Spooktacular!

EEEWW!  Pumpkin guts!

We have had a "spook-tacular" week around here!  Several activities leading up to the big trick or treat night tomorrow night/Saturday night.  We carved pumpkins with Andrew's cousins .  The kids thought it was pretty neat!  We had newspapers spread out all over the kitchen floor- it was quite a project!

Andrew was pretty interested... for the first ten minutes or so!

He helped scoop out some guts, but then he wanted to play with his cousins...forget the pumpkins!

So the adults ended up doing most of the carving. We actually had a great time doing it!  Relived some childhood memories...

Craig was getting me back for always sticking him with the intricate design.  It was my turn!  I carved a bat coming out of a pumpkin.  It was fairly high maintenance, but not as much as some of the other designs, like spider's webs! Ha!  It is so neat now that you can buy the books and all the tools to make really cool designs.  Much different than when I was a kid!

Andrew checking out all the pumpkins (ours is on the far left).

Last night was "Trick or Read" at our local library.  The kids wear their costumes and visit the library for stories, treats, crafts and a video.  It was so fun.  I decided to let you have a sneak peek at Andrew's Halloween costume.  I'm sure you won't be surprised by his choice!

He's the cutest little furry red monster around!

Making a Halloween picture frame

Here he is enjoying some popcorn and the video "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown."

I didn't think he'd like either one (the popcorn or the movie) but he loved it all!  He sat there so cute and watched with all the other kids, stuffing his face with popcorn!  I hadn't let him eat popcorn before, I was always afraid of him choking.  But kids younger than him were eating it, so I decided to let go a little!

We are looking forward to trick or treating with Andrew's cousins, Evie and Jayden tomorrow night!  We are hoping this rain goes away...even though it makes for a spooktacular night!

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween!

Bones, Bones, Bones!

This picture honestly speaks for itself.  It almost needs no explanation.  The look on his face just says it all (and no, he wasn't filling his pants!)

Yet, I feel the need to explain.

Andrew began this spooky season terrified of skeletons.  Now he is obsessed with them.  Funny how that works, isn't it?

It all began with a trip to Wal Mart about a month ago where I decided to purchase this video:

I thought, how could a harmless Sesame Street video be that scary??  Andrew gazed at it the whole way through the store, and was so excited to pay the cashier (he likes to help me do this) and watch it in the car.  I popped it into the DVD player and we headed home...

Next thing I know, Andrew is crying in the back seat.

What in the world??  I am thinking, what is this video about anyway?  I quickly took it out and figured I'd check it out when I got home.  Irritated that I just spent $7 bucks on it and had already opened it.

Well, the next day Andrew asked for "Elmo Count?" (I realized the pair is on the cover of this DVD).  I thought, well okay,  I can watch it with him now and see what all the fuss was about.  It begins with Elmo visiting Count's spooky castle.  One of the very first songs is a song entitled "Bones, Bones, Bones" and Count sings, and it shows a skeleton who shakes and moves around and laughs a scary laugh.  I thought it could be a little scary to a little kid...I could see that.

Well, Andrew warmed up to the idea.  I just called it a "silly skeleton" and he stood there, eyes glued to the TV.  I figure, well, he's either going to have nightmares or he's not.  It was too late to take it back now.


Let's just say... a glow in the dark skeleton decoration, a pair of skeleton pajamas and two toy skeletons later...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

It was the best $7 bucks I ever spent!

Not Me Monday!

Those of you who follow Mckmama's blog know about her "Not Me Monday" posts.  Well, I pulled a "not me" moment and reluctantly decided to blog about it, in the hopes that no one judges me!  I know all of you heart mommies out there are going to think I am nuts, but bear with me.  And just so you know...I am only blogging about this because it was too cute NOT to record in our Huegel family history books!  Otherwise I would never want to admit I did this.

Ok.  Deep breath.  I most certainly did not have Andrew come into my school full of germs and show him off to my class a few weeks ago.  Not me!  Not during this recent H1N1 outbreak!  Nope!  I would never do something like that.  I would be crazy.

