trick or treats and thoughts and prayers...

well hello everyone... i hope you all are enjoying this thursday... it's been a tough few days here for me, my heart has been heavy with the thoughts of my hometown of Staten Island... and with all of the people that have been devastated by the hurricane... i don't even know where to begin with how i feel about what has happened... i can't even watch the news anymore, it's just too hard... as a family, we were extremely lucky... all of my family and relatives live in safe areas of the island, although they are still without power, we were blessed... it seems every hour more tragic stories emerge... some are too hard to even bare...

i like many New Yorkers are very proud of where we come from... we are very protective of our city, maybe that's why new yorkers are kinda like a different breed... it's very aggravating sometimes seeing how Staten Island is portrayed... now, i'm not going to say that those yahoo's on mtv, mob wives and bad girls club don't exist, because believe me, Staten Island is full of some characters... but it is also a tightknit, family loving community, one of which i am happy to belong... and it's really getting old being the forgotten borough... the dumping ground... the laughing stock of the city... that spare sock with no mate you find in the dryer...

 

the island is undergoing some serious heartbreak right now, and so many are still left wondering where people are, and how to even begin to make sense of it all...

there is one thing i do know, Staten Island is home to a tough bunch of New Yorkers, and the rebuild will bring us closer and more resilient...

my thoughts, prayers and much needed love to all...

 

and to all of those first responders, and unselfish givers of comfort and aid, the ones who brave the search and rescue... thank you

 

now... on a lighter note... i hope everyone had a happy halloween... or, if your town postponed the trick or treating until this weekend, i hope you and yours will enjoy the day... as for us, we were lucky enough to celebrate halloween on several occassions... first it started on friday with the school's halloween costume parade, followed that night by the schools halloween party, then the next day, the town had it's annual halloween howler, which is another party and parade...

 

now... as for costumes... my littlest guy made it easy on me... he wanted to be none other than his favorite (and i think my favorite) avenger... captain america... the minute he put his costume on, the little guy acted like he was some toughnut... this kid cracks me up... i mean, look at that face...

haha... lego man photo-bomb...

 

but he's not always so serious... here he is fooling around in one of the silly masks my parents had sent up for the boys to mess around with... he's a character...

 

and here they both are... clowns...

 

now... onto my big guys costume... i have to say i am really proud of myself with this one... he was a built to scale lego minifigure... and i made the costume all by myself... well... the hubs helped a little too :)

 pretty damn awesome right?! now if you knew anything about my boy, he is a bit of a lego freak... like border line obsessed... so... this costume was just right up his alley... and it was hilarious to see him walking around with this on...

here he is at his school, surrounded by the other kids... i have to say it made me smile to see him at the center of this...

 

 oh... and by the way he won third place at the towns costume contest... i (along with a few other townies) thought he deserved first, but oh well, what can you do... all that really mattered was the smile on his face... and believe me, under that big ol' lego head, he was grinning from ear to ear :)

 

until next time...