We arrived to a very full parking lot.  We almost didn’t find a spot.

The playground seemed new and was loved by Nick and Sally.

The only downside was no shade.  I’ve heard that’s not a problem most of the time.

We also visited the port-a-john.  They were nicely set up for not having indoor plumbing.

We noticed a couple of paths at the park too, but the kids were more interested in the playground.  It wasn’t Nick and Sally’s favorite, but I’m sure we’ll be back.

Craziness ensued as we celebrated the holidays, shared our plans with family and friends, negotiated a start date, traveled on a house hunting trip, put our house up for sale, sold our house, bought a house, moved etc.

Now, 5 months later, we are somewhat settled and I have missed blogging.  So, I’m back.  I’m not going to pressure myself to write everyday, but suspect you’ll hear from me a few times a week.  I feel like I have some catching up to do and we are experiencing new fun things everyday.

Join Nick, Sally and I on our adventures in the northwest!  We’ve already scoped out u-pick farms and have joined a CSA.  I’m excited to share with all of you.

So, she ordered banana.  She orders banana every time.

We had just a couple of gifts.  In case you are wondering, when your almost five year old goes shopping with Stephen for a present, a pink guitar that makes noise comes home.  She also received a Richard Scarry book.

Stephen and I got her a felt mosaic pattern set.  She quickly got to work.  (Only because the guitar didn’t have batteries yet.)

We ended our trip with a noisy ride home.  Nick wanted Stephen to be a spaceship driver.  He talked about space stations, lights, and space all the way home.  Sally didn’t want to be left out.  Stephen was her horse driver.  It’s hard to parent in two different fantasy worlds at the same time.  But, we survived.

Both kids fell asleep quickly tonight.  I’m glad they had fun.  Stephen and I sure did.

There was lots of follow the leader and giggles.

Every motion led to pops.

It’s the simple things that the kids love the most.  I may add bubble wrap to our holiday shopping list.

Some days they are such pals.  I love it!

Of course Nick had to take a break from opening to read the instructions.

A few minute later, we already had a road with street lights.

It didn’t take long for cars to appear.

These are classic blocks that we will have for many, many years to come.

They are perfect~!  We’ve already got hours of use out of them with many, many more to come.

He and Sally love to darken the living room.  They turn out all of the lights that they can so the room is dark for their “movie”.  A movie to them is a 30 minute PBS show, a Wallace and Gromit episode or maybe The Muppet Movie.

During the storm last week, Nick asked me if he could use the flashlight.  It’s one of his favorite toys.  I told him that he couldn’t use the flashlight because if we lost power from hurricane Sandy, we were going to need the flashlight to have good batteries.

Sigh, and he went off to play with something else.

Today, Nick came running into the kitchen asking me if hurricane Sandy was over.  Yes, it’s over.  He excitedly asked me if he could use the flashlight now.  I said sure and got it down for him.  The next thing I know, it’s on the steps, turned on, facing the TV.  It’s now the movie projector.

Kids are great.

Nick learned all about elections in preschool this week.  They did some matching exercises with which candidate liked which food.  I hope that he grows up to vote by looking at the issues at hand and not based on which was likes the same food.

Sally didn’t really understand voting at all yet.  She’s to the stage where she knows that she has to “agree” with her brother to watch a TV show before I’ll turn it on.  I’m glad that they are learning how to share and negotiate their opinions.  I think some of our politicians could learn a ton from the little kids.  Nick learned the term brotherly this week as well.  I heard many words used to describe the debates and other campaigning, brotherly was not one of them.

I hope you all exercised your right to vote today (or in early voting).

Our Halloween started with the kids enjoying It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown on TV.  It was taped earlier in the week.  Stephen was able to get home a bit early and brought us Chinese take out for dinner.  As soon as we ate, we got the kids ready.

Meet our shape monster and shape princess.

I’ll take 39 degrees and no precipitation for Halloween.

Besides deciding that a coat was in order, she also needed mittens.

Nick wanted to be a monster for Halloween.  I asked him what the monster looked like and he didn’t know.  I thought for a bit and they were learning about shapes at school.  I said, “I know, you can be a SHAPE MONSTER!!!!”.  He loved the idea.

My mom helped with Nick’s costume.  We started by looking at poncho and other costumes that could be made out of a sheet.  A bit of sewing later and he had a costume.  Then, we used foam pieces and cut out tons of shapes using cookie cutters.  I glued them with a hot glue gun.

Of course, he had to practice his roar.  He later decided that he didn’t want to be recognized, so the mustache was born.

If big brother was a shape monster, then Sally had to be a shape princess.  We had borrowed a princess dress from a friend.  Stephen worked on a tulle skirt for overtop of it.  Using foam, glue gun and cookie cutters, the skirt was turned into a shape skirt. (In the photos above, Sally has a heart on her nose. If brother has black on his face, I want it too.)

She was so excited.

Both kids loved their unique costumes.  I loved that they were the only ones dressed like that.  I can’t wait to see what next year brings.

The kids had a great time.  The Brush High School Key Club was volunteering and it was nice of them to man the activity stations and play with the kids.  Nick tried to toss the balls into the Coke bottle.  Sally enjoyed getting a heart tattoo.

Nick picked out a friendly smile and a scary spider.

The filled gloves with candy corn finger nails and popcorn to make hands.

This year’s highlight was the donut eating contest.  The clown was my favorite costume of the night.

First round of donut eater ready!

Yum, but no hands!

It was a riot to watch!

Toward the end of the evening, Sally was surprised to notice this spider decoration.

While I passed out candy for trick or treat, a friend helped the kids out.

They were super tired.  That’s always a sign of a good night.

As we were leaving, Nick spotted the pile of leaves.  Can I climb the leave pile?  Sure.

Grandpa told him he was king of the mountain.

Then, he wanted to jump.

Action shot.

I’m glad that he didn’t get hurt.  He sure enjoyed the leaves.  It was a perfect fall evening.