Playtime at the Park

This morning we went to a park and played with some friends. It was a beautiful, crisp morning and the kids had lots of fun playing while we moms visited. We finished the day down by the lake feeding the ducks and geese. The kids have colds, Dad is getting over the flu, and we have been stuck in the house all week, so it was great to get out. We had a really fun morning.

Home Made Goodness

Today I made bread, and I don't think it turned out as well as Great Grandma Call's--I just couldn't remember all the tricks she taught me--but as little Richie was eating a slice I asked him, "Do you like my bread?" and he said, "It's awesome!"

That's good enough for me.

Halloween, Halloween!

We had a busy, fun Halloween weekend. It started on Friday morning with Richie's preschool Halloween party. He was beyond excited to finally wear his Spiderman costume and see what all his friends were wearing. In the last hour of school the parents were invited for a costume parade and some Halloween songs they have been practicing. I love seeing Richie at his school and to see how much he enjoys it.

Sophia enjoyed playing in the leaves outside the school, and other kids joined in the fun too.

Friday night we went to our ward Halloween party. There was food, crafts, and games. Richie and Sophia would have played the little bowling game all night if I would have let them. At the end of the party there was trick-or-treating in some of the class rooms of the church and it got the kids really excited about the real thing.
Saturday we took Dad to Hoboken for his show and a costume parade. We were going to walk the parade with him, but ended up not staying. It was nice to get to spend some time with him, since he would be in Hoboken all day.

Ready for TRICK-OR-TREATING!

Watch out! Here comes Spiderman!

We went to our friends house in Spotswood and went trick-or-treating in their neighborhood with them and some other friends from church. It was so much fun! Richie really got into it and was the first one at the door and off to the next house before half of our group was even to the house. He loved that he was with his friends and that he was getting so much CANDY!
Sophia was so cute! She was pretty slow, and we were always very last to the door, but she knew just what to do. She would hold out her pumpkin and say "Thank you," after she got her candy. People loved her little costume. At one house the lady giving out candy even called her whole family out to see her. She walked the whole way, and we walked a lot. We were two houses away from our destination when she decided she was done; she pulled out a lollipop from her pumpkin, sat down on the grass and started eating.
Trick-or-treating was great. It was 72 degrees out, but it was overcast and rainy, so it still felt like Halloween and I was glad we weren't freezing. Afterward, we went back to our friends house and had home made gumbo for dinner and the kids played. It was a great night. We missed Dad a lot, but we had a pretty good day.

Happy Birthday Sophia!

Yesterday was Sophia's second birthday!

Our baby girl is turning into such a sassy little lady and we are so happy that she is part of our family. Even though some days she gives new meaning to "the terrible twos", she is also very loving, fun and happy, and she is constantly doing things that make us laugh.

We love you sweet Sophia!

It was a very low key day, I spent a lot of time decorating the cake, and we let her open presents throughout the day. She got books from Grandma Gail, play dough, crayons and drawing paper, and a toy barn and farm animals.

Whenever I said "Happy birthday Sophia," she responded, "Happy dappy, Mom!"

I decorated a Tinkerbell cake for her this year.

She blew out the candles all by herself.

And had the first bite of cake.

"MMMM, frosting!"

Even though we gave Richie some gifts so he wouldn't feel left out . . .

. . . this is how he felt most of the day.

He was pretty jealous of all the attention Sophia got, and he had a difficult day. It is hard not to feel any mommy guilt about that, but I suppose he is going to have to learn that he can't always be the center of attention. It was a good day and we were happy to celebrate our little girl. Next year I think we will try to make the day even more fun and special, somehow.

BOO!

Richie was very excited about carving his pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern.

He practiced a bunch of faces for his pumpkin and eventually decided on the angry face (top left corner).

Sophia also practiced her funny face.

She really wanted to get in on the action.

He loves his jack-o-lantern and asks to hold it all the time.

Isn't he good at making that face?

Richie learned all about pumpkins last week in school and on Friday when Dad brought him home he said, "Richie, tell Mom what you learned about pumpkins today."

And he said, "They have beta-carotene and that's good for your eyes." So he knows that pumpkins are not just for carving at Halloween, he is going to the nutrition sciences preschool after all.

Field Trip to the Farm

Last week Richie had his first field trip to a local farm and Sophia and I went along. We took a hay ride and stopped all around the farm and the farmer told us about the different things at the farm. Richie preferred the hay ride at this farm to the ride we took at the other farm, because for this one we were sitting on actual hay, and he thought that was pretty cool. We saw apple and peach trees, corn, tomatoes, greens, asparagus, trees for cutting for Christmas and of course, pumpkins. We also saw a horse, some pigs, turkeys, and we even got to pet a hen.




After the hay ride the kids got to choose one small pumpkin each, and then I had to take lots of pumpkin pictures. Richie is very excited about carving his pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern and toasting the seeds. I think we will finally do that tonight.




The final activity of the day was to have a snack and listen to a book read by the teacher. Here Richie and Sophia are anxiously waiting for their snack.
Richie is such a happy kid, I don't think it would have mattered where we went and he would have had fun. I love his joyful personality, it helps me have more fun too. I am glad I could go with him on his first field trip!

Awesome Autumn Activities!

Last Saturday we found out that our favorite apples were ready for picking so we took spontaneous trip to the farm for some apple picking. Richie was very excited about the tractor that drives around the orchard, so even though we didn't actually need a ride to get to our apples, we took it anyway.

Richie discovered clover in the grass and picked a "lucky" one, or two or three. When we were done picking apples, he said, "This was my best day, and I don't even need my clover anymore."

After picking way more apples than we could afford, we went over to the farm for some dinner, cider donuts, and to see the farm animals. Richie REALLY wanted to take a pony ride, but we had just spent our last cash on dinner, so he had to settle for posing, petting sheep and trying to milk a fake cow. He couldn't figure out how to make it work and eventually ended up spraying himself in the face.
Sophia loves to smell flowers. If there are flowers along our path we have to stop at every one so she can take a whiff. She walked around this platform of mums about ten times, smelling every single pot.
Then she had to smell the pumpkin, too. When she finally decided she was done smelling, the two kids decided they each needed their own pot of mums. Mom and Dad did not agree, and we didn't bring any flowers home.

In school Richie has been learning all about the fall and things like apple picking and pumpkin picking, so going to the farm is not just fun, it is educational. He had his first feild trip to another farm on Wednesday that Sophia and I went on with him, and I will do a post about that later.