Little Goblins

I'm slowly getting caught up.  Maybe by Christmas :)

We took the kids to Trunk-or-Treat at church the Wednesday before Halloween.  It was the best one I have been to so far, probably because most of the activity was outside.  You see, our church building is much to small for the number of attendees and so it gets ridiculously crowded at times.  And also, we decided for our sanity to eat at home before we came to the activity.  It was a chili cook off and that would have been fun but group meal settings are always a little challenging with little one's.  There was a movie on the lawn and games inside.  And then the candy.  We were home by 8pm.  Perfect. 

I must say I was pretty pleased with how their costumes turned out.  We already had the Superman cape from hand-me-downs my sister gave me (thanks Debby).  And the shirt and mask was from his superhero birthday party.  So, I really didn't do much for him except make a belt, which he requested, and print out the logo and tape it to his boots.  I did make Baby Sister's cape and shirt though and loved how they turned out.  And the skirt was something I had bought ahead of time for her to wear for the 4th of July.  Hurray for clearance sales and advance planning!!!!

 

The Mister got to wear his costume to school on Halloween.  They had trick or treating there and also a party.  He decided he wanted to be a Superman again for school since he plays superheroes at recess all the time.  Baby sister also had a Halloween party put on by some of the mom's at church.  It was a cute and fun little party with games, and face painting and treats, of course. 

Then it was time for the big show :)  We invited some friends to come trick or treating with us.  I was a little disappointed though that almost half of the neighborhood was not participating.  But, I think I have figured out that by moving the time change back a few weeks it has had a profound effect on Halloween for the littlest goblins.  You see, we try to go out early, say 6:30pm, to be back at a reasonable time for baths and bed.  When the time change was in October, it was fairly dark at 6:30 so a lot of people were out.  Now that the time change is after Halloween, not so much.  I only say this because I left for a little bit (it was a milkshake run, I admit it) around 7:30 there were a lot more houses with their porch light on.  I used to kind of like the time change.  Then I moved to Arizona where it doesn't exist and realized what a pain it can be.  Then I had kids and now I hate any kind of time change whatsoever.  BECAUSE no matter which way the clock is moving my kids always wake up earlier.  It STINKS!!    Wait, this post was supposed to be about Halloween.  Ok, here goes...NO MORE TIME CHANGE - IT IS RUINING HALLOWEEN!!!!

Oh well, here are some more pictures.

Fall is my Favorite

My absolute favorite.  I love the crunchy leaves, and the crisp air and all of the fun fall activities.  Here are a few of the things we have been up to while I wasn't blogging :)

In September the Mister had Spirit Week at school.  Since it coincided with Johnny Appleseed's birthday, one day they were supposed to dress up as Johnny Appleseed.  I didn't have much notice, but I think I still put together a pretty cute outfit.  Baby Sister was a big fan of the hat too!

One tradition we have made since living here is going apple picking in North Carolina every fall.  We have tried out several different orchards, but this year our favorite spot was closed for picking apples due to a late frost (or something).  So, we headed to the spot of our original apple picking adventure when the Little Mister was just a baby.  Lucky for us, it was the annual apple festival that day so there were lots of activities.  We mostly stuck to the apple picking and jumping though.

In October the Little Mister had his first field trip to a Pumpkin Patch and I got to go with him and his class.  It's the same place we pick strawberries.  They went on a little hayride, had a lesson in pumpkin growing, picked their pumpkins then had a snack and went through a mini corn maze.

A couple of days later we went back as a family.  We got to go on a longer hayride and did the full maze.  The Mister wasn't so excited anymore when it started to get dark :(

And also, we potty trained Babys Sister this fall.  It was easy, even easier than her brother was, but I maintain that even when potty training is easy it's hard.

I suppose Halloween and Thanksgiving deserve a post all their own so I will stop here for now and promise to continue updating as quickly as I can.

OBX: Final Installment

Since Friday was our last full day there, we decided to spend as much time at the beach as possible.  Brad and I agreed that this was the best beach day we have ever had.  The water was still a bit chilly, but calm.  It was overcast but warm so it was just one of those days that you wanted to be outside as long as you could. 

Drew dug a giant pit that cousin B used to re-enact the Backson scene from Winnie the Pooh.  And our kids, though less practiced in the fine arts, joined right in.  Sand castles were built and torn down, crabs and shells were found, a great day overall.

On Saturday, had we been smart, we would have just packed up and left for home to arrive at a reasonable hour.  Instead we took our very last opportunity to explore the Corolla lighthouse which Suz and I had discovered on our little drive while the babies were sleeping (my baby is two - hers is actually a baby).  We climbed up the lighthouse, explored the little village (strangely, we couldn't go into the schoolhouse because the sign said school was in session - on a Saturday?), and then had a picnic in the park.  Then we said our goodbye's and headed for home.  It was a great trip and I hope we get to do it again someday.

OBX: Part Three

Wednesday was a pretty low key day for us.  We rode our bikes into town and got donuts at Duck Donuts.  They were so good we got them again before we left.  The town has a pretty extensive boardwalk system on the sound side.  So, after our donuts we walked along the boardwalk and even popped into a couple of shops before heading back.  The day was so nice we even rode up past the beach house to explore a little more.  We spent the afternoon playing on the beach.  Apparently though, it was such a low key day that I didn't bother to get out my camera :(

Thursday we went to play on the sand dunes and fly kites and we even saw some hang gliders.  There is something about sand dunes that is just amazing to me.  I couldn't pass up the opportunity.  Plus, I will never forget the time we were driving through White Sands, NM and my sister and I wanted to get out of the car and see them so badly but my mom wouldn't let us.  Does White Sands remind anyone else about the movie "Space Camp"?  Just me....ok, moving on.

After our loooong hike over and around the dunes we went to see the Body Island lighthouse.  I think it's pronounce bo-dee, with a long O.  Because body island sounds creepy.  We didn't exactly know where we were going but found it without too much trouble, only to realize the whole thing was being repaired.  Oh well.  We still picnicked in the shadow of the scaffolding and then the boys left for their fishing trip while Suz and I took our babies home.

Fishing was the highlight of the trip for Little Mister.  Most specifically, the part where he got to throw the puffer fish that they caught onto the deck of the boat.  One of the guides blew the fish up (with his mouth - disgusting) and then let the kids play with it.  I don't think cousin B was quite as excited about the puffer fish, as you can see from his face in the picture. Priceless. When we got back the Mister told his whole class that he caught two puffer fish!  Poor Mister, the kids life jackets on the boat didn't fit him very well so he had to wear Baby Sister's puddle jumper.  Luckily he didn't seem to mind one bit.  I guess he was distracted by the thought of catching a real fish.