Halloween

We had so many Halloween activities this year, I was exhausted by the time Halloween rolled around.  Tyson had classes so it was just me and the kiddos.  I managed to get some cute pictures of my pirate crew in their costumes before we set out.

 Charlotte spent an hour eating a blue airhead before this photo was taken, hence the blue chin.

 My littlest swashbuckler!

 Lily and Charlotte had been talking about being pirates for Halloween for months and were so excited for their costumes.  Lily already has next year's costumes planned...it is going to be interesting, but I'm banking on her changing her mind between now and then.

Since I was on my own I decided to take the kids to the mall for some trick-or-treating and then we went to the Jenkins' home for some homemade hot chocolate, maple bars, and good company.

Pumpkin Patch

Our playgroup took a field trip to the Linder Farms pumpkin patch.  Charlotte stayed with me...

 Lily did not.  Is it possible for a four-year-old to have a crush?  She says that she likes Gavin because he is four like her.

Gideon wasn't thrilled about it, but he behaved well.

 After the hayride we were taken to the pumpkin patch where this nice lady explained how pumpkins grow.  Lily was proud of herself for already knowing what three things were needed for the seed to grow.

 For some reason that I don't understand at all my children like to find the smallest pumpkins in the patch.

 Seriously, someone please explain this too me.  Oh well, they love their little pumpkins so I let them have them.

After the pumpkin patch it was play time.  Charlotte got lost in the hay maze and stayed there for quite some time.

 Once the older kids discovered this huge tube slide they were all over it.

 Lily is normally very nervous with new slides.  When we go to a new park it takes quite a while before she works up the courage to go down the untested slides so I expected her to hesitate at the top and perhaps not even go down at all.  I was wrong!  She jumped right in and really enjoyed it.

 We also played in a large box of corn and visited the farm animals.  It was such a fun morning, but rather exhausting for this crew.

Pumpkin Carving

Tonight the kids and I carved our pumpkins.  I pulled up a website full of templates and the girls liked the pirate ones because they went with their costumes.  So while Gideon and Lily napped Charlotte and I cleaned the pumpkins and got started.  Lily and Gideon both woke up just in time to watch and "help" with theirs.

Boo at the Zoo

We like to take the kids to Boo at the Zoo every year, or rather I like to take the kids and Tyson tolerates it well. 

 We go to the zoo all of the time because we have an annual membership, but this time there was a new Patas Monkey exhibit.  There was a whole fiasco a few months back with a drunken moron breaking into the zoo in the middle of the night, stealing a monkey, and then killing it because it didn't come along quietly.  Anyway, because of that the zoo received a lot of donations and was able to get two new monkey and build a great new home for them.

 The best part though was that just a couple of weeks ago two of the monkeys gave birth.  I loved this sweet mommy monkey cuddling her baby.  Another monkey came up and starting harassing the baby a bit and she spat and shrieked at it and pushed it away.  Don't mess with a mommy!

 As an added surprise, just as Tyson was getting ready to leave for work we ran into my sister Ali and her boys so we finished our rounds around the zoo with some fun cousins.

Kids' Race

Last Saturday our running club, Moms Run This Town (which is a national club by the way, check it out) put on our 2nd annual Kids' Race  Our children are used to seeing their moms leave to go running and going to races so we like to let them have one of their own.

We bumped it up from November to October and made it a costumed event, and oh my goodness it was a blast!  Each little runner had a race bib and lined up at the starting line, ready to go.

 Well, almost all of them.  Charlotte here had a scary moment where she couldn't see me at the park and thought she was lost and that was upsetting to her so she had no desire to run the race.

 Lily however set off at a run with her friends, but needed me to stay with her to finish it up.  She had a good sprint to the finish line, excited for her prize.

 You'd be amazed just how much these kids love earning their medals!

  I put together some fun little swag bags for the kiddos and some of the wonderful women in our group brought some refreshments for our little runners.

 We could not have asked for better weather, it is bright and sunny and just plain perfect!

 After a little bit of refueling they were off again to go play at the playground.

