Playgroup Halloween party

I mentioned before that I am the leader of our ward playgroup.  The Friday before Halloween, I decided to host a Halloween carnival type party at my house for our playgroup activity.  We had a great turnout - all of the regular attendees and a few non regular attendees.  15 children in all.  It's a good thing we had plenty of moms to help out with the chaos, but it did make for a lot of people in one place. 

Even though I hosted the party, I didn't even think about putting the kids in costume.  I threw the ballerina skirt on Eliza at the last minute. (She's the one with a pokadot shirt) Luckily they weren't the only ones, but everyone who was dressed up looked adorable. 
We tried to get a picture of all the kids in their costumes.  Some were very cooperative; others weren't.  Through all the attempts, Zaby was the only one who sat still and looked at each and every camera.  I was surprised he wasn't the first to try and escape.  Pardon the poor lighting in all the following pictures - the sun was glaring at an odd angle through my windows.  Plus I'm not the best picture taker anyway.

I split the kids up into four groups and had them rotate through the different carnival stations.  We had:

Pumpkin Painting

 

 

Beanbag toss - complete the with homemade pumpkin face I made.  Eliza consistently threw side arm and the bean bags landed right at her friends feet.

 

 

A candy corn toss - they were supposed to toss candy corns into the tiny plastic pumpkins.  Most of the children ended up just placing them in, then taking them back out to put in their mouth.  They got to take the full plastic pumpkins home as a party gift. 

 





Pumpkin Ring Toss

 

She's a pro

 

And cookie decorating - I think I am still cleaning up sprinkles

 

We ate Halloween themed treats and drank orange punch.  We played with balloons, and ran all our energy off outside at the end.  Poor Zaby didn't get to participate in the activities.  He was held by me the entire time since I figured he would just terrorize all of the games.  It was a fun party!

 





Playgroup pumpkin patch tour

I am in charge of our ward playgroup.  For one of our outings on October 17, I decided to schedule a tour at a local pumpkin patch.  Eliza talked about going to the pumpkin patch every time she walked by a pumpkin.  After our first tour got rained out, we managed to luck out with great weather.  A little cloudy and overcast, but warm enough to go without jackets. 

We loaded up on the hay wagon and headed towards the pumpkin patch.

The playgroup on the hay ride

 

Cute Girl on the Hayride

 

Once there, we were instructed on how a pumpkin is grown and how to find the best pumpkin.  Eliza was so excited, she found her pumpkin within seconds.  She insisted on carrying her own pumpkin and when she found it too heavy, she dragged it on the ground.  We had to double bag hers because dragging it across the ground caused the bottom of the bag to tear open.  She picked up the next closest to her and put it in Zaby's bag.  She ran back to the wagon and said, "Time to go home; I've got my pumpkin."  We had only been there about 5 minutes.  You've go to hand it to her, she doesn't waste anytime. 

We got our pumpkins

 

Eliza with her friends Libby and Mattie

 

After we chose our pumpkins, we played around in the hay pen until it was our turn to go through the corn maze.

 

At the entrance to the corn maze

 

Eliza took off running through the corn maze.  Even though it was designed for children, it was a bit challenging to make it through, especially when I was looking for Eliza.  I could hear her giggling with her friends, but I couldn't find her.

 When I did manage to catch up with her, we took a wrong turn and ended up at the beginning of the maze.  At least this time, I was able to go slowly enough to enjoy it.  At the end of the corn maze was this huge slide.  Talk about a great ending for Eliza - she absolutely loved it. 

 

Heading back inside, we got an ice cream cone.  Eliza didn't quite understand the concept of having to lick both sides, but she enjoyed it nonetheless. 

I would say it was a successful play group outing.  Smiles were had all around from Eliza and my own little pumpkin.

A Budding Photographer

Eliza loves to take pictures, and have pictures taken of her.  Whenever I pull out the camera (whether it be to take a pictures of Zaby, to ooh and ahh over my adorable children, or to upload pictures on the computer) she insists on taking pictures.  She will really cheese it up when the camera is on her.  She picks up our phones to take pictures as well.

She will hold the camera and say, "I going to take your picture.  Ready!  Say Cheese.  1, 2, 3.  I did it"  And she certainly did.  Take a look at her pictures.

