boo at the zoo

our fourth, and last, halloween activity is "boo at the zoo".  i went back and forth on this one because i had to buy tickets for the kids - oh, and that we are in the middle of moving.  but the kids had been pretty into the decorations the past few trips to the zoo and i wanted to see what it was all about.

the parking lot was full so i was a little nervous about how it would be...

for some reason, every single person last night and tonight thought that maddux was a girl!  i don't know what about lion costume and a blue (sports) blanket says "girl" but that was all we heard.

as always, since daddy was with us the kids got to go for a ride.  i wasn't fast enough to get a picture with all three faces, but you can see everyone between the two.

it was actually a really nice afternoon/evening at the zoo.  the decorations were really cute and madelyn and mason got cards to stop at 14 themed 'stations' to get a 'treat'. and they were good treats too - king sized candy bars, fruit snacks, coloring book, little debbie cakes and snacks.  okay so maybe not "good" as in good for you, but they were not cheap treats like i was expecting.

there were also a few cute photo opprotunities (like the one at the top of the post).  madelyn refused to join mason and i in the pumpkin patch, but mason gave a big "roar" (by the way, the real lion was roaring like crazy!  it almost sounded like a sound track but it was really the lion).

even matt thought it was fun and worth the cost and effort - which is saying a lot.  we will most likely do this again next year.  love.

sitting around

maddux was sitting with one leg over the arm rest of this chair so i went to take a picture.  and then he turned on the personality.  love.

trick-or-treat

our neighborhood trick-or-treated tonight instead of actually on halloween.  we had no idea how many kids we would see so i was worried that we wouldn't have enough candy.  thankfully, we did.  this is a king-sized-candy-bar kind of neighborhood.  the kids had a really great haul - which is good for mommy and daddy... :)  madelyn was most excited about a toothbrush!  isn't that great?

pre-trick-or-treating with flash

and again with no flash so that you can see the 'glow' from our make shift jack-o-lanterns.

unfortunately, it was pretty cold and it started raining.  not pouring but enough to make the kids really cold.  matt came back to drop the boys off but madelyn wanted to keep going and the rain was of the stop and start variety.

after trick-or-treating they had a party at the club house.  and it was a party.  complete with smoke machine. we didn't stay long because it was already almost an hour past bed time and maddux fell asleep in my arms.  he was so out cold that he didn't wake up while i carried him home (in a light rain), took his costume off or dressed him for bed.  we only went so that we could meet a few neighbors before everyone is in for the winter.  i am sure i won't remember most of the names, but at least i know a few faces.  love.

reading nook

we need to get a book case for the boys' room so for now i have used a windowsil in the living room (madelyn was already sitting in that corner to read in the mornings while waiting for the rest of us to get up.) maddux was sitting there 'reading' before trick-or-treating but i wasn't fast enough and he started to get up when he saw me.

so instead i got an action shot. love.

jack-o-lanterns

i love carving jack-o-lanterns.  so to admit that there just wouldn't be time this year was a little sad for me.  but i couldn't go without anything, right?  so about two months ago i started collecting jars - at least when i remembered.  every time we finished some food item in a glass jar, i would rinse it out and set it to the side.  the kids and i had already bought orange paint and sponge brushes for our 'pumpkins' and we already had painter's tape.

i cut out whatever shape (and teeth count) the kids wanted out of the painter's tape and then they stuck them on and painted the jars.  once everything was dry we peeled off the tape for the candle light to shine through.  if we had done them more than a few hours before trick-or-treating, i would have done more than one coat of paint.

i think we ended up with seven or eight jars. they didn't turn out half bad either.  madelyn really loved the project.  i will show you the finished arrangement on the front porch in the next post.  love.

fall festival

i didn't know much about what to expect with madelyn's 'fall festival' at school.  her teacher said to send her to school in her costume and to come back and join them at 10:30 (school gets out at 11:30).  the boys and i went to browse a nearby store while we waited to go back for the party.

essentially, it was the parents watching the kids finish out their school day, but in costumes.  we watched them eat party food (there was none for parents or siblings - much to mason and maddux' dismay).  then the kids listened to a story, colored a turkey craft, posed for a group photo and headed out to the common area for a few 'festival' games.  the most difficult part for me was keeping maddux from destroying the classroom!  he was feeling extra busy and almost nothing was appropriate for him.

our two lions playing (the other parents kept trying to direct mason to doing things with the class because they thought that he was 4).

a parent read halloween-ish stories

madelyn coloring her turkey kit

they had a few left over turkey crafts (one of the parents had brought them for the kids), so mason was invited to join in.  he was very focused on his task and happy to have something to do.

