class party II

Keaton's class party was actually on Halloween Monday and they had a blast.  They bowled with pumpkins, made crowns, built marshmallow haunted houses, and ghost lollipops.

oooo aaaah!

It's a Happy Halloween!  You'll come across many expressions today, but here's a few of this guy's:::

carving

It's a gourd witch with a really long nose and a spider pumpkin!  The boys both tried eating a bit of raw pumpkin and were missing the spice ;)

lab spooks

J's colleague and his family have been hosting a theme Halloween party for many years, but this has got to be the coolest. It was a spooky lab complete with a brain cake, jello in many different ways, and some cool experiments to play with. 

neighborhood spook

To top off an absolutely packed Friday before Halloween (It was hard to believe that Halloween was still three days away!), the pool club was hopping with a real DJ spinning, a big bounce house and trick or treating course outside, and the mummify the parents contest ;)

spirit parade

The Halloween excitement continued with the school assigned costumes - storybook character Brian Bat from one of Mo Willems' Piggie and Gerald books and third grade animal, a predatory bird, probably an eagle with his nest habitat around his waist ;)

spooky experiments

In the middle of a jam packed Friday, Aiden's class party was a blast!  His teacher is so easy to work with and very helpful to make sure you are planning something that will be fun for them.  They are such a great group!  The kids literally gasped with excitement at the spooky potion milk experiment as it swirled and shifted with the soapy 'dap' stick (turns out dabbing is all the rage ;)  The static balloon dancing coffee filter ghosts were also very simple but fun.  

raccoon run

The school fundraiser was delayed a week because of rain, so it fell on the Friday before Halloween which was literally back to back excitement for these kids.  They kicked off the day with running 40 laps to earn money for their school ;)  I could feel the muscles in my legs and back from bending down to mark off their laps on the grid on the back of their shirt for over 3 hours as each grade level made their way through the track.

bootique

Thanks to Mosaic's Boutique we kicked off a week of many different Halloween gigs.  The little known Super Villains Viking Hotdog and his sidekick Mr. Ketchup the Kicker were on the hunt for caaaaandy!  They hardly wanted to stop to decorate and eat those cookies at Le Pain.  We topped it off with dinner at Ted's and I'd say that's the perfect kickoff to Halloween.

roll tribe

The Indians advance to the World Series, and as they win Austin starts crying for the Blue Jays ;)  Aiden was pumped!  He love his new boogie board from Lizzie and her boys :)

cousin buddies

So much fun running around town with the cousin buddies! So glad they made it to VA to visit ;)

colonial

The fall Colonial Market on a perfect afternoon at Claude Moore.  Bonus treat was having Gran and Pop along too ;)

poke night

I'm on the committee to help with school hospitality and events this year.  Pokemon night is one of the favorites and saw a nearly double crowd this year with the surge in Pokemon Go ;)  I lucked out that our old Pokemon Professor group wasn't available, so I recruited Aiden's old theater teacher, who loves Pokemon and has a huge card collection of his own. He also happens to own a giant Pikachu costume and that guy was a HUGE hit!  We had to have disney style body guards and corral him for pictures to be sure he didn't get knocked over ;) The night was full of card trading, battling, and prize raffling!

little loving hands

We saved up some Little Loving Hands crafts to get Gran Gran's help.  Thanks G! They were fun ones with a doll that travels, a chalk board and notebook. a cute stuffed bird ornament, and a plant pot.  

nyc!

I had a chance to sneak off to NYC with my parents! It was a whirlwind one night visit, but we really packed in the tourist spots. We saw a preview of a new Broadway show, Falsettos, with one of my favorites, Andrew Rannells. It's technically a revival, and parts of it reminded me of Rent.

new york

The best ideas usually come together quickly and all the pieces just seem to fall into place!  I saw Harry Connick Jr's show asking for nominations for people you know that have an "I got this!" attitude towards life to win VIP show tickets!  I know two people that particularly got it and spend a big chunk of their time helping other people at the food giveaway and so many other ways they give back to their community.  I sent off a letter and they called saying I had won VIP tickets to share with my folks ;) Then I didn't hear much, so I was unsure on whether we were just joining the party or if we were going to get a chance to swallow our tongue on air.  Luckily it just translated to a short VIP line and front row seats ;)  We saw them film parts of two different shows and it was fun to see behind the scenes.  Harry Connick Jr does seem like a genuine guy!

We stayed at the Hudson Hotel right near Columbus Square and the CBS studios.  The MAD Museum of Art and Design is tucked right there.  I was so excited by the floor full of yarn coral created with knit and crochet.  The top floor had a killer view and good food and drinks to match.  It was doing NYC the right way ;)

tidbits

Lotsa fun visiting the cousins at their new house - Thanks!

Tons of Fall birthday parties some in the cute backyards and others bowling, which is always a favorite.

Kids Care Club started up after school and the boys joined this fun crew to help make scarves for the kids in a nearby homeless shelter.

The boys are pumped by the school's Star Wars themed fundraiser this year... Run for Rocky!

Playdates with four kids seems to be our ideal match up...  They have so much fun!

spirit week

The school spirit week for the Fall included Wacky Wednesday (see top photos of these goofballs with the most epic bedhead and vests!) and Star Wars Day for these young Jedi.   Also in there, but not pictured, was Dress Like a Teacher day and Dress to Impress - which also happened to be picture day ;) 

fall fests

Fall festivals galore - This one never disappoints and the Imaginature Path music room is probably their favorite.

good list

Thanks for some commercial that keeps popping up the kids had a big renewed interest in their glow track.  Favorite was racing the cars in the track like a guinea pig ball. 

Presents are fun! I still like this owl guy hiding in the garden, and the new prints from Jon Lund my folks got me for my birthday (thanks!), and this tiny striped sweater I knit found its way to LA along with that fun elephant towel for a dear friend's new son, George.

My camera roll is literally a giant compilation of snap chat funny photos and Pokemon sitting on top of stuffed pokemon, etc, etc

The boys love a good visit to Tyson's with a stop at Shake Shack. The giant checkers just keep us hanging out longer.

A visit to the Lego store where Aiden carefully created his renditions of Rhett and Link from Good Mythical Morning.  They filmed an intro to the Wheel of Mythicality using them, and they love to check every morning to see if it's included in that morning's episode.