Halloween 2011

The kiddos had a great time on Halloween this year. My people went to the Trunk or Treat at Grandma Gail and Papa Dean's church again. They had a great time getting candy, making crafts and running around on the parking lot.  Of course Lily was a princess, Belle this year.  Last year was Cinderella and the year before that Snow White.  She has every Halloween planned out until she's 11 and they all involve a Disney princess of some sort.  Henry was Superman.  My people figured with the way he runs around, he needed a cape flying out behind him.



The car next to theirs at the Trunk or Treat had a train theme.  The little boy, Eli, is close to Henry's age and they're good buds whenever the kids go to church with Grandma and Grandpa.  They spent most of the night parked in front of the train set.  Eli was dressed as a train engineer.  

Last night my people learned that Henry is scared of clowns.  He wouldn't go anywhere near their car and needed a lot of help to just walk across the parking lot a safe distance away from them to get to the other cars for candy.  They thought they were being very kid friendly, they were happy clowns after all, but he strongly disagreed.  Strongly. 

Fall Leaves...or Lack Thereof

One of Lily's favorite Fall activities is raking leaves into a huge pile and jumping in them. The other day she asked my tall girl person if they'd do that again this year. The answer came automatically "Yes, of course." Then it dawned on her that all of the big trees that dropped tons of leaves in the yard are gone. That's good news and bad news. No more raking (yea!), but also no more jumping in piles of leaves (boo!). Also, no more pretty Fall colors. What a bummer. Yesterday morning my tall girl person walked the kids over to where the Pattonville Homecoming Parade was going to come by. On their way there, Lily saw a yard with some leaves in it. She said "Maybe we can put some of those leaves in a bag and take them home to jump in them."

Before (picture taken in 2004)

After (2011)


Quite a difference. We'll all miss the gorgeous flaming orange maple tree.

Thanksgiving Craft

Late one evening at the end of October, my tall girl person decided she wanted to do a Thanksgiving type craft with Lily. She took some construction paper and cut out a turkey along with 25 feathers, one for every day leading up to Thanksgiving. Each day, she asked Lily what she was thankful for, wrote it on a feather and added it to the turkey. By Thanksgiving, the turkey had a big, pretty tail.

When Katie would ask Lily what she was thankful for, Lily would usually just look around the room and pick the first object she saw. That makes for some pretty hilarious feathers like "coffee cups for daddy" and "chairs". There are some thoughtful feathers on there too though like "cousins" and "grandmas and grandpas". I think my favorite is "bones for Norm." I'm thankful for those too, even though I don't get them very often anymore.
Maybe next year Katie will plan ahead so half of the feathers aren't written upside down.

Halloween 2010 In Pictures

My people did a lot of fun things for Halloween. They started with a trip to the pumpkin patch, then they went to Boo at the Zoo, carved a pumpkin and ended with Trunk or Treat at Grandma Gail and Papa Dean's church. Click on the albums below for all the pictures.

Lily was Cinderella this year and has already decided that she wants to be Belle next year. We'll see if that pans out. Thankfully, with all of the Disney Princesses, we should be set on costume ideas for the next couple of years for her. Ha. Henry may not be so easy. He was a dragon this year.

Boo @ the Zoo 2010

Pumpkin Carving 2010

Trunk or Treat 2010

Pumpkinland 2010

Two weeks ago, Lily and Henry met their friends, Spencer and Luke, at the local pumpkin patch for a play date. Lily, Spencer and Luke had fun playing on all of the cool things that were set up. Henry enjoyed watching. He'll be right in the thick of it next year, I'm sure.

Here are pictures.

Pumpkinland 2010

Of course, the day after the play date, a permission slip was sent home from school for a field trip to the same pumpkin patch. Lily was so excited because she was going to get to ride the bus! She immediately rounded up a bunch of stuffed animals, lined them up on the couch and declared the couch "a school bus so we can go to the pumpkin patch!" The group of animals on the left were her friends and the ones on the right were her teachers.

The field trip was a success. All of the preschoolers returned to school in one piece and Lily can now say that she's ridden a real school bus.

Fall Leaves 2010

One evening last week, the family went outside and made the first leaf pile of the season for the kids to play in. Lily had a blast playing in the big pile and Henry thought it was fun to sit in his little pile. He also thought it was fun to eat the leaves. He swallowed one, gagged on it for a bit and then vomited all over himself and Katie. You know it's been a fun evening when two people end up covered in vomit. Yuck.

Lily wanted to jump in the leaves, but decided she needed to get a big running start.



Henry thought it was fun to just sit in his little pile of leaves.



Here's the album of pictures, but I feel like I should warn you that a lot of them look the same. Ha.

Fall Leaves 2010