Archive for October, 2013

Fall Traditions =)

Saturday, October 26th, 2013

Pumpkin Patch and the Carnival!

10/26

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We have some fall traditions that I really love and want to remember!  We went to Carmichael’s Pumpkin Patch with Mike, Kelly, Carson and Raegan.  Serenity and Donovan are always so thrilled to see the kids, and they practically knock them over with hugs and affection.  I think Serenity actually did knock Raegan over this year.  Raegan was done being hugged at that point I think.

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Both kids loved climbing all over the pumpkins.  Serenity even asked to go back so she could do more climbing at the end, but I was ready to sit for awhile by then.  Serenity found the perfect pumpkin for her in the first five minutes, (she liked it because it was closer to yellow than orange) and so we carried that around until Mike scored a cart.

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All the kids really loved the hay maze this year.  It wasn’t quite as dark as last year.  They went through it at least ten times each, sometimes running right back around to the entrance.

My kids loved the pony rides.  We got some animal feed, but the animals were already full by the time we got there. =)  It was a very busy day at the pumpkin patch!

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We ended the visit with a stop at the fudge shop, which is Carson’s favorite part.  This year we got cookies and cream and amaretto.

 

The Halloween Carnival at University School is turning into a fun tradition for us as well.  I love getting to help with planning and coming up with new games.  This year, since I’m co-chairing the book fair with Jen, we decided it would be fun to match the theme of the carnival with the book fair.  The book fair theme was Egypt, and that is just so perfect for our school since they do lots of interesting studies about Egypt.  So we came up with a whole list of game ideas and ways to make the usual carnival games have an Egyptian twist.  So we had a Walk Like an Egyptian cake walk, instead of the usual cake walk.  I made an Egyptian temple out of cardboard to be a mini-golf course.  We had a bat toss, plinko became “Sail Down the Nile” and I turned the play structure into a pyramid instead of a spooky cave.  I also painted an Egyptian cat onto my cornhole toss game, and the playmobil pyramid set that Barrett passed down to us became a nerf gun target in the “Tomb Raider Practice Range.”  It was a lot of fun!  Poor Donovan started feeling croupy, and since he’d been at the school with me since before setup time so we could help at the book fair a bit, when he saw Eric come in he said “Daddy, take me home!”  So Eric just spent a few minutes with Serenity on the games in our commons and then took him home for rest and snuggles.  I took Serenity around the fair, since I had plenty of parent helpers to cover the booth the first hour.  She wanted to explore more, but she had a lot of fun going through our games and collecting all the prizes she wanted.  Especially pixy sticks =)

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Serenity decided she wanted to be a flower this year... She said her green dress would be a perfect stem, brown leggings and brown boots with fringe for roots, and her daisy headband.  We already had all that!  I got her a flower glow wand as a surprise and she said it made her a flower princess.

Serenity decided she wanted to be a flower this year… She said her green dress would be a perfect stem, brown leggings and brown boots with fringe for roots, and her daisy headband. We already had all that! I got her a flower glow wand as a surprise and she said it made her a flower princess.

Donovan wanted to be Green Lantern.  He knows the whole green lantern pledge, and he loves wearing this mask and carrying a sword and saying "Green Lantern's Light!"  So when I saw the glow sword it was too perfect to pass up =)  I had already made the cape, so really that was all that he needed. =)

Donovan wanted to be Green Lantern. He knows the whole green lantern pledge, and he loves wearing this mask and carrying a sword and saying “Green Lantern’s Light!” So when I saw the glow sword it was too perfect to pass up =) I had already made the cape, so really that was all that he needed. =)

One of the Dads from P1 made this amazing sarcophagus!

One of the Dads from P1 made this amazing sarcophagus!

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Treasure Dig

Treasure Dig

Mummy Bowling

Mummy Bowling

It's possible Serenity is a little sheltered... when she was handed the nerf gun for the Tomb Raider game, she didn't know what a trigger was...

