Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween 2011!!

The other day was our annual Halloween parade and party at my daycare. Mom and Dad were kind enough to give me a choice in my costume, and since I am hugely into all things Cat in the Hat right now (Books, the TV show, wearing random hats and proclaiming myself The Cat In The Hat, etc) I picked the Cat in the Hat as my costume this year!!! How cool is THAT?!

As soon as the costume arrived, it was nearly impossible for them to get that hat off of my head. They were wise in that they put the costume itself away so it wouldn't get damaged or dirty before the big day. I kept asking where the bowtie was...and they had to calmly explain that they were keeping it safe for me.

I begrudgingly accepted their rationale.

We arrived at daycare, and I met up with all of my friends...there were lots of cool costumes...there were two Buzz Lightyears (One was a girl, which was cool) a firefighter, a SuperGirl, a football player (About whom Dad kept remarking, "Look at his little helmet!") and lots of other fun stuff...

The first thing we did was the parade....we walked around outside the building, and some people came out to watch us (Not as many as last year because it was freezing this year! Never have I ever been so glad to have been wearing a furry Halloween costume!!)

As is typical, I got very excited and ran up ahead...Mom and Dad tried to keep up while I ran off on my own to lead the parade....I must have been a pretty good leader, since every time I turned around, everyone was dutifully following me.They seemed to enjoy the fact that my hat helped to make it easier to find me at any given moment....I think they may try to have me wear it all the time for that very reason.

I will not fight them. That hat is awesome. Can we talk about that for a second? I mean, look at that thing...the price of the costume was worth it just for the hat, let alone the cozy cozy Cat outfit...

Also, I am not confirming or denying the following information...but there just might be pictures of me wearing only the hat and a diaper that Mom and Dad referred to as "Sam at Burning Man" whatever that means...

Anyway...once we were finished with our parade, we went upstairs to a conference room in the office building where there were a lot of staff members seated in a line so we could move down the line and do a trick-or-treat session. They do this every year, and it's always fun for all involved....Once again, and this boggles my mind, you simply walk up to a complete stranger, say "Trick Or Treat" and they just give you candy. How much easier could it possibly be!? This is a pretty solid holiday, I must say. Many people remarked that I was super cute, and who was I to argue?


Dad had to convince me to slow down! In my excitement, I kept running past all the people with the candy...Mom was helping with some of the other kids, but she was right behind me the whole time. :-) 
I sat down with my friends after I ran down the gauntlet of people and checked out my haul...not bad, if I do say so myself! A pretty good variety of both chocolate and lollipops was waiting for me....You'll notice the cool candy collectors that the teachers helped us make out of some paper plates during our craft time last week....pretty cool, right? I decorated mine with lots of great Halloween colors!

After the event, we helped some of the other kids get back to the classroom, and had some water to drink...since today was not a day I usually went to daycare, I went back home with Mom and Dad...because of their crazy schedules, it's always nice when we can all do something like this together, and have a lovely time!
To everyone going out for Halloween tonight, I hope you'll stay safe and have lots and lots of fun! Depending on the weather, and how I'm feeling, I may see you out there! Either way:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Halloween Pumpkin Carving 2011!!


As you may recall from THIS blog post, we all went to pick pumpkins up at Homestead Farms in Maryland....sadly, our pumpkin began rotting soon after we bought it...apparently, the pumpkin season was a difficult one this year, and many people had a hard time with medium to large sized pumpkins...(Dad said he ran into a lady who was getting a replacement pumpkin for her and her kids because they started carving their pumpkin and found bugs in it! Eeewww!)

So...that leads us to the story....Dad met this lady because he was out getting us a new pumpkin. Luckily, our tiny pumpkin made it out unscathed, and still adorns our dining room cabinet, but our larger one had to be thrown out.

Dad asked me what kind of face I wanted on the pumpkin and I told him I wanted a sad face. He double-checked with me, and I confirmed that yes...I wanted a sad face. He drew a sad face and I was very excited.

Dad cut the top open so that we could get inside, and he was really nice to let me sit next to him and watch....

