I planned several activities to do with the kids this month. I absolutely love the fall and Halloween and I try to take full advantage of all the fantastic opportunities around us. I am always searching for fun things to do with my kids, and October is bursting at the seams with them.
At the beginning of the month Rebekah had a half day at school so we decided to just skip it. Instead the kids and I went to The Oil Ranch. It has hay rides, a train to ride, cows to feed and milk, 2 petting zoos, a garden, bounce houses, an Indian village, pony rides, pumpkin patch, hay maze and more. Levi especially loved the train and Rebekah loved the ponies. The weather wasn't too bad - mid to upper 80s, with humidity of course.
That weekend we went to a fall festival. This is a tradition for us. The kids play silly games, get their face painted, and endure a short, yet torturous, photo shoot at the pumpkin patch.
The Children's Museum here in Houston is one of the top in the nation, and luckily for us it's close by. They decorate the whole place for Halloween. The kids ran around and played, painted their faces (a favorite of theirs), went trick or treating, and explored.
We decorated spooky candy houses at home, which I tried in vain to keep the kids from eating. They sat on the counter and every morning a few pieces would go missing. I wonder how that happened.
Our local YMCA has a Trunk or Treat party the weekend before Halloween. The highlight for this is the costume contest (which we have won a few times) and, oddly enough, the camel rides. I don't know how they figure the camel into Halloween, but they do. Rebekah was a peacock last year and really wanted to be one again with Caroline this year. I obliged and made a matching peacock costume for Caroline. They looked adorable. To keep up with the bird theme Levi was a penguin. He has started to really enjoy the penguin movie 'Happy Feet' so he was happy with this. I would ask him to dance like Mumble Happy Feet (from the movie) and he would get a big grin on his face and start dancing around all goofy like, twitching and flapping his little penguin flippers.
Rebekah was sick for two days at the end of the month and stayed home from school. One of these days happened to be our church playgroup Halloween party. I had made the cute little Frankenstein snacks so I just took all three kids to the party. They had fun, and enjoyed being able to wear their costumes.
On Halloween day I made the same Frankenstein snacks and took them to Rebekah's class for snack time. It was fun to be able to join her at school.
Well, by the time Halloween finally came around, I was over the whole thing. The kids changed costumes - Rebekah a Hula girl, Levi still the penguin, and Caroline a love bug (costumes I already had). We still went to the ward trunk or treat, but decided to forgo the real trick or treating. That is, until I started driving home through our neighborhood. I saw all these kids out, and the houses with all of their fun decorations and decided that Levi and Rebekah needed to go to just a few houses. (I have a great system for all the candy - when the kids go to sleep I take most of it and give it to the trick or treaters that come around to our house).
Believe it or not, things did occur at our home this month that did not involve Halloween. Rebekah is having fun with her violin, Levi has decided that trains are where it's at, and Caroline has decided that baby food is not for her. Her personality is starting to show. She loves to have things in her hands to play with, and she squawks and babbles. She rolls around like a maniac, cannot yet sit up by herself, sleeps well, and is all around a pleasant baby. Levi is talking more every day. My favorite phrase is the way the he says "alwight, mama". So cute. Rebekah is doing well in school, and her teacher loves having her in her class.
Riding on a train:
Learning how to milk a cow:
At The Children's Museum:
The scary vampire:
Little peacock, penguin, big peacock
Riding the camel. Rebekah looks like royalty in this photo:
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