Ok, so a few weeks ago Craig had Friday off, so he brought Andrew to my school to have lunch with me... GASP!  I know what you are thinking.  If it makes any difference, I did have the kids all scrub their hands and clorox wipe their desks and every surface of the room before Andrew came.  I all but doused them in Lysol.  Trust me, I know it was taking a chance.  But I guess deep down, I knew it would be okay.  It was a little before all the sickness really started going around, and all my kids were healthy and had been healthy at the time.  Plus, they love hearing stories about Andrew and I really wanted to bring him in for them to meet him.

I mean, look at that smile!  He had a ball!  He loved all the kids and they had so much fun with him.  He was so cute, he rolled my chair right up to the desks right away and crawled up there to sit just like the "big kids."   He was so proud of himself.  They gave him a pencil and paper and he got right to work.  The 4th graders all got a big kick out of him.

We are learning about the Human Body in Science, so I had this poster of a skeleton hanging in the room.  Andrew was a little freaked out at first, but his latest obsession lately is bones and skeletons (more in another post coming soon!) so he got used to this poster quite quickly.

The kids wanted to have a dance party, so Andrew joined right in!  This is worth the watch-my little man, hamming it up!  And by the way, I definitely did not let Andrew dance around holding a sharp pencil in his hand.  Not me!  (Email readers will need to go to the actual blog, or click the link to go to the site to view):

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Andrew loves school.  He loves visiting Daddy, Mommy and Ga Ga's schools.  He has grown up around that environment, as did I.  I spent countless hours playing at my dad's school where he was principal as I was growing up.  I figure, I am not going to shelter him from living life.  These are the moments I cherish and remember as I spend so much time in that classroom missing my son.  And I know he remembers too.  He loves mama's school.  And now he can visualize where I am during the day.  I don't regret taking him.  (And I can say that now, because it was several weeks ago and he did NOT get H1N1!)  Did you notice I waited to post this, just to make sure??  I won't mention that 2 of my 4th graders came down with it just a few days after Andrew's visit.  Yeah, I freaked out a little bit.  Yes, I called Dr. Mooradian immediately.  He told me not to worry.  So I didn't.  I went on, living life and enjoying precious moments with my son.

Oh, and I only posted this picture so you could see my stunning bulletin board in the background so you know I do actually spend some time being creative and not just thinking of Andrew all day!  Ha!

When we left Andrew kept saying "Bye bye, class!" It was so adorable (if you watched the video you heard him say it...if you didn't you really should go back and watch it. Because you would never want to admit you skipped that part of my post. Not you!) Ha!

And if nothing else, the trip was worth it getting this picture:

LOL!

And my big boy walking down his first elementary school hallway.

 

"Bye Bye, Class!"

Oh, and the best news??  Andrew got his H1N1 injection today!  Yippee! (I won't mention we waited in line for 3 hours with a 2 1/2 year old...yeah, don't think you need details as to how that went down!) Ha!

Pumpkin Patch!

We took advantage of the beautiful weather last weekend and took Andrew to the pumpkin patch.  It has got to be the neatest one around.  There was so much to do!  We talked about how we could have easily planned it as a whole day excursion, but instead we decided to wait until Andrew got up from his nap to go so he'd be rested and in a good mood! Ha!  Although I don't think there is any way you couldn't be in a good mood at this place!  It was loads of good time, family fun!  We even brough Ga Ga along for the experience!

Andrew was so cute.  When he saw all the pumpkins he ran right over to them and tried to pick up each one!  Took him a while to find one that was small enough for him to lift!  He wanted the biggest ones!

We went to the Center Grove Orchard in Cambridge.  Andrew had gone there with his day care a couple weeks ago and got a coupon so we had to go back.  Also because the day they went it was crummy and raining so they didn't get to do much outside.

We talked about how much easier it is to take Andrew places now that he's just a little older.  He is so much better at staying with us and not running off.  He enjoys things more and spends more time looking at everything.  Just last year he'd go from one thing to the next, but this year he really soaked it all in.