Of course, even though he picked out a pumpkin with a nice awesome shape, he didn't take into account the fact that his hand would be too big to scoop out the guts....


I had to step up and do some scooping....I dramatically referenced It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! cartoon by yelling, "I didn't know you were gonna kill my pumpkin...waaaahhhh!"



Mom and Dad were understandably amused.

I decided to try to be funny by licking the lid of the pumpkin...

And immediately regretted it.


Dad and I worked some more, while Mom took pictures (She is still sick) and then we stood back to admire the final product....very classy for a last-minute pumpkin replacement, don't you think?



Saturday, October 29, 2011

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

This year, I got to watch my first Halloween Cartoon Special...it was called It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! (They added the exclamation point, not me...though I must say, after having watched it, I would added one myself, had they not gone and done it for me already.

It was a very good cartoon....On Halloween night, the gang, including Charlie Brown's younger sister Sally, goes trick-or-treating. On the way, they stop at the pumpkin patch to ridicule Linus' missing the festivities, just as he did last year; but Linus is convinced that the Great Pumpkin, recognizing the sincerity of his patch, will come, and even persuades Sally to stay and wait with him. The gang goes off, leaving Linus and Sally behind. During trick-or-treating, everyone gets assorted candy, apples, gum, cookies, money, and popcorn balls except for Charlie Brown, who gets a rock from every house they visit.

I kept trying to figure out what the deal was with Snoopy. There is a whole random offshoot plot of him as a World War flying ace (which was actually a little scary at first...it's got a lot of shooting in it....but Mom and Dad watched it with me, so I was OK)

It was a lot of fun, and I have watched it a couple more times, since...I look very forward to making this a yearly tradition. For some reason, Mom and Dad have the movie on a storage media called "VHS Cassette" I kept asking them where the CD for the movie was, but they just laughed at me...

I was even dressed in my It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! shirt to mark the event...Halloween has been a lot of fun this year so far...


Saturday, October 22, 2011

Pumpkin Picking 2011!



Well, it's that time of year again! Mom, Dad and I went out to Homestead Farms in Maryland to pick some pumpkins!

The trip would not have been complete without a hayride, and we got there just in time for one of the last ones of the day! We all hopped on, and rode through the farm. I buried Mommy in hay a little bit, and got to bop around in the back of the trailer for awhile...it was really cool. The scenery was great!

Once we made it out to the field, we walked around for awhile in an effort to find the best shaped and perfectly-sized pumpkin. It was fun to run around the field to see all of the pumpkins that they had to offer. Dad mentioned that because of the rough weather we had this year, there were a lot less pumpkins than usual, and a lot of them were rotted out (These rotted-out ones were of the greatest interest to me, much to Mom and Dad's chagrin)

There were a few false starts...sometimes you see a pumpkin and it speaks to you, but it isn't quite what you're looking for. We several instances like that (and several instances of me finding a suitable pumpkin, and then having my attention drawn elsewhere by another also-suitable pumpkin)

Finally, after much deliberation...I found the one I wanted most!

Mom was kind enough to not only help me in the choosing process, but she helped me carry it once I picked it out!

We hopped back onto the hayride (And got to watch as the driver of our hayride helped another driver get his tractor out of the mud he got stuck in....Dad was pretty impressed, and Mom was amused at how impressed he was...)

I was EXTREMELY excited about our pumpkin, and was also pretty psyched about getting back to the entrance to the farm because I knew there was even more stuff we could do there...

Waiting for me, as though she remembered me from last year, was the witch scarecrow decoration that they had put up on one of the barns...last year I was mortified, but this year I wasn't scared at all, and faced her down...I thought she added a nice bit of atmosphere to the place, and nothing more. :-)

We also couldn't resist going over to one of the little photo op dealies that were set up at the farm...Mom and I had a lot of fun with that one...

We also went over to the petting zoo that they had set up and saw some goats first...a little girl offered me some of her treats to feed the goats, but I politely declined, since the goats were looking a little aggressive today...so I was understandably concerned...


