tomorrow.

I am afraid Iman is aware of her cute factor

Fall Festival in the Arboretum

The ever photogenic Tremblay family

Beau, Katie and Sylvie came for a visit today as well as Jen, Franz and Larry and Lisa Lepionka.  We were going to head over to the Arboretum for the fall festival, but by the time we had some tea and cookies and made our way to Peter's Hill to enjoy the view of Boston, we were catching the tail end of the festivities and people had to start heading back, but we did enjoy a beautiful fall day.  

Jen communing with nature

Bibi and I took a closer look at some purple berries

Iman socialized with some scrappy dogs, one who thought a proper introduction included backing his bum onto my lap.  His owner thought it was cute, me... not so much.

Piscine

Uncle Adnane returned from his trip to Paris and brought presents from Tata Hanane and Amine's mom.  Here is Iman sporting her first Beret.
On Saturday the Babies B took their first dip in the local pool.  We happened upon a baby swim class, so they had their first swim lesson which included dunking underwater.  Iman was down with all of it and Bibi was a good sport for the first two dunks, but dunk number three was one too many.  He then had Kung Fu death grip until we got out of the water.  He did feel very buoyant and liked splashing his hand down in the water.  Iman was ready to climb out of the pool on her own as you can see from the "look Ma, no hands" shot.  She held the edge of the pool and tried climbing her feet up the wall.  Swimming was also a magic sleep inducer.Today I got a few shots of Bibi playing with his hand in the light and shadow and petting his favorite kitty, Tali.

Turn down the volume, Bibi is screeching like a dolphin

Montreal

Petra finally meets Iman and Tayeb

The Babies B headed north to Montreal this past weekend to celebrate Mark Gage's wedding.  Of course what was supposed to be a six hour drive was more than seven hours due to traffic, but the babies travelled really well with the occasional pop out of the car seat for a little num num or staring out the window time.  We stopped in Montpelier for a lovely apple inspired dinner and very yummy homemade warm applesauce.  On Friday I went out to meet folks once we got in while Amine stayed in the hotel with the babies.  Saturday we toured around old Montreal which reminds me a bit of Savannah and a bit of Boston.  I got to see a lot of old friends from school and had a great time at the wedding, Gage even made me cry.  I wasn't prepared to hear the gushy emotional stuff from him, but I guess if it ever happens, it is on your wedding day. 

Gage-the groom

Michael-the groom

 The Inn where the wedding was held

Sunday we stopped by the Inn to say our last goodbyes before heading out on an even longer ride home due to unexplainable Sunday afternoon traffic.  Then the weekend took a sharp turn for the worse when the Red Sox lost and I got a nasty case of food poisoning yesterday.  We are all feeling better today, maxing and relaxing waiting for a nice weekend with no plans.

The innkeeper's bird showed Bibi and Iman a few tricks

Iman from the block

Here are a few more images, some showing the trouble Iman is getting into as she trains for the circus and some showing her star power visiting with Dawn.

The Great Pumpkin

Beware of the image search... this is what I found when researching "The Great Pumpkin".

At first I thought this was a cute picture of a baby's bottom, but on closer inspection, I am thinking it is a big person's big bottom, not nearly as cute. So much for putting a cute image of classic Charlie Brown. Sorry to involve other innocent onlookers, I really just wanted to post cute pictures of my babies and Sylvie so why don't I get to that.  (The Babies B blog was censored this morning, it seems the other editor found my late night humor inappropriate, you can do your own image search if you are curious what profanity leads to censoring.)

Iman and Vince inspecting pumpkins

Here we are at Smolak Farms for our cute baby photo op around pumpkins and assorted other props of fall.  

Bibi and Sylvie

Is this my bongo?

Bibi stopping to smell the roses, or eat the flowers

We had a lovely day with many other friends and babies as well as most of Eastern Massachusetts.  It seems we weren't the only ones with the bright idea to bring their kids to a pumpkin patch.  I actually couldn't bear to stand in line for a pumpkin, so besides photos and good times, all I have to show for our outing is food now stuffed in my belly.... cider doughnuts, pumpkin ice cream, warm apple crisp and a cup of chowder.  Thank goodness I am eating for three.

Farmer Iman chewing on a piece of hay

The Bend

We have had a very busy week.  Grammy came for a visit last Wednesday until today and we went to South Bend for the weekend for my Arkie 11 year reunion.  The babies travelled really well except for what turned out to be a 5 hour car ride from Chicago to South Bend Friday evening.  That car ride was a little tense with me trying to change diapers, feed babies, and simultaneously navigate our way through traffic from the backseat with the help of the Iphone.  The navigation was the ball that was dropped and bumper to bumper traffic never helps.  We had a great weekend visiting old friends and meeting their beautiful babies.  It always helps when the Irish win the football game and the sun shines in the Bend, but I think I would have had a great time regardless.  I realized how few pictures I took, a casualty of twins.  Although almost everyone had a turn holding Iman and Tayeb, so I should have had a free hand to take plenty of photos, but I chose to stuff my face instead.  I also should have taken pictures of the crazy house we rented, it had and indoor and outdoor pool, a jacuzzi as well as an indoor basketball court.  It was a very strange layout but a perfect rental for us.  There were 14 adults and 6 kids and it didn't feel at all crowded.

  On Thursday we went for another photo shoot with grammy and got some great pictures, but we only have hard copies and their website has the images copy protected.  Last night Grammy had a big laugh playing dress up with Iman, and although she looks happy in this picture from today, we were all very sad to see Grammy go after such a short visit.  We look forward to Christmas.