They have this really neat corn pool, with slides and hay bails for the kids to jump in.  Andrew loved it!

 

We then made our way over to the animals.  You can pay $1.00 for a container of "goat food."  This was big stuff!  Andrew didn't quite figure out how to hold it out in his hand...he'd rather feed the goat piece by piece with his fingers! Watch those fingers!

 

Andrew was fascinated by the ducks.  He just stared at them for the longest time.  He kept quacking at them!  It was so funny.

They also have these really cute little houses that are from the Three Little Pigs.  They are made of sticks, straw and bricks.  There is even a wolf on top of the brick house and little pigs outside each one.  Andrew loved going in and out of the play houses and peeking through the windows.

Once Andrew spotted this, he was done with the animals and houses!

You just can't beat a choo choo with a smiley face on the front!  It was run by this sweet old man and lady who are in their 80's.  They said they still love to run the train for the enjoyment of children.  Isn't that so sweet?  Andrew loved it so much he wanted to ride more than once!  And I was the only mom running beside the train, snapping pictures making sure Andrew didn't try to crawl out of his seat!  Ha!

This was his 2nd train ride of the day! lol!

They also have an old one room school house.  Andrew felt right at home at "school."  He plopped right down in one of the desks, folded his little hands, ready to learn!

Next we took a hay rack ride to a different part of the farm where they have even more cool stuff (I told you, this place is the best!)

They have a super slide, which is actually pretty scary!  I'm telling you, I almost chickened out when I was sitting in this sled on top!  It is steep!  Andrew was so excited and loved it...when we got to the bottom he immediately said "AGAIN?!"  I let daddy go the next time because I was too chicken to go again really wanted him to experience the fun!

He had to be silly and raise his arm like he was on a roller coaster! Ha!

Ok, so I'm not done yet!!  They have this cool thing they call a "jumping pillow."  I know.  What pumpkin farm doesn't have one of those? lol!  It was so fun watching Andrew.  He had a ball.  Especially when daddy jumped with him and he was airborne for a while!  Mommy was a little nervous but I snapped some pictures anyway!  I think I better get used to my rough house loving boys!

Andrew just laughed and laughed, and could have jumped all night!  Oh, do you see the huge barn behind him?  That is called the "Feed Barn."  Yep, you can even order up fresh shredded BBQ pork sandwiches, complete with potato salad, homemade applesauce, and you can't forget the delicious apple cider...

Andrew loved it!  He also has a new love for apples.  See him clutching this one?  He wouldn't put it down once he saw it in the store and suckered Ga Ga into spending a whole 75 cents on it.  He carried it all around (luckily it was when we were almost ready to go home).  We had to visit the old fashioned store and pick up some of this great stuff...

Andrew's sweet babysitter last year made some delicious home made apple butter and he has never forgotten about it.  He still calls it "Ava's toast."  They gave us a jar to take home and we ran out, but Andrew still asks for Ava's toast so I thought I'd better replenish the supply!

 

Do you like Craig's hat?  Ha!  This was the one family picture we attempted to take- Andrew wouldn't sit still for much more!  How could he with so many fun things to do??

The day we went they were having a special pumpkin carving day and that night stayed open late to "Light the Night" with all the pumpkins people had carved throughout the day.  It was so neat.  Andrew loved all the lit pumpkins and just took everything in.  He was so sweet.

And have you ever seen a kid devour an apple like this?

He gazed at his apple the whole ride home and even for a while after we got home, but he wouldn't put it down.  Pretty soon, he just dug in!  He had juice everywhere!  I love all the little bite marks all over it.  He'd take a bite, then rotate it around and bite it again.  Usually I cut up his apples for him, so this was a first!  He had a ball!

This picture cracks me up.  Just loungin with his apple!

Have any of you been to any fun pumpkin farms this fall?  What kinds of activities did they have for kids?  If you haven't been to one yet, I highly recommend it!  We had such an enjoyable family day.

Happy pumpkin picking!