Halloween Day 2010

Yesterday I realized we didn't have a big pumpkin to carve. We tried two grocery stores that were completely out. We did have a little one, so Kevin (with the boys as helpers) carved that one. It was a much quicker job for cleaning it out, and it turned out pretty cute!

The boys helped me make a pumpkin chocolate cake that turned out really good.
I used Traders Joes Chocolate cake mix, 2 cups of canned pumpkin, 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons of oil and 1/3-1//2 cup water. It was moist and yummy!

Aunt Cheryl, AJ, Grandma & Grandpa, and Grandma Kathy came over to have dinner, trick or treat, and pass out candy. We all had a fun time! Both boys were great little trick or treaters saying "Trick or Treat, Thank you, Happy Halloween!" at every house

Grandma Martha brought a real bee costume she had that would fit Will. She used some of her magic to get him to put it on and me excited about wearing it. He was so happy to be a bee and wanted to put it back on even after we came home and took it off .

Grandma Kathy helped make Westley's ghost costume.

Thanks to both Granmdas, we love you!

Halloween On Elm

Saturday we went to a new event put on by the city of Carlsbad in Carlsbad Village area. We met many of our playgroup friends there



Will was grouchy and wouldn't put on his Monkey costume. I made a bee headband in about 5 minutes to go with some play wings we had but he wasn't thrilled by that either. They stayed on about 5 minutes.
The rest of the time he was just dressed in all black. Some people asked what he was. I told them he was a grouch... the Scrooge of Halloween.

While Westley didn't like me painting his face and missed having easy access to his hands at all time, he enjoyed his ghost costume

I thought it would be more like a street fair, but it was supposed to be trick or treating through the shops and then on certain corners/parking lots there were activities going on.
Well most places ran out of candy in the first hour. I was ok with that as we weren't even planning on trick or treating, but the other festivities were limited and crowded.
The boys did have a great time on their one turn on the slide and jumper

Afterwards we ate dinner at Pizza Port with some of our friends.

Squirting Ocean Water

October 29... a beautiful day for the beach?? Yes, in San Diego!
We had a nice family morning at the beach. I brought the boys water squirts to try squirting up and spraying ocean work. Even with sandy water they were working well and the boys were having fun.
Sadly... we accidentally left them on the beach. Hopefully, some other kids found them and got to enjoy them.

Stenciled Jack-o-lantern faces

Something I bought came with stencils of Jack-0-Lantern faces. They are meant to be used on pumpkins but I knew that would be too hard.
I saved them and today I taped them down on construction paper and let the boys paint over them.
I figured they would paint all over the stencils, but without me saying anything, they concentrated the paint in the holes.

I thought they would both finish within a few seconds and not be too into this, but they both were pretty meticulous with their paintings and were excited when I took off the stencil and they could see their pumpkin faces.

Tomorrow when they are dry I'll see if they want to cut the paper round like a pumpkin

Can of Balls

We have a bunch of these little practice golf balls. I wanted to have a container they could be dropped into. I save random cans/containers is a box for my projects. In there I had a tennis ball can which was perfect.
I cut a hole in the lid just big enough so the balls could fit, but they had to be pressed down to go in and they would not easily come back out.
I made this for younger toddlers who were visiting my class, but then gave it to my boys.
The kids had to figure out how to get the balls in, and they loved dumping them out and playing with the balls too.

Ever noticed how all the toys that are marketed as educational these days cost a lot of money, and are electronic? When really the more simple toys teach just as much, or more, in a natural way, and children play with them longer as their are more ways for them to actually play with the toy.

Like this one can teach color, opposite words in-out, push(balls in)-pull(lid off). It uses fine motor skills to put the balls in and out, gross motor skills to chase the balls all around and bend to pick them up. Also, it uses some cognitive skills on which balls will fit and requires some practice on getting them pushed in. Math skills could be used to count the balls and compare size. Children can practice turn taking each putting in one at a time.

Love Notes

Today Westley started this on his own.
He found a little pad of paper and asked if he could write on it. I said yes and gave him a pencil
He wrote:

He told me it says,
Dear Mom (I was impressed he knew that is how you start a message)
I love you forever and ever.
love Westley

I will keep my first love note forever and ever!

String Webs

Westley started this at Grandma and Grandpa's house in the morning when he found a piece of string. He was going to decorate their bathroom (see more bathroom decorating from Oct 2009)
We decided it looked like he was making a web, so I provided him with more string. He found his own creative ways of getting the string to stay where he wanted

Not sure how thrilled Grandma was about having her bathroom turned into a spiderweb, but we thought it was fun.

When we got home I gave Westley yarn. He asked for tape, but I told him no, that it was part of the game to see what he could do without it. This turned into be one of my favorite activities.
This lesson used physics, patience, and body awareness. I was impressed as Westley was meticulous about where he put the yarn and how he would get it to stay.  He worked quickly and was good at it. It kept him busy for 15 minutes and he would have done it for much longer if we didn't have time constraints.
I'm sure he will be stringing again first thing in the morning.

