Boo in the Zoo

 

The children debuted their Halloween costumes last night when we attended Boo in the Zoo, and I wanted to share the background story involving their coordinating outfits:

 

Many weeks ago (because some stay-at-home moms who shall-not-be-named start thinking about things like Halloween costumes in August), I proposed to Luke how fun it might be for him to dress up as a farmer this year.  We put together his costume and I excitedly told him, "You can even have your very own cow!" (My entire costume vision hinged on an adorable cow costume that I had for Leah...)

 

Luke immediately ran upstairs and grabbed his stuffed animal cow, ready for Halloween: 

Mommy:  "No, buddy, you're missing something...":

 

 

Luke: "Oh yeah, Mama, you're right.  I need my hat (and a baby chick apparently).  Now I'm ready!":

Mommy:  "No, this is what you are missing!":

Leah wasn't so sure about her costume at first, and told us: "All Done Moo Cow!" before we even set foot in the zoo yesterday:

 

However, with a little distraction and the introduction of her first Trick or Treating experience, our little cow quickly decided that this whole costume thing was totally worth the goodies:

 

She even examined her loot to check out what in the world all of those people kept putting in her bag:

 

 

Once she found a lollipop, Leah was convinced that Halloween may be her new favorite holiday:

Farmer Luke, who is an old pro at Boo at the Zoo, agreeably posed with some of the Halloween decorations, and gently led his cow to the displays for a photo op as well:

 

 

 

Below is my favorite annual shot of Luke at Boo in the Zoo.  Each year, he runs joyfully down the same ramp.  Here he is last night, and also dressed up as a giraffe two years ago, at age 2:

 

 

Of course our little farmer and cow stopped to feed the animals in the barnyard section of the zoo:

 

 

Here's our only family picture from Boo in the Zoo.  As usual, it's impossible to have all four of us looking at the camera/smiling at the same time:

 

 

After a successful evening of fun, our happy kids headed home, bags heavy with treats: 

 Howdy Do, Y'all! 

Halloween Attire

 

We are getting ready for Halloween with lots of festive holiday attire!  Even Winnie has a pumpkin costume this fall, and we love our orange this time of year.  Here are some of my favorite pictures of our little ghost, spider, and pumpkin: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



"Mr. Twinkles" is Luke's preschool class Halloween mascot.  Each child brings him home for an adventure during the weeks leading up to Halloween.



Kisses for Winnie.

 

Singin' in the Rain

 

Someone loves her new rainboots!  Anytime Leah sees that it is cloudy outside, she insists on wearing her boots.  This week, she has proudly stomped around the grocery store, our neighborhood, and into Bubba's preschool.   

 

 

  Leah also has an adorable coordinating umbrella.  Now if only she could figure out that it's supposed to go over her head, and not be twirled around like a baton... 

 

 

You'll never guess what my girly girl is smiling at in the below picture:

I'll give you a hint:  They are slimy, appear on the sidewalk on rainy days, and are Leah's new favorite thing...   WORMS!!

Here she is, blowing a kiss to a worm that she found.  (Mommy is working on teaching Leah that we just look at worms with our eyes, and we don't touch with our hands).  I thought I went through this once already with Luke and his love of bugs!!

Love of worms and all, Leah is a ray of sunshine even on the rainiest of days!  How I love you, sweet girl!!

Fall Williamsburg Weekend

 

Last week, we drove to Williamsburg, VA to Bean and Poppy's house for a fun-filled long weekend.  Mark and Poppy took L&L to Busch Gardens on Friday and they had a wonderful time exploring the park and rides.  Leah showed a big change from this summer (when she was scared of many of the rides at Funland) and loved riding many different attractions.  Here are a couple of my favorite pictures of my happy family at Busch Gardens:

Ladybug kids.

One of Leah's favorite words right now is "Ah-meen!" for airplane.  She LOVES them!

I can't stop laughing at this one.  Mark assures me that Leah was big enough for this ride and loved it, but her expression here is priceless!

 

On Saturday, we went to Colonial Williamsburg and visited the neigh-neighs (another of Peanut's very favorite things!), historical Village, and Farmer's Market: 

 

 

Our little pumpkin!

The kids also had fun playing at Bean and Poppy's house, which is always filled with new and different toys.  Leah was especially thrilled with Bean's collection of "pretties" and modeled these for everyone:

 

Luke called his grandparents the day before our trip to ask if Poppy would take him to the "Jellybean Store", which is a special tradition that these buddies have.  Luke also loved the huge assortment of cars and trucks, the "Bubble Dragon" (pictured below), Poppy's sandbox, and watching new videos during Quiet Time (surrounded by his adoring fans, of course!): 

 

 

Another highlight of the weekend was a special family gathering to celebrate a milestone birthday of Mimi's. My aunts, uncles, and cousins on my mom's side met in Williamsburg and helped us to plan a party and dinner to honor our birthday girl. It is a rare treat for us to be able to spend time with both sides of our family in one weekend, and we were thankful for the baby-sitting and flexibility of everyone that allowed us to make the most of our time together. Mark and I were so excited about going out for an child-free dinner and grown-up birthday party that we didn't take any pictures together, but had a great time.

 

I also had the chance to do some shopping at the outlets and at the Childrens' Consignment Sale at church, where I consigned for the first time (and am hoping to make as much money as I spent).  We always look forward to these trips to see our family, as it means that our children create wonderful memories with their grandparents, we have a change from our routine at home, and have the opportunity to do fun activities in different places.   

 

Here is a slide show of more pictures from our weekend in Williamsburg:

 

The childrens' joyful expressions here sum up how we all felt about our weekend: Such great fun!!

Pirates, Builders, & Superheroes: Oh My!!

Ahoy there, Mates!  Pirate Luke has been entertaining us lately with stories about imaginary pirate ship games that he and his preschool friends play on the playground.  It all sounds very complicated, with Captain Hook, good and bad pirates, and lots of sound effects and mean pirate faces: 

"Arrggghh!"

 

Luckily, we have a pirate hat and eye patch at home, so we are able to see some of these routines re-enacted, and even Leah gets in on the action:

Of course, Luke is so cute and charming that we have a hard time being too frightened when he dons his pirate attire:

 

 

Luke also enjoys the role of Mr. Fix It around the house, and is such a handy little guy to have around:

Last week, Luke told me about his favorite station at preschool, during center time: 

"Mommy, I like Rescue Heroes the best," he reported.   "There's Captain 'Miracle, The 'Credible Hulk, and Jokey from Batman." 

"Do you mean Captain America, the Incredible Hulk, and Joker?"  I inquired, pretty impressed with myself for my recently-acquired Superhero knowledge (yet another way that I am growing as a parent of a boy!). 

"No, Mommy, it's Jokey," Luke retorted, and I smiled, deciding that his sweet, innocent nicknames for all of the superheros didn't need to be corrected quite yet.

"And Mommy, the girls like Home Living and Sewing Centers the best, but they are not my favorites," my son told me.      

And I thought how interesting it must be to be a preschool teacher and observe these obvious differences between boys and girls at such a young age.

Here are a couple pictures of Luke and his best buds from preschool at the class picnic last Friday.  The boys ran relay races, were filthy from the dirt and sap, and had a wonderful, sweaty time while most of the girls played quietly on the swings or sat at the picnic tables with their parents:

 

What energy and enthusiasm for life our little pirate/builder/superhero has!  He brings us so much joy each day with his imagination and stories!