Happy Halloween 2014

Well, we made it through another Halloween. We nearly froze, with temperatures in the 30s and really high winds, but the candy was plentiful. This morning, it was snowing, so I'm glad it stopped by the time evening came along.

Somehow the kids' cute costumes never look quite as cute when you have to bundle them up for the cold weather. Point in case: Henry this morning vs. this evening.

Mad Scientist? Check. Crazy hair? Check. Doc Brown? Definitely.

See? The effect isn't the same with a coat and a hat, especially when their winter hats are moose hats.

Pics of Henry are nearly always blurry because the boy won't stand still. 

We stopped at the "haunted house" down the street. The boys were too scared to go into the creepy garage. Frankly, I don't blame them. I wouldn't want to go in there, either. I did get them to pose, briefly.

Most costumes I saw tonight were obscured by winter coats and hats and such. Ah, well. Such is Halloween in Northern Illinois.

Greg snapped a picture of Nick in his Kindergarten Halloween parade this morning. I think his Marty McFly costume is much cuter without the moose hat.

We only lasted maybe an hour, but the boys still got almost more candy than they could carry. This year, most of the time the boys went up to the doors themselves and we stayed back on the sidewalk.

Nick even met a few new friends, including this guy.

Oh and under all those layers of costume and coat, guess what Henry was wearing? His Darth Vader hoodie. No matter what, he's always a Star Wars character under his clothing.

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Night!

All the pieces finally fell into place tonight. Greg and I were both home. He found pumpkins and let the boys each pick out one. We found the carving knife and spoon. Tonight was pumpkin night!

Both boys wore their pumpkin tops like a hat, just like last year and the year before.

Nick can't wait until he's old enough to use the knife. I, however, am just fine with waiting.

Henry and Nick really liked playing with the pumpkin goop--they made quite a mess and loved the squishiness.

Greg did all of the carving and cleaning up. (Thank goodness! It was a mess!)

They sure had fun, though!

Nick even hid one of his Lego guys in the mess and then tried to rescue him.

Greg looks like he's having way too much fun with his arms up to the elbow in pumpkin goop. Well, I did tell him to smile.

Henry needed some help drawing his face, so that's why it's rather benign. I'm not much of an artist.

He's rather a jolly fellow, don't you think?

Nick's pumpkin had a bit more scare factor, since he gave it lots of sharp, sharp teeth.

My guys, sitting among their pumpkin creations. I had to give Nick and Henry a bath right after the pumpkin explosion. They were covered in orange goop, so we saved picture time for after bathtime.

I think their hair looks really cute after a bath, even if it does stick up somewhat. I'm waiting on haircuts until this weekend because I want Henry to be able to pull off the "mad scientist" costume.

They were so proud of their pumpkins.

Happy Halloween!

In the Pumpkin Patch

The skies were cloudy, but the smiles were bright while we visited the pumpkin patch.

We found some really funky looking pumpkins, and some interesting shapes, too. After reading about Spookley, the square pumpkin, it was neat to see such oddly shaped pumpkins, some of them with warts and weird patterns.

I wish we had taken some pumpkins home with us that day, but it started raining and we didn't. Now many of the stores are sold out and Greg has to go out pumpkin hunting. Ah, well.

The boys thought these vines were pretty awesome, and they liked feeling their prickliness. Greg had his coffee in one hand for our entire visit. He tends to drink his coffee over a time period of no less than an hour. I should try doing the same thing--I drink a 16 ounce cup in less than 15 minutes and then have another cup every morning.

Hugs on the hayride!

Henry liked picking up the little pumpkins and lining them up.

It's funny how I can never get my kids to both look happy at the same time. Ah well, Henry looks pretty cheerful in this one.

I think they look constipated in this one.

Nick preferred the bigger pumpkins, but was somewhat discouraged by the fact that he couldn't lift them.

Henry preferred sitting on the bigger ones to trying to lift them.

Have a great week!

Goats and Pigs and Coffee

While we were at Heaps a few weeks back, we visited the farm animals. Nick made friends with this goat, and they seemed to get along okay. Nick's pretty gentle with animals.

Henry stared at this pig, as if to say, "Is this where my bacon comes from?

I can't remember what startled the goat, but when the goat was startled, Nick got startled, too!

Nick said that the goat bumped against the fence and it scared him.

They say goats will eat anything. It doesn't surprise me that this one fancied Greg's coffee. My husband, of course, would not share. He's pretty possessive of his coffee.

Henry saw me taking pictures of Greg and the goat and decided he should be in the center of the picture. Of course he should, he's cute.

Fun in the Corn

It's been awhile since I posted, but that doesn't mean we haven't been doing anything fun around here. Last weekend, Greg and I took the boys out to Heap's Giant Pumpkin Farm for some fun. I took enough pictures for several posts, but what the boys really liked was the corn.

I wish there was a way to have one of these corn bins in my backyard. I'm pretty sure I could just let Nick and Henry out there in the morning and open the door for lunch. They might not ever come out of the corn!

It was raining outside, so it wasn't actually a bad thing that Henry and Nicholas preferred to stay in the corn. Greg and I sat at a picnic table waiting for the boys to tire of the corn.

Here's Nick at the door to one of the corn bins. It's as if he's saying, "What, you want me to come out? No thanks, I'd rather live here!"

I'm not sure why all pumpkin farms don't have a corn bin. It's a great moneymaker and it seems like it'd be hardly any work. Plus, the kids get such joy out of the whole experience.

I promise to show more pictures from the pumpkin farm later this week, including some cute ones from the pumpkin patch and an interesting one with Greg and a goat.

Math and Science Night at Henry's School

We had two nights of school activities last week: Henry's school had Math and Science Night, and Nick's school had a Medieval-Themed Reading Night.

It was "team day" at Bonnie McBeth. Henry wore a UK Wildcats t-shirt, because his daddy went there for grad school.

Since I'm a teacher and I always encourage parents to be involved in school events, I figured I had better attend the events at my kids' schools. Thus, we made leaf patterns and said hi to Nick's old teacher and Henry's new one.

They used a balance to compare the mass of pumpkins and gourds.

I have no idea whether they really understood what they were doing, but they sure had fun experimenting with the gourds!

They counted items they found in a corn bin. I think they could've done this all night.

I have to remember to take them to the corn bins they can climb in at the pumpkin festival this year. Nick and Henry love the feel of the corn.

I really liked seeing the pictures and student work that was lining the hallways. Henry was quite the ham for this picture!

I did a close-up of this picture. He has his tongue out and everything!

The last (and wettest) activity was sink or float. The boys predicted which items would sink or float, and then they splashed them in the water to see if their predictions matched reality. Mostly, they just splashed water around.

We probably would've stayed a bit longer, but we were hungry for dinner. This night ended up being pretty cool.