Saturday, October 25, 2008

October - Fire Awareness & Candy Festival

We went to the firestation during fire awareness week. They had a bunch of firetrucks out in the parking lot and inside they were doing some demonstrations on how quickly fires can spread in the home and what you can do to stop them and be prepared. Last but not least Smokey the Bear showed up!! Nicky certainly was weary of him and you can see the best shot I got of him was him running away. ha! After we left there we went to the candy festival in town. I forgot to take pictures of that though. Funny enough there wasn't a ton of candy there, most of the booths had some sort of candy and in the middle of the fair there was a tent for trying candy, but we didn't go in there. Instead we played some games like bean bag toss and crafts. Nicky made a spooky bracelet, a witch hand (popcorn and candy corn in a clear glove), a goodie bag, sand candy tube, a pipecleaner pumpkin stick and a few other things (can't remember). He had a great time and so did I! Toby had to work that night so he was sleeping and Gwen was with her mom, but it was a good day for Nicky and I.
Nicky living it up in the drivers seat:

The best shot I could get of him and Smokey:

Meeting the fireman, he was telling Nicky that he might look scary, but he's there to help:

September - Farm Days

We went to farm days in town the last weekend of September. The local farms had little booths and different activities. We saw the Sheriff and their horses at the first stop. The kids got their faces/arm painted, made a bird feeder and checked out an Eagle. We went to a couple other spots where they got to check out some neat stuff. Their most favorite I think was the ice cream stop, these people make home made ice cream and boy was it good! I got cheesecake instead of ice cream, it was sinful. Nicky got to ride a pony and keep saying: say cheese mama, everytime he would go around. The last place we stopped at we bought some green tomatoes and came home and made fried green tomatoes, they were de-lish!

September - Racing

I bought Toby a racing package for Christmas last year that he was finally able to use, he really enjoyed it and wants to do it again.

The racer, doesn't he look like he really fits in?

He's beating this guy:
Preparing:

Collage:

Nicky trying on the helmet:

August - Build A Bear

Before Maddie went back to Florida, we went to build a bear for her to make a little lovie to have with her. Her first one she made with me years back is old and worn out and we needed a new softer, cleaner one for her to cuddle with. She named her 'Chocolate', she is a monkey who is dressed in Hannah Montana clothes. I forgot to take an 'after' shot, but she is really cute, we even put little earrings in her ears.

Picking out her new friend:
Waiting to fill Chocolate up:
Talking to the stuffer about how he is going to fill Chocolate up just enough and perfect to love:

Cleaning up Chocolate and making sure she is nice and ready to get dressed:

July - Camping

The day that we got back from our Virginia vacation we left to go camping, we went to the Redwoods and it was so beautiful up there! We didn't get to stay nearly long enough!






July - Gardens

Before we left Virginia we stopped at the gardens in Richmond, it was so gorgeous there!



July - Virginia vacation

We went to Virginia for Tobys best friends wedding and to visit his dad and family. It was so nice out there and the time flew by WAY too quickly. The day of the wedding was also Gwens bday, she looked beautiful and way too old for a just turned 11year old!!!

At the airport waiting for my plane (Toby and the kids left a few days before me):



Papa and Maddie:
Maddie and Grama Char:
The fam, it was WAY too hot and not a good shot at all:
Gwen and Nicky dancing:
The creek down at the bottom of Papa and Grama char's property, the kids had so much fun down there trying to catch frogs:

One of the little frogs we saw:


Art day - van gogh

Aunt Jan had given Maddie some art books years ago that she is just now old enough to appreciate, we were going to do several weeks for the different artists over the summer but only got to do Van Gogh. I printed out some coloring sheets and we had a little art class one day. I read to them the history of Van Gogh, the kids seemed to like that, but were more interested in coloring them!

Maddies:

Nickys:
Gwens (We actually have a magnet of this one so she tried to do the colors just like it):

July - Bday Party

We had the kids bday party, a luau and it was a windy day, as usual where we live! Our canopy actually blew over during our vacation, so this is the last shot of it you will see....so sad! We played different games like: pin the coconut on the palmtree, volcano beanbag toss, hula hoop contest, lucky duckies and waterballoon toss.

The outside deco:
Maddie hula-ing
Gwen pinning the coconut

The volcano beach cake I made and cupcakes, that cake was a pain!
All three kiddos

July - 4th

We drove around town looking for the right spot to park but everywhere was crowded. We ended up pulling into this little parking lot for a strip mall and it ended up having a perfect view!!!! The kids loved it and oohed and aaahed the whole time and talked about it all the way home.

July - They think they're so funny

The original picture, I'm on the left:
Gwens interpretation
Madisons impression



The kids found a picture of me when I was younger and thought it was hilarious and a great idea to poke fun and immitate me. Nicky looks like he hasn't been washed in a year, but it was spaghetti night and this was mid dinner when this took place, don't mind the mess. I'm pretty sure I was making the pose while trying to scratch my back, my mom must have caught me at the wrong time. Anyways, the kids laugh about it all the time and always imitate it.