Halloween

 Elizabeth is dressed as Princess Merida from Disney's BRAVE.  Andrew and Michael are her bear brothers, she actually has three in the movie but didn't think I could convince James to don a bear costume.

 

 Andrew's two year old class had a sweet party.  He was so excited that I brought the snack - cupcakes and ghost string cheese.  He was very good at the pumpkin toss game.  He chose to be a monkey at school, specifically a howler monkey.

 Elizabeth has matured so much since  last year's Pumpkin Day.  She hardly needed my help and was so fast.  The parade was so fun, everyone loved her wig.

Michael had an indoor parade and party too.  He was excited that I am head room parent, but shooed me away when I tried to help with his costume.  The school prohibits taking pictures, but a great time was had by all.

 

After visiting all of the activities at the library Halloween party Andrew wrestled with this polar bear for at least twenty minutes.  He kept yelling Bear Fight!

 Elizabeth and I attended Mary Poppins together.  She was so excited to wear her new black mink cape.  Since seeing the show she has decided to be Mary Poppins and take care of her brothers.  I constantly hear her singing Just a Spoonful of Sugar.  This year she has a season subscription to the ballet, Gisele was a fabulous introduction this month.

 This year we decorated a lot of pumpkins.  Andrew and Elizabeth had a pumpkin painting playdate with lots of glitter glue.

Zoo Boo!

Michael had a skeleton costume he wore to school.  He decided it would be cool to wear for the haunted house at the zoo.

Elizabeth was so excited to pose in front of the Komodo dragons in her dragon costume but it was too cold for them.  

Superstorm Sandy postponed our trick-or-treat night.  It was a freezing November night to go trolling for candy.  The kids hopped in and out of the van.  We went with the same family this year, the children's ages 7, 6, 5, 4, 2 ,& 2 and they were so fast.  We accumulated a huge amount of candy.  

Andrew could hardly squeeze his huge bear butt into his seat.  After a long night he was content to sit in the garage and eat M&M's.

After we got home the children loved passing out treats to the older kids

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Pumpkin Patch

 

There are many fun activities at the patch in addition to picking pumpkins.  The children loved this fast slide.  Michael's favorite was roasting marshmallows at the bonfire.  Elizabeth loved the petting zoo.  Andrew had fun in the cornstalk maze.  The older two had a blast in the Boo Barn.  Andrew was content to eat kettlecorn and watch the pigs play instead of going in the haunted house.

 We were looking for small pumpkins in the fields.  Andrew kept dropping one when he found a cuter one.

Elizabeth was very concerned about the shape of the gourd and it's stem.  She said she wanted it to be very small so that we would have money for other things, like sushi.  We paid $1.76 for three, I'd say that was a good deal.

 

Michael said that he only wants to choose a pumpkin if I baked it into a pie.

 

My sous chef helping me to cook the pumpkins.  We have enjoyed pumpkin bread, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin pancakes, and of course pumpkin pie.

 

The leaves are turning sooner this year.  We enjoyed a beautiful hike with friends and admired the fall foliage.  Andrew kept stopping to collect acorns and pine cones while the older children raced along.  

 October 2nd Michael lost his first tooth.  He was so excited!  After leaving it for the tooth fairy he was thrilled to find two dollar coins in the morning.  After thinking for a few minutes Michael said that he wants to give one of his dollars to a poor family.

Junior Great Race

All three children ran at Point Park, a beautiful place located at the convergence of the three rivers.

 

 Michael flew through the one mile course.  He quickly surpassed everyone in the 7-9 age division.  He even beat many children in the 10-12 group and they began the race a few minutes earlier.

 

 I ran the one miler with Elizabeth.  She started off at a good pace, but tired about two-thirds of the way.  It was funny that she wanted to stop at the water table after running for about four minutes.  She exclaimed, "Oooh, look there are drinks!"

She was VERY tired during the home stretch.  I nearly had to piggy back her across the finish line.  But the crowds cheered us on.  She enjoyed the post race festivities after she recuperated.

