Kindergarten Halloween Party

While Gordon was at Kindergarten on Thursday, Grayson and I were busy baking up a couple dozen cupcakes for Gordon's Halloween party. Gordon helped frost and sprinkle them this morning before the party.

Grayson helped decorate the cupcakes too, and was very proud of his handiwork.

At school, there were four Halloween themed stations for the kids to rotate through.
I got to run the Bingo station. Two other moms and a grandma were also there to help with the party.

Grayson was very excited to be included in all the Kindergarten 'big kid' fun!

At the end of the day, Miss Gibson handed out monster teeth to all the kids.

Grayson got some too.

Then she put on some music and we all danced to "The Monster Mash!"

What a memorable Kindergarten celebration!

Preschool Halloween Party

Grayson thoroughly enjoyed his very first preschool Halloween party on Wednesday!
These are some photos taken before leaving for school, Grayson all in costume for the special day. This will mark his 3rd consecutive year dressed as a cowboy for Halloween.
I guess if you find something that works for you, you just stick with it. ☺

Yahoo! Such a festive day at preschool!

We love our little cowboy!

Costume Quest

The plan for last Saturday was to determine exactly what the boys wanted to dress up as for Halloween so that I'd have ample time to shop for supplies and put together their trick-or-treating attire. Gordon had consistently stated he wanted to be a spider, so that was a pretty solid decision. Grayson, however, kept coming up with new costume ideas -- an octopus, an ant, how 'bout a ghost (no, he decided that was too scary), Spider-Man, an iPhone (???), among other random creatures.

So we were sifting through the boys' costume cubby in their room, just to see what we already have. We rediscovered a very handsome Daniel Boone type ensemble. Perfect - Gary has been reading some Daniel Boone adventures to the boys lately, and they have enjoyed the stories. Grayson was all for putting on the buckskin shirt and pants and moccasins, but when I pulled out the raccoon-skin cap, he backed away.
"Was that 'fox' real sometime?!" he asked with alarm. I assured him that it was just pretend, made of fluffy stuff like teddy bears; not a real raccoon at all, and never was. "But the 'fox' that was in our garage was wearing that!" he argued.

So Daniel Boone was vetoed, and Grayson never got within 3 feet of that "fox" hat. (Too scary!)
You'll see in my next post what costume finally won Grayson's vote for Halloween 2010.

Driveway Decorating

These photos were taken a couple weeks ago. The boys came close to completely covering the driveway with chalk art.

After tracing both boys, Gordy offered to trace my silhouette. He played a trick on me and made me look like a sea monster. I was impressed by his creativity in making webbed arms, legs, and fingers and spiky hair. Using his clever ideas, I returned the joke on him - here is "Monster Mommy & Monster Boy!"

Gordon spent over an hour, completely absorbed in his sidewalk chalk art.

Grayson enjoys drawing too, but he also loves to watch Gordon create.

Caterpillar.

Okay, so I enjoyed making a few sketches too....

A Halloween Pumpkin!

Such fun!

I meant to get some photos of the entire spread, but didn't get outside to take more photos until after it rained the following day. Shoot. I'm sure it won't be the last time the driveway will be covered in chalky artwork!

So Long, Training Wheels!

Gary and Gordon have been putting in some hours in the evenings, getting Gordon 2-wheeling on his bike.
The training wheels are officially off, for Gordon!

Grayson was a great support!

Gordy getting a pep talk from Daddy.

The whole process happened a lot more quickly than I expected it would.

In only a matter of days, Gordon was on his own, pedaling away on two wheels.

Smiling all the while, for the most part too!

Gordon's new motto is, "Never give up!"

We have some great video clips, but I couldn't get them to upload onto the blog yet; I'll keep trying....

Way to go, Gordon!! We are so proud of you!

Gordon's School Carnival

On September 24th, the PTA at Gordon's school held its first fundraiser for the year - an old-fashioned family pot luck/chicken dinner/carnival. There was face-painting, balloon animals, a cake walk, and other games. The boys have never really warmed to the idea of having their faces painted, but on this occasion they willingly got in line for it.

Gordon got this tiger face.

And Grayson asked for a red line. I wondered if maybe he got ripped off - asking for a "red lion" and they gave him this line across his forehead, but even after seeing the result in the mirror, he assured me he'd requested a red line across his forehead, and was happy with what he saw. Interesting choice. ☺

We signed up for the PTA at our parent orientation in August, and enjoyed being a part of this fundraiser - donating a cake for the cake walk, and helping with serving the chicken and clean-up.

Already fading, the boys checked out their face art when we got home.

It was a fun-filled evening -- even thought the boys didn't win one of the cakes they'd hoped to take home from the cake walk.

Grayson's Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

On October 4th, Grayson and I happily took part in Grayson's 1st preschool field trip with his classmates. Here is Grayson, patiently waiting for all of his friends to arrive at the pumpkin patch so the field trip could begin.

Quality time with Grayson - here we are embarking on the hayride tour, taking us to where all the good pumpkins are.

Grayson takes in all the wonderful farm sites, on a beautiful autumn day.

Having fun!

Time to pick out a pumpkin!

It didn't take Grayson very long to find...

...his favorite pumpkin in the whole patch.

His words were, "Mommy, this is the cutest pumpkin I've ever seen!"

While the other kids were still searching for their perfect pumpkins, Grayson was eager to get back to the barnyard and see what else there was to see.

Listening very attentively to the guide teach the class about pumpkins.

Teacher: "One, two, three - eyes on me!" Kids: "One, tw0 - eyes on you!"
Grayson has this down pat.

Grayson loves his pumpkin so much, he opted to hang on to it, even while he and the other kids climbed and played on the tractor tire jungle gym.

Grayson is the middle pumpkin, below.

Admiring his pumpkin while waiting for snack time.

I snapped this at a red light on our way home.
Pumpkin hunting is quite exhausting.

I have to mention that Grayson's pumpkin never left his side for the next 24 hours. He even slept with it that first night. Such a beloved pumpkin -- for our sweet little pumpkin!