Happy post-Sandy Halloween!

Lester did a yeoman's job preparing for the storm after all (I should have known he would) and caulked up some cracks in our outside walls, as well as stocked our house with food and baby formula and other actual necessities like Papa John's pizza and Pillsbury slice 'n bake cookies. I bought batteries and bottled water, and filled up our downstairs tub with water. We had the flashlights at the ready.

In the end, we survived nontropical Sandy, or whatever she ended up being called, with very little damage to speak of. In the three days we were stuck in the house a little bit of water seeped in through the basement, but other than that, we have nothing significant to talk about. Especially not when compared to the devastation in NY/NJ and other parts of the Northeast.

My prayers go out to all of those who lost loved ones, and I pray that people will be able to get back to their normal lives as soon as possible. I know it is a very "1st-world" problem to be so majorly inconvenienced by power outages and public transportation stoppages, but still. This sucks.

In other news, it is Halloween, and I hope the boys and Clair will get at least some trick-or-treaters tonight, as they are crazy excited about wearing their costumes and handing out candy. And since school was closed again today, they missed out on their Halloween party and likely tomorrow's fall festival, too. So since this is it for them, trick-or-treaters better come a trickin' and a treatin'!

We at least got out as a family before the storm and went to the Patterson Park Lantern Parade on Saturday, which was awesome. We ate festival food and saw marching bands and amazingly-creative paper lanterns and kids in costumes and our friends Antwyne, Mari and Antony and Stacey and Hugo. Dean was a little freaked out by the scary costumes -- at one point he said, "Mommy, nooo! The dinosaur is going to eat me!" -- but he still had a really good time. The highlight of the night was definitely the marching bands. My boys LOVED them. See for yourself (this video is 2 minutes long and worth every second!):

And here are some cute photos of them in their costumes, which they thought were the best things ever.

Mater Truck and Lightning McQueen reporting for duty!

Raggedy Ann (actually Raggedy Andy, because I wanted her to have pants.) Yes, my daughter is a cross-dresser. I love and accept her no matter what. :-)

Daddy and Raggedy Ann(dy) at the Patterson Park Lantern Parade. Clair was a huge trooper, especially considering that it got kinda chilly out and it was way past her bedtime.

Every day since Saturday the boys have asked to wear their costumes. And I told them they could wear them on Halloween to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters. Which is why those darn neighborhood kids better high-step around all the downed tree branches and come eat all this candy I bought!!

 (Seriously, people, I ate so much junk during the storm sequestering, I neeeeeed this candy out of my house!)

The Upside to Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy is headed our way.

It is being called the Frankenstorm, because of its projected strength, predicted damage and the fact that it is likely to collide with a winter storm coming this way at about the same time.

Forecasters and Baltimore residents are losing their ish over this storm.

"The pre-Halloween hybrid weather monster that federal forecasters call "Frankenstorm" is looking more ominous by the hour for the East Coast, and utilities and local governments are getting ready," said one news article.

The ingredients awaiting Hurricane Sandy appear to be coming together to create what forecasters are calling a monster combination of high wind, heavy rain, extreme tides and maybe snow that could cause havoc along the East Coast just before Halloween next week.
"We're looking at one of the worst storms on record that we've seen in this region," said a hurricane specialist for The Weather Channel.
 
 "It's going to be a long-lasting event of two to three days for a lot of people,'' another forecaster warned.

I have to admit to be panicking a little bit, too. Three kids under age 3 -- and a crazy cat -- stuck in a house without power for any length of time = NO FUN. What will we eat?

And my husband is totally opposed to preparing for storms. He thinks it makes zero sense to stock the house with things you might need, because - no matter what -- somewhere there will be a store with stuff to buy, and we can also go to a hotel, if necessary. I would rather have the stuff at our house, but I'm overruled in this area. Therefore, I really hope we don't get hit too hard. Really.

But there is one upside to this whole storm.

That darn fall festival that I had to buy overalls and stuff for? Postponed! Yippeee!

It's only postponed by two days, but still. Now I have more time to try to find the things they need, without having to spend too much money.

So at least in this case, hooray for Sandy!