Super Heroes, Parades, Parties & Full Pumpkins…

This Halloween was FULL. The kids are hitting the age now where they’re all into the festivities of the season. This year, we picked out our costumes early. Usually, we wait to the week of and find ourselves with slim pickings. As the stores put out the Halloween costumes, the kids started talking about them. Each time we went to the store we’d walk by the costumes and talk about them. Surprisingly enough, both my kids stuck to their initial idea for a costume. Levi wanted to be the Hulk and Shelby wanted to be Spiderman. Here are our little super heroes.
 
 


We kicked off our week long celebration with not one, but two Trunk-or-Treat events. On Sunday after Church, our church hosted a trunk or treat. There were tons of super heroes and candy galore for all the little ones. Sunday evening, the church where Levi and Shelby attend school also hosted a truck-or-treat. This was a lot of fun too. We loved seeing classmates and their teachers dressed up. By the end of the day, we had two FULL PUMPKINS. The kids picked out their favorite 10 pieces of candy, which they saved to have a little piece everyday.  Then, we put the other away to share with the spooks on Wednesday. 



National Sugar High Halloween Day was a full day. Wednesday is a school day for both kids. They were able to wear their costumes to school. Each class participated in the costume parade for all the parents.




After the parade, they returned back to their classes for a little party. Ryan and I bounced back and forth between the their classes. We enjoyed seeing them and all their friends dressed up.
Levi’s Class:
Don’t they look great!?

Levi and his good buddy, Travis.
 
Then, Levi suggested they make a pattern—Spiderman, The Hulk, Spiderman!

He’s “Hulk” face!
 
 Shelby’s Class:
Shelby and her friend, Grant.
 
Here’s most of Shelby’s class. They all looked so good.


We concluded our day by taking the kids trick-or-treating with our LifeGroup. This was the first time both kids had really been trick-or-treating. In the past, we’ve just gone to the neighbors house and then return home to hand out candy. Levi has always preferred answering the door and handing out candy. We had a lot of fun trick-or-treating with our friends and their kids. What a fun day!

BIG Pumpkins & LITTLE Pumpkins.

One of our favorite fall traditions is selecting our fall pumpkins and carving them for Halloween Day. As the kids have grown so has the excitement and joy of this family activity!

After school one day, we made plans to visit our local pumpkin patch Kroger to find the perfect pumpkins. As we loaded up the car to head to the store, Levi was very excited and was sharing pumpkin face ideas with us. Shelby continuously expressed how she was going to get a “little pumpkin!”

When we arrived, Levi started looking through all the big pumpkins and Shelby ran right up to the crate full of little pumpkins. In moments, Ryan and Levi had the BIG pumpkin picked out. We had also found another good size pumpkin for Shelby. When we showed it to her, she was disappointed. She pointed to the bin of small pumpkins and said, “I want a little pumpkin!”  We walked down to the little pumpkins and she grabbed a little pumpkin and hugged it with delight. In the end, we ended up with 2 large pumpkins and two baby pumpkins.

Ryan sat with both kids to draft their pumpkin faces. Levi penciled his on paper and described some of the details to his Daddy. Levi wanted triangle eyes and point teeth. Shelby described her pumpkin and Ryan drew it for her. She wanted a small nose and a happy pumpkin.
Once the sketches where complete, we started carving. This was Shelby first time really participating. She was excited and loved cleaning out the inside of the pumpkin. Levi, scooped out a few handfuls and then he was finished having “messing hands.”
 


They both sat patiently as their Daddy carved each pumpkin face. We love how they turned out. The kids where very happy too. Shelby actually hugged and kissed her little pumpkin.
Levi imitating his pumpkin's face!
Shelby loving on her little pumpkin.
 
They’re such a cute pair! We colored in the eyeballs and teeth with a black marker to make those feature pop a little more. Levi was happy with that. 
We enjoyed the pair for a couple of nights before putting them on the front porch for Halloween night.

Zoo Trip

We’ve lived near Atlanta for a little over a year now. We’ve been wanting to take a trip to the Atlanta Zoo. I came across a Groupon deal a month or so ago that was just too good to pass up. It was a $40 savings! So, yes, we purchased the deal and have been waiting for the perfect fall day to take the kids.

Last week, we picked Levi up from school and surprised him and Shelby with a trip to the Zoo. Levi was so excited and started talking about all the animals he was going to see. Shelby said, “Yay, we can see the cows—moo-moooooo!” Haaa. No, not the farm, Shelby. The Zoo—Elephants, Monkeys, Giraffes, Lions…This was Shelby’s first trip to the zoo.

 
We had lunch in the car on the way there. The weather was perfect—Sunny, slight breeze and 70’. It was the middle of the week and not a very crowded day at the Zoo

 
We loved strolling around looking at all the animals. We were really pleased with how active the animals were during the mid-afternoon.

She enjoyed recognizing animals. She would point and shout—elephant, giraffe, monkey. At times she even made the animal noises and would do a little dance. Shelby’s favorite animal was the Elephant…just like her mommy! We stopped by their habitat twice. Shelby’s first zoo visit was very exciting for her.



Levi enjoyed reading the map and taking us to each animal. Levi’s favorite animals were the Giraffes. They were very friendly and active. Almost too friendly—we almost had to explain the birds and the beds to our son due to their friend making activities.
 
We all loved the Parakeet Aviary. They were beautiful. We were able to get up close and feed them too.
All the animals were very active, even the Komodo Dragon and the snakes were show off.




Okay, enough of the snakes and dragons. Back to cute animals…The Atlanta Zoo has a great Panda exhibit. The little beauty was just relaxing and enjoying an afternoon snack in the shade.

Another favorite were watching the Gorilla play and nap in the sun. I loved watching the baby gorilla play with his mommy. So stinking cute!
 
We visited the petting Zoo, which both the kids enjoyed. Shelby walked right up to the sheep and started petting her. Next, We road the train around the park—best part was the long dark tunnel!

Overall a fantastic family outing. Fun, relaxing and so enjoyable. I love making memories with my family and I love when we find good deals for doing so!  What a great day.

LEGOLAND Discovery Center Atlanta

Yesterday, after picking Levi up from pre-school, we started our drive home like normal. However, instead of going straight past the one ramp to the interest, we turned onto the interest. Levi quickly said, “Hey! Where are we going? This isn’t the way home!”  In response to his statement, Ryan told him we were going to LEGOLAND! At first, Levi thought we were joking. I don’t think he realized there was a real place called LEGOLAND. Once we convinced him there was, he was thrilled!!



Levi’s new buddy! They’re almost the same height!
 

Levi weighted in at 23,000 LEGO bricks.
 

Levi was 109 LEGO blocks tall. One tall boy!


The LEGO city of Atlanta was pretty cool. I loved that it was interactive and so detailed.


We all enjoyed the rides. She is such an amusement park ride girl!

The Earthquake Table was one of our favorite places. This is our family tower. It was strong and withstood the “earthquake”!


We built LEGO cars to race. The men created this fast machine! And of course, those are wings on their speed racer!


Girl Power! Here’s the car Shelby and I constructed. It might look dainty and famine, but it held up very well against all the power trucks.


Shelby found a cute little doggie. She ran over and sat on him!

They loved the big LEGO block pit! The climbed and built towers!


Where’s Levi?


Overall, it was a great little trip. The kids had a blast exploring and playing.  We enjoyed playing along with them and watching them have so much fun together. About 10 minutes into our hour drive home, they both fell asleep…evening snoring.