Halloween fun

Wal-Mart had a Halloween walk for the kids today. It was so much fun! The kids loved it!!! It was great to see Lucas interacting so positively with strangers in such a busy, chaotic setting. (this is far outside his comfort zone. we have been doing a lot of work to overcome his shyness and unwillingness to talk to people.) He happily walked up to the people with the candy bowls and said 'trick or treat', picked out a piece of candy and said 'thank you'. All without prompting. He even smiled and was happy about it!! I was so proud! And Gwendolyn is a tiny people person. She was delighted that she got to talk to so many nice people that gave her treats :)

They got to play a game of tossing an eyeball into a pumpkin bucket.

We stopped to look at Indian corn. Because we do every time we are at the store - Lucas loves it!

They got to make little ghosts out of suckers and decorate them.

Gwendolyn was all about getting candy out of the bowls :) (no, she doesn't actually eat candy. she just thought it was a fun game!)

Lucas colored a pumpkin picture. (he actually wanted to color it ORANGE. what happened to the purple cows and blue trees??)

They had fun wandering through the store.

They got to decorate and eat sugar cookies. This was by far Lucas's favorite part!

It's wonderful how the simple little things in life make them so happy. They're so joyful :)

Happy Fourth of July

We went over to our neighbor's house today for a party. It was great! Both of the kids had so much fun. Gwendolyn was so happy that she stayed up way past her bedtime, in a good mood, and fell happily asleep sitting on Tim's lap. I brought her home and tucked her in :) Tim and Lucas are still out enjoying the good food and the good company.
We were planning on going to Petunia Fest today, but it rained. All day. And wet kids being dragged through a carnival just didn't sound like much fun. So we stayed home and played games instead :) Until we went over to the neighbors. We'll probably go to the Fest tomorrow. Both kids like all of the bright flashing lights. Lucas wanted to try going on this sproingy trampoline harness thing when we were there yesterday. We let him. The freak out factor was pretty high.. He was unsettled when a man put him in a harness (we warned him) But was really happy bouncing around. Until they put tension on the bands attached to the harness and he went rocketing into the air. He was SO not happy about it. I think he was really too small (under the weight limit) for it. Because the bigger kids didn't go rocketing... Ah well. Now we know he doesn't like being launched...

Happy Earth Day

So I forgot today was Earth Day until I got an e-mail from my Mom reminding me.(even though I marked the calendar and planned activities months ago... it turns out that you need to actually *look* at calendars for them to help with scheduling. if they sit in the corner, they don't do much good.. ANYWAYS) Hmm. We did play outside all morning. And we're pretty darn eco-friendly to begin with.. Maybe we'll just have to call it good or this year :) Or maybe I'll try to come up with something to do this afternoon once the kids get up from their (hopefully very long) nap.

Pre-Easter celebration

Since Tim had to work on Easter, my parents came to us the day before :) As always, the kids sooo enjoyed the visit!!!

I made a very festive meal of... fajitas. LOL :)

The present

Lucas got a birthday present in the mail from Great Grammy and Great Grandpa. He thoroughly enjoyed opening it (there was even ribbon!!) And Gwendolyn thoroughly enjoyed watching him open it :) He loves his new racecar!! He even named the driver Moofoo. Which is just awesome, because this is the first time he's named something.

Crafts, glorious crafts

Lucas made some Mother's Day crafts. He is so creative. Lately he has been woring on using a glue stick (it's amazing just how sticky our house is..) And picking out beads to make necklaces (it's amazing just how quickly beads can be swallowed...).

The Joy of Christmas

Or at least the Presents of Christmas :) Here are some pictures of Lucas opening his Christmas presents at our house on Christmas morning. And opening some Christmas presents from Aunt Robin and Aunt Lisa/Uncle Michael. (He loves the puzzles, by the way!!!)

Unfortunately I managed to forget to bring my camera with on Christmas Day, so no family pictures... :(

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas part TWO

We got a Christmas tree!! We went to pick out a fresh one - in arctic temperatures and the snow. It was lots of fun.

Tim did a professional job trimming it and somehow making it stand up. And Lucas is entertained - but isn't thrilled that it pokes his head when he walks under it :) It is too funny watching him trying to duck/scuttle by the tree on the way to the window.