Raking Leaves

Anja--happy

Anja--not so happy

Still not happy, but at least Daddy took me out of those crunchy leaves.

Kyper

It was pretty nice last week and about half of our leaves were on the ground, so I told Kyper that we needed to go outside and play in the leaves.   He loved it.  He would help me rake/sweep the leaves into the piles and then play in them.  We had four huge piles over the course of two days of raking (front yard-one day, backyard the next).  I had hoped to do it while Anja was napping, but we didn't get to it during her naptime.  So, I got the front pack out and she got to hang out with us.  She was happy there, but then dad got home and we tried to put her in the leaf pile--she was not happy with that.  The second day when we raked, Kyper had fun driving his little car right into one of the piles.

In Dearborn, we are able to rake our leaves right into the street.  We had our entire curb lined with leaves up to my waist or higher.  And guess what--the other half of our leaves dropped this week.  So, I guess we will be raking some more.

Christmas Decorating

I did an idea I found via pinterest the other day.  I headed to Michael's and Family Dollar and got some ornaments.  The lady at Family Dollar looked at me and asked if I was already putting up Christmas decorations.  I said no, I was making something and needed to do it before Thanksgiving or it wasn't going to be done in time to use for Christmas.  

It was so easy.  You just use a wire hanger and turn it into a circle and thread the ornaments on.  (But first, I hot glued the tops on the ornaments, so they didn't pop apart--this was a tip I got from the blog I found via Pinterest.)  Here are some pictures from the process.

Apparently, I didn't get any pictures of the final product.  It turned out very well (still deciding if I I like the ribbon/rope I got to hang it with.)  I'll take a picture of it when it gets back upstairs and on our door.

Click here is the link for the original blog if you want more detailed instructions.

Fun with Friends

We headed to the museum with our friends Ms. Julie and Gavin.  We hit up the car exhibit and found a cool car that they could take apart and work on like a mechanic.  

 Then they found an airplane to fly in.

 Sitting on the bus that Rosa Parks rode on.

 Kyper didn't want to go up, so Ms. Julie took Anja up on the tractor with Gavin.

 We watched Kyper' friends, Frank and Sadie.  They had taken a long a movie to watch for quiet time.  They just looked so cute cuddled on the couch together.

Halloween

We did several little Halloween events around here this year.

First, the kids and I headed to Greenfield Village with our MOPS group the Thursday before Halloween. We dressed the kids up for this event.  It was fun hanging out with the other moms and to see all the kiddos dressed up.  It was a gorgeous day--we are talking the high 70's!  Since the costumes we had for the kids were more for cold weather, therefore they wore a little more light weight costumes.  Kyper was a bug catcher and Anja was a cupcake.  Here are some pictures:

The group

My bug catcher and my cupcake

The Saturday before Halloween, we had friends coming up to visit us.  We decided to go to a Plymouth Whalers hockey game with them.  It just so happened that they had trick or treating that night.  We had gotten a babysitter for Anja , but Kyper got to stay up late and come with us.  It took him about 1 and a half periods to warm up to the hockey game.  The major thing that got to him in the beginning was their mascot--a whale.  He did not like the whale--he was terrified of it and clung to Joel and I like his life depended on it.  We had taken along his costume, but due to his fear he didn't dress up. Fortunately, the vendors still gave him candy.  The quote of the night was when we got home.  He poured out his loot and said "That is definitely too much candy."  Sorry, we didn't get any pictures of this event.

Finally, the big day was here.  I guess getting candy ranks pretty high on a three year old's list of favorite days.  (He asked me the next day, when it was going to be Halloween again.)  Not my favorite holiday, oh well.  We got him looking forward to "Thank you day" though.  We had a crazy day--not filled with Halloween stuff, but we got everything done and were able to go to Frank's house for trick or treating.  We were joined by my friend Kelly and her daughter Olivia--who is Frank's sister's best friend.  It was fun.  We had two Minnie Mouses (can I use mouses in that context?)  One Micky Mouse, one dinosaur and one watermelon.  We just did a block with the kids, so we weren't out long.  Corey (Frank and Sadie's mom) had baked cupcakes, so we ate those and then headed out.   I was nice and let Kyper do a few neighbors' houses as well even though he had gotten enough candy from the hockey game and the little block we did.  He enjoyed helping us hand out candy too--those trick or treaters were spoiled with the handfuls Kyper was giving away.  Here are some pictures from Halloween night.

My little watermelon

Micky and the Dinosaur (although as Kyper says..."I still don't know what dinosaur has two horns on its head.")

The kiddos (plus me)

Kypersaurus and Anjamelon

Our pumpkins...Kyper wanted a sad face and a happy face.