Preschool Halloween Party!

I took a lot of time planning the activities for the preschool Halloween party this year.  We celebrated Halloween on November 1st because I had the day before off of work.  I was a little emotional that ET wouldn't be with us this year.  I told him this, and he replied with, "Don't worry Mom, we can play fun stuff when I get home from school."  He is such an incredible kid!

Here are the pics from our party...

Group picture!

 We started out with a couple projects.  I read the book, Pumpkin Jack and we placed pumpkin growth pictures in sequential order.

 Our next book was, Where's My Mummy?  We completed a marshmallow mummy craft/writing activity...

 Next I set up all the GAMES!  Here is throw the spider at the web and get it to stick...

 Vacuum suck the pumpkin seeds with a Halloween straw and transfer them to the other plate...

 Balloon games!  Catch the balloon with the Halloween cup!

 Bowling...

 Toss the glow necklace on the witches hat...

 

 Toss the bean bags in the jack-o-lantern buckets...

 Book, Go Away Big Green Monster with felt activity...

 Licorice eating contest!  Hands behind your back, first one to gobble it up wins! :)

  Halloween board game with dice...

 

 Pumpkin Pie Play-dough...

 Sensory bucket with dried corn, beans, tweezers, magnifying glasses and other Halloween trinkets...

 Lot's of dancing!!!

 Candy corn colored lunch! 

 Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater?  We found the rhyming words in this poem.  Do you like pumpkin flavored foods?  Stand on the pumpkin with the "yes" or the "no."

 Emmett's home from school!  Pumpkin pie for snack!

 Coordinating costumes...Police officers!

 Homemade duck and monkey...

Watch out!  The tigers are out!

 POUNDING PUMPKINS!!!  This was so much fun for the kids!  They took turns pounding golf tees into pumpkins to make a polka-dot pumpkin.

 Sticker face Jack-o-lanterns!

 We made a lot of lasting memories for Halloween 2012!

Halloween 10/31...

We attended the Fall Harvest party at our church on Saturday, October 27.  It was a small turnout for this year, but I know the kids still had a lot of fun.  ET especially loved playing the game where he threw real darts at the balloons to pop them.  I think Nate enjoyed trick-o-treating in the Sanctuary.  He looked confused at first, but very happy that everyone was giving him tons of candy!

I ended up taking off from work on Halloween day to help out at ET's school.  They had a big costume parade and classroom party.  Luckily Grandma Darlyn was able to come over and watch Nate while I was at school.  I enjoyed myself so much!!  This is my second time being able to help out in the classroom, and I loved it!

 We went out to dinner and then went trick-or-treating.  It was a fun night!  Nate walked about half of the way and then needed a break in the wagon. 

This year the both boys chose their own costumes.  ET chose to be a police officer and he requested a pair of real handcuffs.  I really wanted the boys in coordinating costumes so I suggested Nate to be the jailbird.  However, I asked Nate out of curiosity one day what he wanted to be and he instantly replied with, "Eddie, the cat!"  He asked for an Eddie costume everyday after until it was shipped.  The boys have dressed and played in their costumes almost everyday for nearly a month now!

A few updates...

We have been so busy this month! Here are a few updates...

• Nate and I toured the school that he may be attending in January.  He has still continued to pass for services, and has been recommended to attend an articulation class two days a week.  I was very impressed with what the facility and faculty had to offer and so we are leaning towards sending him.
• ET had his first parent/teacher conferences!  His teacher said he is doing very well academically!  She even stated that she would like to push him a little harder than most kids because she knows he can handle it.  Yay!  She made me laugh when she said she would like me to remind him to try and sit in the "VIP section" of circle time and not the "cheap seats."  This often helps him from being distracted from his peers.  ET knew just what all this meant when we talked about it at home. :)
• We went to our first play at the Children's Theater!  We saw "The Cat in the Hat" with a few friends and had a blast!  Nate does not do costumes very well, so when the show started he kept saying, "Go bye-bye. Go bye-bye!"  He eventually calmed down, but sat in Jay's lap the whole time.
• ET has been hit with the birthday train!  He has been invited to three birthday parties, and currently has two more coming up!  WOW!   I am so happy for ET, and happy to support him and his friends so he has gone to every party so far. 
• My Mom was in the hospital for four days.  We had quite a scare in relation to her heart.  Luckily she was released without major surgery.  She has been placed on medication and hopefully will be better soon!  Please say a prayer for her!
• Halloween pics will be posted soon!

