Halloween!!!

And the celebrating continues!  We woke up this morning and had pumpkin bread for breakfast!  Grandma and Grandpa had spent the night, so the kids enjoyed spending time playing with them at home this morning. 

 The kids making scary masks with Grandma.

Peyton's scary mask

Reagan's scary mask

At the Book Fair last week, Peyton found a "Hand" book that came with a plastic skeleton that he really, really wanted.  So as a reward for having a great first nine weeks of Kindergarten (the year is divided into nine week grading periods) and having a great first report card, Peyton got to have his book.  He and Daddy looked at the book and put the hand together this morning.  It seemed like an appropriate activity for Halloween morning! 

Peyton studying his hand(s)...

Grandma and Grandpa had to leave late in the morning.  But first they were required by Peyton to "check out" of his hotel.  On Friday, Peyton decided to turn our house into a hotel.  He made numbers for each of the bedrooms upstairs and the playroom.  He set up an office downstairs.  He even vacuumed a few rooms upstairs to get it ready for guests.  He kept talking about making his hotel nice and comfy.  When Grandma and Grandpa arrived on Saturday, Peyton had them stop by his office, check in and "pay" with a credit card.   Peyton's hotel offered breakfast but no valet service or bell hops.  

We ate an early dinner at Chili's (kids ate for free tonight and we always take advantage of anything free at Chili's!).  Then we went to another Fall Festival at another church close to our house.  In addition to bounce houses, this festival had a petting zoo and balloon rockets.

After a few games at the Fall Festival, we headed back to our neighborhood for some trick-or-treating.

Our first stop was Brett and Stephanie's house.

Fortunately, both Peyton and Reagan were more excited about passing out candy than actually going door to door!  We did take them around to a few neighbors, but they had way more fun sitting out on our driveway handing out treats.  We had a pretty steady stream of trick-or-treats for about an hour.   Due to the generous handfuls of candy Reagan insisted on distributing and the little interest in going door to door, we actually ended the night with a reasonable (as opposed to the usual ridiculous) amount of candy in our house!      

The kids with their trick or treat pumpkins at the conclusion of our first San Antonio Halloween!

Peyton's Soccer Picture

"All Hallow's Eve" Eve

Grandma and Grandpa met us at Peyton's soccer game this morning.  We had fun cheering the team on and then went to Beefy's Backyard (our new favorite family hangout) for lunch.  After a quiet afternoon at home, the kids dressed up in their costumes and we headed to a neighborhood church for a Fall Festival.

 Buzz on the big slide.

Jessie bouncing around

Buzz on the bungee run

 Peyton loved his first experience with a dunking booth!

Peyton scaled the "rock wall" easily!

Buzz and Jessie with Grandma and Grandpa

Poor little Reagan!  She had such a fun-filled day that she just couldn't keep her eyes open at dinner!

Going...

Going...

Gone.

More Dress Up

In addition to being Halloween week, this is also Red Ribbon Week.  To celebrate at school, the kids were able to "dress up" for several days this week. 

Wednesday was "Sock it to drugs" day.  The kids wore crazy socks.  Peyton went through his sock draw, determined to find two different very crazy socks!

Thursday was "My Future is Bright" day and the kids got to wear their favorite college apparel.  So we all know what college apparel Peyton wore on Thursday!  I didn't include a picture because Aggie apparel is just everyday apparel in our house!

Today is "Make Choices for Tomorrow" (dress up as your dream career) day.  Peyton decided to go as a doctor.  (It was a tough choice between astronaut, fireman, policeman and doctor, but he finally decided on doctor - probably because he thought he would get to take his "doctor toys" to school, a plan Mommy had nix Friday morning!)

And Halloween Weekend Begins....

We kicked off Halloween Weekend tonight at the Specht Book Fair Family Night.  Aunt Stephanie hosted a "Book or Treat" night and invited kids to come in costume.  

Buzz and Jessie with Super Librarian!

Buzz checking out the book selection.

Buzz and Jessie

"To infinity and beyond!"

"Yee Haw Cowboy!"

Astronaut Peyton

Peyton: "I want to be an astronaut while I'm a kid.  I don't want to wait until I'm a grown-up.  I want to go on a space ship now.  I want to go to space now.  Do they make space suits in kid size?  I mean, real space suits.  Not just play ones."

