Almost Missed Halloween!

First off, check this out!

$1.99 for a gallon of gas just down the street from our house...and tonight it's $1.93! Must be election time in Ohio!
Oh, and a wonderful sunset we had the other night!

OCTOBER 30, 2008
Halloween Costume Party at Preschool!
I dropped Yoda off at school but was able to come back and join in on some of the fun. Earlier, they had hit the hallways for some trick or treating and then made some yummy party treats. When I arrived to help out with some games, everyone was quietly waiting.

We played a few games like tossing ghosts and spiders through various spooky holes but Mommy was too busy to get photos. Keeping 15 preschoolers involved in a game was a challenge for sure. :)

Snack time! Here Lucas is trying his Witches Wand he made earlier in the day.
The best part of the party...the balloons! (Although, Lucas said it was the Caprisun!) It was so fun to see all the kids dressed up in costumes, running around like little crazies after balloons with bellies full of sugar snacks.


Can you believe it? No collisions!
We ended with spooky Halloween book read by Mrs. Crum.


She also made sure to remind the kids not to eat any candy until Mom or Dad checked it for "dirt & bugs!" Why did she say they were trick or treating tonight?...Halloween's tomorrow but I didn't say anything.

After school, I wanted to head to Springfield to look a craiglist table which happened to be out near Young's Dairy Farm. It was beautiful day and we had heard that the farm was a great place to see animals and have a little ice cream too....hmmmm, just what we need, more sugar! Lucas loved feeding the goats but didn't really care about the other stuff. Okay, maybe too much for one day.

We headed home and I stopped to take a photo of my favorite Fall tree we see each day on our to and from Preschool.
What a big day! We both were worn out and ready for a nap and a nice quiet dinner with Dad.

FEW HOURS LATER...
It was 6pm and we were just about ready to have dinner when the door bell rang!

Who could that be?

A little Goblin?!

What, trick or treaters!? But it's only October 30th and everyone knows Halloween in on October 31st! We were confused! Mike jumped online and I ran to the neighbors to find out why we had Goblins showing up already.

The Answer: Beggar's Night - Held on the 30th between 6pm & 8pm

The Reason: Not too clear... Some say a religious tradition here in Dayton to celebrate on the day before Halloween so not to celebrate on the devils night...Some say to avoid having Halloween on a Friday night during football games...who knows?!

We were just happy to be home and not miss out. Lucas would had been sooo sad!

Mike rushed to the store for more candy, I rushed to get Lucas into his Yoda costume and the whole time Lucas was more excited than I had ever seen him. He couldn't stand still and had a smile from ear to ear.

His favorite part?! Answering the door and handing out candy to all the kids. "Mommy, here comes some more kids!"We could barely get him to go outside to trick or treat himself. It was after 7pm by this time so we had to get moving. Once outside, he was ready to go. Many people set up chairs out on their driveway so they don't have to answer their doors a million times. Other houses had the old traditional method of answering their door which we were used too. Ringing door bells is a high light on Halloween!
Lucas didn't care. He was so excited to see what he got from each home. Lots of new candies he had never even heard of. "Mommy, what's this?...Do you chew it or swallow it or spit it out?" He chatted up and down the streets and of course, was the cutest Yoda ever!Checking out all his goods! "I like candy EVERYDAY!"
We've created a Monster!
Happy (Real) Halloween Everyone!

Another Colorful Weekend at The Red

Mommy is almost to the point at which she must stop climbing. My belly is just getting too big and next Monday marks the start of my third trimester. I'll have to leave the climbing and swinging to the boys!

We do love The Red and have yet to go to the same area twice. It is huge and we will have plenty to climb in the years to come.

Here are a few shots from this past weekend...

This is looking straight up with the camera and of course, Lucas wanted to go all they way to the top! Not this time buddy, it was just way too high for our comfort. Can you see how tall the trees are at this place? Amazing!
He settled for swinging and catching leaves from the trees as he went by.
Here's Daddy climbing some crazy 5.12 with fun rock and lots of holds but it's a steep one!
More Autumn colors.
Dirty face Lucas and his "fire" red leaf as he likes to call it.
Here's Mommy still trying to climb with her big belly! Check out that sweet harness!

Halloween Starts Early

Lucas loves to cut and glue so we decided to make some Halloween cards last week. Pumpkins became the theme and it was a big hit. We made cards and book marks for over an hour and sent them out in the mail the next day.
Friday night was his Autumn Carnival at school. We pulled out the Yoda costume and this year added face make-up. Mommy wasn't ready for greasy make-up and found some wonderful green eye shadow which worked just perfect (very easy clean up too!). Lucas thought it was weird to put on make-up but really enjoyed doing it all by himself.

He was ready for the carnival!
The carnival was a little intimidating at first. There were kids and people everywhere dressed up in weird costumes. He quickly realized that it was fun and he could get various prizes after playing some games. However, once Lucas got a whistle he was content.

We even met some of his Star Wars "friends"...
We did a few more games before hitting the "Trick or Treating Hallway!"
"Trick or Treat?"
"YIKES!!!"
He wasn't going to get too close to the witch, she was scary!
He made out on the candy side and everyone loved his Yoda costume. Mom and Dad realized that there will be lots of candy this Halloween! Yummy treats!
We tried to sneak some candy from his candy bucket but he was not too excited about sharing his new treats. He made sure to keep a tight hold onto his candy bucket on the car ride home.
His new saying, "I love candy EVERYDAY!"

Fulton Farms Field Trip

Today was a big day at preschool for Lucas. His class was going to Fulton Farms for a hayride, pumpkin patch and Autumn fun.


He even got to ride on the big school bus!
It was a chilly morning so he was all bundled up and in his candy corn shirt he made himself at school...too cute!

Mommy could only participate in some of the fun. All parents are required to go through a back ground check and my results have not come back yet. It's nice to know they check everyone out who will be helping with school activities but nobody told me it could take up to four weeks to get the results. I made the most of it! I couldn't go on the hayride to the pumpkin patch but hopefully will get photos from his teacher.

Lucas woke up this morning telling me that he doesn't like hayrides. I don't think he really understood what a hayride really was. He had the funniest look on his face when he got on the wagon and looked down at the hay.

They want me to sit on this stuff? Weird!With a little help from his teacher Mrs. Hananbam, he found his seat.
However, he still wasn't sold on this whole hayride idea.Here's a pumpkin patch Mommy found while waiting...lots and lots and lots of pumpkins!
Even more for sale at the farm store!
When he got back from the hayride he ran up to me and said, "Mommy, I liked'ed the hayride!" Then it was off to see the farm animals, corn maze and hay slide.

"Wow, what's that?"

A big corn stalk ti-pi!
There were bunnies, baby turkeys, llamas, and little horses too.
And what is that silly thing?
A Billy Goat!
A trip down the slide...
A photo with Mrs. Crum his teacher...
and then time to get all lined up and ready to go.
Back on the big bus and notice how he's pretending not to see me?

Oh Mom, you're embarrassing me!
What a big boy!