Rainy Days and Mondays...

...don't always get me down.  You just have to think of some fun, kooky, new things to do.  And having special rainy day activities helps Dylan, Zoe and I all survive those days when otherwise you just want to curl back up in bed and go to sleep...blah! blah! blah! 

So what do you do on rainy days?  We haven't had many rainy days for a while, but having a few in a row has definitely made us spark up some rainy day fun.  So here's what we have been up to on our rainy days.

Playing pirates, of course!  What's a rainy day without pirates at sea?

Pretending to be robots that will save the day is always a good option too!  But robots need energy so snacks and drinks are a must.

Who doesn't like to color on a rainy day?  Robots do too!

Popcorn is Dylan's favorite snack especially on rainy days.  He likes to eat popcorn while he works on crafts or while he watches a movie which are both great things for a rainy day. 

And last but not least, if you have the rainy day blahs, well just do what Zoe does and DANCE!



Trunk or Treat

Saturday night we went to a fall festival and a trunk or treat at my friend Melissa's church.  The kids were so excited to go.  We dressed in some festive Halloween attire and packed up the costumes for when it was time to Trunk or Treat.  We grabbed our huge bowl of candy and a few modest pumpkin decorations for our trunk. 

Dylan thought he and Zoe were dressed for what would be a "cute picture" so before leaving we went out on the deck and took a number of pictures. 

Dylan sticking out his tongue to be funny and of course Zoe thought it was hysterical.

Zoe sporting her pony tail and her "kitty cat" shirt. 

I was trying for an artsy shot with the clear picture on Dylan and blurring Zoe in the background.

Handsome boy!  He looks so old here.

There's a natural smile!

Serious Zoe Girl!

Zoe was so excited about her pants with candy corns and pumpkins on them. 

When we arrived at the Fall Festival, Dylan and Zoe immediately noticed the huge bounce house and the inflatable huge slide that had a rock climbing wall.  So they were ready to take play.  Dylan played his heart out on these bouncy things for at least an hour if not longer.  Zoe was too small for the slide one, but she stayed in the bounce house or walked around the open field.  We tried to get them interested in a hay ride, the cake walk or crafts, but nothing was pulling them away from the inflatables.  We did force them to take a break and have some dinner, but Dylan negotiated to go back to the "bouncing things" when we were done if he ate well.

Thankfully the excitement of dressing up in our costumes and going "trunk or treating" was more than enough to get the kids to willingly stop bouncing.  Dylan was so excited to dress up as Woody.  Thankfully we had a friend that let us borrow the Woody costume.  Toy Story costumes are in high demand this year. We tried to find Zoe a Jessie costume, but we didn't have any luck.   So we settled happily for an Aurora costume instead.  If you don't know who Aurora is you aren't up on your Disney princesses enough.  Aurora is Sleeping Beauty's name.  After all, being a princess fits Zoe pretty well.  When she saw her costume she was all excited and exclaimed "A princess dress for me?"  

If you haven't been trunk or treating, it's really a neat thing.  Everyone lines up their cars, decorates their trunk and the kids come up and you pass out candy.  I found our few pumpkins for decorations were very modest.  Some of the trunks were decked out with lights, sounds, and more.  We'll try to do a bit better next year. 

I was proud of Zoe and Dylan.  They would go up to a trunk and say "trick or treat" and they would say "thank you."  And they were a sight to watch.  I couldn't help but smile while watching them wallk together.  They were quite a hit in their Woody and Aurora costumes.  You couldn't help but notice them especially since Zoe's high heel pincess shoes light up!  I was soaking up all the wonderful compliments on my kiddos.  There's nothing to make a mom more proud than to hear someone else say something nice about your kids. 

Princess Zoe, I mean Princess Aurora ;-)

Zoe thought it worked best if she ate the candy as soon as she got it.

Woody with a big piece of candy in his jaw.

She's off to the next trunk.

Sheriff Woody the Cowboy!

 

Showing off our little pumpkin and spider ring treats.

Princess Aurora and Sheriff Woody

Zoe the Social Butterfly

Zoe is really blossoming into a talkative, adventurous, social and fun loving girl.  She has lost the shy and quiet traits and is no longer afraid of being around new people.  She leaves Mommy's side and ventures on her own easily in almost any setting.  So much so that it seems hard to believe that she suffered from severe separation anxiety for the first two years of her life.  That baby girl is long gone now and has turned into a very social, confident and independent toddler.

I'm learning that Zoe loves to be around people and one of her favorite things to do is play with "my friends."  So I've been making a conscious effort to try to reach out and engage some other moms and thier kids in play dates with us while Dylan is in preschool.  Having some fun things for she and I to do together and getting some socialization for her while Dylan is in school is very important to me. 

So this week I reached out to a neighbor, Nicole, and we planned a park play date.  Walker is 3 months younger than Zoe and the youngest of three kids.  The kids played so well together and interacted very well for their age.  Zoe was so happy and had so much fun.  She just kept squealing with excitement.  Walker would be on another part of the playground and she'd call him out saying "Walker, come here!"  I guess she's used to having Dylan calling all the shots and giving direction so she seemed to be enjoying being the leader.  Thankfully Walker happily obliged. 

When we picked up Dylan at school, she was very excited to tell him "Dylan, I played at the playground with my friend!" 

Meet Walker!  He is a cutie pie with that blonde, blonde hair.

Zoe coming down the big slide.  WHEE!

Zoe called Walker over to come "look at this thing,"

 Swinging together

Dare Devil Zoe finally convinced Walker to get on this thing with her.  She was just a squealing as you can tell from her expression.

It's fun to get outside and play with friends!



Do You Bleed Carolina Blue?

It's no secret around here that David and I both bleed Carolina blue.  While we want Zoe and Dylan to make the college choices that are best for them, we do try to get the blue blood flowing every now and again. 

So here's Zoe in her Carolina Blue and ready to go cheer on those Tarheels!

Pumpkin Patch Play Date

I love the fall!  I love the colors, the weather, the smell of pumpkin spices.  One of my favorite things to do as a mom during the fall is to visit the pumpkin patch.  We try to go at least once or twice each season. 

It was the perfect day to have some time with our MOPS friends along with Greta and the Js, and Wendy and Burnley. 

My two little pumpkins!

The kids loved this giant pumpkin.

Dylan sporting his new hairdo.

Me and my pumpkins!

Girl friends - B & Z 

Dylan, Burnley and Zoe playing around

Dylan was very interested in having his picture made several times with this large pumpkin.  I'll take whatever I can get!

What's better than swinging on a tire?  Perhaps standing and swinging on a tire?

Time for the hay ride!!!

Our crew of Judson, Dylan, Zoe and Burnley

Our buddy Judson with D&Z on the hay ride.

Between Greta and me, we got some really cute expression face shots of Zoe during the hay ride. 

After the hay ride was done, Dylan and Zoe were fascinated by the big tractor.  This tractor was much larger than Bop's or Grandad's.  Dylan was excited that the wheel was bigger than him.

Measuring our heights...

Hmm...which pumpkin do I want?

If there is a small pumpkin to be had, Dylan's going to get it.  This boy loves pumpkins and the smaller, the better.

  I just spotted two perfect pumpkins right in the middle of the patch!  I better go get them before someone else does!