Later that evening (after convincing Peyton that he would have to wait until he is grown up to be an astronaut)...

Peyton: "I want to be a lot of things when I grow up.  I want to be an astronaut and a doctor and a policeman and a fireman."

Reagan's Reasoning

We have many multiple conversations with Reagan lately that have gone something like this...

Mommy: "Reagan, eat your carrots."

Reagan (sweetly): "I can't."

Mommy: "Why not?"

Reagan (ever so sweetly): "Because I don't want to."

Daddy: "Reagan, help clean up the toys."

Reagan (sweetly): "I can't."

Daddy: "Why not?"

Reagan (ever so sweetly): "Because I don't want to."

At least she's honest!  (And no - we don't let he get away with that excuse - but she tries anyway!)

Peyton's CD

Last week, Peyton decided that he wanted to make a "real" cd of himself singing and playing songs on his keyboard.  He was very persistent with his plan, and Daddy worked out a way to record Peyton's music on the computer and then burned them onto a cd.  Each time Peyton listens to his very own cd, his face beams with pride!  He's been so excited about his project.  Every time we get in the car to go somewhere, Peyton wants to listen to his songs.  

We think the songs are pretty cute, of course, but if anyone else is interested in listening, Dustin created a gadget to play the songs straight from this blog.  Most of the songs are ones Peyton made up on his own.  Some of them resemble a songs from a Christian kid cd we listen to in the car.  Song 01 is sweet.  Songs 10, 11 and 12 are the only songs that will be familiar to most!

Reagan did provide some back ground "music"!

Riding the Train

On Monday, Reagan got to ride the train at Brackenridge Park with cousins Reid, Ryan, Cayden and Brinley (and Cayden and Brinley's grandparents, Jean and Doug).  The little kids loved the train and had fun making whistle sounds and screaming through the tunnel!  After the train ride, we walked over to the river to feed the ducks and enjoy a snack.  Reagan and the boys chased each other all around and laughed and giggled!  They have such a great time together!

Sunday at Grandma and Grandpa's House

Since we were having our downstairs flooring worked on at our house over the weekend, the kids and I headed to Pawnee on Saturday evening after Peyton's soccer game and Reagan's birthday party.  We met Grandma and Grandpa in Kenedy for dinner.  Peyton commented that he wanted to move to Kenedy.  When I asked him why, he said, "Because San Antonio is still too far from Grandma and Grandpa's house!"

On Sunday morning we went to church in Beeville.  Reagan and Grandma stayed in the nursery with the other little kids, while Peyton, Grandpa and I went to big church.  After church we headed to the Dairy Queen.  

Peyton had been asked to go to Grandpa's creek, so that afternoon, Grandpa, Mommy, and Peyton dressed in jeans and boots and headed out to go exploring in the dry bed of the big creek on the Tank place.  

Grandpa showing Peyton an old honey bee hive in a hollowed out tree stump.  

While walking along down in the creek bed, Peyton picked up a handful of large chicken hawk feathers - "to make a peacock with" he explained.  We also found deer and hog tracks. 

After exploring in the creek for a while, Peyton decided that he wanted to throw a log into the tank.  So he searched until he found the perfect log for throwing...

...and let it fly!  Then he and Grandpa threw mud clumps into the water.  At the tank, we found more deer tracks and a raccoon track.

While we were at the creek, Reagan and Grandma baked brownies - yummmmmm!

Gymnastics Birthday Party

On Saturday, Reagan got to go to a birthday party for one of the little girls in her preschool class.  It was at a local gym.  Reagan really loved her first gym experience!  I think we may be starting gymnastics in the near future! :) 

The Pumpkin Patch

On Friday afternoon, Reagan and I surprised Peyton by picking him up early from school.  I told him we were going to a surprise and gave him several clues.  He finally guessed our destination - a pumpkin patch! The pumpkin patch we were heading to was on a farm in Marble Falls, about a hour away.  On our way there, the kids watched "It's a Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown."

Wandering through the corn maze.

Ringing the bell at the end of the maze.

Peyton loves these "you as a ..." photo spots!

 He insisted on taking a picture of Reagan and Mommy as flowers.

 Reagan though it was funny and "ticked" when a goat licked her hand.  The goat was probably just disappointed that she wasn't actually holding any food!

The barrel train - Peyton and Reagan were the only passengers!

Peyton in the field of flowers.

The tunnel to the other side of the farm.