Mommy & Isabel

They other day she was snuggling up to me (well, she does that all the time) but this time she was begging me to take a picture of us because we were so cute & she loves me so much. How could I resist?

Cousins

The top collage is pictures I took, the bottom collage is pictures Grandma M. took.

More Halloween 2010

The top picture is of Isabel playing in her witch costume at the playgroup Halloween party.

This is some pictures of some of the activities at the ON Lil Monster Bash. They did a good job for a store providing a free event.

Halloween 2010

This top picture is of Isabel at the picture station at the Old Navy Lil' Monster Bash. I think the witch costume was her favorite this year. I had bought her a fairy costume and a witch costume.

Isabel wanted to be a fairy princess (from her costume box) to go to the Halloween Carnival at the firehall that was put on by the high school Student Council. Grandma & Grandpa M. took her to this carnival. The night before daddy took Isabel & Henry to a Haunted Schoolhouse & bus at the firehall, which was put on by the high school SADD organization.

I took the kids trick-or-treating around the neighborhood and pulled them in the wagon. They seemed to have a good time and liked checking out their loot once they got home. We didn't stay out too long, because after a while Isabel didn't want to put her hoodie back on because it covered her costume. She is wearing it for the above picture, but as soon as we got to the first house she took it off & it stayed off.
Last night we took the kids to a Halloween event at RBNC. We went to it last year and it wasn't too crowded, this year it was very crowded and not as enjoyable as it could have been because lines were too long for things. But we did get to go on the horse-drawn wagon ride (made that a priority since Henry loves animals so much and really wanted to go by the horses), did the halloween games, Isabel went on the inflatable dinosaur slide, and had campfire food by a bonfire. To this event, she was just a princess (from her costume box).

The picture of just Isabel is of her is at the Halloween & Monster storytime at FPL. She is wearing the fairy costume I bought her for this year. The other pictures are of her preschool Halloween party.

Crafty & Creative

N.E.W. Zoo

Tundra Lodge Resort & Waterpark: Days 1 & 2

Minnesota Children's Museum

Each time we go we end up spending 3 hours there and still can't get to all the exhibits. Isabel had a lot of fun there, as always. This has been such a great family membership to have.

Normally, she doesn't like having her face painted, but I think it made a difference that she was able to do it herself.
We spent the most time inside Spooky Hallow. It was fun and Isabel was begging to go through again. She really liked how things glowed with the black lights.

Pumpkin Carving

Here is Isabel digging the guts out of her pumpkin. She then drew on a face & I carved it. I still need to take a picture of the actual carved face.

Halloween Party Ideas

A friend asked for some ideas for a Halloween Party she is organizing and thought I would share with you what I had shared with her.

* Decorate a Mask or Hat (Michaels sells white paper masks & party hats, decorate with feather, stickers, markers, crayons, etc.)

* Pin the nose on the pumpkin/witch

* Temporary Tatoo station

* Face Painting Station

* Fishing (homemade fishing pole - long stick with rope tied to it with clothespin on end - thrown over a barrier & someone clips prize to end)

* Guess the number of candy corns in a jar

* Toss Across Tic-Tac-Toe

* Bean Bag Toss (we were at one where they used stuffed animals tossed into a laundry basket or popcron tin)

* SandWITCH making (let kids spread butter on a piece of bread and put sprinkles on top, cut out with Halloween cookie cutters)

* Pumpkin Candle Holder (decoupage orange tissue paper on out side of baby food jar, glue on black face pieces)

* Bat Craft (we are making this soon - http://northridgemedia.net/blogs/create/departments/holidays/easy-halloween-paper-spider-tutorial/)

* Playdoh Fun (make up a bunch of orange playdough and put out cookie cutters & rollers to play with them)

* Cupcake Walk (Isabel really loved doing this at a Halloween party we went to)

* Monster Mash Limbo & Dance (or any other Halloween songs, do the limbo & do freeze dancing - when music stops they stop)

