Trick or Treat

The boys went trick or treating at 7 houses (we set the limit as 8 houses this year).

Then we sat on the front stoop and the boys dug into their candy and we waited for the other trick-or-treaters.


Soon they were both on a sugar high and dancing a jig! Liam asked to go to bed about 6:45 and then we made Connell go in about 7:15. Lots of people commented on the costumes so the time spent on them was worth it to me.

Silence

As the boys took their name tags off from ECFE class this morning (we use masking tape to make the name tags), Connell thought it was funny to put it over his mouth, so Liam had to follow suit.

Cute Kids

Here are some of the better photos that I took of the kids at the Burger King Party...

Amy

Riley

Brooke

Liam

Nathan

Connell

Nicholas

Carmen

Alex

Halloween Party with the Playgroup

Here the boys are off to the Burger King Halloween party that I set up with the playgroup. 10 families with 19 kids (and even a guest child) showed. We pretty much took over the entire playland. The boys had ketchup, mayo, shake and frosting from Brooke's birthday cupcakes all over their costumes, but I managed to wash everything for tomorrow's preschool shindig.

Purple Hair

I was attempting to crochet using a purplish funky yarn and it wasn't turning out right, so I quit. Liam was throwing the specimen around and then I thought to put it on his head -- instant purple wig! Unfortunately his Halloween costume doesn't need a purple wig! Combined with all his scars (scooter accident, Connell scratching him and Riley opening a locker into his nose), he really does look quite scary!

Weekend Update

We had a low-key weekend. We spent some time outside on Saturday before it got bitter cold and windy on Sunday. The change in weather was quite a shock as we have been so used to spending hours outside every day. It was a "wake up call" that winter is coming and we are going to have to start getting more creative with indoor activities.

Despite Connell's hate of swimming lessons the last few weeks, he actually was looking forward to it this past Saturday. Ray said that he seemed to do a little better than he had been. We still aren't sure if we will continue lessons past November, but at least we were happy to see a little improvement.

Ladies' Night Out

We had Ladies' Night Out at the Ole Piper last night and did our annual Turkey awards. Jennifer won Turkey Wife of the Year and Megan won Best Creative Turkey Story. We had a lot of fun and laughed a lot. We hadn't all been together since last November because family and activity schedules haven't allowed for good attendance. Generally there are 7-9 of us present.

As you can see, our ages span 12 years (incidentally I am smack in the middle of the 11!) and yet we all met in 2005 through ECFE or the Stretch and Stroll program as fairly new moms. Some of us are working outside the home and some of us aren't. We have get-togethers with our children for the holidays and meet at parks periodically all summer long. Baby #22 is due next month. Somehow I stepped up and took charge of the group back in 2006 or so, but am always willing to let others step up and plan activities or outings.

I have listed everyone by graduation year which is the only way I can keep track of how old everyone is and from what "era" we each come from (there are 6 of us who were 80's girls and then the other 5 who were 90's girls). For those of you who are offended by this apparent revelation of your age, notice that I have not identified you by last names or other identifying factors :-)



top row -- Amber ('94), Jennifer ('87), Clare ('90), Penny ('97), Monique ('95)
bottom row -- Jessica ('93), Bridget ('97), Deann ('85), Vicki ('88), Megan ('88) & Katie ('90)

Side note...I crocheted both the sweater that I am wearing as well as the one that Jennifer is wearing. I joked last night that within a few weeks, we will all have crocheted sweaters made by me to wear to the ladies' nights.

Our Little Photographer

Here are the first two photos that Connell has ever taken. I asked him to take a photo of me in one of my latest crochet creations as I am ready to go out for Ladies' Night Out with the group of 11 ladies. Since Ray is in Baltimore and Marta is coming to babysit, I thought that Connell might manage taking a digital photo. He actually got me in the photo which is impressive. Then he was so excited that he insisted on taking a photo of the roller coaster that he drew on the MagnaDoodle.

Making Bean Bags

Since the neighbor kids have fallen in love with the bean bag game that Ray made out of misc. materials after finishing the basement, I decided that the bean bags needed a little attention if they are going to be used in the fashion that they have been the last few days. I think I made the old bean bags back in the summer of '03 or '04 and they sure seem worn out. So this afternoon Connell and I took some of the extra material from his Captain Hook vest fabric and I cut some 4 X 4 squares. I sewed the hems and turned them inside out for Connell to fill. He had a blast using the funnel to fill them.

