Happy Halloween

We had a jam-packed, fun-filled Halloween! As soon as we arrived home after 10:00 Mass, we quickly changed into our Mouseketeer ensembles to do a little trick-or-treating. Grace and Andrew received special treats from our neighbor, Al, and they were so happy to see their friend, Hadley, from across the street. Afterwards, we headed out for some more treats at Uncle Denis and Aunt Mary's house, Gram and Pop's house, and the neighbors on DeGroff Place (where Mommy used to trick-or-treat as a child). Grace and Andrew enjoyed visiting the neighbors and showing off their costumes. Our next stop was Nanny and Poppy's house, and we were all treated like royalty! Everyone got treats... including Mommy and Daddy! Poppy made us enough chicken parmigiana to last an entire week!!! Next, we had fun visiting Nana, Grandpa, Aunt Dana, and Vito, and the kiddies were spoiled rotten! We ended the day at a Halloween party with all of our Tumbles friends! It was such a SPOOKTACULAR Halloween, and we were fortunate to have such BOOTIFUL weather!

Mickey, Minnie, and their cousins Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, and Cody.

Andrew enjoyed checking out treats! He especially loved his chocolate chips and Woody doll!

Grace and her friends had so much fun trick-or-treating. She loved running from house to house for her treats, and she also had a blast playing in the leaves with all of her buddies!

Fun at the Farm

Grace and I had such a fun morning at Abma's Farm celebrating Sam's 3rd birthday. It was a perfect Fall morning for an outdoor celebration. We are fortunate to have made so many wonderful friends through JW Tumbles, and we're enjoying watching all of our little sweethearts growing up together. The party started off with a pumpkin picking hayride.
Grace and some of her friends showing off their pumpkins.
Grace is obsessed with sprinkles!
1st pony ride upon Graham Cracker:-)
1st time feeding the animals

Grace's Spook~tacular Day

Lollipop School really is a FUN PLACE!!!

Grace and her classmates lining up for the music room... she had this smile on her face all morning!

Grace and her friend, Joey.

Grace was anxiously awaiting the arrival of all of the nursery school classes so that she could have her musical debut!

Group 1 was all smiles for the Halloween Parade!

Grace and some of her classmates:-)

It was so cute to watch Grace and all of the nursery schoolers singing "5 Little Pumpkins!"

Countdown to Halloween

For the last few weeks, Grace and Andrew have been in awe of the Halloween display across the street from LuLu and Pop's house. LuLu takes her little dearies over there on a regular basis to see all the spooky decorations.

Today we met the Musolino's at the Halloween Party at the Saddle River Cultural Center. Grace had fun bobbing for apples, making crafts, eating "Halloween pizza," and painting a pumpkin (with UNwashable paint... oops)!

Halloween Festivities

We are anxiously awaiting Halloween and enjoying all of the festivities leading up to it. Last night, we worked together to carve a spooky Jack o'lantern. Grace and Andrew enjoyed getting their hands a messy as we cleaned it out, and they love seeing it all lit up. Today was filled with fun events. Grace brought in her Minnie costume for show and tell, and showed off her professional photo with Andrew (aka - Mickey). Andrew got the chance to wear his costume to JW Tumbles and Story Time! It was in the high 70's today, and my poor little man was so sweaty in his costume. He doesn't really enjoy wearing the headpiece, but when he's in full costume he looks so darn cute! I think that Grace and Andrew look "SPOOKtacular" in their costumes this year!
Grace and Andrew were happy to show off their Jack o'lantern. Please note their Minnie and Mickey Halloween pajamas:-)

Brian (aka - DJ Lance) helped Andrew with the skill of the day... headstands!
Andrew and his little lovebug... Kelsey
Peek a BOO!

This is one of Andrew's favorite songs at story time! Please take note of the waddle.

Party Central

Our day was filled with non-stop excitement! Grace had back-to-back birthday parties for her friends, Quinn and Juliana, and then we headed straight to the Park Ridge Ragamuffin Parade. After we paraded through the center of town, we gathered at Memorial Park for entertainment, apple cider, and donuts. Grace and Andrew entered the costume contest, and they each won a ribbon! They also had fun playing at the park with their cousins, Genny (aka - Storm Trooper) and Shane (aka - Darth Vader). All of the children went home with pumpkins, lollipops, and smiles:-) These are the days to remember!

Grace sat right next to, Quinn, the birthday boy at his fabulous party at Bounce U!

Andrew was happy to join Grace at Juliana's 3rd birthday party at JW Tumbles.
Grace was sure to wave at all the onlookers at the Ragamuffin Parade.

Costume Debut

Due to the fact that Grace and Andrew LOVE Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, it was pretty easy to select their costumes this year. I took Minnie and Mickey to Picture People for a photo shoot today. This is a copy of my favorite shot:-)

1st Class Trip

Grace had her very first class trip today, and I was overjoyed to be one of the parent volunteers selected to join the group! We had such a wonderful morning at DePiero's Farm! We started off with a "pumpkin picking" hayride. Grace had so much fun spending time with her teacher's assistant, Miss Kimberly, and classmates, Madelyn and Amanda. We explored the pumpkin patch, which was "boo-tifully" decorated for Halloween. Grace was so excited with the display and kept saying, "Mommy, look at this!" After we picked the perfect pumpkins, we headed back to the farm for a "special treat"... apple cider and donuts! Before heading back onto the Lollipop School buses, the children had lots of fun running through the hay maze and visiting the animals at the farm. I was so happy be a part of Grace's special day!

Pumpkin Picking at Secor Farm

This is such a gorgeous time of year! We were so happy that Daddy came home early from work today to go pumpkin picking with us! Grace and Andrew had lots of fun watching the animals, running through the hay maze, and picking pumpkins! It brings us so much happiness to watch our little sweethearts playing together. They genuinely enjoy spending time with one another and are best buddies! This Friday, before family date night, we're going to make a jack o'lantern!

Our little pumpkins had so much fun playing in the hay:-)

Boo at the Zoo

I've been looking forward to going to the Bronx Zoo for years, and it was worth the wait!  We had such a memorable day.  We took advantage of our "Total Experience" tickets!  We took Grace and Andrew to the Children's Zoo, Bug Carousel, Butterfly Garden, Congo Gorilla Forest, and Wild Asia Monorail.  We were at the zoo for about 5 hours, and we feel like there is still so much more that we would like to see and do!  We're already planning our next visit!  

Andrew tried to shimmy up the spider web in the Children's Zoo!

Grace crawled like a tortoise!

Isn't he foxy?

Nana and Grandpa met us at the zoo!  We were so happy to have them join us!

The zoo was decorated beautifully in celebration of Autumn and Halloween.  Grace had fun running through the Extinct Animals Cemetery.

We saw tons of animals today!  Grace said that she liked the elephants the best! Andrew seemed to enjoy watching all of the animals in the Madagascar exhibit, and Danny and I loved seeing the gorillas!  It was such a great day!