Halloween in Michigan

We drove up to Michigan Friday afternoon to celebrate Halloween with the Walker clan. We arrived just in time to head out trick or treating with all the cousins. First stop was Aunt Terry and Uncle Jimmy's house, where Jeff grew up. We went inside for a few minutes to grab something to eat besides candy. Grandma Liz and Papa stayed behind to hand out candy while we all went out trick or treating in the neighborhood.

Elena and Ellie were happy to see each other!
The girls kept checking out each others costumes. Isabelle had a very large pillow case for her candy.
Cousin Katy was dressed up as a Bee Girl.
The little girls climbed in one of the wagons so they could be around the neighborhood. Aunt Jill was an excellent driver of the wagon despite having her hands full with an adult beverage.
Alex posed with one some Halloween decorations at one of our first stops.
Ellie gave Elena a sweet hug so she wouldn't be scare of Uncle Jamie.
Elmo and the Red Ranger had a great night!
An extra special thanks is owed to Aunt Jill and Aunt Lori. In the rush to get out the door after a very long meeting that morning with St. Vincent (and a late night preparing for that meeting), I forgot to grab my camera. Fortunately, the girls were great about sharing their cameras and photos from our fun time together. Thanks guys!

Carving Pumpkins

Jeff led the pumpkin carving efforts this year since I was working late that week. While he set things up, the kids colored pictures of what they thought the pumpkins should look like.

Although they were a little hesitant at first about cleaning out the gooey, gross, cold pumpkins, they warmed up to the idea. And they managed to collect quite a few pumpkin seeds to be roasted later by Mom. Yummy! Jeff worked hard to carve the faces the kids requested for their individual pumpkins.

The kids brought the pumpkins outside to the front step so the neighbors could get a look at their masterpieces. Alex's pumpkins has 6 eyes to see all the spooky things outside. Elena's had a happy face a triangle eyes. Her class at school is learning all about triangles this month.

Halloween Costumes

Alex and Elena picked out their Halloween costumes today. They were so excited about the purchase, they begged to try them on as soon as we got home.

Elena loved looking at herself in the mirror dressed up like Elmo. Alex, despite never having seen an episode of Power Rangers, had fun pretending to be the Red Ranger.

Pumpkin Patch

Monday was the perfect fall day to go get pumpkins. We took the hayride out to the Stony Creek Pumpkin Patch

Then Jeff and Alex raced to go find the perfect pumpkin.Elena went on a search of her own. She quickly pointed out her favorite one.And then tried to pick it up.Elena and Mom hung out while Alex continued his search.
Alex was very pleased with the pumpkin he picked out. The kids heard the tractor hayride coming back to pick them up.
After buying the pumpkins, we headed to the playground for a little fun. Alex was a crazy jumper on the hay pile.Elena liked rolling around in the hay too.The kids posed with the Monsters, Inc cutout. Doesn't Elena look like Boo with her pigtails?
Jeff took the kids through the spooky haunted house bounce house.Elena waved goodbye to the caterpillar bounce house.

Run Logan Run!

We bundled up Saturday morning to go watch Logan run in Cross Country Sectionals. Logan is one of the top runners in the State this year, and is Team Captain, so it was exciting to see him in action. It was very chilly outside that morning, and there were hundreds of people there, but through the wonders of cells phones we found the Rosenberg clan to hang out with and help keep the kids warm. Logan was a FAST runner, which Alex imitated for Tyler, Zach and Cooper (Logan's brothers) on the sidelines. Elena was just happy I let her wear her kitty cat boots. As long as she is warm, I have given up on dictating her fashion choices these days.

Alex borrowed my stop watch that afternoon and practiced running laps around the house, stopping to ask "Am I as fast as Logan now?" Better keep practicing- Logan is very fast. Logan will compete at State in another week up in Terre Haute. Good luck Logan!

A Fun Fall Vacation Day

There have been several Jewish holidays recently where the kids have been off from school. We took advantage of one of these days together to go to the Children's Museum, the teacher's supply store and a local pumpkin patch.

