Happy 80th Birthday Grandma!

This past Saturday we traveled down to Pinckneyville for my Grandma Mildred's 80th birthday. And although she does not like surprises very much, that is what this party was! My cousin Sarah thought of a great idea for a gift from the grandkids - a card shower. Instead of just handing my grandma 16 cards, I took my dad's idea and hung them from a houseplant for display. Happy Birthday Grandma!


Olivia and Ethan with their great grandma.

Olivia helping her great grandma blow out the candles on her GIANT cake. At this point, Ethan was too busy playing with his 2nd cousin Brandon. Ethan was enamored of him and followed him around the house until Brandon left. Brandon (and wife Nicole's) first baby is due in February, so I think that this is a good sign of the daddy skills Brandon will have (we still have to work on the diaper changing, though).

Trick or Treat! (or WEE-WEE in Ethan speak)

The big night has finally arrived! Trick or Treat! Joe took both kids out to fill their bags with candy, and Olivia pooped out before Ethan did! Plus, both kids had thought that they had gone to heaven when we dumped their candy bags on the floor and told them to dig in for as much as they wanted. Surprisingly, neither of them seemed to go overboard with the candy.

Here are the kids pre-Trick or Treat. Ethan would not leave the sock monkey hat on his head at all before they left, so I had to take this picture very fast before he snatched the hat off.


Our beautiful Belle. This Halloween was wonderful for the kids - no coats or hats or anything. The weather was absolutely perfect!

Ethan returned home from trick or treating with the hat firmly on his head. Joe said that after the first house Ethan forgot about the hat and focused on the candy. It only took him an entire month of wearing the costume before he decides that the hat is acceptable.

We attended a neighborhood Halloween party after the trick or treating. Here is Olivia with her new friend Ainsley after competing in the mummy contest. Olivia did this all on her own and I think that she did a pretty good job!

Olivia concentrating hard in the "eyeball on a spoon race".

Maybe a costume for next year....

And Even More Halloween Fun...

I realize that this is being posted after Halloween, but it has been a busy few days around here! This post will cover the remaining activities that the kids had before the big day even arrived. I think that next year we will need to prioritize and minimize our events better!

Here are Joe and Olivia carving the "Olivia pumpkin". She was a big help for about the first 5 minutes of this, and then wandered off started playing with something else. Such is life with a 4 year old.

The final results of the carvings. Olivia and even Ethan selected their own shapes for the pumpkins' features. Ethan pointed to shapes on a piece of paper when I asked him what he would like. We do not do the fancy pumpkins at our home.

Halloween Funshop for Ethan. Funshop is sort of like a "pre-preschool", where the parents attend with the kids and interact with them at the various stations around the room. It is a wonderful resource and the facilitators put in a lot of time and effort into making each week different. Here he is with the play-doh (which, on a side note, is homemade and always smells wonderful since they make it with kool-aid packets).

Snack/storytime at Funshop. My friend Heather and I switched cameras to capture the moment for each other.

Ethan driving the boat. Instead of sand, Funshop has the kids play in a rice and bean pool. I am always finding rice in various places (namely the diaper) throughout the day after he plays in here.

OK, this picture is not Halloween themed, but Joe is so proud of Ethan's hat. An orange and blue Darth Vader hat! How perfect is that? And Ethan will actually wear it!

Here is Olivia (third from the right in the Belle costume) at her preschool's Halloween party and parade. The kids all sang and acted out about 6 Halloween songs that they had been practicing for some time. It was a really cute event.

Making their silly Halloween faces for the crowd. To the right of Olivia is a boy named Jack (in the hat with the bag). Olivia adores Jack and talks about him frequently. Jack is beyond obsessed with snakes (which is why it is funny that he dressed like Indiana Jones who is afraid of snakes), which has now made Olivia talk a lot about snakes as well. Luckily she only talks about them and does not actually want to own one.

Olivia in the "parade". The classes marched around a bit of Washington Park for the parents.