Halloween preview

To say the kids had fun picking out a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch with Dada is an understatement. They're also so excited about trick or treating tomorrow I'm not sure they're going to sleep tonight….

Carving Jack o'lanterns at our friend's house last weekend, Oscar's friend Donovan was really into the pumpkin guts, but Oscar….well, not so much.

Little Oscar's design is on the big one on the right. He drew the face on the pumpkin and big Oscar cut it out with a jigsaw!

Fall in Buffalo

The kids and I took a fall trip to Buffalo last week and spent the time visiting with family and truly enjoying a northern fall. I was freezing, Oscar was very layered, and Livi was a furnace! That girl just doesn't feel the cold!

It was a little too chilly for sailing, but we got to see Luna and Kaly, the polar bear cubs at the Buffalo zoo, had a special afternoon at Gigi's house with her homemade chicken soup and Oscar's pineapple cake, introduced Nanee and Grandad to the "Oscar s'more," enjoyed a pre-Thanksgiving turkey dinner with the Olswokas, had fun at the science museum with Sam and Uncle Bobby, discovered sponge candy, enjoyed some Andersons, and had plenty of walks with Gus!

Hanging out with our favorite animal friends:

Vivi from next door

Gigi's cat blueberry

We had a great visit with Evan and Waffles, and while Waffles was a bit too excited for snuggles the kids were really excited to hear about Evan's recent Tough Mudder run and all of the obstacles he went through! We were very impressed! Evan also told us about a few houses with Halloween decorations to stop by on the way home. The kids were beside themselves with all of the inflatables and Oscar was literally bouncing from one to the next asking me to take his picture to show everyone!

this was his favorite

a headless horseman!

Getting into the pre-Halloween spirit, we also paid a visit to Forest Lawn cemetery to check out all the leaves and hop some gravestones….

Livi opted out of this photo op

Pretending to be trees at the park

Nanee's awesome snack jack o'lantern! (yes, Oscar's posing as a zombie)

Boo in the Zoo

We loved the zoo so much, we went back last week for the Boo in the Zoo! Complete with games, a trick or treat trail, haunted house, and ghost train it was a great night out and a Halloween preview. I learned my first lesson in costume making as well... Oscar was dead set on being an eagle for Halloween. I couldn't find a costume so I decided to make him one. I spent about a week putting together the outfit and sewing away, and he happily tried it on in different phases. On the night of Boo in the Zoo he put on the end result, and was the saddest eagle I'd ever seen. For the final touches, I'd sewed felt on the head and it rubbed against his neck…just enough to make him REALLY itchy. When I saw how disappointed he was, I swallowed my crafting pride and told him he could pick out another costume we had in the house. The power ranger, dinosaur, and knight weren't cutting it, and while he was fighting back tears I was scrambling to think of something else he could wear and blurted out, "You could always just wear your skeleton PJs." and his face lit up. Just like that we were out of the woods and on our way. An ecstatic skeleton and spunky Draculaura went to the zoo and had a ball, and Mama tucked the eagle costume away for posterity…

Draculaura

the unhappiest eagle

a very happy (and comfy) skeleton

they were very generous with the trick or treating!

our local neighborhood storm troopers

both kids were in awe of Darth Vader

The Oscars rode the scary ghost train and said the highlight was a bunch of kids dancing to Thriller at the end! Although Oscar liked the guys with the chainsaw and pumpkin heads that were chasing the train too… 

Just hanging around and the Audubon Zoo

Oscar's turned into a master climber and scales anything he can. The trees in the area are perfect for it, and he's also found a home in the tree in our front yard.

Oscar's school also had their first play for Michaelmas (a Waldorf tradition). The kids all sang and did a short play about slaying a dragon. Oscar was an awfully cute gnome.

Dada had to go to Miami for a work trip, and the kids and I finally made it to the Audubon Zoo. It's a beautiful zoo, with lots of space to run around, trees to climb, and a carousel.

 

They even have a small section with animatronic dinosaurs that Livi was a little scared of, until she found her new friend wrinkle face:

Filling in our schedule

While I'm leery of over-scheduling our kids, it was inevitable that we'd have some after school activities. Oscar started with track after school, which was a really easy activity since he gets a ride straight from school to the park and just runs around with his buddies for an hour. He was also consistently asking for gymnastics so I found a gym in the area and we tried it out a few weeks ago. He LOVED it - racing up the rope, learning how to do a bridge, jumping on the trampoline. He's asked to do it every day he doesn't have track, but we're sticking for one day for now!

Livi wasn't initially interested in gymnastics, and is all about horses. I've taken her for a few real lessons and the stable is only a few minutes our house. She is absolutely thrilled when it's time to go for a lesson and has a perma-smile the whole time she's on the horse! It's so cute to hear her saying "Whoa Maw-Maw!"

Livi riding Maw-Maw (who loves peppermints!)

Livi decided to try out gymnastics a few weeks ago and was almost as excited about it as Oscar is. She impressed her instructor by mastering all the pre-school skills in the first class! While she's a little small to move up to the next level, her class only has 2 little girls in it who are both the same age so they'll get to learn some of the skills from the next level.