A Halloween Fairy Tale

It was a dark and stormy Halloween night. Ok, it wasn’t stormy at all, it was quite nice actually. It was the perfect time of night to go Trick-or-Treating. A brother and sister named Bobby and Annie set out to do just that. Their mission was to fill their bags with goodies. They traveled down the road looking for the houses that might offer the best treats. Before long, they came to a stop at the edge of the woods where a narrow path led the way to the mansion on top of the hill. “Let’s go this way Bobby!” “No, I don’t think we should go that way, Annie. It’s too creepy.” “You’re just trying to scare me, that’s all. Come on, let’s go, Bobby! Big houses always have the best treats!” With that, they set off down the path when suddenly a giant frog jumped out in front of them! “AH!” screamed Annie. The children tried to hurry around the frog in order to get away but the frog somehow kept blocking their way while croaking, “Ribbit, ribbit, RIBBIT, Ribbit!” “Look Mr. Frog, we can’t understand you and we’re heading over to that mansion to get some Halloween treats so kindly GET OUT OF OUR WAY!” shouted Annie. The children managed to get around the slimy frog and continued on their mission. “Gee Annie, I’m not sure we should keep going” Bobby mumbled. “Come on Bobby, we’re almost there and look, the mansion even looks haunted! It’ll be fun, you’ll see.” Without saying anything else, they made their way to the iron gates that surrounded the mansion. Annie pushed them open and practically ran up the steps leading to the front door. She and Bobby both knocked at the same time and realized that the door wasn’t closed at all. It slowly creaked open and lo and behold, there, sitting on top of a table across the room, was the biggest bowl of treats the children had ever laid eyes on. “Annie, I don’t think we should go in there.” “Don’t be silly, Bobby. It’s Halloween and those treats are for Trick-or-Treaters. Let’s go get some!” The children each took a treat, and then another, and another, and another. No matter how many treats the children took, the bowl seemed to never contain any less. “Wow, Bobby, it’s like magic. This house is awesome!” With bags full of treats the children decided they should be heading home. As they turned to leave, their eyes locked on the beady green eyes of a wart-infested witch! The children stopped in their tracks barely able to breathe. The witch let out the most heinous cackle and snatched up the children with lightning speed and dragged them down into the dark, damp basement. She threw them into a cage, slammed the door, and locked it. The witch cackled again and shrieked, “I’ll see you later for… dinner!” She threw the key on the desk as she glided up the stairs. “Oh my God, Bobby. What are we going to do? Why did you bring me here?” “ANNIE! It was your stupid idea to come here. Now, you get us out!” As the children argued they spotted that giant frog they met on the path tapping on the basement window. Being that the frog was so big, it didn’t take much to push open the window and hop down inside. “Hey, hey! Over here! Come help us, Mr. Frog!” shouted Annie. “The key is on the desk over there. Please, go get the key!” pleaded Bobby. Somehow, the frog seemed to understand. He hopped on over to the desk, scooped up the key, and promptly delivered it to the children. “Wow, Mr. Frog, I can’t believe you really got us out of there! Thank you!” Annie said as she and Bobby ran for the window. They piled some boxes up and quickly climbed up and out. The children ran all the way home. The frog followed right behind. They all met on the front porch of their house, completely out of breath. Huffing and puffing, Annie said to the frog, “Thank you so much, Mr. Frog for getting us out of there. How can we ever repay you?” “Ribbit” croaked the frog. With that, Annie leaned over and kissed the frog on the cheek. POOF! The frog suddenly turned into the most handsome prince…..

NO, WAIT! That’s the corny ending that everyone uses! What really happened was that Annie leaned over and kissed the frog and with that ‘POOF’ he turned into a ghost and scared the pants off the children. They ran like the dickens into the house and slammed the door behind them! Their screams were heard from miles away….

The end.

By Brind’Amour

Phantastic!!!

What a night! What a game! All I can say is GO PHILLIES!!!

