Costume Parade at School

On Thursday, Lydia wore her costume to school. Her class was supposed to wear their costumes and watch the older kids peform Halloween songs and then her teachers were planning to change the kids into their regular clothes. When I went to pick her up, she still had on her costume. Her teacher said, "She didn't want to change her clothes and I forgot to bring to my t-shirt so we are both still in our costumes." I really hope Lydia didn't throw a fit to keep wearing her costume. On Friday it was Wesley's turn to wear his costume to preschool. The director of the school was a soccer player and his teacher was Cinderella.

I thought the traffic light was the coolest costume.

Here is Wesley and his classmates.

A picture with the teacher and her assistant.

The two year olds did not participate in the costume parade and performance. Based on our past experience, I think most two years old would not sing in front of a crowd.

Here are all the "super heroes".


Below are two videos of Wesley's class singing.

Neighborhood Halloween Party

On Sunday afternoon we had our neighborhood Halloween party. Here are a couple of the little cuties at the party.

Wesley got his face painted again and, of course, he wanted another snake. Notice the cool Spider Man in the background.

This little doggie was a big hit with all the kids.

The dog belongs to the chef in the first picture.

The kids decorated their treat bags with stickers. I waited too late to buy the stickers and all the craft store had were creepy/haunted house stickers.

The kids did a costume parade around the playground.

This little UPS driver sure is cute. He is also our next door neighbor.

The weather was perfect for the kids to play on the playground.

Lydia kept saying, "I am going to fly up, up, and away."
Back inside, the kids did crafts with the help of their parents. One of the crafts, a scarecrow, was a little challenging for the younger kids but it was really cute.

One of the moms did lollipop ghosts with the kids. I had completely forgotten about that simple craft - a tissue tied over a lollipop and than a face drawn on it.

I love having parties in my neighborhood. It is a great way to see our friends and meet new people. I also LOVE seeing the kids have fun.

Here is another one of special neighbors. Her mom bought all the decorations last year. She did a great job decorating the clubhouse.

Zesting - Wordless Wednesday

Wesley loves to help make pancakes. On Monday, I let him zest the lemon for these pancakes.

Bread Baking and Early Morning Waking

I joined an on-line baking club with some friends. We are working (or rather baking) our way through this book. Here is my post of making Greek Celebration Bread. Here is my post about making Anadama Bread.

Harvest Festival Fun

Saturday was the MOPS Annual Harvest Festival. Due to rain, we had to be inside for the event. Even with the rainy weather, I think it was the best Harvest Festival yet!

Why? For starters, one of the mentor moms had some great ideas for games and she even had some of the materials left over from a similar event years ago. Second, another mentor mom recruited people from her Adult Bible Fellowship to help us set up, clean up and run the different stations. We also had help from other mentor moms. All the help was wonderful and the different stations were a hit with the kids.

The mentor mom below is the one who had all the great ideas. Michelle and her husband also helped set up and clean up and organized the volunteers.

Of course, Wesley wanted a snake.
One of the games let the kids practice being the Good Samaritan by sticking a band-aid on the injured man. The prize? A band-aid! If you have preschoolers, you know how much they love band-aids.

The Fishers of Men game was a huge hit. The kids threw the fishing line and hook into "the water" and were rewarded with Sweedish Fish.

The "hook" was a paperclip.

This is the best picture I have of the Noah's Arc game. The kids tossed beanie babies into the arc and were rewarded with a pack of animal crackers (or pretzels for those with peanut allergies).
We set up our tent and teepee and connected them with tunnels but I forgot to take a picture of them. We gave the kids flashlights that said on the side, "Let your light shine for Jesus." Wesley told me the tunnels were his favorite part (they have been packed up in the garage for over six months).

There was also a temporary tattoo station.

We borrowed the popcorn machine from the youth. We also had juice boxes for the kids and coffee donated from Starbucks for the parents.

We were unable to get pumpkins donated this year so I bought flat foam pumpkins and the kids made their own jack-o-lanterns using glow-in-the-dark stickers. Originally, we had planned on putting the stickers on real pumpkins.

