Leaves!!!

The leaves are all on the ground here.  It seems like they fell later than usual.  As always the kids LOVE playing in the leaves as we're raking them up.  I took the chance to snap a few pictures of them tossing leaves, covering each other, jumping, and even helping rake the leaf piles.  Ah, the joys of childhood. 

I just noticed she's not wearing any shoes.

Helping make more piles for jumping.

Hansel & Gretel

A Gypsy, a cookIE and 2 trolls walk into a bar...

OUCH!!!

That's what you get when you put us all together from our last show -- Hansel & Gretel.  Such a cute and fun show.  Erin got to be a witch's cookie.  I was a colorful gypsy.  Tom and Jeffrey were stinky trolls.  We all has an absolute blast.  Singing and dancing and being silly.

Erin is really coming into her own on stage.  Several individuals remarked on her facial expressions (when she does remember to look at the audience).  She had some great reactions.  Jeffrey was a fantastic troll -- just like his daddy.  By his last show he was stamping around and walking hunched over just like Tom.  The big accomplishment with Jeff was that he let me spike his hair.  That's a major accomplishment these days as the boy simply HATES having his hair spiked.  But it really did look adorable. 

So here are some pictures (thanks Ashley) and a few videos just so I can really brag about my amazing kiddos.

Halloween Days

Pirate Wench and Indiana Jones

We had a Halloween filled weekend.  The kids have been waiting for Halloween for weeks.  And this past week we had a daily countdown.  On Saturday I tried to convince the kids that we had canceled Halloween this year and instituted "Kids Work Day".  I had to give in when they both erupted into blubbering screaming pools of goo.  I guess maybe we'll see if I can get Halloween re-instated. 

We've had pumpkins for a while.  The kids picked them when we went to the corn maze.  On Friday, Jeffrey and I stopped at a corner store to pick up 2 more pumpkins for carving, and some smaller pumpkins for the kids (and their friends) to paint.  Anything with paint always elicits cheers.  Friday evening they painted their smaller pumpkins.  After dinner we prepared to carve.  The kids found some patterns left over from last year.  I'd hoped they'd get creative and make their own designs, but they picked out a few "simple" designs from the book.  Tom did most of the work.  The kids were required to dig out their own guts.  Erin doesn't mind it so much.  Jeffrey absolutely despises touching pumpkin innards.  I did get him to use a spoon to dig out some of his pumpkin.  Then while Tom carved, Erin worked hard to separate the seeds so mommy could roast them. 

Please Don't Make Me Touch It

Sunday rolled around and presented a gorgeous fall afternoon.  The kids have had their costumes picked out for months.  I stumbled across both of them at a local consignment shop.  Erin wore the adorable pirate wench costume (that she wore to the Faire) with a black shirt and polka-dot leggings.  Jeffrey has had his heart set on being Indiana Jones since August.  I was pretty certain I was going to have to shell out $30 online to find an Indy costume.  Imagine how psyched I was to find one that would fit him for only $8. 

Before we headed out for the afternoon we took some photos on the steps with their pumpkins.  Then we went to a local "Trick or Trunk" event at the school.  People volunteer to bring their cars to the parking lot and decorate them.  Kids then trick-or-treat from trunk to trunk.  They also had face painting, games, free hot dogs and everyone favorite -- a bounce house.  The kids saw some friends there so it was a good time.

Then for trick-or-treating we headed to spend the evening with some family friends.  There were 5 kids in all and the moms took them around the neighborhood.  When everyone got too tired to walk we folded down the seats in the back of the van and drove them all around.  They had an absolute blast running from door to door with their buddies.  And they made out like absolute bandits.

Today after school I figured we could easily incorporate candy sorting/counting into some math homework.  The kids dumped out their laden bags in the middle of the living room and proceeded to sort and count the loot.  Jeffrey ended up with almost 200 pieces of candy (a large number of Tootsie Rolls) and Erin counted about 150 pieces.  Each ended up with at least 1 full size candy bar, and 3 goodie bags.  They counted and sorted and played with their candy for almost an hour.  I think they had almost as much fun counting and sorting as they did getting it. 

Here's a little video I made of the kids counting their candy and showing off their sorting skills.  Extra credit if you know the background music and why I chose it ;)

 So we had a fantastic Halloween and hope that you all did as well!!!