Fall Break 2011

Seeing as this is our first year being on a public school schedule, we've had our first taste of Fall Break. The district gave the kids 2 weeks off. What did I do?-- sent E to Mother's Day Out with Miss A. It's not as bad as it sounds though since he'd been wanting to spend some time with his best bud Dax who was there too.
E did end up with a real break when we all went down for a little weekend getaway. Our first stop was at Great Wolf Lodge were we swam our little hearts out. The kids loved going down the slides but more than anything they spent HOURS in the wave pool on their "boats" living out a variety of pirate, attack, cast-away, sea monster type scenarios. What's funny is that the wave pool was E's favorite thing when we went before he was even 2.

After a good splash we warmed up and the kids got dressed up to do a little trick-or-treating through the hotel. E would want me to mention that he was already a pirate last year so he wasn't going to be a pirate this year, but he agreed to wear it because Mommy barely finished Miss A's costume and didn't have a chance to make his before we left town.We swam again the next day and then headed to the Legoland Adventure. Once again E was in heaven. There were more Legos there to play with than you can imagine. We helped make some blocks, were in awe by the DFW metroplex made entirely of Legos (and being invaded by skeleton zombies in honor of Halloween), had fun riding the rides, and enjoyed the 4D movies. But by far the best part of our visit was watching our kids Karaoke.
Our trip continued with a little visit with some friends. The brilliant Kelly arranged for us to go to the lake and roast hotdogs and smores around a campfire. The kids were great sports. They actually did most of the work setting up the campsite and collecting wood. We enjoyed the beautiful weather, fun stories and great company as we communed with nature. The kids were all in heaven.Before we left the big D we met my mom at the Arboretum to see the Cinderella pumpkin village. (by the way, Miss A was obviously influenced by our trip to Dallas and insisted on the purchase of her sparkly pink boots as seen in the picture below).

Miss A let her inner princess come out. She took a ride in her royal pumpkin coach,Then my little princess and her royal guard (he's actually marching back and forth in the pictures to protect the castle) made themselves at home in the Beast's castle. I love seeing my knight in shining armor and our little princessWhen we got back to town, E finished his break with one more week with his sister and his best bud. The week ended with the annual costume parade and carnival. My kids cracked me up in the parade. While most kids just walked around following the kids in front of them, Miss A walked past people and gave them a little princess/parade wave, and E came up with a little routine lifting his hat up and down (and once again I should note, he was not going to be a firefighter for Halloween).

Fall Field Trips

So I FINALLY dumped our Fall pictures onto the computer. One of the first noteworthy events was our day of field trips. A couple weeks ago was E's first official school field trip. Miss A and I met the school bus at a local pumpkin patch. The kids learned about all the varieties and uses of pumpkins. They fed the animals,rode around on little "tractors"made their way through the maze,went on a hayride,and of course, picked a few pumpkins.

The kids and I left the pumpkin patch a few minutes early to head to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum where we donned the appropriate attire, saddled up for a little ride, and then made some dinner and music on the homestead. E had such a great time. He loves playing pretend, especially when it involves cowboys. When we finally got in all the excitement their little bodies could take, we headed home so I could take a nap.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!

In the penultimate game of his second season of soccer, E scored his first goal Saturday!

Being FAIRly busy

So you may or may not have noticed, I've gotten a little behind in my posting. The holding pattern was mostly due to being preoccupied with the fair season.
It started with the Oklahoma State Fair. For the first time since I was in elementary school, I submitted something in the creative arts competitions. I finally got around to finishing the haunted mansion gingerbread house that I baked last Christmas.I also slapped together a cake to fit the theme of the fair-- Hometown Oklahoma. The best part of the fair was watching how excited my kids were both times we visited. This year E wanted to watch EVERY show. I mean EVERY show-- puppet shows, science magic show, dog tricks, Native American dancing, barrel racing, animal birthing, grocery wars movie, shenanigans, pig racing, etc. We even got to duck race, (we lost) and E got to mutton bust. For those unfamiliar with mutton bustin', they load kids onto sheep as if they were bull riding. Then they open the gate and the sheep go running while the kids hang on for their dear life. E was so excited about it. I told him to just hold on as tight as he could and then be tough when he fell off. It was so cute. They announced "E Melton, 4-years-old from Oklahoma City, who wants to be a cowboy when he grows up. His hobbies are being a pirate and cake decorating. Is that for real?" He only made it a few feet out of the gate before he dropped to the ground, but he stood up, dusted himself off, got his ribbon, and walked back over to me where he very quietly admitted that his side hurt a little bit. I was so proud of him. I was also so proud of my kids who didn't complain when I made them share all their treats at the fair. We had such a fun time.

The weekend after the fair we headed to the Oklahoma Wildlife Expo that E discovered for us. We even brought along a few friends. E was pretty convinced that we were going to end up stranded in the wilderness and we were going to run out of food and so he was going to have to shoot a deer there. -- I do not get this kid's obsession-- In any event, we did not encounter any deer, nor did we get stranded. We kayaked for the first time,practiced our casting, learned to goose knock (it's exactly what it sounds like), shot a bow and arrow, ate some dutch oven dessert, and found out we were still too little to shoot the guns (I guess E's deer hunting desire will have to be suppressed for a little while longer--thank goodness).

The final fair we attended in the last few weeks was the Tulsa State Fair --home of the Oklahoma Sugar Art Show. E and I both entered this year. I got distracted and put off starting my overly ambitious cake and so I ended up submitting an incomplete sloppy cake (He's a preview of coming D-list attractions, but I'll post pictures of it when I finally finish). E, on the other hand, had his cake finished weeks before the fair. He baked and decorated it all by himself. It's probably not surprising that he designed a pirate island. Every child that enters gets at least an honorable mention ribbon and a prize package including Legos, a specialty shaped cake pan, TONS of really nice cake decorating accessories, and an easy bake oven. The funny thing was all he really wanted was a ribbon, which was presented to him by THE Kerry Vincent (the British judge on the Food Network Challenges). We were all so excited for him, particularly his sister.I'm so happy he had this opportunity and I'm already looking forward to next year. Now to catch up on the laundry, my forever long to-do list, and clean my kitchen after having all this fun.

Everyday last week

E picked me a little flower from the grass next to the carpool pick up. On Friday he even picked one for his little sister. It made me smile.