Halloween Festivities at Leah's Preschool

I volunteered to help with the Halloween Party at Leah’s preschool. There were 4 parents total that assisted with the party (3 mom’s and a dad). Leah was very excited that I was going to be there for all of the fun. We (the parent’s) got there at 1:00 to setup. We pretty much had full reign over the afternoon. The teachers stepped back and we were in charge. First the kids completed a craft. There were suckers covered to look like ghosts. The kids put on googley eyes and drew on a face. We followed up the craft with a snack. I made ‘pumpkin patch’ dirt cake. Then we had several games planned (witch hat ring toss, mummy wrap, pin the nose on the pumpkin and a cup game). After the festivities, the kids did a quick parade in their Halloween costumes. (It was a rainy day so we weren’t able to go outside). Overall, I think the kids had a great time! I loved being able to come in for the afternoon and help out with the party.

Leah enjoying a sweet treat!

Ghost craft!

Pumpkin patch dirt cake

Witch hat ring toss

Mummy Wrap

Leah and her friend

Leah and Miss Deb

Leah and Laney Jo

Leah and Miss Julee

Parent-Helper Day at Leah’s Preschool

This past Thursday I was SUPER excited that I was able to volunteer and help in Leah’s classroom. Sometimes it’s difficult to be involved with things like this when you are a full-time working mom. A few weeks ago her school let us know that parents could sign-up to be a parent helper for the day. It was an actual sign-up sheet, posted at school by the coat hooks. Me, being a mom that is not able to do the drop off/pick was not able to go in and physically sign-up for a slot. Luckily, I called and they were more than accommodating in letting me know what dates were open and penciled my name down. Actually, I was really surprised, there were several open slots.

Leah was over the top excited that I got to drive her to school AND stay for the whole class. I was curious how Leah would act with me there. Her teachers put me right to work. I got down with them on the floor and helped them with whatever they needed. Their activities were based around Halloween. I was responsible for helping put paint on kids hands to make a candy corn hand print. They also painted a candy picture, made a foam candy corn face necklace and got to pick pumpkin seeds out of a pumpkin.I was able to observe story time and play with the kids in the activity center. For some reason, a few of the kids really seemed to like me. They were wanting to sit by me and have me play with them. Leah was a little clingy (as I expected), but overall, she was on really good behavior. I definitely enjoyed my special day at school with my sweet girl.

I really love Leah’s preschool. The teachers are great and they do wonderful things with the kids. Leah is learning and having fun at the same time. Every day is themed by a letter, color or something along those lines (one day was family day, one day was black bird day, etc.). The other day they talked about the letter "F." F is for Fire Truck and they had a visit from the Plainfield Fire Department. They learned when to call 911, how to stop, drop and roll and had the chance to walk through a fire truck. For their activity in class, they put out foam flames with turkey basters, wore firefighter hats and used Rescue Heroes to save buildings. Here are some pictures from the day. 

The teachers also have a private Facebook page just for the parents of her class and they post updates and pictures of what they did for the day. It gives me a glimpse into her day and allows me to talk with her about what she did. 

Next week, I am helping with the Halloween Party at school too. I got a note home (on Thursday the 10th) saying that I got picked, but then there was also a required parent party planning meeting the following Tuesday at 2:00 pm in the afternoon. Ugh...there was no way I would be able to rearrange my schedule at work on such short notice to make the meeting. Luckily, Rob was able to take off and I sent him with print-outs of all of my ideas (for games, crafts, snacks, etc.). I told him he would be responsible for representing me and he better contribute to the discussion. Ha! When he arrived, he said there were 16 moms there and he was feeling really overwhelmed. He later learned that these were the parents picked for the party for ALL of the preschool classes (morning and afternoon sessions). They divided up based on classroom. In the end, it was him and 3 other mom's that planned the party for Leah's class. Luckily, some of my ideas were well received. I am responsible for making a 'pumpkin patch' dirt cake and bringing the supplies for a witch hat ring toss. There will be other activities too and then they'll end the afternoon with a costume parade. I am so excited and can't wait for the Halloween fun next week. Wish I could do this kind of stuff more often.

Hopefully my dirt cake turns out like the picture!

Kid's Halloween Party at the Dygdon's

For the past few years, we've always hosted a kids Halloween party. I've always loved planning a fun event for the kids and getting everyone together. This year, life has been much busier than normal (two kids keep me on my toes and I also just received a promotion at work!) and I just didn't have the time to pull together a party. Luckily, our friends Nicole and Daryl graciously volunteered to host the festivities this year! I willingly passed the torch to them!

This past Saturday we headed over to the Dygdon's for some Halloween fun! Leah was beyond excited and couldn't wait to get there. We decided to dress the kids as Spider Man and Spider Girl. (Leah has a Power Ranger costume for school, but I wanted them to coordinate for the party). Everything was perfect at the party! Nicole definitely outdid herself with cute decorations and lots of yummy food! All of the kids were so adorable in their costumes and they kept themselves entertained in the bounce house / slide combo. Leah has definitely come out of her shell and ran around the whole afternoon with the kids. She had a blast with Dylan, Emma and Julia (the other girls who are right around her age). Mason walked around the party like a little Frankenstein. Even though he is little, I really think he had fun. Both kids were wiped out by the time we got in the car to head home. 

