Emma's Birthday - Fancy Nancy

It has been an eventful end to the year for sure but first to catch up on the events of November and December.  Our girl turned 5 at the end of November and this year, she decided that she wanted a party just with the girls.  Of course, she did have a pesky little brother to take part in the fun.  Emma loves, loves, loves Fancy Nancy so that was the theme of the party.  We invited all of her fancy friends to join Fancy Emma in the fun.  As our guests were arriving, we had Fancy Nancy coloring and activity sheets to keep them busy.  Once we had all of our friends, it was on to the spa for manicures and a little lip gloss.  The girls then adorned themselves with jewels and tiaras and then struck their fanciest poses in the "photo booth."  Finally, we learned some of the lessons for being fancy and then read a story before moving on to cake and ice cream.  Emma had a great time and Josh got in on the action and struck a pose in a tiara as well, thanks to Caroline K.'s Mom for catching that one for posterity.

 

Wordless Wednesday - Big Bad Wolf

Josh Goes to the Pumpkin Patch

The day before Halloween, I got to accompany Josh on his class trip to the pumpkin patch.  Whether it was because it was late in the season or what, there were far less classes there than when Emma's trip last year, which was nice.  Two of Josh's teachers, Mrs. Lois and Mrs. Christine, rode to the pumpkin patch with us and Josh could not have been more excited!  We had to wait a bit for our turn for the ride to the pumpkin patch so the kids started off their day with a little play time.  When they called our group, we all boarded the trailer and headed to the patch where the kids got to find their perfect pumpkin.  Josh may be quite indecisive when it comes to picking out a toy but he zeroed in on his pumpkin quickly and that was that.  Once everybody was happy with their choice, we headed back to the play area and had some more play time before lunch and heading home.  Josh and his friends definitely had a fun day and I know Josh crashed hard when we got back to school.

 

Wordless Wednesday

Halloween 2012

It felt like Halloween went on and on this year but I guess we got our money's worth out of the costumes.  This year we had Janga Fett and a cute little witch.  Originally we were going to do Jake and Izzy from Jake and the Neverland Pirates but finding the costumes proved to be a task.  Ultimately Josh selected his costume based upon the gun that went with it, which he carried for all of 10 minutes the first night.  There was also a mask that was worn just as much.  We kicked off the holiday about 1 1/2 weeks in advance with a trip to Boo at the Zoo with some of Emma's friends from Grace.  The kids loved the haunted train ride, which Josh thought was "smooky."  We did some trick-or-treating and rode the carousel before Brad and Josh headed home.  Emma and I stayed a little longer with her friends and the girls rode the carousel again and then did some dancing until it was time to go home.  Definitely a fun night and we chose the right weekend since the following weekend was cold and rainy.

The Sunday before Halloween, our church held a Trunk-or-Treat.  Josh's friend Ross and his family joined us for some fun that included trick-or-treating, roasting marshmallows for s'mores, a wagon ride and pumpkin painting.  They boys had a great time together.  We tried to get a picture of the two but they were too busy chasing each other around.

 

 

Best buddies!

 
Finally Halloween arrived.  Our original plan had been to trick-or-treat with Libby and her family but it ended up that they couldn't be in Little Rock after all.  Instead we made our visit to our friends, Win and Rita's house and then did some trick-or-treating around there before hitting a few more in our neighborhood.  We ended the night with our neighbors on either side.  Emma and Josh had a bucket load (literally) of candy and Emma was so excited that we got to go to more houses than last year.  Remarkably, they have both been pretty good about not indulging in their candy.  I definitely do not have their restraint.  It was a successful Halloween for sure! 

Coach Brown's Team - Fall 2012

In addition to soccer, Josh has been playing basketball this fall.  There really wasn't supposed to be much overlap but due to rain, soccer season ran a little long.  Thankfully basketball is Wednesday and Saturday and soccer was Sunday so we didn't have to devote one whole day to sports; I'm sure those days are coming.  Basketball got off to sort of a rough start.  At the first practice, I pretty much had to be next to Josh the entire time and he wasn't too happy about participating.  He did come around a bit until the first game the following Saturday.  At that point, Josh's team only had five boys but on that day, they really only had four since the little redhead sat in his Mommy's lap the entire time and would not get on the court.  After that, we decided to see how it would go if I stayed away.  Lo and behold the next couple of practices and the next two games went great.  Josh got out and ran up and down the court.  At the last game, Brad said that he got the inbound pass at half court and dribbled it down to the basket where he ultimately got mugged by the other team but he tried.  Unfortunately Josh's team only has one kid that can make a shot but they are definitely learning some of the fundamentals and unlike the other teams they have played, Josh's team actually tries to dribble the ball rather than picking it up and running with it.  Thankfully, at age 3, every game is a win for Josh and he is really starting to enjoy being out there.  This coming Saturday, I am going to go watch so let's hope that he puts in the effort he has been without me.

Wordless Wednesday