The boys could have slept in and had a lazy morning. Instead, they've been outside with the neighbor boys trying to collect enough snow for two snowballs so they can have a snowball fight. They're out there with a snow shovel, collecting from the sidewalk.
It's starting! I'm thrilled that Grace has such an interest in playing dress up. After the way she went after the old Halloween costumes, I snagged her a box of dress up clothes at Costco. You'd think I brought her diamonds.
Whenever she starts to get bored, she heads over to the cardboard trunk and starts rummaging around for just the right combination. She still needs some help, and every princess needs a lady-in-waiting...she she'll bring me her carefully selected gown and say "I's a princess!" 
Once you help her into her gorgeous attire, she declares either "oh, so cute!" or "Is so bootiful." I mean really...has anything ever been cuter?
And me without my camera. OK, so I opted to let Jeff handle this one and brave an afternoon of cranky girl. So, there aren't any pictures (yet)...but Hayden LOVED it. Truly. He wants to have his birthday there. 
One of the best rock museums in the world is right in town! In second grade, the kids study rocks, and so take a fielf trip to the museum. We've been with Cub Scouts, as well as on our own when Bayley was so fascinated with collecting rocks. (The gift shop is perfect for a rock collector...in fact, the expanded it for a few years and had a place at Streets of Tanasbourne. Amazing stuff.)
With nothing planned for a no-school day, and the boys both unplugged, I had to think of some thing fast! I'd been intigued by an idea I saw on a crafty mama blog about layered jello, and decided to would keep the boys entertained all afternoon... 
In the old neighborhood, the kids would greet Fall by jumping in the leaves that fell from the tree in Miss Molly's yard. We don't have the amazingly productive tree they have, but Bayley raked together a pile for Grace and Hayden showed her how to play in it. 
Hayden's team did a big end-of-season party at Out of This World. The parents of one of the boys on the team own it, so the boys had a room of their own...plus pizza & ice cream...and a visit from the resident magician! It was better than a birthday party because all the kids got a gift (their trophy) and no one had to sit and watch another kid get everything :D
We used to go all the time before Grace, but we've only been for birthday parties since. This usually means someone takes the boys, and mom is home with the girl. So, there were lots of new-to-me things. The climbing structure has changed, and the rock wall has been moved into it. Both my boys claim it is much better the new way...though I stuck to the smaller kid side of the play floor. They also have two bounce houses with slides...though Grace couldn't climb up to slide on the 5 and under version.
As always, the pizza was great (I love the vegetarian but Jeff needs meat on his pizza so we did the chicken which is great too), the drinks are unlimited (and good thing since I think the kids sweat out 2 drinks while they are there -- oh, hot tip - they have flavored syrups out for the coffee, but you can use them to make cherry coke or vanilla coke or what-have-you), and there is a comfy couches area for those with wee ones.
After an afternoon of negotiations about when to begin and end trick-or-treating on a school night, the parade of trick-or-treater's settled the matter in the boys favor at 5:30. Apparently, that's when our neighborhood gets the first wave. We hadn't even lit the pumpkins yet!
Bayley's cub scout den got together to carve pumpkins and had a great time. Hayden had a free form design...Bayley tried one of the intricate patterns. I think he pulled off the haunted house pretty well!
Our neighborhood has some families who really get into Halloween - there is a front yard graveyard and a haunted house! Last year, the boys weren't interested, but this year they realized the reward -- full size candy bars! Light saber & gun in hand, they headed in...and made it out to claim their reward!
