Halloween

The Three Musketeers and Their Princess

I'll admit, I've been holding out a bit on blogging because I didn't want to show off our costumes until they were all ready.  I only finished B's last night.

Wait... did she just say 'finished'?

Why yes, yes I did.

I... yes I made the musketeer costumes.  See:

It took a bit longer than anticipated due to some resource issues, but the boys' costumes were finished by Thursday morning.

They wore them to playgroup:

Unfortunately McColley's was a bit difficult to play in:

But tonight was the big night.

All three musketeers started out looking quite regal:

Brayton even got a 'coach' to ride around in:

But as trick-or-treating really got going, the hats became a bit of an issue:

Eventally they all blew off.  Plus, McColley got pretty tired with all the walking and hauling around of candy, so it was time to go home and be the ones giving out candy instead:

We got a few ninjas before McColley decided he was done being outside.

It was a good Halloween.

Does it make us bad parents?

So, I was changing Brady's diaper this morning so that Mommy could take a shower and get out the door up to class at the Delaw.are Muse.um of Na.tural History. While changing his diaper, I found something disturbing. Apparently, inspector 67 believes that Brady's bowel movements are good enough to be tagged with a passed QC sticker. I kid you not. What I really want to know is how inspector 67 got into Brady's bowels, and what standards Brady's bowel movements are being compared to. If horribly stanky and everywhere is inspector 67's standards, then yes, Brady has indeed passed quality control.

We have no idea where he got this sticker from, or when he swallowed it.

Despite The Drizzle

Today was zoo class and we were a bit late, but we still made it in time for the best parts (the craft and seeing the animals).

After class was over we headed out into the zoo to see which animals were hanging out in the rain.

Of course, the otters were having a grand time:

We got there just in time to see the caretakers clean the enclosure:

Brayton finally caught on that McColley was actually watching something kinda cool...

Just in time for McColley to lose interest:

We spent our afternoon at home and away from the rain... which underscored the point that soccer is now an indoor sport.

Besides moving inside, McColley also got a new soccer coach (Coach A) and learned some new stretches:

Brayton was convinced he'd learned enough outside that he could play too:

Unfortunately his ball control is a bit spotty.

Artsy

Yesterday was in the balmy 70s, so we accepted an invitation from a neighbor down the street and went to the park.

The three boys found each other very interesting:

Brayton mostly wanted to eat dirt (of course), but when the Litter Patrol drove by he was motivated to do a little walking around:

When it was time to go I set the camera down on the picnic table and The Artist Known As McColley took advantage of my distraction:

Given his need to create, I decided to head back to Art class today.

Our story was Dear Mr. Blu.eberry and it features a whale.

So, our art project was Mail-A-Whale:

McColley was quite upset that his whale was gray instead of green.

Luckily, we came up with a solution:

After finishing up our project we headed back to the children's room to do some more projects:

Brayton got ahold of a rolling basket and decided to wander around with it:

McColley thought he would turn Brayton's meandering into a chase game.

Brayton LOVED it, especially when McColley had an 'accident':

I think all our artistic tendencies found expression today!

Kickin' Around

Today was our third science class.  As we were exiting our car to go into the museum, McColley looked at me and said, "Can we go to Lon.gwood Gard.ens when class is over?"

Given his hopeful tone... I caved and agreed to his request.

I decided we would eat lunch at Longw.ood's cafe which meant we had to walk by a large construction project.

McColley was mesmerized:

After lunch we tried to go and see the buzzy bees, but they were unavailable, so instead we headed into the  mansion (which is different from the conservatory where we spent most of our last visit).

Brayton showed off his stair climbing skills:

The stairs led to an exhibit about Pie.rre DuPon.t and the history of Longwo.od.

The highlight was a bell:

Once we were done ringing we headed towards the trains which were so exciting last week.

As we walked Brayton decided he wanted to walk:

He was so excited to chase after his brother:

Ironically (as you can probably tell based on the boys' clothing) it was in the 70's today, whereas last week it was in the upper 40's.  However, worried about the previously falling temperature, Lon.gwood had shut off their fountains.

The boys were quite confused by the lack of water:

We left just in time to make it home for soccer.

We were all super excited that Daddy got to come too:

McColley loved showing off for Daddy:

Brayton did his best to 'assist' McColley throughout the practice:

Daddy came just in time, it was the last practice of the session.  McColley got a certificate for participation:

Luckily he gets to start indoor soccer next week!

Two If By Land, One If By Sea

After a bit of a prolonged absence, we returned to roller skating:

McColley was a bit uncertain on his skates, but had no trouble at all with his favorite part -

running:

Today was also McColley's last Basic Pike Class.