* Monster/Pumpkin Bowling (there is a monster bowling kit that someone makes & sells, or you can paint 2L bottles with monster or pumpkin faces)

* Skeleton "Bones" Craft (gather a bunch of pasta shapes and have kids glue them on black paper into a Skeleton - have a sample available, we did this at a library Halloween party and it turned out really neat)

* Caramel Apple Sundaes (slice/core apples in a bowl, squirt caramel sauce on top, squirt some whip cream in center & top with nuts or sprinkles)

* Create a Pumpkin Face Game (draw plain orange pumpkin on poster board and cover it with clear contact paper with sticky side facing out, then make black face pieces for them to stick on, or you could make a big felt board &pieces to do the same thing)

Obstacle Course Race

After I ran my 2nd 5K, they had an obstacle course race for the kids. And each kid received a free pumpkin, which now we need to carve, but in the meantime she drew a scary face on hers and put Halloween stickers on.

Fall Crafts

The top one is a beaded pumpkin. It was supposed to be a pumpkin bracelet, but she made it too big, so now it's just a hanging decoration (she also wants to save it to hang on the Xmas tree). The two pumpkins that Isabel & I did were fun & easy.

And the scarecrow was a family endeavor for a preschool project. Mommy did the hat & attached the limbs & added the straw; daddy did the body; Isabel did the head & arms; Henry finger painted the legs. It is now hanging in the hallway at school with other family scarecrows.

Backyard Fun

It was a perfect fall day yesterday. We got outside & went to the zoo (Isabel & I with some friends) and when we came back home in the afternoon we rakes some leaves to make pumpkin & ghost bags for lawn decorations and had a campfire. We had hot cocoa outside and cooked bakes potatoes (great!), hot dogs, sausages, & roasted marshmallows over the open fire. It was awesome. I love fall!

Zollman Zoo

Zollman Zoo is in Byron in Oxbow Park. We have not been here since before Henry was born, The place gets nicer & nicer every year. I just wish it was a little closer to us and then we would go more often.

It had been about 10.5 months since Isabel & Rachael had seen each other. Rachael is a year older than Isabel and has gotten even taller. They played well together and had a fun weekend together.

Gainey Park

Every Monday we have a park playgroup in the morning. This week we had a decent turnout of 6 moms and 13 kids. With some moms being back to work as teachers and kids going to different preschools, it's hard to get a time for everyone. But the Monday park playgroups are weekly, as well as Trinity Church Nursery playgroups on Friday morning. We try to schedule in another playgroup some other time during the week as well.

RADZoo

We bought a family pass to the RADZoo (it's pretty close to us) so we plan to go there often. I should make a list of all the animals we have pet there, make our way through most of them, that would be kinda cool (except Big Al - the 12 ft alligator, well, and also the 15 ft snakes they have there too, and any that might be dangerous.)

Bike Riding

This is just the first time she wanted & tried to ride a bike without training wheels. We had to get out her older smaller bike so that her feet would be able to touch the ground when she sat on the seat. She only tried for a short while, but she tried. It's very wobbly and that scares our cautious child.

Preschool-at-Home Theme: Orange

Couple of projects we did this week as part of our preschool-at-home theme of the color orange are making wax leaves and orange fingerpaint.

Como Zoo

Halloween Crafts

We were busy yesterday making a bunch of Halloween decorations. You can find the instructions on how to make this owl here, as well as other similar Halloween decorations. Isabel & I each folded a side and then I stapled them together.I had cut out all the other parts and she glued them on.

These mummies turned out really cute, I think. The instructions are here, but I decided to used some old tissue paper. I thought the tissue paper made it look more like mummy wrappings.

The left pumpkin is just one I cut out & folded to give it lines. I cut out a stem & leaf and she glued them on. She drew the face here.

The idea for the right pumpkin came from here. It is double-sided. We each tissue papered a side (I liked the idea of tissue paper, gave it some nice texture).

Yesterday & Today

Isabel's Handprint Spider

Mommy & kids at storytime @ OPL

Isabel & Henry on the Penny Horse.