I loved this event!  I loved how excited the kids were to run and how encouraging their parents were.  We had some grandparents and other family members out to support their little runners and it just made my heart happy.

Halloween

The holiday season is officially here, at least for me it is. I always consider Halloween the beginning of the holiday season.

I managed to get a slightly better picture of Lily in costume today before we left the house. She wouldn't stop dancing so I had to sort through all of my action shots to find this one.

This afternoon I took the girls to downtown Nampa. On Halloween the businesses in the old town area are open for trick-or-treating. Lily did great holding onto the stroller and she really caught on to how to trick-or-treat.
It was chilly so Charlotte just hung out in the stroller chewing on her toys while Lily trick-or-treated.
It was lovely.
Afterwards my girls and I went to my parents' home. In their neighborhood everyone gets together and lines up in camp chairs around the park and the kids go around the loop to trick-or-treat. It was great for Lily because it didn't take too long, and she didn't have to knock on any doors.
We had a lot of fun this evening, despite the cold. Lily loved to be in her costume and Charlotte was a trooper helping me hand out candy to all of the little trick-or-treaters.

Boo at the Zoo

Yesterday was "Boo at the Zoo" and it was lovely! The weather was perfect, and this year it wasn't just Lily and I, we of course had Charlotte with us, but Tyson also managed to get the day off AND Grandma and Grandpa Hansen and Aunt Katie were also in town visiting for the weekend so we had quite the little group. Lily was so excited to be going to the zoo, in the car she kept saying "Zoo! Zoo!" She was a little nervous when we first got there, but soon warmed up to the animals and got very excited about them, and was eager to learn their names.

Here she is standing in front of the Condor's cage. She was scared of him the first time that we walked by, he was perched with his wings spread, but when we came back by she was no afraid of him at all.

Charlotte was not thrilled about being in the stroller so she ended up being held most of the time. I don't mind, I kinda like holding my baby.

These are the best pictures of them in costume that I managed to get while at the park. Lily got to pick one treat out of her beg and was gleefully running though the park.

Charlotte was so happy to be set down and free to roam around.

This is the best that I could do with getting my girls together in one picture. We'll try again tomorrow.

Boo at the Zoo

Just like last year, Lily and I went to Boo at the Zoo. It is always fun to go see the animals and it is another excuse to dress my little girl up and take her out. I've got a few shots of her in costume. Surprisingly it was a lot easier to get good pictures of her last year when she was just 5 months old. I kinda had to laugh yesterday when we went trick-or-treating in old town Nampa. Almost everyone I overheard commenting on her costume knew what it was right away, however I heard one woman point and her and say to her friend "Look at that cute little devil." I guess that she didn't see beyond the red cape.

We went all round the zoo and visited the different animals. Lily really liked them, she called the wart hogs and zebra Oscar, I think that is just her term for 4 legged mammals. I guess that we had better work on that one a bit. She is so independent and so I let her walk instead of bringing the stroller and she did so well. She held my hand and didn't try to pull away. She didn't even get tired from walking that much.

They have a little farm yard area at the Boise zoo so I took Lily to go see the animals and say hello. She was very excited by them, but a little hesitant. A lady gave her some food for them and she loved feeding them. She knew just what to do since she feeds Oscar all the time at home.

And here's a little video of Lily at the petting zoo area.

Pumpkin Carving

This evening we carved pumpkins. It has been years since I last carved a pumpkin. So, I went and picked up three pumpkins this morning, and then this evening (while a pumpkin pie baked in the oven) we sat down to carve them. Lily enjoyed watching, but was in no hurry to touch the guts. Tyson tried to get her too while he cleaned one out, but she was not interested.

She, she sat and watched.
She did however finally start playing with one after it was carved. She was not at all interested in the pumpkin until it had a face.
So, these are our three very simple pumpkins. I used to do the elaborate carving, and I would still enjoy it, but a toddler takes up a lot of my time and she really seemed to like the silly faces.
Once it got dark we lit them up and Lily's reaction was great. She stared at them and kept taking steps backwards until she got to us (we were standing about three feet behind her). She was fascinated with them, all lit up, but a little scared too.