I was slightly embarrassed when we first put Wesley's costume on - he strutted around for a while showing off how proud he was to be Buzz Lightyear. Lydia was a little unsure about having her face painted.

It looked so cute but she quickly rubbed it off.

This little goldfish was so super cute!

My kids loved Simba!

We did a costume parade and gave out more treats. The kids paraded around twice while parents snapped pictures. I love seeing all the cute costumes.

So, I am so thankful that the event went as well as it did. I am thankful for all the volunteers who provided much needed assistance and all the wonderful stations that the kids got to do.

Our Version of One of Aesop's Fables

The kids always argue over who gets the frog towel at bath time. I tried to throw away the towel once because I was tired of all the complaining. Chris said I was overreacting and he didn't want it thrown away. We try letting the kids take turns with the towel but that causes problems also.

Sometimes I say, "Whoever gets in the tub first gets to choose the towel." This really motivates both kids to get ready for a bath. I said it last night while we were all still downstairs. Wesley immediately ran upstairs and started getting undressed and Lydia followed him. Wesley is faster and completely independent with undressing and going potty. Chris said to me, "You better go help Lydia." So, I did.

Wesley was ready for the bath first and I assumed he was in the tub but when Lydia was finally ready, she ran and jumped in the tub first. Wesley was sitting in the floor beside the tub.

I couldn't help but laugh. Hopefully this was a good lesson in fully following directions.

And maybe it is time to start reading this book to the kids.

Sweetness: Butterflies and Friends

On Monday as we were finishing up our photo sesson at the capitol, Lydia said she had to go potty. Now, I really appreciate free museums on the mall. We were able to just run in the first museum we saw and let her go potty.

I actually really like U.S. Botantic Garden and it was fun to walk through there. Mark and Nancy had never been there before Monday.
We also went to the Museum of Natural History. Thankfully Lydia was better behaved than the last time we were there. She was very interested in the Giant Squid.

Besides hanging out with good friends, the highlight of our day was the Butterfly Pavilion. We paid $6 per adult and $5 per child over two. They have free tickets on Tuesdays but we were there on Monday and I was just happy that we go to do it.

Like all the kids, the butterflies were partial to Mark. One stayed on his head until one of the butterfly keepers took it off.

Michele, Evan, and Rachel were able to meet us at the museum just before we went into the Butterfly Pavilion.

Of course we had to take lots of pictures of these three together. Ainsley is about four weeks older than Evan who is about three weeks older than Wesley. We got them together for a photo session when Wesley was six weeks old and now every time they see other we line them up and start snapping their pictures.

We also tried a sibling shot but the youngest member of the crowd kept trying to walk away.

Lydia quickly got tired of looking at the butterflies but she could have played with the tickets for a hour or so.

I learned that butterflies have a long tongue that they kept curled up when flying. They use their tongues like straws to get the nectar out of fruit.

One of the butterfly keepers picked up a butterfly and put it on Ainsley's arm. The butterfly slowly moved up her arm.

Since the butterflies only wanted to land on Mark, the keeper put one on Wesley also.

We left the museum at 5:00 and headed to the parking garage. I had to get home and gather my stuff for MOPS. On the way to the garage, Lydia curled up in the stroller and finally took a nap. She slept all the way home, which didn't take that long since we were able to hop on HOV on 395.

Wordless Wednesday

Capitol Photos

Our good friends came for a very short visit this week. Here we are ready to head into DC for some touristy fun.
After a week of cold, rainy weather yesterday was beautiful.
It is always fun to hang out with Mark, Nancy, and Ainsley.
Aren't these two so cute together. Nancy are I are already planning their wedding.
I really wish Nancy and her family still lived here in Virginia.
It is very hard to get Wesley and Lydia to cooperate for pictures.
After they watched Ainsley posing for pictures, they were more cooperative.

Mark took this picture. He is a great photographer. Too bad I forgot to take my D-SLR downtown.

Lydia decided to join Mark and Ainsley while Nancy was taking pictures of them. At one point yesterday she proudly told me, "Mark loves me."

It never feels like I have enough time with Nancy but I am so grateful that I got to see her and Mark and Ainsley this week.