Halloween

It was fun to take the kids trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood. Sylvia, Eric and I went out first, while Dan stayed home to pass out candy. I was planning to use the stroller for Eric until I realized that most of the houses on our block are split foyers, and I would have been taking him in and out at each house or leaving him the driveway. He ended up doing a great job walking, and we made it to about 16 houses. Dan took Sylvia out to a few more houses while Eric and I relaxed at home. There were lots of kids out and about. We're looking forward to raising our kids here.

Nana and Papa stopped by before trick-or-treating to see our fire fighter and lion.
Family picture before trick-or-treating.
Eric and Sylvia with our leaf pumpkins. Thanks for filling them for us again Grandpa!

Sylvia drew the faces on our pumpkins for me to carve.

My three kids dressed up for Halloween.
Eric enjoying his first rice crispy treat.

Sylvia's First "Special Day"

Sylvia loves preschool and she was especially excited for her Special Day in October. Each morning before preschool, she asks, "Who's special day is it?" I was subbing in her class on her special day so I was able to see all the fun things she got to do and take lots of pictures.

The preschool day begins with calendar activities. Mrs. Fink was out doing preschool conferences so Sylvia got to help Mrs. Potter.
Sylvia checked the weather and then sang the weather song with her class.
She helped spell the color of the month.
Sylvia also got to dress the weather girl for the day.
After calendar time, Sylvia's class does centers. Sylvia and Elizabeth are doing playdough at the fine motor table. This is where I got to hang out during centers. The theme was transportation so the kids got to drive trucks, etc. through the playdough.
They also got to use car wheels to paint at the art table.
Sylvia loves to write and draw so I'm guessing she enjoys the writing table during centers.
During centers, the kids answer the question of the day. Then they look to see which has the most and least.
Language time and snack are after centers. Mrs. Potter did snack with half of the class while I read stories with the other half. Then we switched groups. Here's Sylvia with Parker and Ryan.
I didn't get any recess pictures but this is Sylvia and Eli during the Bible story of Abraham and Sarah.
Elizabeth, Sylvia and Kyle are singing during music time.
Sharing time is a highlight of the day for Sylvia. She was very excited to bring Fire Dog to preschool as well as three drawings she made for her teachers, Mrs. Fink, Mrs. Potter and Mrs. Berends.

IC Halloween Parade

Grandma and Grandpa joined us downtown for a Halloween parade and activities at the rec center. The kids got some time to play on the equipment before parade started. Then we all marched down to the rec center. Sylvia got to make a mummy, decorate a cookie and get her face painted. Eric went fishing for an apple. It was very crowded so we didn't stick around for too long. We did make one last stop to see the fire truck before heading home. If you can't tell by her costume, Sylvia loves firefighters. We got a lot of comments on how cute our little lion was too.

Sass Family Farm

We've been to the Sass Family Farm the past two years, but I wasn't sure if we were going to make it there this fall. Our days were busy with packing and moving (and napping). However, Sylvia started asking if were were going to go. She remembers going with her cousins two years ago and with her friend, Karuna, last fall. So, one October afternoon, when the weather was warm I packed up the kids last minute and we headed out.

Eric enjoyed sitting on the tractors...or as he would say, "Be, be, be duck." (Big, big, big truck.

Sylvia wasn't so sure about posing by the mums but they were too pretty to pass up the opportunity.
Both kids loved playing in the sandbox and slide. It was nice to get out of the house and have somewhere else to play for the afternoon.
Sylvia in the straw maze.
How'd she get that tall? Sylvia loves to measure herself and other things. Picking out pumpkins. We ended up getting a deal on them since it was pretty close to Halloween.
Playing in the corn. Sylvia lost her shoe in here. Luckily, there was another mom (who was not pregnant) who was willing to go in and look for it for me!

Orange Day

Preschool ended the month of October with Orange Day. The kids got to help carve a pumpkin and decorate pumpkin shaped cookies during centers time.

I laid the kids' clothes out so they'd both be dressed in orange. Sylvia got herself dressed and came out of her room wearing Eric's clothes. She thought she was so funny!
This is what the little guy looked like once we got things straightened out.

Sylvia's actual Orange Day clothes.
Getting ready to sing The Orange Song.



Sylvia's orange picture we sent to preschool at the beginning of the month.

Granny's Visit

We love having Dan's Granny come and visit. The kids enjoyed playing with her at Nana and Papa's and at our house. Granny can't see well anymore but she loved giving hugs and kisses to the kids and snuggling with them when they'd sit still for her. We wish we all lived closer and could see each other more often.


We made apple lips for dessert at Nana and Papa's.