Our 3rd Annual Playgroup Halloween Party

Our twin and triplet friends met us at our neighborhood park this morning for our annual playgroup Halloween Party. For a few of our friends, this was the third time they've attended. It is such a joy to watch our kids grow up together.

Our party began with lots of play time in our costumes at the park. The kids took turns making cool spiders out of cardboard egg cups, black paint, pipe cleaners and googly eyes. It was a simple craft, save for the black paint around everyone's costumes just a few days before Halloween. Let's hope it really is washable! Sorry Moms!


After a potluck lunch, complete with spooky cupcakes and punch with frozen creepies, the kids lined up for our costume parade. They proudly marched in line (well, sort of in a line) around the soccer fields. Each child chose a prize for participating in the parade and then we bribed them with candy to get everyone to sit for a group picture. Most of them did!



As things were winding down, we had a special story time with our favorite Halloween book, "Ten Trick or Treaters". The kids helped me count down from 10 to 0 as we read and then sang along to a couple of Halloween songs. Ace and Ben even participated for a little while, though story time is not their favorite thing.

Check out the rest of today's pictures here.

A Busy Half Birthday

The buddies are 3 1/2 years old today!!! I've always thought it would be a fun day to celebrate, but because their day falls during Halloween week, I am usually too busy preparing for parties and putting finishing touches on our costumes. I'll be busy tonight...

After a fun morning at school, the buddies came home to find a half cake for each of them. We took turns singing to each buddy and then they blew out 3 1/2 candles each. They loved the celebration but barely touched their cakes.

Afterwards, we headed to our driveway for a fun and educational activity - ice treasures! I learned about this activity from the blog of an over-achieving mom and knew we had to try it. I worked on our ice treasure for a week, freezing small toys in layers. The buddies were very excited to test out several different excavation tools: spray bottles with water, salt, and toothbrushes. Ace even decided to try his own excavation tools: the wheels of his tricycle and his toy dump truck, but that made Ben mad. They worked long enough for me to plant a yard full of pansies. Hooray!

Sadly, all of that effort only yielded them one monkey and a cheap toy car, which snapped in half when they yanked it out. Ace almost freed Shrek, but gave up before his backside was released from the ice. When they'd had enough, I popped it back into the freezer for another day.

PS - Go Phillies!!

Super Buddies to the Rescue!

We took home the trophy for the best family costume at our friends' Halloween party yesterday. We have three more Halloween events this week, so you'll see these outfits again. Check out the rest of our pictures here.

DinoLand

This morning, our play group met at the DinoLand Exhibit at the Zilker Botanical Garden. It's an exhibit that's been on our to do list since it opened last month and we were thrilled when our friends planned the outing.

The buddies and their friends loved checking out the scientifically accurate dinosaur models. Ace commented that a particular herbivore looked "grumpy". It was probably because he was stationed right next to a carnivore who looked hungry.

We explored the exhibit twice before calling it a day. Since the buddies did such a good job listening and following directions during the outing, we made a special trip to Hey Cupcake!, a popular cupcake stand in the trendy SoCo district, for dessert. Ace and Ben both chose Snowcaps (chocolate cake with vanilla icing) and I opted for the popular Michael Jackson (chocolate cake with cream cheese icing). Yum!

View the rest of today's pictures here.

Softball Fans

The buddies had a great time cheering for their daddy this evening during a rare pre-bedtime game. The Hitmen won, 13-11, with the game ending on a spectacular play by our very own short stop. Of course, we missed it, because I was too busy lining up the buddies and their friends for pictures.

"Take these home. They're much quieter than the real Ace and Ben."

That's what Miss Heather said to us at our pre-school Open House this evening. Ha ha, Miss Heather. But seriously, aren't they funny? I've laughed just about every time I've walked past these life sized versions of the buddies this evening. You can tell that the pictures were taken around the start of the school year, both by the shorter haircuts and the dazed expressions.

Tonight, we learned that Ace and Ben are both doing very well in pre-school, but we really already knew that. Ace proudly showed me all of his artwork and Ben walked me over to the class calendar and said, "It's not September any more. It's Soptober!" Good times.

Our Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Oh happy day!! There just isn't a place we'd rather be on a sunny Autumn day than Sweet Berry Farm. It is our favorite place!

We met our weekly play group there for a special pumpkin patch field trip this morning. The buddies went on their first ever hay ride (ahh-choo!), painted pumpkins, enjoyed a picnic lunch with our friends, and then ate ice-cream and Miss Annie's cupcakes. And they spent a lot of time exploring pumpkins - they sorted them, tossed them (and got in trouble for it), rolled them, climbed on them, sang about them, walked on them, sat on them, and painted them. They each brought their painted creations home and I picked a lovely Queensland Blue pumpkin for our kitchen table.

The buddies also enjoyed seeing the the berry crops, our favorite reason to visit the farm, covered for the upcoming winter. We'll be back again in the Spring, when they're ready to pick!

View the rest of today's pictures here!

Happy Columbus Day

The buddies had a school holiday today, so we invited our favorite triplets over for a Columbus Day play date. We celebrated exploration!


When our friends arrived, we made binoculars out of toilet paper rolls. Everyone enjoyed painting their creations, but before long, the four boys lost interest and scampered off to play t-ball and frisbee and "kickedy - kick ball", leaving our little Kylie all alone, happily painting.

Once the binoculars were dry, each kid received a map of the backyard, with directions towards the first letter of their name. It was so much fun that the kids traded maps and hunted for each other's letters too. Then, they used their binoculars to search for other fun things. They discovered squirrels, trees, ants, pond fish, clouds, trees, and grass.

A highlight of the play date (for me, at least), was that Miss Annie brought along two extra adults with her crew. So, for the first time since we started meeting for play dates over a year ago, we almost had a 1:1 adult to child ratio. Thanks for joining us, Miss Kay and Mr. Brent!

Hairy Boogers

I was giving Benny a quick snuggle as I wrapped him in his towel after his bath tonight, and he looked up my nose and said, "Hey Mom, do you have hair in your boogers?"

Hmmpph! It's ragweed season in Austin. And yes, my nose hair is probably a little denser than the average girl's. I just didn't expect my sweet 3-year old to point it out to me.

One Last Swim for the Season

Today we met some friends at our favorite local lakeside beach for one last day of fun in the sun before the weather turns. The local pumpkin patches are set up for business and the weather is slowly cooling, but our lake waters are still 80 degrees and we took advantage of it. You have to love Texas - swimming in October is a rare treat for most.





Our buddies had a blast horsing around in the water with their friends and the daddies. Ace even swam the entire length (about 75 yards) of the swimming area (with his life jacket, of course). He was so proud of his accomplishment.

A Message for Me Mom

The buddies wish we were able to visit Me Mom after her emergency appendectomy yesterday. Since we can't see her in person, we're sending our well wishes here:





We love you and hope you have a speedy recovery.

T-Ball Fans

The buddies had a few extra fans on the sidelines at their t-ball game this morning. Grandma and Grandpa drove down to catch a game. As luck would have it, today was also team picture day, which meant our crew stayed at the fields for nearly three hours. It was exhausting, but fun.




The buddies loved showing Grandma and Grandpa their stuff. They had a blast batting and fielding but the highlight was huddling up for their cheer at the end of the game. Go Seadogs!