'Twas the night before Halloween, when all through the house, the scent of roasting pumpkin seeds hovered about.
The pumpkin was carved and lit with great care,
In hopes that trick-or-treaters soon would be there.



Every year about a day or two before Halloween, Robin carves our pumpkin and I roast the seeds. This year, Robin bought a carving kit that came with some carving stencils and he asked Tyler to pick out the picture he wanted carved on the pumpkin. Tyler chose the spider, which luckily for Robin was one of the easier designs. The boys then enjoyed helping Daddy with the goopy and messy task of removing the pulp and seeds. I always look forward to roasting the seeds for our once a year special treat. Unfortunately between Tyler and I, they don't end up lasting more than 2 days. Perhaps next year we should consider getting two pumpkins!

It Was a Happy Halloween Afterall!

There was an 80% chance of rain predicted to hit our area this evening during prime trick-or-treating time so we had to find an indoor Halloween event for the boys this year. We discovered that the Williams Trace Baptist Church was hosting a Kids' Karnival from 5:00pm - 7pm. A $3 ticket per person included a dinner of pizza, hotdogs, nachos, chips, popcorn, cookies and a drink, as well as admission to all of the games like Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin, Basketball Toss, Twister and Animal Races, etc. Each room had a different game and there were 2 levels of game rooms. After participating in a game, each child could then choose 2 treats or prizes from the room's pumpkin baskets. There was also a bouncy house set up as an energy outlet for all of the kids high on sugar rushes. (Smart thinking!) The boys had a memorable time and brought home buckets of candy and little toys despite the bad weather. It turned out to be a Happy Halloween afterall!


Basketball Toss
"Gimme some candy"

Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin

Animal Races

2005 MOMS Club Fall Festival

Today was the annual Sugar Land South MOMS Club Fall Festival.

The festivities included:

-a costume parade to show off the creative and adorable costumes
-snack time and a pie contest
-games such as a scavenger hunt, fishing, duck grab, pumpkin painting, and a
pinata

Tyler's favorite activity of all was the pinata. Tyler was the one who broke open the pinata with his super Ninja muscles! See what eating your vegetables will do, kids!

Look at those super Ninja muscles in action!











When I asked Ryan to show me the candy he got from the pinata, he showed me the candy in his mouth instead of what was in his hand.

Kids enjoying their bags of candy

Kids say the Darnest Things


Tyler is always saying the funniest things. For example, the other day I was standing in front of the mirror and brushing my hair. Tyler was watching me and said, "Put a bow in your hair". I asked him, "Why?" And he replied, "Because I want it to look like horses hair." I had to think about this a moment. At first, I thought maybe we was saying something mean and implying that I looked like a horse. But then it occured to me what he meant and I responded, "Oh, you mean you want me to put my hair in a PONY TAIL!" He had forgotten what it was called. lol!

Tyler is beginning to ask some very tough questions too. A few days ago, I overheard a conversation between him and his Daddy. Tyler asked him, "If God made everything, who made God?" Robin's response was, "Go ask Mommy". Luckily for us, Tyler already had his mind made up about the answer and replied matter of factly, "Daddy, God made God!" Good reasoning! :o)


Bugs are a Boys Best Friend


Like myself, Tyler and Ryan enjoy bug watching. A few weeks ago, Tyler caught a beautiful butterfly and we put it in his bug viewer so he could admire it for awhile. He loved that. There is no shortage of insects, lizards and toads around our home. Our backyard is a bug haven...unfortunately, it's home to many unwanted bugs like tree roaches, moquitos, bees and fireants too. Tyler has already had to endure the pain of a wasp's sting. And it's a full time job having to smack mosquitos and flick fire ants off the kids and myself while we try to enjoy our backyard. But that's life in the South. A couple of days ago, I was emptying out the dishwasher while the boys played in the backyard. Tyler walks in and says that he has a new friend. He comes over to me to show me a bug that is crawling down his arm and I gasped, "That is a roach!!" He immediately flung the roach onto the floor in disgust. (Thankfully, it didn't land in the dishwasher of clean dishes!) Being the gentle animal lover that I am, I carried the roach (which I later discovered was a wood roach) back outside and put him back where he came from. I admit, I have a hard time killing anything, but also want to teach the boys to treat all living things with kindness. (However, I do make an exception for pesky mosquitos and those huge, scary flying tree roaches. Blagh!).

Whenever Ryan sees a bug, he calls out, "buddy!" I think he is trying to call it a, "buggie", but it comes out sounding like, "buddy" instead. However, don't be fooled by this charming nickname. Ryan is still learning how to control his love. Often, he loves the misfortunate bug so much that it ends up being squished between his little fingers or under his shoe. Awwww, poor Buddy!

The Van Pelt's Blog Spot

The last few months of the year are always our busiest and most exciting. It starts with Robin's birthday, then Tyler's birthday, Halloween, Michele's birthday, Thanksgiving, Ryan's birthday and finally Christmas.

In September we celebrated Robin's birthday with gifts and ice cream cake.

I also made surprise plans for a day of fun at Astroworld for just the two of us. It was a perfect day to go since the weather was nice and there were no crowds. A week later we found out that Astroworld is closing their doors forever at the end of October so I am so glad we had the chance to go one last time before it shut down. Talk about great timing!

In October, we threw Tyler a "Magic" themed birthday party at our home for his 5th birthday. This was such an imaginative and fun party to plan. For invitations, I sent each invitee a deflated black balloon with an attached message that read: "Inflate to reveal a special message from Tyler". I wrote out the the party details on the balloon in gold ink which was "magically" revealed when the balloon was inflated.

The highlight of the party was the magic show a friend of ours named Joe performed for everyone. Tyler was more than thrilled when he was asked to help out as the assistant. The kids (including the toddlers) LOVED the show and were on the edge of their seats the whole time in excitement.

We gave each birthday guest a black top hat and a magic wand, as well as a mini deck of cards, a coin magic trick, a package of pop rocks candy and a sheet of magic scratch art so they could pretend to be little magicians themselves. With a dash of magic and a pinch of creativity...SHAZAM, the party was a complete
success!

Of course, Tyler and Ryan are very excited about the upcoming Halloween festivities. They have been having fun going through our box of past costumes and accessories and helping me decorate. They will dress as Ninjas this year. Stay tuned for pictures from our night of trick or treating.

The boys love to help Daddy with his projects around the house. Robin is always fixing, building something or cleaning his bike and "Daddy's Little Helpers" are always there willing to lend a helping hand whenever there is work to be done.

Another school year has begun! Tyler and Ryan are attending separate programs at the Sugar Creek Baptist Church this year. Tyler is in preschool 3 days a week and Ryan attends the Moms Day Out program 2 days a week. The teachers are wonderful and the boys are thriving. I'm especially impressed with the preschool program. The weekly activities include computer lab, centers, cooking, arts and crafts, chapel, music and playground time as well as workbook practice including writing, tracing, coloring, cutting and pasting. Every week, I am amazed at all of the worksheets and craft projects Tyler brings home in his folder. He does so much in the 3 short days that he has class and he seems to really be enjoying it all.

We went to Dewberry Farms today. It's a cute little farm for kids located in Brookshire, Texas (just outside of Houston). They offer many fun things to see and do like hay rides, corn maze, pumpkin patch, 4 acre playground, a barnyard and lots more. The boys and I had alot of fun, but boy was it HOT! You'd never know it was Fall. The temp is still in the high 80's or low 90's here in Texas.