Halloween 2010

2010 has been a really good year so far and Halloween has been no exception. I'd say it started with heading to our friend's (and my former co-worker's) annual oyster roast/shrimp feast. Where I took my cake pops which turned out pretty yummy - as was all the food brought by everyone and the shrimp - we just ignore the oyster part. ;-) The boys always have a great time running around over there and playing ping pong.

I had fun creating their costumes this year. Franklin wanted to be a ranger from one of his favorite books, Ranger Apprentice and Patch wanted to be the Grim Reaper:

We went to the Trick or Treating at the Village at Sandhills last night and were a little late - it was suppose to be from 6-8 and we got there before 7 - too many of the stores were already out of candy and that's pretty sad. But, we did get to stop at the Marble Slab for some yummy ice cream!!

The crowds were huge and if you haven't figured it out yet, I don't like crowds much. And, we didn't get to see Marsha and the girls or April and her kids! :( I think the boys got 8? 10? pieces of candy. I guess we got out and got some exercise though.

What do you think of this mama taking her kids out T or T'ing? See the babies eyes glowing?

The boys made out like bandits going around the neighborhood tonight. I think they about wore Todd out doing a lot of the neighborhood. I stayed home and passed out candy. I only bought 3 bags of candy because we never know how many kids we are going to get here. Most of our immediate neighbors don't turn their lights on in this stretch but Todd said a lot of the neighbors were passing out candy this year. We had to turn the lights out about 8:30.

The Avon lady was pretty smart to send candy home for mom - if I didn't already have a rep, I would have to use her :D

Every year we put our spider out front and he scares a lot of the kids by dropping down his line when he hears a noise and then scurrying up the line again while flashing his red eyes. The boys were so tickled by some teenagers getting scared a couple years ago. I did find a couple of kids on the far side of the porch this year though - Good old Wendy, trying to give the little kids a heart attack!

I can't get a still shot of him with his eyes glowing - they don't glow when he's still!!

Happy Halloween all! I hope you had fun too :)

October what??

Goodness! Times flies something fierce these days! Well, I got most of my list done from the last post. I don't have a lot of decorating done but we're in the Halloween spirit around here anyhow.

We just got home from our science class and a Halloween party. Our friend April is such a talented organizer! She had drinks and food and games for the kids to play - and of course, had the rest of us bring stuff and our kids. She lets us off easy.

Todd made an awesome bow and arrows for our Ranger:

And then... there's the Grim Reaper:

Aren't they cute?

I thought they turned out okay for my first homemade costumes - in many years anyhow. I made some before we had kids and that was a LONG time ago. :D

Today they played Eyeball Relay and Mummy Relay:

Last weekend Todd took the boys to Lowe's to make their Halloween project - Flapping Bats:

And then we went to an Oyster Roast at our friend, Amy's. Lots of yummy food. We took some Pumpkin Cake Pops:

I'm not sure what more we'll do for Halloween but I'm sure I'll keep you posted :) Hope you all are enjoying the season!!

Help me out, please!

I've been busy, busy, busy lately and there's still lots to do...

Some of the stuff I've done/made:

Washed the van

Checked the tire pressure - and filled them as needed!! Woohoo!! I figured out how to use the air compressor

Made deviled eggs

Made homemade bean soup

Made homemade ice cream sandwiches

Started decorating for Halloween

What I still need to do:

Make more deviled eggs

Make a rice krispy treat pumpkin

Make Pumpkin cake pops - made the cake and crumbled it (forgot to take a pic) added icing to it so this is going to turn into cake pops soon:

I feel like Calvin with his army of snowmen:

Wendy and her army of pumpkin heads ;-)

Make reaper costume for Patch (have materials (black flat sheet) - just need to figure out how to make it) - started to fit it, need a pillow case for the hood.

Put together ranger costume for Franklin (need to hit goodwill for clothes maybe!)

Finish Halloween decorating

So, this list will probably grow some - I'll cross items off and post pics when I do! You can just remind me I have a list to work on every once in a while.

Thank you! :)

Another Field Trip!

I told the boys we were field trip free this weekend because I had completely forgotten about today's field trip. I'm sooo glad I checked my calendar on Monday evening! We had a fun time at the Congaree National Park today. Did you know that this is the only National park in SC? (I don't know what we'd do without our friend, April, planning all these fun activities for us!)

We started out with a tour on the boardwalk through the park.

Our guide could have been a little more friendly towards the kids. She seemed to think they were a great group (Are any of my homeschooling friends surprised? ;-) ) but she has talking/interupting issues!
We took a lunch break. Patch ate half of his pickle and lettuce sandwich - don't you wish you were that lucky to try one? The boys took off to play war and the girls (and a couple of the more sweet boys) built a fort.

Then.... we went on the much anticipated canoe trip! We headed down the river and turned around and came back. It was a great lesson about team work. Patch & Franklin finally stopped soaking me and we got into a pretty good rythm of working together on the way back up river (stream? It was pretty slow with not much rain lately.)

At one point (this last picture) Julia's oldest said something about jumping out of the boat, onto the tree crossing the water and then back into the boat. I have to say that I was totally impressed! She did it so fast, we didn't see a thing! WTG girl!! :D

Busy week!

Well, we got the new boards up and running this week. Did I mention that already? It feels like I've been answering the same questions over and over and over again. But, I think things are getting better on that end.

We did get to get out on a couple field trips this week too. Our Science class at Pooh Park was about Nature Writing this week. We learned about feather pens, fiction vs non-fiction and how to observe our surroundings with our five senses (although tasting our surroundings was not encouraged.)

After class, Ms. Chanda takes us for a walk through the woods by the lake. It was a great day for a walk!

Today we hit the Lexington Museum for a lesson about farming and the games kids played back in the 1800's. They got to plant some corn, build a scarecrow, play horseshoes, pick up sticks and get beat by the girls in a few games of tug-of-war. (There were more girls than boys though!)

Carriage house and potato building. Mr. Glenn said that it would normally be sweet potatoes in Lexington County.

A water trough built out of a tree about 300 years old. Later used to store grain because of the holes in the bottom.

Talking about the animals on the farm and what their jobs were.

Showing us how the plow worked but made the kids use hoes and rakes to plant the corn.

Building a scarecrow.

Shelling corn.

Pick up sticks.

Hoop rolling.

The boys pulled hard.

The boys knew they'd be unbeatable.

But, the girls pulled off another victory.

They can hardly wait for their next trip to the museum!