Upstate with Nana for School Vacation

We had a really good visit with Nana during Clare's school vacation. We kept busy by visiting the Children's Museum in Saratoga, seeing the Bee Movie, shopping at the new Albany LL Bean store, and raking the fallen leaves which were plentiful. We had a surprise and saw 6 wild turkeys in Nana's backyard. We also went with the cousins to have Christmas photos taken. Clare was a star during the photo shoot. Gwen on the other hand was not too happy with the whole idea until they brought out the oversized ornaments!

Gwen's Friend TJ Bearytales

Gwen loves this talking bear. Although the first time I set it near her she burst into tears, she has come to really enjoy watching him. Of course, since it is Clare's toy, we can only play with him when Clare is not around.

Halloween Part 1 - Parade and Party at School

The big day finally arrived. I managed to finish sewing Clare's cow costume and she agreed to wear it. (After attending a Halloween party the weekend before, Clare kept saying she wanted to be a princess, not a cow. She was so adamant I borrowed a Snow White costume (thank you Cathy!) as a back up just in case she had a meltdown.) The day started with a parade from her school around a few of the neighboring blocks. Then they had a party in the classroom. Potato chips and marshmallow covered cupcakes at 10 in the morning - what could be better. The teachers got the kids dancing, I'm sure in an effort to work off some of that sugar! Right after school we met up with some pals from our playgroup to Trick-or-Treat along Washington Street and to march in the parade. This was the first time we had been in town to experience the parade and festivities. Clare was really into the Trick-or-Treating, but was not very interested in the candy which was fine with us. By 5 o clock Clare said she wanted to go home and take a nap. I felt the same. It had been a very full day.

Halloween Part 2 - Ragamuffin Parade and Trick-or-Treating

You can see the milk jug that Paul and Clare made to go with her outfit. It was quite full after she hit the stores. Someone actually asked if it had come with the cow costume when I bought it. Our little chicken Gwen slept through most of the parade. We finished the day with an enormous slice of pizza from 7 Stars.

Clare's Costume

I decided to sew Clare's costume this year. I had planned to also sew Gwen's but I realized after starting Clare's, I would just not have the time - unless I planned not to sleep for a week or so! Clare asked to be a cow, I think mainly because we have a picture of her cousin Hannah when she was around 2 dressed as a cow. Once I got started and finished cutting out the pattern which was tedious, I really enjoyed the sewing. I had to do several modifications, first because I was using a lion pattern since I could not find a cow one, and second, because even the smallest size was huge on Clare. Here are a few photos of the first time Clare modelled it. Paul's contribution to the costume was to make a nifty milk jug out of papier-mache for candy collecting.

Harvest Fest

Paul took the girls to Hoboken's annual Harvest Fest. Clare rode a pony and a train, painted a pumpkin and filled a bottle with colored sand. The best part for Paul was that it was all free - even the hot dog lunch. It was windy and chilly that day, but they stuck it out for about two hours.

Conference Booty

We met Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Jim for dinner in Times Square. They were in NYC for a school board conference. Clare was the lucky recipient of lots of free treats from the conference. She was especially fond of the pencil with the star erasers that serve nicely as magic wands. (Excuse the red-eye. Our old camera bit the dust, and our new one has red-eye correction, so hopefully this batch of photos will be the last with Clare looking like Dracula.)

Pumpkin Carving

Clare wanted to help with the carving but for as much as she likes to play with Playdoh and dirt, taking the goo out of the pumpkin did not appeal to her. Paul did a great job carving. He got the idea to use the stem as a nose from a plastic plug-in pumpkin my Mom owns. In the first pic, it looks like Clare is opening her mouth so she can take a taste of the pumpkin goo - yuk.

Clare's Classroom

Since I neglected to take photos of Clare's classroom during Parents Night, I took the opportunity while at school for the Pumpkin Painting Party. We are really pleased with Clare's classroom and teachers. Here are some of her art projects. Her number one and square are a bit unconventional. I really like her monster painting. Clare's favorite part of her classroom is definitely the kitchen, though I don't know how much cooking she does. Most mornings when I drop her off, she leads me to the kitchen where she uses a play phone to order me a pizza!

Pumpkin Painting Party

Clare's school had a pumpkin painting party. It was very cute. The kids got to 'pick' their pumpkin in the gym with their parents on hand. The gym was decorated like a cornfield. Then they painted the pumpkin, followed by snacks. Each classroom was allotted a half hour for the festivities so the teachers had to keep things moving.

Pumpkin Picking

We visited Alstede Farm in Chester,NJ. It was a beautiful warm Sunday so a lot of people had the same idea as us. The place was mobbed. Clare enjoyed climbing the hay 'mountain', using the bouncy gym and feeding the animals. Paul decided he wanted to carve our pumpkin using the stem as the nose, so he and Clare scoured the field for the perfect specimen.

Pre-Halloween Outfit

No not her costume just a fun Halloween shirt. She looked so cute in her ensemble I couldn't resist a few photos.

Big Sister

On the way to school today, Clare and I were talking about how Alice and Gigi were going to have a new baby sister soon. Clare said she wanted another baby sister, just like Gwennie. I'm not sure if it is in the cards for us to fulfill her request, but I thought the way she asked was awfully sweet.

Busy Sunday

We were ambitious and went to Dim Sum in NYC and then onto the NY Hall of Science in Queens (thank you Jenny for the suggestion). Our Dim Sum experience was a bit overshadowed by the amount of time it took us to find parking but we all had a great time at the Hall of Science. Clare ran around like crazy and particularly liked the Cyberchase exhibit (she loves that show on PBS) and the preschooler area that had a great play grocery store complete with a conveyor belt at the checkout. Clare loves the conveyor belt at the real grocery store! She also insisted on sitting in on a mini lecture on probability - yeah she's a genius. I think she liked the guys headset and the fact that the older kids were listening. We hope to get back there again to visit the outdoor playground. We just ran out time this visit.