Happy Halloween 2009!!

Well mommy did it! Managed to find a pattern on-line and carve Pegasus unicorns into the girls' Halloween pumpkins ...they even surprisingly looked like they were supposed to!! The girls loved them, so mommy's efforts were much appreciated once again this year.

We started out early in our costumes and headed over to visit Granny M at the apartment complex and show off to a few of her friends. The girls were thrilled when they heard a knock on Granny's door and opened it to find Mallificent ... the evil witch from Sleeping Beauty standing in the hallway with candy for them!!!! After a short visit and quick dinner, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's to trick or treat there and have another short visit before heading back to our own neighborhood to trick or treat.

Once the sun started to set, off we went. The girls were very excited and ran from house to house ... for about 15 houses ... then said they were tired and ready to go home. Mommy was surprised by this and said but we have only been out for 20 minutes ... to which Miss Alyssa replied ... "Well actually mom ... we have been out for hours ... "

Fortunately, we had thought ahead and brought the jogging stroller with us. We loaded them up and walked around one block and went back home to hand out candy to the kids at our home.

At least that is less candy at home for mommy eat now with the short trick or treating night ... :)

The Harvest Hoopla 2009

What a crew ... two princesses on unicorns, one knight in shinning armor and one ferocious little lion ... yes, oh yes, it is time for the 2009 edition of the Harvest Hoopla!!!!! Aunt Tammy once again made the trek over to our end of the cities with Christian and first time Hoopla attendee, Heath!!!!! The girls' school once again put together a fun pre-Halloween night for kids 5 and under.

We went to the game room first and found 10 different game and activities stations set up. The kids took turns playing games like bean bag toss, ring toss, golf, pin the nose on the pumpkin and bowling. They had a lot of fun and won little prizes at each station when they finished the game.

The inflatable bouncer/obstacle course was also set up and the kids all had fun going through this and coming down the slide. We had one minor incident when Alyssa went head first over a hurdle inside and landed on her neck ... a hug from mommy and a lollipop fixed that quickly.

We also sat at the craft table and decorated bags to put all our prizes into and stopped for a quick picture of the girls being Frankenstein and a witch.

Next we headed to the big gym to dance off a lot of 4 year old energy and what 40 year old energy mommy had left.

Finally before heading home for the night we stopped in the kitchen area for ice cream sundaes. All of the kids had a great time again this year ... kind of sad to think next year will be our last year as the girls turn FIVE ... *sigh*

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Well it is that time of the year again to head out to Cal's to pick out our craving pumpkins for Halloween. It was cold again this year but not nearly as windy as last year when we visited, thankfully.

The girls headed straight for the animals and had a great time petting and feeding a baby cow and some goats. Alyssa even got brave enough to touch a goat after her sister pleaded with her that it would be okay.

We headed inside the big greenhouse area and found an inflatable "haunted house". Madison headed straight in and Alyssa, well, never quite made it. Mommy went through three times with Madison and tried very hard to get a pretty upset Alyssa to give it a try; however, she protested and announced that she would try it "next year" .... "maybe" ... She remained content to play around the plants and scarecrows while mommy and Madison explored the house.

Daddy helped the girls find their way through the hay bale maze the first time and then we set them loose to explore on their own for a while.

Finally ... it was pumpkin time and we walked through the rows and rows of pumpkins until we found two that looked like they would work just perfect for us.

Now ... can anyone tell me how to carve a unicorn into a pumpkin ... I think mommy is in a bit of trouble this year ...

Science Museum of Minnesota

Today we were off to the Science Museum of Minnesota under the thoughts that the girls would love seeing the dinosaur fossils. We talked about it and the girls were excited. As it turns out, however, 4 years old is a bit young for a science museum as we found out. Although the girls were slightly interested in the dinosaurs and correctly identified many of the fossils, they did not hold their attention for more than a few seconds.

They were much happier to stand on the over-sized scale to weigh themselves ... it was harder to tear them away from this compared to the fossils.

They did enjoy pretending to be giants as they stomped through a miniature sized dinosaur land. They also enjoyed the hands on experiments in the learning hall although they were very much geared to older kids ... still there were enough buttons, wheels and lights to play with that we were entertained for quite a while there.

One of Madison's favorite activities of the day was playing and examining the various animal pelts that were out for examining. Alyssa would not touch them and stood off to the side with mommy but Madison was very intrigued by the fact that the pelts (skins) of the animals still had the claws and noses attached to them and there were holes where the eyes and mouth should be.

All in all, it was a good day ... but it will be a while before we head back to enjoy the museum as I think the girls being a little bit older would open many doors for them as far as understanding and being able to do more things.

School Field Trip To The Fire Station

In honor of Safety Week at school this week, the kids had a field trip today to the Jordan Fire Station to talk to firemen, a nurse and a police officer as well as get a tour of the fire station itself.

First the class sat in the education room at the fire station, which had been decorated with all their safety themed art projects from the week before at school.

One of the firemen gave a talk about what the importance of fire safety and what to expect if a fireman has to come looking for you in a fire situation. He taught the children to always say "I am here" over and over again until they are found. He then got fully dressed in all his fire safety gear and demonstrated how his voice would sound through a ventilator so they would not be afraid if they ever heard something like that.

Next a nurse from a local area hospital spoke the kids about good hygiene and hand washing.

Then they got to meet a local police officer and his K-9 partner. He talked about what a police officer does and how the K-9 partner helps him. After his talk, the kids each got a chance to pet his K-9 partner.

The last thing the kids got to do was take a tour of the entire fire station. They were shown around all the areas and even a explanation of how the fire trucks are used and all the tools that are found on them.

After the field trip ended, we were directed to immediately home and test our fire alarms ... we did one better and replaced them all!!

Edinborough Park with Sophie

Today mommy and the girls headed over to Edinborough indoor park to have a play date with our friend Sophie. Sophie had to miss the girls' birthday party a week ago because her mommy (who is pregnant) had a migraine that pretty much made life miserable. Edinborough sounded like a good make up play date to us all so off we went.

The girls were so excited to see Sophie as the last time we got together was for Sophie's 2nd birthday party earlier this summer. The girls all had a good time climbing around the play area and then we headed over to the open gym and spent some running around, jumping in the bounce house and riding on scooters.

When the kids finally got tired out, we all headed to the indoor picnic area for lunch. Sophie surprised the girls with belated birthday gifts and boy were the girls excited to receive not only Princess Belle's yellow horse, but also Cinderella's blue horse. There couldn't have been more perfect gifts for the girls as their sparkly pink princess horses recently became lame after several broken legs each and had to be put down ... I mean thrown out ... so timing was absolutely perfect for new horses. The girls were smiling from ear to ear as they opened them.

After lunch the kids all decided they had enough playing and we headed back home. Hopefully we will be able to get together again with Sophie very soon!!!!