Elena is still recovering from her nasty head cold, so was a bit clingy for the beginning part of our Children's Museum visit to the Haunted House (thus the reason there are no photos from this part of our excursion). The Museum's Haunted House is an annual exhibit constructed by local volunteers which I loved to go to as a child. It can actually be a bit scary during the "spooky hours," so we went through during the "lights on" time in the morning instead. The kids enjoyed getting candy, a train whistle, stickers, a toothbrush, and other fun goodies in each of the decorated haunted train cars. Afterwards, we headed to our favorite part of the Museum- the dinosaurs!

Elena climbed in the dinosaur nest with her costume on and perked up enough to play independently for a few minutes.
Alex had a great time playing one of the dinosaur simulation computer games.
Alex enjoyed digging for dinosaur fossils in the special excavation area, but Elena wasn't interested in keeping her goggles on for long.Alex could have stayed and made up stories about the dinosaurs all day!
When we weren't paying attention, Elena tried to sneak off with one the dinosaurs. Maybe she thought Sea Horsey needed a friend?

We ended our time at the Museum at the Chihuly Glass Exhibit. It is amazing the think about all the work that went into the sculpture at the center of the Museum stairway. The kids had fun building their own scuplture with the plastic "glass" pieces.
Our next stop was at a local church that raises funds by selling pumpkins. We were planning to head to Stony Creek later in the week with Jeff, but Alex and Elena were so excited about picking out pumpkins to decorate with that we had to stop by. The kids touched just about every single pumpkin before deciding on 4 to take home. What a fun fall day!

Late Night Snack

Elena isn't eating much with this cold, but woke up last night yelling "I hungy Mama." It is too cute how she leaves out the "r" in hungry- I can't say no. So we headed downstairs at 3:30am for a late night snack of grapes and a breakfast cookie. Seahorse, who was given to her by Grandma Liz, joined us for our snack.
Although she clearly was not feeling well, the snack perked her up. She even smiled a bit when reading one of her favorite books, Good Night Gorilla.

The Bee Movie at IMAX

A new IMAX theater opened at Exit 10 on I-69 that shows family films on Sunday mornings. Since one of Alex's favorite films, The Bee Movie, was showing this weekend, we decided to go! This was our first time going to a movie theater together with the whole family, so we were excited to see how it would work out.

Do we have to buy a ticket for Spooky Kitty too?

Elena decided Spooky Kitty would enjoy coming along. Since this was her first time at a movie theater, we hoped that the Spooky Kitty would help Elena from getting scared.

Can we bring these chairs home?

The big plush rocking theater chairs were a hit with the kids. So were the popcorn and other treats we bought at the concession stand.

Popcorn Girl

Elena is still too little to keep the seat open on her own. Luckily, the popcorn she dumped all over herself provided some much needed extra weight. And a distraction for any fears she might have had. This was a great experience for us all. It will be fun to repeat it for the next big kids movie released in the coming holiday season.

Sick Bunny

Elena has been hit with another case of the preschool germies! The poor girl threw up all over Jeff's car on her way home from school Friday. The rest of the weekend was spent trying to keep her fever down while listening to her moans of "tummy hurts" and "I so hot." I was very worried about her, but Jeff's medical expertise has been a calming influence. Until then, our poor bunny just wants to be picked up, cuddled and rocked. Jeff stayed home from work with her on Monday for some quality cuddling time.

Elena is refusing to sleep anywhere other than with us in our bed. It is amazing how much space such a little person can take up in a king size bed. As adorable as she looks here, here loud snoring is not so cute.

Hopefully she will be feeling well enough to return to school later this week and return to her own bed!

Our Bedtime Routine

The Walker bedtime routine is something the kids look forward to every night. After dinnertime, the kids head upstairs for a bubble-filled bath in the jacuzzi tub. Between the toys and bubbles, they almost disappear!After a little snuggle time while being dried off in in their Pottery Barn animal towels, we put on lotion, climb into pajamas and Alex and Elena then race down the hall to contemplate their book selection from our reading library. The kids both curl up on Jeff's lap in Elena's rocking chair for story time.

This routine is all very sweet, but my favorite part of the evening is when Alex and Elena say goodnight. For as long as Elena has been a part of our family, Alex leans over and hugs her and then kisses her on a random body part and says he loves her little whatever-the body-part-of-the-night is. It is hilarious to listen to what he picks- sometimes he loves her little "toesy-toes," other nights it is her "pointy elbows," or her "pretty hair." Afterwards, we talk about our days and name all the people we love. It will be sad when they are too old to do this anymore!