I mean, look at this guy:

Who exactly does he think he is popping up like this? C'mon, man...

Instead I grabbed a piece of hay, and tried to feed it to both the goats and the chickens (Because of the safety of being able to try and feed them from 9 inches away I was cool with it) They weren't all that interested, but I think it's because other people had spoiled them with the treats that the farm provided (Maybe I'll try those next year...)

In addition to our big pumpkin, we also picked up a lil decorative pumpkin for us to have around the house....how cute is this little guy?! (and no, I don't mean me....but thanks for thinking that! You KNOW you were!)

While Mom went to go pay for the pumpkins (And pick us up some apple cider at the farm stand....mmmmmm....)

Ad and I checked out the other pumpkins that the farm had for sale...I ran around the rows of pumpkins (and surprisingly only fell once....ouch!)

We wrapped up our trip, and headed home, happy that we had accomplished the mission...find pumpkins! A crisp, beautiful Fall day was perfect for our little outing! I can't WAIT to carve our pumpkin!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Trike-A-Thon 2011

A couple weeks ago, we did this really cool event at Daycare called a "Trike-A-Thon"

Basically, it's an event where we raise money for St. Jude's Children's Hospital by taking pledges prior to the event...we get either a flat donation, or a "Per Lap" donation...

Oh yeah...did I mention that we got to ride our tricycles (or bike if we had one) around a track at daycare for the trike-a-thon?!? Thus, the clever name for the event...

We brought our wheeled machines, and once the signal was given, we rode around the track as fast as we could, and as many times as we could!!! It was hilarious...I was so excited that I was yelling every time I went around the corners....

Every now and again we had pile-ups, but generally things were chaotic, but orderly...

We rode around and around as fast as we could...some kids got bored and stopped riding, but most of us kept on trucking...we wanted to do as many laps as we could in order to raise lots of money for the children's hospital.

I was surprised and impressed that they were able to get so many people to participate! If someone didn't have a bike to ride, the daycare had extras for them, which meant that everyone got to participate!!! We all had so much fun. (OK....admittedly, there were a few brief episodes of tears for whatever reason, but none of them came from me! I was too busy riding in circles, yelling, and laughing!!!)

In addition to my Dad, there were also a few other parents there, which was nice...anyone that was able to support us came out, and we appreciated them being there!


Round and round we went until the time was up! We averaged 74 laps for the event, and that is about on par with what they've had in years past...we were all really happy, and broke for some snacks and water to celebrate...since it wasn't one of my usual daycare days, Dad and I went home to have even more fun, and I will tell you...

I napped pretty darn hardcore that afternoon....

Saturday, October 8, 2011

A Visit With Uncle Mat!

After many false starts, my Uncle Mat has finally shipped out to points (Middle) East...he is in the Marines, and while I'm not exactly sure what he's doing or where he is, I know that it's something that I am very proud of. He is doing something that many people don't or can't do, and I think that's amazing.


Before he left, Mom and I traveled to Connecticut to spend some time with him, since we're not exactly sure when he will next be home...since Gramma Mindy's place was having some...technical difficulties, Gramma Debbie was nice enough to open her place for a little open house (Plus, that meant we got to swim in the pool one more time before the summer was over....yeah, this is a post I should have done weeks ago.)

Uncle Mat helped me practice swimming (I understand the concept, and think that my form isn't half bad, but it's just the exact practice of staying afloat that I'm having a bit of trouble with)


Mom and I spent lots of time hanging out with Uncle Mat, and we really appreciated that he was able to spend so much time with us. We also found out later, that he proposed to his girlfriend Mallory, so this is also to wish him a hearty congratulations, and to welcome Mallory to the madness that is our family!!

It really was a lovely time...we were happy to have made the trip, and were glad that it worked out in a way that let us see Mat for such a long time before he left....I know he loves me a lot, and obviously I send it right back at him!


We wish you well, Uncle Mat! We look very forward to the next time we get to see you again, and hope you'll stay safe, and do great things!!