We're sooo tired from staying up late but it was so "Werth" it. We were Rockin' and "Rollins." It was "Utley" phantastic! What a "Victorino!" Ok, I'll stop....... zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Halloween Hoopla

Had a little hoopla this weekend. No one could decide what they wanted to be for Halloween this year. Nothing like waiting 'til the last minute! While we were tossing around ideas, we decorated the house. It looks GREAT and SPOOKY. When we got to the last storage box, Aimee found the Frankenstein and just knew at that moment that she wanted to dress up as the Bride of Frankenstein. But when Benny got wind of that one, he said she didn't even need a costume because she already looks like the Bride of Frankenstein. Then, Aimee gave him that "look" and.... well..... hence, the hoopla.

Phillies Phan

Let’s go Phillies!! Isn’t it “phan”tastic that the Phillies are going to be in the World Series this year? Normally, I’m a Yankees fan but when they are out, I must root for Philadelphia. After all, I am an Eagles and Flyers fan and I did get my name from one of the Flyers best players at the time. Aimee insists that I add here that Philadelphia also makes the best cream cheese ever! Therefore, that is what she is bringing to the “tail”gate party which will commence two hours before the game on Wednesday. I, myself, am bringing another Philadelphia favorite, cheesesteaks (Mmmmm). Orielle says she's bringing some Pennsylvania Dutch no-salt soft pretzels. Benny, no doubt, will bring pears. What that has to do with Philadelphia is beyond me! Go Phillies!!!

Hooray for Columbus!

In fourteen hundred ninety two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue….

What a guy! He didn’t even have a GPS unit and found America anyway!! That’s surely worth celebrating!!! Like most people, we too are going to celebrate this momentous holiday. I’m going to watch the parade and eat Italian food. You know, like meatballs and pizza crust. Orielle is going shopping in hopes of getting great Columbus Day sales. And Benny and Aimee are going to spend the day making crafts -- God help us all!!

Safety First!

Since it’s National Fire Prevention Week, let’s review the fire safety checklist.
1) Avoid shoving stuffed toys and rope toys in electrical outlets.
2) Teach youngsters to not chew on electrical wires.
3) No rough housing inside (Benny!) to avoid knocking over burning candles.
4) Avoid flinging toys on top of a lit stove.
5) Change batteries yearly in all smoke detectors (but how you get up there to do that is beyond me!).
6) Teach the “Stop, Drop, and Roll” technique in case your coat catches fire (not the “Drop, Roll Half Way Over, and Stop” technique that Orielle practices so brilliantly).
7) And finally, designate escape routes in each room and practice regularly (and I don’t mean through the wall Aimee!).
Don’t forget, safety first! (Then cookies, then kibble, then toys……)

Breaking the Bank

We’re back! Our sailing trip was great – we soaked up some rays, enjoyed the wind, and even saw some dolphins…. or, maybe they were sharks, we’re not sure. How do you tell the difference anyway? I never realized how expensive sailing was. I spent just about every penny I had saved in my piggy bank to pay for the trip. It was worth it but I may have to start thinking about getting a job if I want to pursue sailing and a number of new hobbies for the winter. The good news is that I never had to pay the sitter for watching the kids. When we got home the sitter was nowhere to be found. Bells and whistles went off in my head when I found Aimee hiding under the end table pretending to look innocent. After searching for some time I finally discovered something peculiar about the closet door. The toilet paper spewing from around the door and the muffled noises coming from inside told me that something wasn’t quite right. When I opened the door and found the sitter wrapped up in tons of toilet paper like a mummy I knew that Aimee was behind this one since she has a penchant for toilet paper. When I finally got the sitter unwrapped she just sailed right out the door without so much as a thank you or a good bye. How rude was that!

All Aboard!

Ahoy mates! The forecast looks great, the time is right, so Orielle and I are going on a weekend getaway. I'm taking her sailing! I also packed our snorkeling gear. My only concern is leaving the kids with the sitter..........