ROAN KINDERGARTEN PICS

SCHOOL PICTURES

Brooklyn Prospect Kindergarten , 2015

Roan insisted on wearing his kilt for Class Picture Day

Version 2 at the reshoot day a few weeks later

The more you look at this photo the better it gets!

GRACIE IS 12!

Our first child is twelve today (we think. Not 100% sure because we are terrible at keeping track of this stuff) Our poor, sweet, beleaguered dog who bounded in to our lives as a little brown furball is now relegated to third place in hierarchy by two interloping humans. 

She's had Lyme Disease, a splenectomy, and an unfortunate fear of car alarms. Thank god for doggy Prozac. Nowadays she mostly rotates between various sleeping stations throughout the house as she tries to avoid being stepped on (unsuccessfully).

Still, occasionally she surprises us with such puppy-like feats of playfulness that we can't believe she's actually 12. 

We celebrated with cheese. On cream cheese. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRACIE WHIPPLE

EAMON, 6 MONTHS

HALLOWEEN 2015

And what a Halloween it was!  Unseasonably warm, and falling on a Saturday to boot.  

Festivities actually began on Friday with a Halloween Parade on the streets near Roan's school.  Brooklyn Prospect is on the top floors of an old all girls' Catholic school that's smack in the middle of Downtown Brooklyn and it lacks outdoor space for the moment so creative solutions are necessary.

KB Class in their Halloween Costumes. Cuteness!

I have to say I was AMAZED that Roan's costume survived relatively intact.  I was sure there would be legs everywhere by days end.

On Saturday we were spoilt for choice with Halloween festivities. BAM and Fort Greene Park had Halloween festivals including hay rides, a giant fake cemetery and, of course, the Great PUPkin dog costume contest (We retired Gracie after she won in 2012)  The first year we went to the PUPkin was 2005 and there were about 20 or 30 of us standing around drinking our coffee and laughing at our dogs (Gracie won runner up for being Oscar the Grouch).  Oh, how times have changed in Fort Greene!

We guessed there were about 1,500 people there!  And 170 dogs competing.  Some of my favorites:

Cerberus

Minion

Mr. T

See more of the PUPkin here

Roan, as ususal, owned the mood of his costume entirely.  He added fangs so he was a Golden Ninja Vampire Spider, thus the funny mouth in the pics.

With his buddy, Leo

Me, spidered

Roan, scaling

Eamon, buzzing

This clown scares the crap out of me

The boys were all great about wearing their costumes

Fort Greene is at it's very best for Halloween.  This is a neighborhood that truly embraces the creativity, the fun, and the community spirit with full vigorous creepiness.  There are shows and bands and entire streets closed down and filled to the brim with families.  I LOVE it! 

That's a wrap!  Already thinking about next years' costumes.