Of course you aren't supposed to put your face behind the holes in the particle board as Liam is doing in this picture. The boys have to be funny and always try to get their faces out just in time as someone throws a bean bag. That's just part of raising boys!

Introducing Captain Hook and Peter Pan

Announcing the boys' Halloween costumes for the year....Captain Hook and Peter Pan. Once again I made them and I will try and explain how I did it...

The boots and shoes were at the Salvation Army for $2.25 for both pairs combined.
The tops of each costume were made out of a tablecloth -- the red with gold accents was at the Salvation Army for $1.99 and the light lime green one was at Saver's for $.99.
The pants were made from a black and forest green sweatshirt/fleece top that I got at Saver's each for $.99 and then sewed them into pants with some elastic.
Captain Hook's hat was made from a black cowboy hat at the Dollar Store and I added some Dollar Store fake hair and a few white feathers from Michael's.
Peter Pan's hat was sewn from the leftover material from the top and then a red feather was also added from Michael's.
Although Connell's white shirt was bought already made ($.99 thrift store special), I bought another one similar to it for $.99 to sew the jabot tie.
The gold sash was just some cheap material.
The dagger and sword as well as the hook were in combo packages at the Dollar Store.
Combined with puchased thread, interfacing, elastic and hot glue, voila! I figure I spent about $20. or so total dollars to make both costumes.

Fun With Leaves

Since the neighbor was raking today, we got it in our heads to also rake some leaves. The boys had fun jumping into piles and then Joey (5 1/2) and Sammy (4) joined us to try and get the leaves into the compost bag.

Octopus Project

Since it rained nearly all day, I put together a cute project for Connell to do. I took a paper plate and drew a smiley face on it. I cut out 8 arms and told him to color them all differently and then we would staple them on to create an octopus. Here he is showing his end product.

Autumn Nature Walk

Ray had the idea to take a short trip to the nature reserve literally in the backyard of the house he used to live in (when we met). Although the ride to west Bloomington only takes 30-35 minutes, the boys got a little impatient. We walked along the trails and gave each boy a Ziploc bag to collect leaves. I was so impressed by all the colors and textures, I was snapping pictures continuously.

As a treat on the way home, we stopped at Wally's which is a roast beef joint in business since 1969. They have the absolute best sandwiches and the prices are very reasonable. Ray and I went there from time to time while we were dating for Saturday lunch.

Wow!

The last few days Liam has really started to amaze us. While playing outside with our friends (brothers) Joey (5 1/2) and Sammy (4), Liam jumped on Sammy's bike and off he went! It took him a few minutes to apply the pedaling techniques he uses on his trike to the big boy bike. Once he got the hang of it, he was up and down the street with ease. In this picture he was too close to the edge of the road where the training wheels aren't level and so he was able to pedal the bike like a stationary bike! He loved doing that and would go faster and faster! Oh and then Connell jumped on Joey's bike which is much bigger than Connell's thrift store bargain and off he went as well. Next summer Liam will have Connell's bike and we will find another for Connell, but this year Liam's legs aren't quite long enough for Connell's which is why he was thrilled that Sammy's was perfect!

And Liam is putting his coat on all by himself. Connell had no interest in doing that (nor was he good at it) until he was almost 3 1/4 and now Liam has already mastered it at 2 1/3! Once again I just think that these little tasks and accomplishments really make our day and we are trying to savor every moment of these toddler/preschool years with the boys.

A Busy Friday

Connell and I were up and out the door early this morning. We had to compete with morning rush hour to go downtown to the U of M again for a follow-up study related to the one he did 2 weeks ago. To sum up the project, they are also seeing if having done the 5-6 activities within 1-2 weeks prior changes the results at all -- that is whether people improve in their pattern forming/cognition, memory techniques, etc. already being familiar with the exercises. From observing across the room, I think that Connell improved in certain activities and actually did worse on others. At any rate, we left with another $20. gift card for our time and another toy for Connell. Daddy still got to work fairly early (he probably got to Shakopee by about 10:30) and we had time to go to open gym for 45 minutes too!

