Dorothy and the Lion

At the fall kids' consignment sale I go to, I found a pair of ruby red slippers like Dorothy's in the Wizard of Oz.  Mia was excited about them and readily agreed that she wanted to be Dorothy for Halloween.  I wanted to dress them in coordinating costumes at least once before they get too old to humor me, so I ordered Quinn a lion costume.  Unlike the evening of the trunk or treat, tonight he decided that the mane was okay, and he wore it.  This was his first time to go trick or treating door to door, and we just went around our neighborhood.  We let Mia show him the ropes.  She was good about taking him up to each door and showing him what to do while Wes and I waited on the sidewalk.  We had told Mia that you only go up to houses that have their porch lights on.  At one house, nobody answered the door even though the light was on.  Mia didn't want to leave.  When we told her that we would just go to the next house, she said, "But their light is on, and I didn't get my candy yet!"  Quinn didn't know what to say to that, so he turned around to the kids behind him and exclaimed, "I a lion!"  They had a lot of fun and got a bunch of candy.  There were tons of kids out in costumes, and most of the houses were giving out candy.  I love that our neighborhood is so family-oriented!

Trunk or Treat

We haven't been to the trunk or treat in a couple of years, so we took the kids tonight.  The line is always long, but goodness gracious it was veeeerrrry long this year.  Thankfully, Mia and Quinn were patient because they knew that there was a lot of candy coming their way when we made it to the line of cars giving out treats.  Quinn was not a fan of his lion mane, so after a quick picture, we pulled it down for him.  I was surprised that Mia didn't remember coming to the trunk or treat when she was three years old.  She usually remembers things like that.  In a way, it was a first time experience for her, too.  They were well behaved, but Quinn was a little weary of walking up to strangers and saying trick-or-treat.  However, he got the hang of it after half a dozen cars or so.  When he realized that if he held his little pumpkin out that people would put candy in it, he was sold.  They got quite a bit of candy, and we still have Halloween to look forward to.

Hanging Out

It's been a nice and quiet weekend.  We went over to 12 Hills Nature Center for a bit, but otherwise we've just been laying low.  A couple of weeks ago, though, we had a fun double date with a couple of our favorite people.  Marcus and Kenda came down to Dallas, and the four of us went to see Paul McCartney again while Wesley's mom watched the kids.  Wesley, Marcus, and I went to see him at Cowboy Stadium a few years ago.  I honestly thought that would probably be the only time I would get to see him in concert.  We were excited to see him again at the American Airlines Center this time and so glad that Kenda was there with us!  He's a phenomenal entertainer, and his voice is timeless.

I have a couple of kid quotes to add here.  Mia announced the other day, "Nobody is perfect, not even me!" which made me giggle.  I also overheard a conversation between the two of them the other day that went like this: Mia: "Quinn, you need to listen to me because I'm your big sister!"  Quinn: "Don't tell me what to do!"  That is his new favorite phrase.  He likes to point his little finger at whoever he's talking to when he says it, too.  Haha!

Here are a few random pictures of our weekend.

 

Literacy Parade

Mia's school did a literacy parade today.  They had asked all of the kids to dress up as their favorite storybook character for it.  Mia's Halloween costume qualified as a storybook character, but I decided to try to come up with a different idea in case they end up letting the kids wear their costumes a different day.  Mia ended up agreeing to Mary Poppins.  She's seen the movie and liked the idea.  The costume was fairly simple, too.  I was able to get most of what we needed between Target and the Halloween store next door to it.  Wesley made the Mary Poppins hat.  Isn't it darling?  I bought the flowers at Michael's, and he did a great job!  The only item I couldn't locate was a red bow tie.  I found a tutorial on how to make one online, and I think it turned out fine.  It didn't stay on too great, but she still had it at the end of the school day.  We are going to start reading the Mary Poppins book, too.  It doesn't have many pictures (just the occasional sketch) since it's a chapter book, but I hope that Mia will enjoy it!

Sunday at the Park

The kids and I went over to the park for a little while this afternoon.  Mia played on her scooter, and Quinn played on the playground.  Mia came over and played with him, too.  She was introducing him to other kids that she'd never met.  She is so proud to tell everyone that he is her brother!

Breakfast Picnic at Lake Cliff

We enjoy having a breakfast picnic at the park when the weather is nice.  Since we go early, there usually aren't very many people.  We have a certain area we like by a huge tree.  I would be interested to know how old it is because it's massive.  It was a beautiful day to live in Oak Cliff.  Mia rode her bike for awhile. Then, she and Quinn played on the playground.  We've been enjoying this wonderful fall weather!

Pumpkin Patch 2014

We went to our favorite pumpkin patch today.  The kids let me take a few pictures of them with the pumpkins, but the rest of our time was spent on games and activities.  Mia had been looking forward to the pony rides, so she did that.  It's so funny that she waits excitedly to get on a horse, but once she's on, she looks so serious.  She does it every time.  Then, when she gets off she says, "That was so fun!" 

Quinn loves bounce houses.  Some of them are set up almost like obstacle courses.  He can't understand why he can't go in those bounce houses.  We let him bounce in a traditional one that was just for bouncing and not climbing/sliding/etc.  We also had to stop at the petting zoo.  Mia loves to pet the animals.  Quinn was a little hesitant about touching them, but he liked looking at them.  After some games, cotton candy, and popcorn, Mia wanted to get her face painted.  Quinn was past due for a nap, so Wesley walked him home in the stroller while Mia and I waited in line.  Mia wanted Rainbow Dash from My Little Pony painted on her face.  I must admit that the finished result was impressive.  She adored it and wasn't pleased when she found out later that it had to be washed off in the bath.  I explained to her that it would get all over her pillow if we left it on, but that wasn't much of a consolation.  It was a fun time as always at the pumpkin patch!