i couldn't get into position for a good shot of the group because it put me too far from maddux the destroyer.  here is my best shot.  the kids just wanted to get to the candy and games - there are a few funny expressions in there.

mason and maddux tried to have fun with the games too but there were a few too many kids for the number of games.  even madelyn got a little whiny about not having a game to play.

the matching game wasn't too popular, but our kids enjoyed it and they could play together which was nice too.

i sound so down on the event.  it was nice that they did it for the kids and they enjoyed it overall.  i might have had expectations that were a little too high... and i might not have enjoyed it as much because i was sweating from wrestling maddux.  love.

plan b

like i said in the last post, today looked like the only nice day for the week.  i had packed a lunch for us to eat at the zoo after picking madelyn up from school.  only then i got a call that the electrician could come look at the ovens again (yes, of my three ovens, only one was working - one was electrical and one is the appliance) this afternoon.  and then i remembered that i had 2 and 3pm meetings scheduled for work.  oh well.  mason was so disappointed that he cried - more than once.  why, oh why, did i break my own rule about not telling where we are going until we are on our way?!

i promised them that we would go to the neighborhood park and get the bike and scooter out after my meetings.  mason was pretty interested in the bike since he had no memory of it and stopped crying about the zoo.  he did keep talking about the zoo though...

climbing the rope ladder at the park.

riding the 'bike' on the sidewalk in front of the house.

it wasn't quite what any of us had in mind for the day, but it worked out.  and it helped that i could promise them another trip to the zoo that weekend.  love.

killing time

every day this week we are driving 40 minutes to take madelyn to school and then 'hanging out' until it is time to pick her up and drive the 40 minutes back home.  yesterday, i took the boys to get a few things from the apartment and work on clean up.  it didn't go so great because there wasn't anything for them to do other than try to break blinds and doors.  today was going to be the only rain free day of the week so i thought that we would wait for madelyn at the park. 

i took them to the grocery store first to try and redeem a rain check.  of course they still didn't have what i wanted so we picked up a few donuts for a mid-morning snack at the park.  they were both pretty pleased with eating donuts at the park and it was a nice day for it.

 it wasn't as wet as i had thought that it would be so i let maddux do a little 'walking' around.  he loved it!  and he was so cute.  several kids came over to play with him too.

maddux thought that he could just climb up like mason.

it was a nice way to spend the morning and it makes me look forward to maddux getting really steady so that he can have fun too instead of just watching. love.

trunk or treat

just because we are moving, doesn't mean that we can't still get out for a little fun.  the debut of this year's halloween costumes?  trunk or treat at church.  we are so sad to be moving so far from this church.  plus, we aren't too excited about 'church shopping' again...  oh well.  both of the older kids were very excited, but madelyn was especially excited.  mainly because we bought glitter to spray in her hair.

madelyn was an angel - at her request.  i was going to make her an angel costume but i bought this complete costume for way cheaper than i could put one together. and we just happened to already have a long sleeved shirt with silver stars on it to put underneath for warmth.

our angel and lion #1.  mason had just woken up and it was a little bright out for him.

one angel and two lions (at mason's request).  all three kids have worn the lion costume maddux is wearing. if i had thought about it i would have dressed him as daniel so that they could have a 'daniel in the lion's den' theme.

mason 'jumping like a lion' for his candy.

an angelic madelyn showing me her face painting (a red butterfly).

isn't this so sweet?  they held hands waiting for their balloon swords.

the folks at this car thought that it was a good idea to give mason a bat and suggest he hit something...

how cool is this one with balloon art?  she said she just looked up online how to make each piece.

and mason's favorite (and mine too) - mary poppins!

we had a pretty nice time.  the trunks were pretty impressive overall, but the food and activities were way better at our church in wisconsin.  the kids all had a great time and the costumes were really great.  it was nice to get out and have a little fun.  love.

toyland

the kids got the first box of toys out of storage (most of the toys in the picture were in the apartment).  inside was madelyn's tea set and she cleared just enough space to have 'tea' with her dolls.  she was also pretty excited about her swimming goggles! love.

moving

all this moving has worn maddux out.  he fell asleep eating lunch!  it really has us all worn out. we slept on the floor last night and will again tonight (maddux slept in the pack-n-play).  i think the kids fared better than matt and i but it was worth it to wake up in our own house.  matt picks up the truck tonight and the movers come tomorrow!  let the unpacking begin!  love.

