Snow Day

We had our first lake effect roll through on the 29th, and the boys were eager to get out and play in the snow. Nolan doesn't remember seeing snow last year, so he had his first real experience with seeing, feeling, and tasting the stuff.

Nolan takes experiencing the snow to a whole new level.

We don't have a sled for both boys, so I tried a laundry basket. The snow was very wet and sticky, though, so it wasn't very good for sledding purposes!

Both boys were in their glory out in the snow, and Matt is definitely going to be a fan of winter.

My secret mission while we were out was to get some good Christmas card photos. Unfortunately, getting both boys to cooperate was impossible. Most of my pictures of them together look like this:



We had fun outside, even if we didn't get any good shots of the boys together!


Note: the above photo looks promising, but there is snot coming out of Nolan's nose. The joys of boys!

Who Needs Toys?

My kids far prefer to play with the toy bin.

Brigiotta's Fall Fest

As there is very little going on in our area during the cold winter months, we have been making the most of all the autumnal activities. We headed off to Brigiotta's Fall Fest, a pumpkin patch set up by our local favorite nursery. I honestly don't think we'll do Pumpkinville again! Brigiotta's is closer, less crowded, and FREE. That's right, folks, nearly everything is FREE! We did pay $14 for four pumpkins, but even those were on sale!

They had a hay ride pulled by a large tractor (cost: FREE) that both boys loved.

The hayride took us around to the back of the nursery, where there was a giant "haunted house" and a pumpkin patch. The haunted house was FREE, but I kept Nolan out of it just in case there was anything truly frightening inside (Matthew was unphased).


There was a bounce house, also FREE.

They had several games set up for the preschool and school-age set. Matthew really loved bowling for "ghosts" with a pumpkin.

Matthew found his own way to ensure a strike!

There was a great hay maze (again, FREE) that was used by both our boys for an entire hour. They both loved running into and out of the maze, which was perfectly suited to little ones (the hay bales were short enough to allow us to monitor little blond heads bobbing around through the maze).

In the end, the only thing we paid for were the pumpkins and two balloons ($1 each). We will definitely be returning next year!

Zoo Boo 2008

We recently became members of the Erie Zoo, and decided to go to their "Zoo Boo" event for Halloween. It was such a fun evening, even though Matthew did NOT want to wear his monkey costume.

"I don't want to be a monkey! I want to be a boy!"

It took some time to convince the child that he was still a boy, and that the monkey outfit would give him access to candy at the trick-or-treating booths throughout the zoo. Nolan was perfectly happy being a puppy, and was very amused at all the other children dressed as various animals.

Candy booth number 1 quickly changed Matt's mind about the whole dressing-up situation. He was a happy monkey the minute that first peanut butter cup landed in his trick-or-treating bag.

The zoo was quite loud, but the noise level didn't seem to bother Nolan. He was very entranced with all the lights and decorations.

We did find out how different our boys' personalities are, however. At the end of the evening, Matthew was very eager to get out of the monkey costume. He proclaimed, "I a real boy again!" Nolan, on the other hand, screamed when we tried to take his costume off. Perhaps he realized just how irresistably cute a baby-puppy can be!

Fun With Fall

As the nice days are dwindling, we are making the most of every non-freezing sunny day. We have found a bazillion fun things to do with leaves. The most basic, of course, is to make a pile of leaves and jump in. We have also placed a big pile of leaves at the bottom of the slide, which both boys LOVE!

I also raked roads into the leaves on the ground, and Matthew really loved this idea. He ran around the roads and took his toy trucks around the paths. This gives me a great excuse for not raking the lawn- after all, we need lots of leaves for leaf roads!

Matthew also discovered one of the most entertaining leaf activities: throwing leaves on your brother!

After some time on the swingset, both boys were just about ready for a nap. I really love the fall!

A Visit From Yogi

I always knew there were black bears that lived in our area, but we have lived here for five years and have never seen one. October 16th marks the day that I saw my first bear in the wild- if our backyard can be considered "wild," that is! Luckily our neighbors all came over to tell me there was a bear on the loose, so I kept the children inside. Matthew's preferred play area is in the dirt behind the swingset, so I was quite grateful for the neighborly heads-up!

The bear had been hit by a car on our street and had a bit of a limp. I hope Yogi recovers and is able to hibernate through the long winter!

Troublemaker

Alas, we have entered the age of toddler "exploration." Our toilet paper shall be under constant threat for at least another year!

He Finally Finds it Fun!

Nolan is a lot more timid than Matt ever was, and I was beginning to wonder if he'd ever be able to ride the carousel! He finally likes it!

Pumpkinville 2008

Pumpkinville is primarily a way to separate fun-loving parents and grandparents from their money, though we did have a fun time going broke!

Let's see:

Corn Cannon: $1.00 for 3 ears of corn, which are then shot out over a pumpkin field.

Duckie Water Race: $1.50 for a duck to place in the pump-and-pipe watercourse.

Pony Ride: $3.50

Cow Train Ride: $3.50 per ride. Matt rode twice, so that is $7.00!

I can't remember what the pumpkin donuts, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin muffins cost, but let's just say that we were thankful the grandparents were visiting and willing to spoil the grandkids!

Of course, a day full of happy memories is priceless!

A New Reason For Gray Hair

I have a skateboarder now- and he's not even three!