Toy Gnomes
Yesterday evening, a conversation between me and Mariel: 
Me: "Why is there a big pile of sand next to and under the couch?" (not asking about her shoes, sitting next to the pile).
Mariel: "I don't know.  It was someone else."
Me "Noella?"
Her "No.  Must have been someone else."
Me "Who else could it be?  Daddy?"
Her "No.  I think it must have been the toy gnomes.  Yes, mom, it was the toy gnomes."
Me (wondering where this would go. "Oh, ok.  I guess that is what happened." I swept up the sand.
A few minutes later she told me she did not think it was the toy gnomes and it might have been her, by mistake.  But she sort of forgot about it.  And she forgot that she was not supposed to dump the sand out of her shoes in the house.  I said that I was glad that she told me the truth, because otherwise the toy gnomes would have gotten in trouble for something that they did not do.  They might not even have been allowed back. She agreed that she made a good choice by telling the truth, and said that she would try to remember where to dump her sandy shoes for the next time.
I am very relieved, because if I had to ban toy gnomes from the house I would have to come up with some new creature to threaten to take away toys.  For my sake, I hope the toy gnomes continue to behave themselves.

Behind
I am not a good blogger this week- you will all have to forgive me. 
As some of you already know, we are expecting Flaherty baby 3 in May.  When I found out in early September, I called Patrick at work and announced it with this news: "We are going to need a van." 
This (the pregnancy, not the need for a new vehicle) means that I am very excited, and very worn out.  I am torn between wishing the time would fly and needing it to slow down.  I find myself in a very busy few weeks at work (so of course, I spend my time wisely on my late night at work by... blogging) looking ahead to the long list of things that I would like to accomplish by the end of the semester.  Some are possible, some are absolutely necessary, and some are not very likely to happen.  At home, I have a constantly evolving to do list, although thankfully most of those items are far from necessary.
While all of this competes for my limited energy, along with the two girls, dogs, Patrick, and general day to day needs, I am afraid that the blog may suffer.  So be forgiving if it takes me some time in between posts these days.  I have a baby to grow. 

Happy Halloween!
I flew back Sunday morning after a quick getaway to Florida with friends from college.  It was a lovely (and warm!) weekend with lots of relaxing and eating.  As much as I would have liked to stay, I had to be home for Halloween night.
We had a fairy princess (of course) and a pig.  For the past two weeks, every time that Noella put on her pig costume or even saw her costume she ran around yelling "MOOO!" and laughing hysterically.  Of course, as soon as I tried to document this via video, she reverted to "OIK."  Still cute, but definately not as funny.

 We went to our neighbor's house for dinner and a little costume party.  There were multiple princesses, all with nice coordinating outfits. 

Our favorite part of halloween here is the joke telling that all the kids do to get their treats.  Mariel insisted on a fairy joke:

What is a fairy called when she has not taken her bath?
Stinkerbell!
We did not have a true favorite of the night this year.  The two most popular jokes of the year:
How do you wake up Lady Gaga? 
Poke her face.
Why did the football coach go to the bank? 
To get his quarter back.
And the winner for the most inappropriate joke of the night (told by a girl I would guess to be about 8)
Why couldn't the witch have any children? 
Because her husband had a hollow weiner.

Quick update...
I caved.  After two nights of a very sad, very tired baby and an equally tired, although more frustrated than sad mommy, Noella got her "Pac" back.  We'll work on this later.

Update on our weekend:
Patrick worked a bit on our soon to be fully functional and newly renovated downstairs bathroom.  He also got taken out to lunch for cheeseburgers.  Tomorrow is his 35th birthday.  He is not a cake person, so I made pumpkin pie (from a pumpkin, not a can) for the event.  Hopefully the pie experiment tastes as good as it looks!
Noella clipped a lanyard with a clip for an ID card to her tongue, an experience that I somehow found to be sort of horrific and funny at the same time (with an ice cube or two she felt just fine).  Right now she is attempting to sleep without her pacifier.  We told her we lost them and don't know where they are.  If she keeps fussing like this all night, I think I might remember very soon.
Mariel had an afternoon playdate with our neighbor, B.  They worked on a haunted halloween gingerbread house, which is now covered in orange icing and candy.  It was very entertaining to listen to them talk while they crafted.  I am also constantly amused by the way that they greet each other.  You know how the stereotypical romantic movies has the long lost lovers dramatically running into each other's arms?  This is what these two girls do, nearly every time they encounter one another.  They call out the other's name and race to hug/ tackle each other.  Despite the fact that they live two houses away and see each other virtually every day.  On the weekends, sometimes multiple times a day.  Parting can also be just as dramatic, despite the fact that they will likely see one another within 24 hours.
Tomorrow is pumpkin carving and hopefully not much else!