Thursday, October 22, 2015

Fall fun

We've been to HalZooween a couple of times and we've been to one pumpkin patch so far.
This weekend we plan to attend some Halloween events at the libraries and maybe go to another pumpkin patch on Sunday.

The first time we went to HalZooween, we met up with Auntie Ema, Lukey and GranJan.


So cute!
  




They both wanted to ride a zebra!
Maxy took a little snooze with GranJan while these two rode the carousel.

Trick-or-treating!
Lukey was loving life, eating every single piece of candy as soon as he got his hands on it.
At one station, they gave him a tattoo and he definitely felt like he got a "trick" instead of a "treat!"



Little sillies waiting in line for the train


Lucy took this pic!

 
Maxy LOVED the train ride!


After the zoo, we hung out at GranJan & Grandpa's house and Max showed Luke his favorite trick:

Then the little artists painted some pumpkins: 





We went to Neltner's Farm for Grandma's birthday with her and Aunt Nikki & Steven and Aunt Amy...fun times!

Max loved feeding the goats...Lucy, not so much...
 




 
She went into the corn maze with Aunt Nikki and loved it

Lucy picked the perfect pumpkin!




Maxy took his first pony ride! 












He kept steeling gourds and pumpkins and throwing them...

The second time we went to HalZooween, it was just the 4 of us and Lucy decided they'd wear costumes this time.  I found Max's awesome owl costume for eight bucks at Once Upon a Child!  Lucy wore her Princess Aurora costume from her dress up bin.


Lucy touched a snake and they both enjoyed watching the fishies and manatees! 



 
Lucy got her nails painted!





These two are mighty cute!


In their new Halloween pjs from GranJan & Grandpa


Happy fall, friends!

October update

Kids are crazy...especially mine!
Max is such a silly boy...he loves getting the pots and pans out...and look, he even put them away!  I cracked up when I saw it, but the cabinet still shut so I left it like that...plus it's really not too far off from how I'd have put them away myself!


Lucy has been doing pretty well at bedtime lately.  We've continued with the same routine with the chart and rewards after 3 days in a row but I added in a little something - after snack and tv she does teeth and potty...and then she quietly takes herself up to bed and gets 10 minutes to do whatever she wants but she has to be in bed.  I set a timer and after 10 minutes, I go up there and read her one book and turn out the lights.  This added 10 minutes of control on her end seems to really have helped.

When I started the whole 10 minutes thing, I suggested reading quietly in her bed but she had other ideas...she bring toys into her bed - one night she even hauled her Little People Princess Castle into bed with her!  I heard the castle sounds on the monitor and thought she was already bending the rules by playing out of her bed and was surprised to see the whole dang castle in her bed with her.


Luckily, Lucy loves when she and Max match as much as I do!  They're super cute in their Halloween pajamas!


2014 vs. 2015

Last weekend, Lucy had zero patience for her baby brother.  She screamed at him the second he walked into the same room as her.  She was just not in the mood.  I guess she could see his disaster potential before he even touched a thing.  I finally had to get him out of the house so she could have some time to play with Daddy without keeping her eyes peeled for Maxyboy and so he could have some time to play without being yelled at...

But other times she's such an amazing big sis...Look how cute they are at Kroger last week...his first time in a car cart!

And recently at the park...we stopped by after school/work/Ms. Shelly's one nice evening...she was so cute with him, laughing and playing and leading him to the slide, but staying close so he didn't fall.  Max loves the big slide!  He climbed the steps and the ramps all the way up to the slide, then sat down and headed feet-first down that tunnel slide at least a dozen times!







Lucygirl got to be the "Star of the Week" in her class the first week in October...and every day that week, she wanted to wear clothes with stars on them...she cracks me up!




She had tons of fun making her poster...here's a little look at this year's poster versus last year's poster:

Soccer didn't go so great...
Before it began, she was super excited - but moments after we got to the first practice/game, the excitement wore off and she was totally over it.  She wouldn't go on the field to practice, let alone to play the game.  The first week, she wouldn't even sit near her teammates or pay attention to the game.

Week 1 - notice the distance between Lucy and her teammates...
Week 2 - she got a little closer to the team but still wouldn't play.  We had a breakthrough and she slapped hands with the other team for "good game" at the end.
Week 3 - she had a major attitude at first but finally cheered up and practiced with me a little bit off the field (but still didn't practice or play with her team), though again she participated in the "good game" afterward. 
She caught a break in week four - the game was cancelled because our opponents had too many kids on Fall Break.
Week 3 - silly and cute with Grandpa...
but no playing soccer...

Week 5 - she said if Daddy helped coach, she'd play.  She lied.

Week 5 - warming up with Coach Daddy.
She did one warm up drill, one time.
She was supposed to do it and then get back in line to do it again
but one time through was all she had in her, I guess...
 
Max, on the other hand, has been enjoying the games lately!
Week 6 was the final game - she did not practice or play in the final game and we all breathed a sigh of relief that the season had ended.
Week 6 - still not getting very close with her teammates...





She has been enjoying gymnastics, though!






She's getting so grown up...hard to believe she'll be in kindergarten next year!  She learns phrases at school like, "easy peasy lemon squeezy" and makes me smile so much when she used them.
The other night while helping Dave, she said, "Team work makes the dream work...right, Dad?"
She's such an opinionated, strong-willed little lady...sometimes it's beyond frustrating but other times it's beyond cool.


More Maxy pics:

Dancing at Ms. Shelly's house
 
With his best bud, Leo


He loves being inside toy boxes...

He also loves being cute!