First Sleepovers

Timmy and Tyler both got to have their first sleepovers at our house on Saturday when the Pavlus kids ended up spending the night.  Timmy and Caleb have talked about having a sleepover for at least a year and a half, but Suzanne wasn't sure how Caleb would do with it.  This past Saturday it just kind of happened, Suzanne and I had talked about getting together for dinner that evening to let the kids play, but her plans for a friends birthday got moved up so we postponed; Josh would be home with the kids.  At our house, I was going to be home with the kids as Tim was going to the Caps game with friends.  They ended up having an extra ticket and Tim invited Josh, offering me up as babysitter!  I didn't mind at all, it meant my kids would be entertained and I watched HGTV with Elena all evening.  When I called the kids up for pizza, Caleb announced that they were spending the night.  I knew Suzanne and Josh would both be late and thought maybe Tim had arranged for them to just stay.  When I texted Suzanne to ask she said she was planning to pick them up, but they could stay all night if they both wanted to.  They very much wanted to!  They all played wonderfully all evening and even cleaned up before bedtime with very little complaining!

I thought for a while about how to keep all four kids in the boys room, but settled on having Caleb and Timmy sleep in the guest room, Tyler sleep in Timmy's bed, and Stella in Tyler's bed, so everyone was in a new bed and that was pretty exciting too!

The next morning they apparently got up around 6:30, but they went back to destroying the basement playing happily without waking us.  I got up on my own at 8 figuring they were probably ready for breakfast!  It was a great first experience and they are looking forward to the next one!

5 for Friday Halloween Activities Wrap Up!

1.  We had some other Halloween activities sprinkled in the last few weeks as well!  With football season underway we're getting to see more of Jenny, Brett, Brayden and Bryce.  The kids have been having fun on the new swing in Grandad's front yard.  We also went to a neighborhood picnic and Tyler and Brayden got matching face paint pumpkins.

2.  More fall related then Halloween, but Timmy participated in the school's annual Walk for the Homeless this year.  He had heard about it on the morning announcements and asked if he could do it, and then specifically asked if Daddy could do it with him.  I'm very proud of him for asking to be a part of this.  I was there on official yearbook duty too.  Tim and Tyler did the first lap with Timmy, but Timmy was ready to run after that.  Everyone got to hang out with Foxy afterwards and then we had a little time on the playground.

3.  The Saturday before Halloween we had a busy day!  Timmy had soccer practice at 9 followed by his baseball game at noon, so to fill the time in-between we went to a nearby pumpkin patch with a haunted bus, hay bale slide, and moon bounces.  At baseball, Timmy's fans filled the bleachers with Grammy, Grandad, Susan, Riggins, Jenny, Brett, Brayden, Bryce, and Joe all coming to watch the game!  Uncle Joe came home with us to visit for a little and saw us off on our next adventure, going to a Haunted House!  Tyler was just SO into Halloween this year, he was watching Scooby Doo's, Goosebumps, and every Halloween special of our regular shows that he could find.  I knew he'd love the Haunted House.  For the price, we went through it a little faster then I would have liked, but I declined an invitation to go back with neighborhood friends during the evening, not child-friendly, times!

4.  On Halloween morning Timmy's class had Halloween based activities (Read: Not a Party) and I went in to help.  Bingo was definitely the highlight for Timmy, he got crazy excited when he was one away, but someone else got bingo first!  After bingo they rotated through several game stations.  The kids all had fun and I enjoyed getting to work with all of them in groups of four, I got to put more faces with names and see a little of their personalities.  I brought in Kettle Corn for the kids to have afterwards and they devoured it!  Timmy was excited, telling everyone that his Dad and Grandad made it.

5.  Thanks to a few years worth of hand-me-down's, Tyler had quite the Halloween shirt collection this year!  They didn't all fit perfectly, but as I mentioned, he was all about Halloween.  He also had two different costumes, which he alternated between each time we got to dress up.  (There was also a costumed birthday party for Tyler's buddy Dylan on the 1st, which Tyler was Wolverine for again, but by that time even I was pictured out!)  Tyler wore his Halloween shirts every couple of days all month, but I made sure that he wore them seven days straight for the week leading up to Halloween.  Timmy complained that he only had one Halloween shirt, so I guess my big boy isn't too cool for this kind of thing yet.  Luckily he had his Batman sweatshirt for Halloween too.  And I will do better for the Christmas season!

Pumpkin Carving

Elena picked up huge pumpkins for her Grandson's and magically found a time that we were free and Jenny and her family were available to get together and carve them!  The kids were all excited to carve the pumpkins.  Timmy and Brayden both helped empty theirs out.  Tyler, on the other hand, didn't even touch the outside of his pumpkin!

We had a few books with patterns to choose from and Tim printed a few super hero symbols off of the internet.  Brayden chose a ghost, Timmy chose the Batman symbol, and Bryce was happy with the bat that Jenny picked out.  When Tim asked Tyler what he wanted, Tyler replied, "Uhm, a Minion."  Tim had to go back to the internet for that one!  The boys alternated being interested in the pumpkins and running around the back yard.  Timmy did about half of his own carving; Brayden supervised everyone.  Tyler did approve of his Minion when it was finished.

All of the pumpkins turned out well and we had a little photo shoot out front with everyone.  Grandad even stopped by to drop something off in the middle of it, so he got a picture with his grandson's too.

Tyler's Preschool Fall Festival and Halloween Party

Tyler had lots of his own fall fun at school with the annual Fall Festival one week, and the Halloween Party the following week.  We had beautiful weather for the Fall Festival with expected rain holding off until dismissal time!  There were tattoos, pumpkin picking, wagon rides, and apple eating.  (Tyler will not eat fruits or vegetables for us, so I had to photograph him eating the apple!)

Tyler spent the most time at the playdoh tables, making all different sizes of balls and also using the cookie cutters for fall shapes.

The hay bale jumping was also a hit!

Their last activity was to go through the Straw Tunnel and pick out three prizes.  Stella searched until she found a purple spider, and that's all she wanted!  Tyler took his time making sure he got exactly the right items!

For the Halloween Party, parents were invited to join the class for the last hour of the day.  The kids paraded through the other classrooms on their way to the activity room.  Tyler had a huge smile through the whole parade!  Please excuse the blurry photos, parading preschoolers are not easy to photograph!

In the activity room the kids sat together and "sang Halloween songs" for about twenty minutes.  There were very few kids actually singing along!  Tyler didn't enjoy this part as much, he was too worried about being right next to Stella, which is where all of the kids like to be.  You can see in the bottom right picture that he was squeezing himself between Stella and another classmate!  He is having a hard time sharing her attention in class, he's used to having one on one time with her!

We went back to their room to finish the party.  I made donut spiders as the special treat and everyone loved them, especially Tyler.