Simone's "Fake" Halloween

 Because Simone's birthday fell on a Saturday this year she celebrated it at school on the Friday before --- she affectionately dubbed it her "fake" birthday because her real one wasn't until the next day.  Similarly, Simone declared today "fake halloween" because although halloween isn't until Wednesday, we had a day and night PACKED with costumes and trick or treat fun.

Again this year, Simone picked our costumes.  She chose the theme of her newest favorite cartoon -- Doc McStuffins.  For those not in the know, Doc McStuffins is a Disney show about a little girl who pretends to be a doctor and magically brings her toys to life and fixes their problem.  She has several sidekicks on the show, so obviously Tony and I were two of them -- Lambie (mom) and Chilly the snowman (dad).  Because the show is only 6 months old, very little Doc McStuffins merchandise exists, which left us to make our costumes from scratch. Considering I can't sew a stitch, I was pretty pleased with our approximate likenesses to the Doc McStuffins cast.

Doc, Lambie, and Chilly

We started the day at our neighborhood Trunk or Treat, which was kicked off by a parade of costumes.

A little entertainment.

We decorated our trunk in the only fitting way -- Doc's clinic.  Not bad considering we slapped it together on Friday night over a bottle of Chardonnay, eh?

T

Perhaps a little known fact (at least to me)... kids LOVE snowmen.  Literally all day and all night kids came running over to Tony wanting to touch him and get their picture taken with him.  Tony ate it up!!!

This little one even gave Chilly a giant hug, but I didn't snap the picture fast enough to capture it.

 For the evening, we headed to Boo at the Zoo.  Madalyn and her parents were Alice, the Queen of Hearts and the Ace of Spades.  Boo at the Zoo is always a fun night, and once again, it did not disappoint.

 And finally, resting on the bench with mom/Lambie right before we left for home.  It was a long but terribly fun day.  Both Simone and Madalyn were asleep in the car within minutes.  We'll see if we get to have "real" halloween on Wednesday.  With the forecasted storm, it sounds like it may be a total washout.  But no matter, we've gotten our trick or treating in for the year and the bowl overflowing with candy to prove it!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Our Annual Pumpkin Patch Day

 Today Simone had her school's fall field trip to the Cox Farm Festival.  The day started kind of damp and grey, but turned clear, sunny, and downright hot by the end.   It's been fun to go back to this event each year and see how different Simone is each time.

It didn't take long for Simone and daddy to find the sweet apple cider.

 We had many, many trips down each of the slides throughout the day.  This was Simone's second favorite one.

Posing with a classmate.

This triple dip slide was the clear favorite among all the kids as evident by the very long line.  Simone went down 4 or 5 times undeterred by the line or the long climb to the top.

Tony posing with the pumpkins.  lol!

We had a super day of playing and pictures and wrapped it up with pizza at the mall.  And now we're all beat.  It will sure be nice to sleep in late tomorrow!

Feeling Like Fall

Today we remembered that every once in a while it's good to take a time out and just relax.  And what better than a fine autumn day at one of Loudoun county's vineyards?  It was a positively gorgeous weekend to be outdoors, so we decided to meet up with some friends for wine and cheese tasting and a picnic.  Simone and I headed over to Wegman's bright and early this morning to get some picnic food while dad cut the grass, and then off to the winery.

In our old basement we had a large framed map of Napa from our trip there years ago, and Simone always loved looking at it and asking about it.  Today she got to find out what wine was all about... MINUS the tasting part, of course!!!

 This beautiful little butterfly (a Monarch, Simone quickly pointed out) seemed to be posing for us.  Such stunning colors... how perfectly autumn.

After our picnic, Simone and daddy took a mile hike through the forest path behind this little pavilion.  Mommy had to stay behind to keep the wine safe ;-) lol!

We lingered for several hours, eating, drinking, talking and just taking in the nature.  All in all, just what we needed after a hectic, stressful week.  We definitely need to start doing more of this!

HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY!!!

This year, for the first time, Simone had very specific ideas for her birthday and party.   She asked to go to Pennsylvania and have a My Little Pony Grand Galloping Gala party at Grammy's house.  My Little Pony is Simone's all time favorite toy/show for the moment, so it really was no wonder we ended up with something like this.  She asked for streamers and balloons and fancy dresses and tiaras.  Basically, it was about the girly-est scene possible. 

The "gala" room.

And, of course, a my little pony cake. Chocolate mousse and whipped cream icing... yum!

On the porch to greet her guests.

Talking to daddy after she blew out the candles.

Opening gifts, plenty of pony presents.

With lots of help from her cousins.

Rainbow twirling ribbons were Simone's party favors.  They made for great fun out in the yard after the  cake and singing.

The afternoon kid party was followed by an evening bbq with lots of family and then a sleepover party for the girls.  And lest you think things got too prissy, all the girls shed their party attire and went hunting for frogs in the forest with flashlights, which Simone notes was her favorite part (along with opening gifts).  They also put on a dance show for all the grown ups, which was choreographed and memorized all in one afternoon.... kind of impressive.

Simone sobbed herself to sleep when it was time to leave the next day, and she simply cannot stop talking about how much fun she had.  Her birthday was officially a major success.  It may be hard to beat this one next year!

First Day of School!!!

Well, today was one of the BIG ones -- one of the days you know is coming but can't really wrap your mind around it until it happens.  Today Simone began kindergarten....amazing.  And even though she is still at her same school, with her same friends,  and largely the same routine, something felt very different.  She woke up just looking older, acting older, being.... a big kid.

After a good night's rest, she woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed.  Ready to get dressed for school.

She picked her outfit the night before, and was so excited to match it to her new backpack.  

Walking toward the classroom.

Settling into her new cubby.

She had some time before the day started, and of course she darted straight to the reading center.  A whole new slew of books to explore.  Fun!

And that's where we said goodbye and left her with all smiles and no tears. (mommy and daddy too!)  

On the drive home she told me all about her day and said that she likes kindergarten better than PreK because they get to go outside right after lunch AND naptime is much shorter!  She also noted that the  play kitchen area in PreK is called dramatic play center but in kindergarten it's called the housekeeping center.  She is looking forward to going back tomorrow and can't wait until homework starts next week -- we'll see how long that lasts lol!

Things That Make You Smile...

So ordinarily, a Saturday's trip to Ikea wouldn't make the blog.  But I can't resist this one.  After a not- particularly-successful afternoon of shopping for mirrors we came out of the store to find this sprawled across the parking lot....

 Then I spotted the flag out of the corner of my eye and was able to frame these...

A little bit of cheer on a tired, muggy day...

And finally a random shot of Simone and Tony at dinner because baby girl's smile is as awesome to us as any old rainbow!