Andrew ran the 50 yard dash Tot Trot.  We waited for the third heat and he was very tired and cranky by that point.  He kept saying that everyone else can run and he would stay with the strangers.  On more than one occasion a race official heard him talking and told me that he was too old for the two year old heat.  I had to confirm that he was two, just very verbal.

He ran halfway then decided he was finished.  I carried him to the finish and to pick up his medal.

 Start of the School Year

 Andrew will be going to a two year old class for two hours once a week.

He was a little unsure on the first day.  After the orientation day I was nervous because he cried for Elizabeth.  When asked what he would do in school Andrew responded, "I am not going to cut, color, glue, do calendar or read stories.  I'm only going to play with cars."

Thankfully he did fine his first day and participated in all the activities.  He even painted a picture.

 Elizabeth was very excited to begin her Pre-K class.  She has the school director as her teacher this year, which she finds extra special.

There are seventeen children in her class, a big change from last year.

 

Right away she sat down and completed her table task.

 

At the park after school, she's modeling her outfit.  I was channeling the school girl look, though they do not have uniforms.

 Michael started first grade a couple of weeks ago.

He loves it, though he says there's so much work they hardly have free play time.

 

 The first day he ran to the bus before I could get a picture.  He is so excited to have a bus this year.

 After school, he was tired and ready for the cake I baked as a treat.

 

With summer drawing to a close it's time to review our bucket list.

We visited Living Treasures Animal Park where we were able to feed a variety of animals, all on exhibit except the lion and tigers.

The first stop were the kangaroos above.  Elizabeth is squealing after they licked the food pellet of her hand.

Andrew and Michael liked when there was a tube into which they could drop the food.

Andrew often threw the pellets if a group of animals approached.

There were plenty of hungry llamas.

Only Elizabeth was brave enough to feed this water buffalo.  Those were some serious horns!

Elizabeth and Michael took a pony ride around the duck pond.

If the animals got too aggressive Andrew would get frightened.  Many would bang into the fence or push the weaker animals out of the way.

It was a fun day trip.

We have to attend one Pirate's game as a family each summer.  The kids stayed for the entire game - I couldn't believe it.  The six children may not have watched a lot of baseball but it was a fun evening.

We attended Pittsburgh Ballet Theater's Ballet Under the Stars

Elizabeth posed with two ballerinas.  All three took a group lesson before the show began.

The most impressive balloon artist was one of many children's activities.

We packed a picnic dinner.  Andrew said, "I like eating cucumbers and hummus in the grass."

 Everyone did a wonderful job watching the ballet.  We stayed for the entire program, getting home at 10pm!  It was a truly beautiful, memorable night.

I mentioned that Michael opted to get a bouncy house instead of having a birthday party.  We did enjoy it with friends and yet another cake.

Laurel Caverns

We took a family tour of Pennsylvania's largest caverns.

Coming back up after going down fourteen stories underground.

I wore Andrew in a carrier for most of the trip, so when I let him out he wanted to play Ring Around the Rosie and wrestle.  Michael kept telling him that he could fall off a cliff.

The children did very well.  At one stop the guide turned out all of the lights and you couldn't even see the hand in front of you.  Andrew held on tight but they didn't get too frightened.

Michael was happy when we emerged above ground.

Admiring the view of Laurel Highlands.

Family dinner at Hibachi

It was Andrew and Elizabeth's first time.  They were tickled with the show, though Andrew did not like the big fire. Our tablemates were impressed that the children ordered scallops.

An evening stroll with our seven children.

The Cloud Arbour is a new installation at the Children's Museum.  Such fun!
We made MANY visits to our city's museums this summer.  The last free day we had I let Michael choose our destination:  Carnegie History and Art.  It was the first time we went through every exhibit in both museums.  Andrew wanted to know why we had to be quiet while looking at art. 

 

On the eve of first grade we had one final treat today.  Delicious gelato!  Tiramisu, Amaretto Cherry, and Caffe' - nothing but the best for Michael.

I enjoyed all of our summer fun and will miss having my babies with me all day, every day.