Seeing green!

I looked for a cute, but not scary cupcake for Spencer's Halloween party at school. I found this idea on Martha Stewart's site and made a few changes to the original design. I had intended to involve the kids in the decorating process, but I hit a snag in the frosting phase and quickly shooed them out of the kitchen. I felt bad about it, but I quickly realized they were just there to eat any scraps I might happen to offer. Once I got a handle on things, I pumped out the cupcakes pretty quickly. Although I hate to encourage too much sugar consumption, these were a BIG hit and made for a good Halloween themed treat.

Spider shirts

I thought this shirts came out so cute! Two handprints per spider minus the thumbs. Spencer got creative and made a detailed web for his spiders to enjoy.

Fingerpainting without the mess

Mia loves crafting, creating, making etc. She will sit, and sit, until she's forced to move on. This is about the only time she sits still day or night (really), so I relish it. She's not a fan of messy hands, which is why I trust her to fingerpaint over carpet. Be jealous :).

Star student

Spencer was Star student in his class last week. He filled out a poster full of information all about him and presented it in class. He loved the attention (got a little Daddy in him) and had an extra special week to fill the Star student role as Halloween is a BIG deal in kindergarten.

In his own (filled-in) words:

My favorite color is blue

My favorite food is nacho (that's what he wrote, which is our fault, I guess)

My favorite animal is a warthog (I was seriously surprised and puzzled by this)

Safari West is my favorite place

When I grow up I want to be a Ghostbuster (when Spencer sounds out and spells this himself it looks like Gosbsdr)
My favorite thing to do is to play with my dogs (if he was being honest, I think the word torture would be included somewhere in this statement)

If I had one wish, I would wish for my tooth to fall out (two loose teeth)

One wet kiddo

And this is what Mia looks like after spending a little time under a downspout and before she decided that was a plain bad idea (the girl got cold).

We did not/will not be carving pumpkins this year

I'm not a fan of breaking tradition, but this was still fun though it didn't result in any yummy toasted pumpkin seeds. The kids had a blast rifling through their Mr. Potato Head stash and this is what they came up with. Random, yes, but still cute.

Apple Hill

I braved the trek and took the kids to Apple Hill by myself. I was facing an entire weekend, plus a day on either side, all alone and I just needed to have a trip to look forward to. We had so much fun! If done right, Apple Hill can be a fairly inexpensive venture. Of course, it can be done wrong too.

We bought lots of apples, picked our own pumpkins from the vine, harassed pet a dog, went in a paddle boat, made candy monsters, feed farm animals until a finger was mistaken for food, and went through a hay maze until we were covered in the stuff. I would absolutely go again!

Progress

The house now has a floor. Very exciting stuff!