He has gotten so much braver since his first class:

He swam by himself all the way to the deep end:

In fact, he's gotten so good his teacher bumped him up to Advanced Pike for the next session!

Amazing^10

'Official' 10 Month Photo

'Dang it, I want that cracker, so I'm takin' my sign and goin' for it' Photo

This Month's Milestones:

-Officially became a toddler by walking 90% of the time

-Stands up by himself

-Making tons of noises (Mommy's favorite - cooing like a dove)

-Chases his brother around the house

-Eating a variety of table foods

-Plays in the playroom more than the living room (much to McColley's consternation)

Kids say the darnedest things!

So we were playing the tickle game, and then McColley decided to play with my cell phone. He gave it to me, and I hid it from him. He kept asking where it was, and I said that maybe he should check in Brady's diaper. "Dad, there's poo in Brady's diaper, not your phone!"

Needless to say, Brady had already had his diaper changed, so McColley was incorrect.

Wee.bles Wobble, But Brady Falls Down

We had our first major walking-related injury last night.

Brayton fell into a corner.

Of course, the injury didn't reach its full wound glory until this morning:

You can see the major wound is to his cheek, but there is a red line up to his hairline.  If you look closely you can see the secondary wound at the top of that red line.

I guess we officially have a toddler now.

Rain, Rain, Here Today

It rained today.

We went outside:

McColley was highly prepared with his cool rain boots:

There was an attempt at splashing in puddles:

Unfortunately, the puddles were not really splash-worthy.

McColley came up with a 'brilliant' idea for what to do instead:

His plan didn't quite work out because he couldn't get the hose properly attached to the sprinkler.

So he decided he needed to water our grass instead:

What with the 12-inches of expected rain, I told him our grass was fine.

So he declared himself a firefighter instead:

I warned McColley not to 'put out' his brother since he was declaring that Brayton was on fire.

Wisely he moved away and fought other fires:

Brayton had a little trouble following McColley across the soaked lawn.

Luckily McColley was very gracious when Brayton finally reached him:

By this point we were all soaked, so obviously we needed to get wetter.

It was time for Duck Wars!

Flying Into Fall

Today was the second of six Tiny Trekk.ers classes at the Delaw.are Museum of Nat.ural History.  Last week we learned about Fall, but today was all about birds.  We looked at the different features of birds, how they live in the world and even listened to the difference between owl and seagull wings.  There were also a lot of games, rhymes and jumping around.

Once the class was over McColley wanted to do one thing:

Unfortunately it isn't the most sensitive of touch-screens, so he had to jab at it quite a bit to get it to work.

We ended up spending an hour before I finally convinced McColley it was time to leave.

He had to say good-bye to the animal statues on our way out:

The only reason I was able to convince McColley to leave was by offering to take him somewhere equally cool - Long.wood Garde.ns.

As soon as we walked in we saw a pumpkin display:

That is when I noticed that I had accidentally dressed them to match... how fortuitous!

After lunch we found a display with some carved pumpkins:

This display was right next to the topiary garden, so I led the boys there next.

It was there that McColley decided he wanted to 'be a baby' and started copying Brayton:

"I'm a baby, except I don't eat the grass like Brady."

Walking out of the topiary garden I noticed that the area within the main fountain display was open.

We had to explore:

Taking a cue from a professional photographer, I posed McColley in front of the grand staircase:

I then asked him to take a picture of Brayton and me... it sort of turned out:

As we were leaving the main fountain area an older gentleman pointed us toward the trains (they aren't on the map).

McColley was fascinated to watch the conductors change out one of the trains:

Little hands were getting cold, so it was time to go inside.

Obviously, hands HAD to go into fountains:

After a thorough soaking (I had to ask a volunteer for a towel), we walked around the conservatory to look at displays by members of WAFA (World Asso.ciation of Flor.al Arrangers).

One really caught my eye... here is the sign that accompanied it:

In case you can't read it - this is arrangers from around the world representing the Pacific Northwest:

Definitely represents the green parts... but what about the beautiful wheat fields and desert?  I'll admit, I am a bit prejudiced since I'm from there... but all my Pacific Northwest readers -

Do you think this is a good visual representation of your home?

I managed to convince McColley that we didn't need to do the stamp hunt by placating him with a stamp on the hand:

As we were leaving we passed a final pumpkin display:

McColley was amazed by the 200+ pound pumpkins, but Brayton focused on something a bit smaller.

He fell in pumpkin love:

The pumpkin, unfortunately, did not immediately reciprocate:

But once Brayton convinced it of his unyielding devotion, all was well:

It was rather distressing to have to go home.