Halloween 2013

We had another awesome Halloween! A couple days ago the boys carved their pumpkins (with just a little help) and came out with great results.

School this morning brought parties in both their classes, and mommy stopped in to take a couple photos. These kids were oh.so.adorable!! Each one was cuter than the last! There were superheroes, butterflies, princesses, pirates, vampires, and just about everything you could think of. One of the moms sent vampire teeth for all the big kids, and they had a blast pretending to have fangs. Evan's class did a trick or treat outside with stuffed animals and some parents passing out the candy, and Drew's class took on a more Easter Egg Hunt approach with little bags of candy and toys scattered around the class. Both were pleased as anything to fill their baskets.

Halloween night? Nope, this is 9am.

Our costumes!

 It's like taking candy from a... stuffed animal?

 Waiting semi-patiently

Everyone have a seat and pick ONE piece to enjoy. 

No, not the microwave popcorn bag, and not the ruler. You can't eat those.

Shark class Halloween 2013

 Vampire footballer

 Those poor teachers... The kids were excited BEFORE all this candy. 

The afternoon must have been WILD.

 I want candy! 

 A cute "candle" made by Drew.

 Mommy, I take your picture!

 Singing the Skeleton song. They're so cute!

We picked the boys up early to head down to Grounds and do trick or treat on the Lawn. It's an amazing experience with at least a thousand people going door to door for candy passed out by the students living there. There's a lot of line-waiting, but there's also another door with 2-3 people handing out candy every 10 feet, so it's super efficient. We made it halfway before the boys were overwhelmed and our arms ached from the weight of all our loot, and headed home.

 Coach lays out a game plan for achieving maximum candy and fun.

 This doesn't reflect the amount of people
and controlled chaos. Not even close. 

 Our family costume: Football! Daddy is the coach, the boys are players, and mommy is (appropriately) the referee.Everyone we saw just loved it! 

 We found our friend EJ!

Madness. Glorious college town madness.

 Must. Eat. Healthy. Apple.

We rang the doorbells of our immediate neighbors and those on the street behind. Walking the streets in the dark with our flashlights and glow sticks and meeting new neighbors is always so much fun! At home we had time for popcorn and a smoothie (quite the proper Halloween dinner, no?) before heading to bed much later than usual. Mommy dumped and sorted the loot (peanuts here, everything else there) and realized there must be at least 10 pounds of candy! It totally filled a reusable grocery bag, and then some. Now we're on the hunt to figure where to send all of it, as there's no way we could eat this much, even in a whole year.

This is about half the haul. 

And the scale doesn't translate well. 

That's a big tub used for chilling drinks 

at a party. Crazy.

Halloween 2013 = success! We hope yours was happy too!

Happy 5th Birthday, Evan!

I simply cannot believe this amazing boy is 5! I adore watching him explore the world and learning alongside him. Here's hoping his next 5-10-50-100 years are filled with happiness, blessings, and love!

Football Strategy

He's such a boy, and I love it! Playing and strategizing football with daddy after dinner.

Storytime

Since today's field trip didn't start until 9:30, we had some extra time in the morning. Most of it was spent chasing and yelling and tackling and arguing over whose donut was bigger and whose yogurt contained more peaches, but then they came upstairs and it was quiet. Fearing the worst, I looked in Drew’s room and found the best: storytime with brother. How I love these two!

Farm Field Trip 2013

 Every year school visits Greenfield Farm a couple miles up the highway. This year, instead of each grade level going on their own, the entire school went together! It was a little crazy, but total fun to see everyone interact and play, especially all the siblings. This farm is a good field trip choice because it’s not open to the public like an orchard is – and we had the entire place to ourselves. There’s a little-kids-play-area filled with toys and bikes and fenced in, a hay-bale maze, a big slide and spiderweb climbing space, a giant slide, a triple corn maze, some animals, tons of space to run, and a hay ride.

 

 Over the hill and on the animal side of the farm is a small pen containing two turkeys. The kids were enthralled. And afraid. And hysterical. I’m not sure how it started, but one child (it might have been Evan – he’s a ringleader like that) started the whole group slowly inching toward Mr. Turkey quietly calling, “Here turkey, come here turkey…” Of course Mr. Turkey wasn’t fond of a massive wall of threatening 4 year olds advancing toward his cage and bearing down on him, so he let out a huge Gobble. The kids absolutely freaked and ran squealing and screaming backwards about 10 feet, laughing all the way. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. And repeat some more. 

 The Giant Slide, aka “Drainage Pipe With Stairs” is always fun. All the kids had a blast (and used mass amounts of energy climbing the hill stairs and sliding, first separately but then in groups of 2-10, down the bumpy slide. Drew got in on the fun, Mr. Fearless, and giggled all the way. Being that drainage pipe is corrugated and echo-y, and that Drew’s giggles can already be heard miles away, you heard each and every of the 100+ bumps on his way down. All us parents were in stitches!

After running and climbing and laughing and running some more, the kids were ready to eat whatever was left out for the animals, but luckily we had all brought lunches. It was near silence as they all dove in and tried to replenish some of their expended energy. However, slightly before we all sat down to eat, Drew decided he was hungry. Without saying a word, he quietly slipped over to the picnic tables, searched the over 60 bags and jackets and blankets, found ours, opened it, and pulled out a snack. He then zipped the bag back up and wandered back over by us, innocently munching on his treasure. He’s a sneaky one…

 

Next came the hayride, divided by grade level. Drew nearly fell asleep in my lap, but Evan’s class spent the time singing songs and being generally silly. It was so fun to listen to their silly songs and watch them all be 4-year-olds together. Why can’t we take this entire class and move them all to kindergarten together next year? :(

 

When it was all over, each kid got to take home a small pumpkin (some parents tried to take them too, since we paid the full admission price too, but the Pumpkin Guard was having none of that. She watched us like a hawk and yelled at anyone with more than one pumpkin, “Do you have two kids?? I need that pumpkin back!!”). After some tears, “But I don’t WANNA leave!!” and a full de-mudding and de-haying and clothing change at the car, we drove back to school for nap. Both boys practically sleep-walked to their classroom mats, happy and exhausted.