maddux walking

maddux is getting really good at walking and i thought that i should try to get some video.  the camera cut out during the first bit but he never fell in the whole distance.  he walks all over the house while we are there and his confidence is definitely growing.  enjoy. love.

exhausted

but our day wasn't over yet... the forecast doesn't look good for tomorrow (100% chance of rain - all day), so i decided that i should try to make two trips to the house.  we have moved stuff in every night since sunday so that we can start living there this week.  the method is to put all the kids in the van, start a movie, load the van with as much as we can safely fit, drive to the house, unload the van, unload the kids, put things away, load the kids back in the van, turn on a movie, load in the empty boxes and drive back to the apartment. does it make you tired? did i mention that our apartment is upstairs so there is a flight of stairs when carrying each box, bag, item?  today i discovered that the whole process takes almost four hours. 

the kids and i went home to each lunch after the apple orchard.  while they were eating i started loading the back of the van.  once they were finished and cleaned up, they went in the van so that i could finish loading.  we have typically been bringing things after dinner, but going during the day meant that i may run into a crew (they are touching up a few things that we requested last week).  and they were there.  because they were parked blocking the driveway, i couldn't pull all the way into the garage like i normally do to unload.  instead i had to park by the trail and walk.  it took around 20 trips to get the van unloaded. then i brought the kids in.  the tricky part has been that we don't have the baby gate installed yet (and not for a lack of trying) so we have to keep maddux contained to a bedroom while we unpack.  he is not too fond of that, especially when his sister and brother are running all over having fun outside of the room (i am in with maddux - we don't leave him by himself).  and then kids back to the van, filled with empty boxes and drive back to the apartment.

the kids ate a snack while i packed up the boxes i had just carried back up into the apartment (why haven't we just bought more boxes? because we just can't stand spending money on things that aren't necessary and we know that somewhere in one of the two storage units are all of our empty boxes from moving into the apartment - matt just can't find them).  then kids back in, boxes in, frozen pizzas for dinner in and back to the house. 

thankfully, matt was already at the house and unloaded the car.  i was in the kitchen trying to figure out our new wall oven so that i could cook our frozen pizzas for dinner (we had some carrots too).  once we were done, i didn't want to leave.  just a few more days.  unpacking has been so relaxing.  just to have some space to put things and gain a sense of 'permanance' again.

the kids saying, "new house"

we still have a lot to do, but are doing it joyfully!  and i fell right to sleep when i got to go to bed - utterly exhausted and happy.  love.

field trip

we were all able to go on madelyn's class field trip to an apple orchard (we later learned that they also grow peaches).  it was huge and right in the middle of a regular (under a half acre lot size), established neighborhood.  i kept thinking that i was going the wrong way, but then there it was.

first the kids played with their sign that has a little door that folds down so that you can stick your face through.  imagine 10-15 four-year-olds (and mason) playing on both sides.  guess who got their finger pinched - madelyn.  sometimes it feels like she just looks for ways to injure herself...  mason liked it because it was a little like playing peek-a-boo with the little trap door.

once it was our turn, we all piled up in the wagon for a hayride out into the orchard.  it was beautiful.  and huge!  i couldn't believe that we were in a neighborhood!

madelyn wrapped her arm around mason the whole time so that he wouldn't fall (i didn't get a picture).

after a few minutes of riding, they let us off to walk around and pick an apple each.  having never seen an apple tree, madelyn and mason kept going for the apples on the ground.  i had to explain that they only wanted ones off the trees.  mason still didn't get it and kept putting his down and would need to pick another. 

the grower told us that they only spray when they are blossoms so the fruit was fine to eat in the field (it has also rained a lot the day and night before so they were fresh 'washed').  i didn't eat mine because i was carrying maddux and it would have been too tricky.  mason ate the entire apple - the entire apple - seeds and all.  he and madelyn both said that they were delicious.  we had fiji apples because that was the only variety they hadn't finished picking.  and the apples are hand picked.  we were all surprised by this and got to watch them working on the neighboring row.

madelyn and some of her classmates (with mason)

isn't it pretty?

after the orchard, we were taken back to their 'factory' where they make cider and clean and bag apples.  did you know that all of the apples go through a little computer that weighs each one and sorts them into bags so that each bag weighs exactly the same?  or that apples don't freeze until 27 degrees because of their high sugar content? (at least i think i heard that right - i should google it before i post, but you can...) on the way out they gave each child an apple stamp on their hand and a little bag with an apple farm coloring book and an apple juice in an apple shaped container.

it was a nice field trip and i love that mason can participate too.  love.