Getting Ready for Halloween

The boys have been busy practicing trick-or-treating!  In the last week, we've been to ZooBoo, the Children's Museum's Haunted Mansion, and ArBOOretum.

Last weekend, we visited the zoo. Will really wanted to see the dinosaur exhibit one last time before it left, but we could only go during ZooBoo, so the boys dressed up, did the games, and went trick-or-treating.

ZooBoo is definitely not my favorite Halloween festival (it is pretty crowded!) but we had fun and saw the dinosaurs, which was the whole point!

On Wednesday, Will had an early dismissal day, so the boys and I decided to visit the Children's Museum. It is never crowded on early release afternoons, so it is the perfect time to go. The boys had fun exploring and even got to go trick-or-treating!

They ran through the maze outside. It was a hot, bright day!

We loved the Halloween decorations. They were spooky but not scary.

And finally, on Saturday, it was time for ArBOOretum, which is my favorite Halloween festival. I love that the kids have to complete a task to get their treat.  The first station was Paws for Crawfish, so they had to pretend to be raccoons and find crawfish in the pond.

At the Owl Eyes station, they put on owl masks and hunted for prey in the woods.

They jumped from stump to stump like possums at Possum Hop.

Confrontation Station was so fun. They were pretending to be skunks and sprayed the predators with water bottles!

There was a zip line set up at the Gliding Squirrel station.

Henry got a pumpkin painted on his cheek

 and we rode the train.

Saturday was such a beautiful fall day to be outside at the Arboretum.

And now, with all the festivals behind us, we are ready for the real deal on Wednesday!

Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch.

Yesterday morning, Henry's class went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch at St. Luke's Church.  

He was so excited because he finally got to ride the school bus on a field trip!

The kids were all allowed to pick a pumpkin "this big."

Henry was obsessed with these bumpy pumpkins, 

but they cost a little bit more, so he finally settled on a cute little pie pumpkin.

Henry knows exactly what to do in a pumpkin patch:  grin at Mommy's camera!

After picking out pumpkins, the kids had snacks and then went on hunt to find and measure the biggest pumpkin they could find.

And then these helpers loaded up the bus with pumpkins and we all headed back to school.

It sure didn't feel like fall in Houston yesterday, but the kids enjoyed their first field trip and all the pumpkins!

All Smiles

We are having the best weekend so far!  There is lots to smile about, starting with the new bulletin board outside Henry's classroom

and his cute multi-colored hen.

Henry and I do lots of things together on his free afternoons, but Fridays are our special days when he knows that we'll have lunch together and explore. This week, we chose to grab a bite from the food truck at the art museum and eat in the sculpture garden. It was a beautiful day to eat outside!

We always smile when it's time for a Friday night soccer game!

The Soccer Wizards are such a fun team. The boys get along so well and they are actually playing really well lately! They have come so far since last year.

We joke that Gene's Notre Dame chair is a throne. It is massive!

BOO! Yesterday was the Boo Bash at Will's school. Nana and Pop joined us for a fun morning of carnival games, bounce houses, and lots of food.

The boys got confetti eggs this year. If you look closely, their hair is full of confetti. Now that's definitely worth smiling about!

Now for some serious business. I worked the Chillin' Crossbow Darts booth for Will's class. It was very popular with my boys and lots of others!

Wouldn't this cute little pie pumpkin make anyone smile? It came in our CSA box and Henry was so anxious to turn it into a pumpkin pie!

We baked it next to a sweet potato, pureed them both, and made a delicious pumpkin pie filling.  Henry was so thrilled.

He helped me make the crust and while the pie baked, we tossed the pumpkin seeds in a little oil and salt and roasted them too. Then we read some of our favorite pumpkin and Halloween books. Pumpkins always make me smile!

We have a super fun, jam-packed day ahead and I am looking forward to many more smiles from my two favorite boys.

Always Reading

This kid never stops reading. And I love it. I thought he would have to slow down once school and soccer started, but I was wrong. He might even read more now than he did in the summer!

Will always has at least three or four books going at any given time. He gets so absorbed in a book that he doesn't hear anything else going on around him. Right now Will's favorite series are Captain Underpants (potty humor!) and Bad Kitty but he will read almost anything and of course still loves non-fiction. I recently had to check out books about asthma from the library because he wanted to learn all about it! We also just raided my stash of fourth-grade chapter books and chose ones that would be appropriate (content-wise) for a first grader. Will's love of books and thirst for knowledge constantly amaze me. I love my voracious reader!

Henry's Open House and Grandparents' Chapel

Tuesday night was Open House at Henry's school! He was so excited to show us his classroom and all their class projects.  

Last week was letter G week, so the kids made a flower garden. Henry's flower is the blue one on the left.

They also "planted" lima beans in a little greenhouse. They are sprouting!

Open House is held in conjunction with the school's Book Fair. Will was so excited to spend his own money (birthday money from Gramma and Grampa!) on a book. He loves the Bad Kitty series by Nick Bruel, so he chose Bad Kitty for President.

Yesterday was Grandparents' Chapel so Nana and Pop came to visit Henry's class and go to chapel with him. He loved having them there.

It has been a fun week at Henry's school!

Nature Class and Duck for President

We were back at the Arboretum on Saturday morning and the boys couldn't resist climbing on these huge pumpkins out front.

A few weeks ago, Henry decided that he was ready for another round of Tadpole Troopers classes at the Arboretum. Saturday was his first class and we learned all about forest habitats on our nature walk.

Now that Will is six, he's moved up the Naturalist Explorers class at the Arboretum.  He learned all about animal adaptations and came home with a corn bird and squirrel feeder.

On Saturday afternoon, we headed over to Main Street theater to see Duck for President!  

We love Doreen Cronin at our house and Duck for President was a great way to talk about the upcoming election and how our country chooses its leaders, though Henry says he would've voted for Duck despite the fact that he's a duck.

It's a good thing four-year-olds can't vote!