It's the little things....

My boys are very independent and always want to do things for themselves and at times I struggle with giving up control. It ranges from pouring their own milk and juice to making their own lunches to arranging things their own way, etc. Well, this morning Connell was extremely bothered by the tag inside his pajama top. He insisted that he could cut it out himself. Immediately I told him "no" and then told him the story about how my dad (as a child) tried to cut a tag out of a new garment and ended up making a hole in the new piece of clothing resulting in no supper and being sent to his room for the evening. His mom was so upset! Keep in mind that this incident happened 80 years ago and I heard it second-hand from my dad, but I have always found it to be a poignant story. But then I remembered that since I buy all of the kids' clothing and pajamas at thrift stores or get it second-hand that the pajama top was either free or $.99 and so it wouldn't be a big loss if he cut a hole in it. So I told Connell to go ahead and cut it out and tried to show him where he would cut as to not ruin the top. You can see the result in the photo -- a perfect, straight-line cut right where it was supposed to be.

It's those little things that sure can make you smile and feel proud of your children and realize that they are growing up!

Bring on the winter.....

As the weather is becoming more unpredictable, I have started to think about winter. This weekend we started some small craft projects/experiments. The kids have had fun decorating paper plates and then putting dried pinto beans inside to make homemade maracas.


I made a batch of basic dough (2 c. flour, 1/2 c. salt and 1 cup warm tap water) to play with. Long before I started this blog (probably 1 1/2 years ago), Connell ruined his bedroom carpet with several large spots of real Play-Doh squished into it. Turns out that he smuggled Play-Doh up to his room when he was 2 1/2 and wanted to see what happened if he squished it into the carpet. The steam cleaners don't take it out and the professional carpet cleaners apologized that they can't do anything about it either. We also enjoyed playing with the homemade recipe with Kool-aid packets in it for color/smell back in the day, but the food coloring in that also does a number on the carpet (even if only small pieces get caught on their clothes and transferred around the house). So this time I made the colorless dough above and figure that it will do the least amount of damage to the house. Of course many of you know that I basically gave up a few years ago as I found out that you can't totally keep the house perfect with small children in the house -- especially curious and experimental boys like mine. But I digress...

We also made a telephone with some of my cotton yarn from my recent crochet projects and 2 yogurt containers. The kids think that it is amazing and even Connell who doesn't like the real telephone has enjoyed talking to his brother or daddy through the yogurt phone!

Swimming Lessons Update

Connell had swimming lesson #2 this morning and on the way home he told daddy that he didn't want to go back. Since almost everything has always come very easy for Connell, we think that he is a little taken back that this is more of a challenge for him. He doesn't pay attention to the instructor and he is so impatient, so that probably doesn't help. Ray told him that he is committed for the 8 week session that we have paid for and so he has to stick with it. Ray and Connell might do a few open swims on the weekends to give him some extra practice with the strokes/skills. As predicted though....Connell doesn't seem to be our little athlete as Liam tended to show many more signs of coordination/gross motor/kinesthetic skills from early on whereas Connell was always very good with fine motor skills and more of thinker.

MagnaDoodle Art

While I was posting the photos from the apple crisp, Connell was by my side begging me to add his MagnaDoodle art to the blog. Confused as to what it was a picture of (many of you probably know that Connell loves writing numbers and letters and words on his MagnaDoodle and isn't really into drawing), he said, "It's nothing -- it's just art!" Since his pictures are few and far between, I thought I better take advantage and post it for you. Remember -- it's nothing -- it's just art!

Enjoying the Apples

This morning the boys and I made our apple crisp with the apples from the orchard. They were busy playing while I was peeling and slicing the apples (lucky for me!) Then they helped for the few minutes it took to combine and mix the ingredients. Connell spilled the entire cinnamon bottle all over the floor and some of the ingredients didn't make it into the bowl. It was an utter mess and I couldn't bring myself to take or post any photos of that part. It still managed to look and taste yummy in the end though. Here is a photo of Connell enjoying the crisp in addition to the final product.

(Excuse the lack of a shirt -- my boys only dress when they are forced to and probably wouldn't wear clothes if it weren't required in society)