Party in Beumont

Beaumont is not really the party spot, but we attended a relative of Kevin's 80th birthday there. The boys had a fun time with their cousins and a some other kids that were there. We were the party poppers as the boys wanted to play with the balloons and I think we managed to pop almost all of them

Bates Nut Farm 2010

This was our second annual trip to the Bates Nut Farm.
I'll let some photos explain what we did.

Pony rides in the rain

 Petting zoo too

Walking through the Hay Maze

Riding the tractor ride... picture taken 30 seconds before Will go stung by a yellow jacket on his hand

Playing in the pumpkin fields (the boys favorite part... funny how that was the only free thing too)

Minus the rain and Will's sting, it was a good little trip. We will go back next year!

Stair Game

Disclaimer right off the bat on this one... Stairs can be dangerous. This was only played with 2 adults supervision.

Westley is in a "not listening" stage. Kevin started this game to give him a little practice.

It was kind of like Mother May I where the boys stood at the bottom. He then individually told one to go up two stairs, down to stairs, to trade places, meet on the middle stair etc. It also helped with Westley's intensifying need to win. In the game one person would be much higher on the stairs than the other, but very quickly that would change. He grasped onto that quickly and played with a smile,

When it was my turn to call out the directions, I included things like, "if you are wearing blue go up to stairs" My last call was "If you love mom, come to the top of the stairs" I was met with my 3 favorite boys :)


Here's the only photo I took, sadly I cut off Will's happy head, Kevin was more enthused than this picture may lead you to believe.

Pizza Restaurant

Today I gave Westley the idea of playing Restaurant. He decided on a pizza restaurant and named it "Birdy Barn Pizza House." Grandma and Will would be our customers.
 First we made menus. Inside he decided there would be 7 toppings to choose from. I showed him how we could make boxes for them to check off which ones they wanted. He made squares and named off 7 toppings that I wrote in.
Then we gave the menus to our guests

Once they decided on their toppings, Westley got busy on making the pizzas. I had some packaged crust I was throwing out because it was expired, so I let him use that. He glued on the toppings.

Then he wanted a special pizza oven to cook them in

While they cooked, we set the table

Westley checked to make sure they were enjoying their meal

When they paid their bill, Westley wanted to give them a coupon for next time. He has a great time so I am sure there will be a "next time"

Our Pool

Westley informed me we had a pool in our backyard on Tuesday as it was raining all day. The drain in our grass couldn't take anymore water so there was a small "pool" of muddy water. The boys insisted on going out in the rain. At first I resisted the idea, but then figured it was good for them to play that way, especially since we don't get rain very often.
They stripped down to nakedness... not sure why, but I convinced them to put on their rain coats, which made them want their rain boots (Will's are actually snow boots... his rain boots are on order)
So here they are in our "pool" bottomless, with their rain jackets and boots.

Our Wheel of Fortune

Since Westley was 1 1/2 he has loved Wheel of Fortune. I don't know if it is because he doesn't see much TV other than PBS or if he inherited a love for it from me :)
Tonight I told him we could play our own Wheel of Fortune game and he was very excited.

I created the squares like on Wheel of Fortune and then played like hangman.
Given that he can't read, except for a few names, I just did his and Will's names and gave a couple little hints.
Then Westley wanted to do it for me. He drew boxes and then I would guess letters and then he would tell me which box to write them in. What we ended up spelling weren't words, but I just kind of pretended like they were as he was pretty excited about it all.
I think this will be even more fun with him when we have another grown up who can help him out a little when it is his turn to have me guess the word.

Brick-or-Treat

Today the boys, Grandma Kathy, and I went to Legoland for Brick-or-Treat.
They have a little area in the park set up for trick or treating with little booths the kids get goodies at. I like it because it is not all candy. They also got a lego magazine, and apple, a kids cliff bar (which Westley is satisfied with as it being candy) a free kids meal coupon to  Chipotle, a special lego block, crayons and a few other things.

After that Westley wanted to do some rides, we did a few but we were there at the rainiest time of the day and some things closed.

Aztec Village SDSU Football

This Saturday Westley, Kevin and I went to another of SDSU's football games. We must be good luck charms as they have won every game we have attended.
Westley is surprising interested and sits pretty well through the whole game. I think he is also just enjoying his time with Mom and Dad and no Will or others interfering.
 This time we went to a free pre-game event they have each time in the parking lot, called Aztec Village.
Westley got more jump time today in the SDSU jumper with slide

Pumpkin Station

Friday,  I took the boys to meet Aunt Lisa and Drew at the Pumpkin Station in Del Mar. Getting in was free, but I was shocked that the price was $3 per child per activity (ride, petting zoo, jumper)
But, besides being more than I was planning to spend, we all had a good time.
There was a small train ride I had gotten free coupons for online (on the Pumpkin Station Website) The boys rode that, then went in a jumper, a giant slide, the petting zoo, and a couple other fair type rides.

On the way out I let each of the boys pick a small little pumpkin.
Westley insisted on eating his that night for dinner, so we did, and now we just have Will's as a decoration.