Wordless Wednesday: Halloween Cookies At Grandma's

Wordless Wednesday: Me and my little buddy

Party Train

We had Matthew's "friends party" at school last Saturday. They offer an hour and a half of non-stop fun for the kiddos, and bonus, I didn't have to entertain 16 4/5 year olds at my house!

Our party hostess Marsha made this custom poster for Matthew (based on his invitation). We framed it and are going to hang it in our playroom, it is that awesome!

She also made Matthew a crown, and quickly made one for Noah when he insisted he have one too.

Noah entertained himself before the guests arrived - dancing to his favorite Disney tunes.

The party was non-stop action - starting with scooter races.

Then a craft - painting their own light sabers.

Matthew chose only to use blue paint since that is the color the good guys use.

There was a spirited game of musical chairs.

And a pretty intense limbo competition.

When it came time for dessert Matthew mixed up a special batch of blue icing.

And all the kiddos got to ice their own cupcakes.

It was the hit of the party!

To wrap things up, there was the parachute game that ended with Matthew (and Noah of course) in the middle.

And that's the last stop on the Matthew Turns 5 Party Train!

A Day At The Gardens

One of the perks from Matt's job is free passes to the NY Botanical Gardens. Every year we take advantage of that perk when the Halloween Garden is live. It's really a spectacular set up. Thousands of pumpkins (some real, some fake) in different colors, designs, and creations. 

The boys love it. Something about Halloween that gets their blood flowing. They were happy campers from the minute we got there. Made for easy picture taking.

They really loved checking out all the neat little displays.

And they loved the hands-on exhibits.

This year we discovered the puppet theatre.

The boys has a blast putting on their show.

Did I mention that we got some good pictures of these boys today??

Noah made sure that he did everything Matthew did. And looked at everything Matthew looked at. And stood everywhere Matthew stood.

Even when posing for pictures, Noah was a little mimic to big brother. The cuteness was off the charts.

I even think we did better with our self-portraits on this trip.

Not too bad if I do say so myself!

One of the activities they had set up for the kids was creating a "collection bag" for leaves and rocks and other little treasures. Matthew took this collection job seriously.

Which meant Noah did too!

Both boys loved that this pumpkin creation had Mets colors, so we just had to take a picture!

And after all the pumpkin fun, we treated ourselves to hamburgers and chips at one of the garden cafe spots.

Couldn't ask for better weather for this trip. We had so much fun that I'm thinking about making another trip to the gardens for the Christmas Train Show. If you're within driving distance of the NY Gardens, you should definitely make the trip for the Halloween Garden - you won't be disappointed!

Life Lately

We've been pretty busy around here since school started. I've been asked to work extra hours at the school here and there, so my schedule has been pretty full (which is good). There's also a lot of stuff going on around town lately too, so we've been out and about a bunch.

Last weekend was the Homefield Fall Festival. Highlights included pipe cleaner spiders with lollipops:

Face painting:

Matching, of course:

And pumpkin painting:

We celebrated Matthew's birthday with a party at the house. This is the only picture I took. I hope I can get some more from the other guests!

Matthew had his first school trip to PetSmart.

The weather has been great and we've been able to play outside a lot. The boys had their first lacrosse lesson the other day.

And we've been playing a lot at the school playground (you know, after hours).

Noah has visited Matthew's school on a few occasions and has done really well. I hope he does just as well when he really has to go next year!

That's about it for now. More fall fun to come!

Five Years (and one day) Old!

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

I'm one day late in posting - we were having too much birthday fun yesterday! It was a great day for a great little boy!

1st Day of Pre-K (take 2!)

Matthew is what's considered a "late birthday" kid up here in our town. Since his birthday falls close to the cutoff date for starting kindergarten we had the option to have him repeat pre-k. So now, instead of being the youngest in his class, he'll be one of the oldest. This extra time will give him a chance to perfect his fine motor skills, work on his speech, and catch up to his classmates in physical size a little bit. He's thrilled with returning to pre-k because he's the king of the school there - loves his teachers and all the kids, and loves his role as class clown. Today was the first day back:

1st Day of Pre-K favorites:
Favorite color: Green (news to me, but he insists it is!)
Favorite food to eat: Strawberries
Favorite toys: Smurfs, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Favorite movie: Toy Story 1-3
When I grow up I want to be: Myself (yes, that's exactly what he said when I asked!)

And since Noah just can't be excluded from anything that his big brother does, he just had to be included in a picture this morning. With his own lunch box of course.

Next week Matthew will be five. Next year, off to kindergarten!