"Doin' mommy? Doin?"

Kaia always wants to know what I'm "doin'" and I thought you might be interested too.  The past couple months have been busy and fun (and busy), so here's a little recap of Ricci family happenings:

• Dustin began working on a master's in educational technology this past summer and he is now taking nine graduate credit online classes.  It's the Two Summer's program at UCONN so he'll be completed with the program by the end of next summer.  It's crazy, though, he's so busy.  He's also working with a colleague to head up a club of students who are building an electric car to compete in Connecticut's Electrathon.  It's a big commitment.  AND, in his free time (ha!) he's building a kitchen for his brother's new house.  He's super busy and we are looking forward to his winter recess (from UCONN) so he can take a little break.

• We went to the zoo! Roger William's Zoo didn't disappoint.  The giraffes and elephant were our favorites.

• Kona had surgery to drain an abscess on his neck.  Then, when it didn't heal properly he had it again.  What fun!  The cone of shame was more like the cone of annoyance for Kona, but he dealt with it like a champ.  The first couple days he couldn't go up stairs without slamming his cone into something, but by day three was chasing the ball as usual.  The vet was happy to see that he actually wore the cone, it was obvious because it was covered with dents and scratches and had pieces of grass poking out of the Velcro.  That's our boy.

• We have been spending more time with my friend Robin and her daughter Maddie.  We met at a playgroup earlier this year and Maddie is only three weeks older than Kaia.  We've had a lot of fun getting to know each other.  We all had fun picking apples in early September.

• We hosted a 60th birthday party for my mom.  She was so touched that people traveled from so far to be here for her.  It was a great day and it was so nice to spend some quality time with my uncles, who I see far too seldom.

• The girls and I spent some time visiting friends and family in Greenfield.  Mindy's boys are so sweet and the girls love to see them.  After this visit Kaia asked for Benjamin daily.  She would ask, "Ben? Ben?" then sadly say, "home."  He seemed pretty smitten with her too.  They had fun playing in Benjamin's new tent.

• We celebrated Halloween.  McKenzie chose to be a cowgirl and Kaia was a duck.  McKenzie knew the trick-or-treat routine but we were curious to see how Kaia would react to the free candy.  She was so focused on opening the first piece of candy that she got the she didn't really care about going to the next house.  Things like this really show the difference between the girls' personalities.  When Kenzie went trick-or-treating for the first time it didn't take her long to figure out how it worked.  She didn't even ask for candy, she just kept going from house to house collecting more.  It wasn't until the car ride home that she had her first piece.  She's a thoughtful planner. Kaia, on the other hand, is all about instant gratification.  She rarely (if ever) seems to think about the outcome of her actions, even after the fact.

• Sweater weather is my favorite time of the year.  Two of our favorite outdoor activities are playing in the leaves (which we haven't raked or mowed all season so there are a LOT) and mushroom hunting. We have some pretty funky mushrooms in our yard and woods.  The general rule is that the girls can poke them but not touch them.  Sometimes we collect them, though, to show daddy.  Puffballs are the best.