Mommy

Zaby

Big Bird

 

Mom and Zaby in Daddy's office

Zaby (She got Bruce's feet too)

Mommy (what an awful picture of me - talk about a close up)

Daddy

Mom and Zaby with Daddy's help

 

She'll be a professional in no time.  If anyone is interested in a photo shoot, her schedule is flexible, as the only commitment she has right now is anything to do with Sesame Street.  She has very reasonable pricing - you merely have to cover her traveling expenses (for those family members who are interested).  

An afternoon in Philly

After a busy couple of weeks at work wherein Bruce worked many late nights, we all decided to accompany the DVC food club to the Reading Terminal market in downtown Philadelphia.  We wouldn't normally consider this a final destination, but it's good to know where this food court is located because I hear about it all the time.  Any kind of food you crave from any country is available at this food market. 

Both children were pretty excited about riding the train.  Every time the train stopped, Eliza would say, "Don't stop! Let's go!"  I had to explain over and over again that people needed to get on the train so we have to wait for them.  Zaby just smiled and waved at everyone he came in eye contact with. 

When we first stepped into the market, chaos ensued.  This market was HUGE with people and vendors everywhere!  I've never seen so many people crowded in a such a small place.  We found out later that the market was extra crowded that day because 2 conferences and a race were going on.  It was difficult to maneuver our double wide stroller through the crowded aisles.  In all of Eliza's excitement, she quickly darted away.  It's a good thing I was able to squeeze past people to catch up with her.  When I finally caught up with her, it took us about 20 minutes to find Bruce and Zaby again.  I didn't now whether to be relieved that  she didn't get separated from the rest of us, or furious at her for running away.  I'm very shocked that she ran away from me anyway.  Normally when we are in a busy, unfamiliar place, she won't take a step away from my side.  This was a first for her.  I didn't care that we lost track of the students or the other professor.  I was just hoping to keep my family safe and together throughout the afternoon. 

 We managed to get some food and find a place to eat it.  Eliza insisted that we take a picture with this piggy bank.  Seriously, it's like a wishing well. 
 

After lunch, I needed to get some fresh air out on the streets where there was a little more space.

I wanted to see some different areas of Philadelphia - something I haven't seen before.  We walked through China town. 

Bruce and Eliza at entrance to China Town

Both children fell asleep in the stroller.  It wasn't cold, but occasionally the wind would put a slight chill in the air.  I draped my jacket over them to make sure they stayed warm.  As we strolled by the front of a small Chinese shop, the shop owner (who only spoke Chinese) acted concerned that my children were cold.  She spent about 5 minutes, rearranging my jacket and tucking it securely around the kids.  Since we couldn't really communicate, I let her have peace of mind that my children were snug and warm. 

We headed over to Franklin Square.  Zaby woke up just in time to participate in the family paint a pumpkin activity.  I set him down right behind to a pumpkin, thinking he would try to pick it up.  I often forget that even though my children are young, they still have opinions, likes, and dislikes.  Instead of picking up that pumpkin, he crawled across the patch to choose one for himself.

 After finding the perfect pumpkin, we tried to paint it.  Zaby was much more interested in holding and putting it in his mouth than he was about painting it.  It's a good thing they used washable crayola non-toxic paint, because whatever I managed to get on the pumpkin was licked off by Zaby shortly after.  That boy certainly has a strong grip, and a loud scream when something is taken from him. 

Zaby played plinko at the B101 tent, our favorite radio station here.  His three chips spelled out 101 and he won a T-shirt - too bad they only had adult larges. 

Then we headed over to the playground.  Zaby absolutely loved the swings.

 

 

 Eliza woke up shortly after and didn't take long to join in on the fun.  We had to snap some shots next to the shooting water fountain.

 

 The weather was great.  Not too hot and not too cold - the perfect fall day.  Long sleeved shirts with no jackets is the ideal. 

One of my favorite things about being a mom is watching my children play and observing the complete joy they seem to have over such small and simple things.  The innocence of a child is honestly something to marvel over. 

 Really, who else would get so excited about a tiny pumpkin? 

I guess there really are fun things to do in Philadelphia that doesn't center around the historical sites. 

Soon it was time to head back to the market to grab dessert, then walk back to the train station and head home.  Bruce choose a peanut butter whoopie pie, me a peanut butter brownie, and despite all the dessert options available, all Eliza wanted was a sucker - the cheapest dessert of them all. 

We hopped on the train.  Both children charmed all the other passengers the whole way home.  I get complimented all the time on how happy and adorable my children are.  I definitely agree.  It may have been another day Bruce had a "work" based outing - but at least we were able to spend the day as a family.