A big thanks to the Dygdon's for hosting a wonderful party! A great time was had by all!!

 All of the kiddos

 The Held siblings and the Weber siblings

 Dylan, Julia and Leah

 Leah and her friend Emma

 Dylan, Leah and Emma

 Me and my two loves!

 The gracious hosts

A few of my best girls!

Bengston's Pumpkin Farm

This weekend, the weather was absolutely gorgeous, especially on Sunday! I wanted to take full advantage and do something fun outside. We decided to follow our annual tradition and head over to Bengston’s Farm. We’ve been coming here for the past several years and love it. Last year when we came, it was perfect. It was not crowded at all and we were able to do everything we wanted. This year was a completely different story! The word must have spread on what a great place Bengston’s is because it was SO crowded. The line of cars just to get into the parking lot was over 100 cars deep. There were people everywhere and all of the lines were very long.  Everyone must have had the same idea we did and wanted to enjoy this beautiful fall day. I actually follow Bengston’s on FaceBook and they did a posting saying that they had to shut their doors and not allow any more people in because they were at full capacity.   

When we arrived, we wanted to stop at the ‘picture shack’ and take our annual Held Family picture. We’ve done this every year for the past 3 years. We walked up to the ‘house’ where they always do pictures and found out they no longer do them! I was bummed. They said that the demand has gone way down since everyone seems to bring their own cameras and do pictures on their own. I see their point, but I always liked the fall scenery they had setup and comparing our family pics from year to year. So instead of it being a ‘picture shack,’ it had been replaced by an area where kids could go to get glitter tattoos. Ah well. Leah was definitely interested in a glitter tattoo. I forked over the $5 and she was a happy camper with a purple glitter heart on her forearm.

We walked down to the pumpkin area and let Leah and Mason run around in the pumpkin patch. I am not sure if I shared this or not, but Mason is (finally) full blown walking. He still walks a little like Frankenstein and can be wobbly on his feet, but there is no turning back for him. He loves his new found freedom! (I am scared). Anyways – he enjoyed walking around and touching all of the pumpkins. We also checked out the petting zoo. Both Leah and Mason had a great time feeding and petting the animals. This year, Bengston’s had a new feature….camel rides. I didn’t think Leah would be interested, but she told us that she wanted to ride one. The next thing you know…Leah is riding a camel! There was no line to ride the camels, probably because it was an (significant) extra charge. I told Rob he was going to go with her because there was no way I was going to get up on that thing! All of the lines for the rides were extremely long. Which again, was completely different from last year. Leah really wanted to ride the train, but there literally were over 200 people in line. I convinced her to go on the honey pot ride, since there were only about 50 people in line. The line moved fairly quickly and she was happy. We were going to stay for the pig races, but the next race didn’t start for another 20 minutes and the stands were already full. We walked around for a bit longer before deciding to head out. Next year, we may consider coming during the week since the crowds were so out of control.

It’s funny, Leah LOVES everything to do with Halloween. She enjoyed all of the spooky decorations/animations and wanted to see everything up close. Poor Mase Man on the other hand was terrified. There was a witch on a broom that had an evil cackle and the kid was shaking in his boots. He was so scared. After the pumpkin farm, we stopped at a Halloween store to pick up some costumes. Leah put on a werewolf mask and Mason just about lost it. Poor guy!  

 The kids this year

 The kids last year....they've grown so much!

 Leah prepping for her tattoo

 Not scared of this guy at all!

Me and my sweet girl on the Honey Pot ride.

 Leah and the Pumpkin Family

 Leah's first camel ride!

 Mase playing with the pumpkins!

Our Family Pic from last year

Fall Fun

I love October and all of the fun fall activities that go with it! We had our first visit to a pumpkin farm on Saturday. The weather was predicting rain, but it looked clear so we still ventured out. We decided to go check out Johansen's Farm in Bolingbrook. It is so close, but we've never been there before. I saw a Groupon for it, but by the time I went to go get it, it was sold out. So.....I ended up forking over $36 for the four of us to enter (Mason was free). It was SO cute there!! I think since the weather forecast looked so bad, it kept people away. There was really no one there, which was perfect. We spent about 2 hours there and were able to get through everything.

While at Johansen's Farm, Leah held some baby chicks, jumped in a pumpkin bounce house, rode a pony, went down the big slide and saw tons of animals. We also went on a train ride, ran through a corn maze and went on a hay ride. We picked up some baby pumpkins and were on our way. Just after getting back in the car, it started to rain. I didn't bring my camera, so my iPhone had to do! It was a little over-priced, but Leah had fun! I can't wait for the rest of the fall festivities!