Halloween Party

We had our church Halloween Party last night. Abby was very excited to wear her costume and snag some candy. Clara was also excited at the prospect of candy. And, I was excited for the girls to wear their costumes. I must admit, I was pretty proud of how they turned out.

 

 

Here is my Pinspiration for Clara's costume. She loved pointing to her sparkles and saying, "pretty." She wore her costume all night and was quite the dainty little lady when she would walk around.

I got the idea for Abby's costume here. I showed her my Halloween Pinterest board and let her choose which costume she wanted. We weren't surprised when she choose the costume that was pink from head to toe.

The girls were very excited to trick-or-treat.

I love this picture of Abby. She is determined to get to the candy.

Sam took the girls around while I handed out candy.

One of the rooms had a tunnel to crawl through to get candy. Abby really looks like a flamingo in this one.

It was a fun party. We all had a blast and have all (ok, maybe just me) been eating too much candy. Here's hoping this hurricane business doesn't mess up Abby's birthday and Halloween night trick-or-treating.

Freddy Hill Farms...Take 4

We made our fourth and final trip to Freddy Hill Farms. I can't believe how the time has flown. We will be saying goodbye to Philly before we know it.

 

There were 42 of us in our group. It's so fun to go with so many friends.

 

As usual, the girls enjoyed the hayride.

 

Thankfully, the field wasn't quite so soggy this year. The weather turned out to be pretty good too. It was a little bit cooler, but that just made it feel like fall.

Abby liked looking at all the pumpkins and picking her favorites. She didn't need much coaching this year.

Clara had a hard time walking through all the pumpkin vines but she like seeing lots of pumpkins.

Abby led us through the corn maze. We only made one wrong turn.

Cinderella let us borrow her carriage for a photo-op.

We finished up the morning with our favorite part, the delicious ice cream.

Clara wasn't quite sure what to do with hers at first. She keep poking it and licking her finger. She figured it out through observation and really enjoyed it until she got down to the cone. Then she didn't know what to do with the cone and got bored with it.

 



It was a great morning. I love making fun memories with my girls. We just wish we had daddy with us.

Watch Abby Grow

Four years of Freddy Hill Farms

 

 

 

 

Oh, how fast they grow.

 



Valley Forge Picnic

For our playgroup this week, we went to Valley Forge State Park for a picnic and a walk. I was a little nervous because it was supposed to be a pretty chilly day but it ended up being beautiful. All of the kids had fun running around, "climbing trees" and playing on the benches next to the "pirate" statute while the mamas got to sit and chat.

 

Before we left, Abby asked why we were going to a park that didn't have anything to play on. But hey, who needs playground equipment when you have friends and some imagination.

 

I love group shots of kiddos. It's always fun to look at their individual faces.

It was a fun day and a nice change from our usual destinations.

Apple Fest

We decided to take one more trip to Linvilla for the Apple Festival. This is their biggest festival of the year. There were more vendors and activities going on.

 

There was no hayride this time (which Abby was pretty upset about). We just walked out into the orchard.

 

The girls were great helpers. We picked several different kinds of apples and they have all been delicious!

 

Showing off our haul. Abby couldn't wait to start eating. She ate two before we even got home.

They had a big set up of pumpkins too. I can't believe it's already that time of year!

This is called a long-neck pumpkin. You could do some serious cooking with these bad boys.

Sam tried on the Turk's Turban pumpkin.

 They had a cute area set up for a photo-op. As you can see, the girls were very cooperative. The third one is my favorite.

When it came to sampling goodies, they were much more cooperative. We got apple fritters (which I'm sad to say were kind of a flop), rainbow kettle corn (which also wasn't that good but Abby liked it) and cold apple cider (which was delicious).

 

We left the festival and went straight to the dental school picnic. It was a fun day--the perfect way to kick off the fall.

Quiet Time

A sad thing is happening in our home.

Abby is not napping most days.

She will usually lay in her bed fairly quietly for around an hour at which point she calls to me or emerges suddenly.

When this first started happening, I turned into an angry, demon-mom and told her she'd better go back to bed or else... (Empty, empty threats.)

During the past week or so, she has been pretty consistent with the no nap. I've been able to keep my cool (Go me!) and I tell her she can play quietly in her room until Clara wakes up. So far, this has gone over well. (However, she does have a tendency to hum while she is "playing quietly," which can be slightly irritating, particularly if a certain mom is trying to take a nap.)

I know I should count myself lucky that she is almost four and still napping. The fact of the matter is, she needs to nap some days. Ya know, like those days when she wakes up at 6 a.m. So, I will continue to lay her down every day with the hope that she'll find herself in dreamland. But, if not, I'll keep demon-mom at bay and embrace quiet time.

I knew this day was coming. I was just hoping it came when she started kindergarten.

Preschool

Today was Abby's first day of preschool. We are doing a swap with four other moms. We are meeting twice a week for two hours each day.

 

Abby didn't really know what to expect. She was mostly excited to use the pink construction paper in the giant pack I bought at Costco. She kept telling me the pink paper was just for her and Brooklyn.

 

 

These girls have been good buddies for the past three years. Brooklyn is the only little girl even close to Abby's age. The 8-month gap seems smaller as they get older.

 

Got to love a good painful-looking cheese.

I couldn't get a very good shot of all of the kids but I guess that's to be expected with 3 and 4 year olds.

I was the teacher for the first day and it went pretty well. The kids were great but the time went by slower than I anticipated. I'll have to plan more to do next time.

We started off the day with the pledge of allegiance. I must admit, I was worried I was saying the wrong words--it's been a while.

Next, we did calendar time. One of the moms, Laura, put together an adorable calendar so we can help the kids get a better sense of the days of the week, months, seasons, etc.

Then, we played a little get-to-know-you game where the kids threw each other the ball and answered questions about themselves.

We did a coloring activity where they were supposed to color a little person to look like them.

After that, we did some worksheets. This week, we decided to do some pre-writing exercises. From here on out, we will focus on a letter and number each day. We've decided to do our worksheets in sheet protectors with dry erase markers so the kids can take them home and practice.

The kids had a snack while I read them a few books and then we sang a few songs to get our wiggles out. At this point, a potty break was necessary.

Next, the kids used stickers to cover the first letter of their name.

We finished the day by going outside to run around and play.

I think the day was a success but I am totally exhausted.