It’s possible Serenity is a little sheltered… when she was handed the nerf gun for the Tomb Raider game, she didn’t know what a trigger was…

 

 

30 Weeks!

Tuesday, October 15th, 2013

10/15

 

30 Weeks

30 Weeks

30 weeks along, yay third trimester!  I’ve done yoga in the mornings the last five days in a row.  I’ve reached the point where I wake up with achy hips because I have to sleep more on my side than my stomach.  It’s amazing how much yoga helps.  If only I could make myself remember that when I start to get lazy about actually doing it!  The kids do some of the moves with me.  Donovan especially likes Downward Dog =)  And any other move that he can say he’s being a dog.

Serenity feels my stomach every day and chats with her baby sister.  She pokes around until she can feel her kick.  I still love that she tried to rock the baby by rolling me back and forth. =)  The kicking has reached the most dramatic point right now.  Probably before too much longer she’ll run out of room and start to just roll around in there, but for now I’m savoring the feeling of her whacking me =)  I think she might be up higher than the other two were, either that or she’s just more accomplished at reaching my ribs with her little feet.

 

I’m not sure I’ve mentioned one of the stranger things about this pregnancy… I seem to crave cold water.  Usually I avoid water straight from the refrigerator, it used to bother my teeth.  But now I love it!  At least there’s one thing that’s good for me that I actually want right now =)

 

I’ve actually managed to make a couple of things for the baby.  I started by making her a stocking, since she’ll most likely get here before Christmas.  Then I made a hat.  She’s my first winter baby, so I figured I might actually put a hat on her head occasionally.  Well, I didn’t check the gauge before I made the hat, so it’s big enough for even Donovan to wear.  (We had to buy him a helmet for an 8 year old, so I seriously hope it’s too big for her!)  But both kids are asking me to make hats for them now so probably I’ll end up making three anyway.  I’m going to pick the right weight of yarn next time so maybe it’ll be a little easier.  I’m not sure what I was thinking, picking a navy blue homespun for my first crochet project in five years!  Serenity wants to help me make a quilt for her, and I have a couple other things in mind that I hope to get to before she comes.  We seriously need to decide where we’re going to put her though so I can make actual decorating plans.

30 Weeks

30 Weeks

23 Weeks

23 Weeks

14 Weeks

14 Weeks

Serenity in September

Friday, October 4th, 2013

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We finally got to take Eric to the Discovery Lab!  As predicted, he loved the tape tunnel =)  They had switched out their exhibits for a really cool one on animation.  Eric and Serenity made an animated scene by posing for a series of pictures.  It was so cool!  Serenity and I did the voices for some animated sequences, and we all played with the Foley machine making sound effects.  They had moved some of our favorite things, like the ball vacuums and the ball run to the smaller room, which was actually really nice.  Much easier to keep an eye on both kids in that room.  And they had a new craft in the make it shop, working with paper. Serenity made a cool person out of rolls of newspaper.  It started out as an airplane but then it started to look more like a girl so she went with it.  Donovan loved it and so he needed to make a boy. =)

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I turned Serenity’s class t-shirt into a little dress so she’d actually wear it.  She has declared it her Friday dress and she plans to wear it every week.  Her friend Harper, who also won’t wear anything but dresses, needed one too.  I’m actually getting good at this so if anyone else wants one, it takes less than an hour to make =) IMG_1942_forweb

 

Singing in the rain =)

Singing in the rain =)

Found these birdhouses at Jo-Ann's.  Serenity filled hers with flowers to attract the faeries.

Found these birdhouses at Jo-Ann’s. Serenity filled hers with flowers to attract the faeries.

I love the silly fun games they come up with together.  It often involves these empty tubs, either climbing in them or jumping off them, and a dizzying array of sofa cushions.

I love the silly fun games they come up with together. It often involves these empty tubs, either climbing in them or jumping off them, and a dizzying array of sofa cushions.

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