Christmas is coming

Christmas activities galore!

I get to spend time with just this beauty three mornings a week while Andrew is at school.  We try to sit at the table for a snack these days so we can just talk and laugh.

Going to Breton Village to check out their train display has become a favorite Christmas tradition.  The kids especially liked to see Thomas the Train.

Sylvia trying on my glasses.

We went with Grandma Huizinga to the Ford Museum to look at the Christmas trees and quilts

Andrew's design he made with his beloved cars

Sylvia wanted to build a 'car party.'

Grandpa Huizinga took us to Frederik Meijer Gardens to see the trains and Christmas trees.  It was a hit!

Andrew was very proud of the snowflake ornament he made at school.

snow and winter activities

The temperature is getting colder, snow is falling, so now comes the tedious task of finding indoor activities that keep the kids entertained.

My dining room table has become a race track. 

Legos!

A few weeks back we had a massive amount of snow fall in a short period of time.  This picture makes me laugh because you can actually see how heavy the snow was falling.

Sylvia loves to be buried in snow, leaves, blankets...

In Santa's sleigh at Hart Tree Farm

Sylvia loves all things comfy and cozy.  Here she is snuggling with her pile of pj's at the bottom of the changing table :)

Halloween and Texas

Halloween was rather horrible this year. It was cold, rainy, windy, snowy. I had to practically push my son out the door. After collecting five pieces of candy he was done. Oh well. Luckily the next day we flew to Texas where the weather was a lot warmer and my nieces and nephews collected TONS of candy.

Halloween afternoon and it started to snow.  The kids where so excited about the first snow of the season.

Thing 1

Another Thing 1

Grandma Huizinga braved the elements and went trick or treating with us

Now on to Texas:  Auntie Sara's piano was quite popular

playing dress-up

Andrew and Isaac had so much fun together!  I think these two will always be good friends.

Nothing says fun like sitting in a giant inflatable State Farm chair.  Everything's bigger in Texas :)

Silly monkeys

These two chased each other through the whole zoo.  I'm not sure they stopped to see a single animal.

Sylvia trying to climb the fence to get to the llamas

Playing matchbox cars together...hours of fun

Boo at the zoo (and more)

John Ball Park Zoo has a few days in October where they decorate the zoo for Halloween, have games, candy, etc. We decided to head there with a few friends on a 'mild' day.

Sylvie happily showed off her xylophone skills while Andrew kept his distance

checking out the bears

taking a break along the trail

Saturday was a beautiful day!  In addition, about the half the leaves have fallen from the trees so we could make a pretty awesome leaf pile.  This provided loads of fun for the kids....because they don't have to rake...yet :)

Foot Frolic Frenzy

Andrew had a fundraiser at his school where all the kids had to run laps for money. The event was so cute because instead of running laps around the track, the preschoolers had to run laps around the tennis court. What fun to watch all those little kids go!

The frolicking continued...my little monkeys (in their matching monkey pj's) were jumping on the, well, couch :)

keeping busy

This girl loves Lightning McQueen from the Cars movie (though she calls him La-la-la-la Queen). So imagine her joy when Aunt Traci was giving away this costume:

A good place to head on a cold, dreary day is the EGR library.  They always have fun toys set up in the kids area...like this light table:

...and ipads.

Sylvia loves these kind of toys

A peg table:

Can you just see how his mind is working?

Andrew's accomplishment at the magnet wall:

Later, at the Lego wall:

Playing with puppets

This past weekend we went to a place called Koetsier's that has an indoor Fall play area for kids.  I took the kids there last year and they loved it.  This year Ryan was able to join us.  Here, Sylvia is inside a giant blow-up pumpkin filled with flying balloons

Andrew painting a  pumpkin

Sylvia too

Andrew spent a long time on this tractor

Sylvia excavating in the kernel pit

On Monday I got to accompany Andrew on his first field trip.  We went to Post Family Farm out in Hudsonville.  Here is Andrew and his class on a hayride out to the pumpkin patch

Running through a maze.  I think Andrew could have done this all day!

Going down a tube slide

Then on to the spool slide

Later the kids to to be involved in and read a story about how pumpkins grow.  The whole trip was just so much fun!