Our first get-away...

Jay had to go to Vegas last week for business.  Being that he was already half paid for, we decided it would be a good opportunity for us to get away together.  I have never thought Vegas to be a great destination spot, but I have wanted to see what it is all about at least one time.  I was pleasantly surprised!  Jay and I don't gamble, but there is still a lot of other things to do there.  I would like to go again and see a show next time.  I really enjoyed myself, but I agree with everyone that told me a couple days in Vegas is plenty of time.  After a couple of days I was ready to get back to sanity and see our boys again.

We stayed in a hotel called the Cosmopolitan.  It is a new hotel that is located right next door to the Belllagio, so it is really in the center of everything.  The hotel was super nice and very contemporary.

Here are some pictures of our roof top pool.  I never ended up laying out by the pool because it was close to a 100 degrees while we were there.  I felt pressured to sit out and enjoy it, but I knew I would be more comfortable in air conditioning....I must be getting old! :)

 This is a separate pool for the parents and children.

 This was the view from the roof top...

 Our hotel's casino was called The Chandelier.  Can you guess why?  Seriously, I have never seen so much bling in one place!  These pictures just cannot give justice to everything we saw.

 We spent the whole first day walking around and going in and out of all the hotels.  I was amazed at all there was to see.  New York, New York...

  The Excalibur...

 The Luxor...

 The MGM Grand...  Wow!  Check out all that gold!

 This is one of the towers of our hotel, The Cosmopolitan...

Here was our room.  Jay told me we were getting a studio.  This does not look like a studio to me!  Wow!  The rooms were like new and were amazing!

Here is the views from our personal balcony...

More sightseeing.  Here is Paris...

Caesar's Palace...

The Venetian (one of my favorites)...

Inside the Venetian...The ceiling in the picture is actually painted, but there is a small canal that runs through the hotel where people can take a gondola ride.

We ate at a nice Italian restaurant for dinner in the Palazzo, which is part of the Venetian.  We actually ended up getting lost in the Venetian while walking around. 

Here is the volcano show outside the Mirage...

The Bellagio fountains!  I loved watching these!  They were beautiful!!!

Inside the Bellagio they had the most beautiful Autumn decor and conservatory!  It really made me wonder what it might look like in there around Christmas time.  The displays were just gorgeous!

If you look just above us in this picture you can see two steady streams of water creating an arch overhead.  It was simple, but we were amazed and wondered how they created this.

This is the lobby to the Bellagio...

I can't even imagine how much money just ONE of these hand-blown glass flowers cost!

Enjoying a drink ALONE! :)

On our last day Jay had to work nearly all day.  That was okay with me.  I woke slowly and drank my morning coffee while I watched the Today show and other morning television shows.  Seriously, I have not watched morning television for about 5 years now!!   I went shopping for a bit, and then joined Jay for his afternoon luncheon.  They had hired a comedian to put on a show for after the meal.  The guy who was hired put on the hotel uniform and walked around the tables pretending to wait on people while they were eating, but he was being a real A--!  It was so hilarious to watch top business professionals get all worked up.  My stomach hurt we laughed so hard! Don't worry, it was all part of the show...some people didn't know that though until the show started. :)

Jay and I had a lot of fun together, and we were grateful that my parents were so willing to help with our boys while we were gone.   Luckily they didn't seem to miss us very much!