Thomas getting over being sick

Looks like Thomas is feeling better. Lots of chuckles today. He had a nasty Virus this week so he had to stay home all week.

Thomas taking a Bath

Thomas decided he wanted to hold himself up and give himself a bath. This is his attempt :-).

Pumpkin Carving

Well, this past weekend we carved pumpkins. Its that time of year, and Sam and Sarah were ready to go. For those of you who have not carved pumpkins in years, the process has changed quite a bit from when I was a kid. Back then, carving a pumpkin usually involved borrowing one of you moms good knives, making eyes/nose and mouth, putting a candle in the pumpkin and lighting it up. These days, there are pumpkin carving kits that come complete with specialty detail cutters and templates that you trace right on to the pumpkin. Back to Sam and Sarah, unlike last year, I was able to convince Sam to pick a design for his pumpkin that was scary. Last year, he was a bit spooked by some of the pumpkin carving design patterns we had.
Of course, this family project started out with myself, Grandma and Grandpa supposedly "Helping" Sam and Sarah carve the pumpkins. I wanted to control access to sharp knives, but let the kids do most of the digging out of the pumpkin guts, and *some* supervised carving. When Sam realized he would have to put his hands inside a pumpkin and pull out his guts, he offered to let me take care of that task while he supervised. As I got into it though, he suddenly got interested in getting his hands dirty and joined in the fun. Sarah on the other hand, couldn't get enough. She dove right in, wandering around trying to help out with all the pumpkins (We had 4). She also go hold of some glitter glue and kept wanting to "Make the pumpkins Beautiful!" by putting the glitter all over them!.

Sams Kindergarten class is online

Sams class is now officially online here. They regularly post pictures and stories as to what they are up to. Another bit of exciting news is that Sams Elementary School "Harris Hill Elementary" won the Blue Ribbon Award from the Department of Education. It is ranked as one of the 20 best all around schools (all levels) in New York State. There was a big news story on our local news channel here.

Bees!

A swarm of bees moved into the bushes right out side our front yard. They have been there for about a month and went mostly ignored. The seemed pretty harmless, as long as I didn't mow over their nest or bother them. However, this weekend something happened and they suddenly turned very aggressive. We ended up not being able to even go out our front door without getting engulfed in a swarm of yellow jackets. Obviously, something needed to be done. Like most do-it your selfers, I made the trip to the pest section at Home Depot and purchased the most lethal looking spray I could find to wage my war against the nest. I then planed my attacking, making my move in the evening, when the bees were far less active. When I went out to attack, I realized that this was going to be a much more challanging task, as the nest was actually in the ground. I did know where the hole was, and figured I would just pump it full of the lethal spray hoping for the best. So that was exactly what I did, and do my satisfaction I saw many dead bees trying to escape but getting engulfed in the poison foam.

The next morning however, I peeked out to see a VERY busy bees nest, and the same swarm of bees camping outside my door. So with that defeat, I decided to call in the pro's. This morning, a bee guy came to the house and took out the nest. I had not idea how big the nest was! Before he broke it apart, it measured about 12" in diamater.

YMCA Pumpkin Festival at Wickham Farms

The YMCA had a pumpkin festival Friday night at a local farm here in Penfield. Wickham Farms, pronounced "Whip'em Farms" by Sam is a cool place for kids that has all sorts of fun Fall activities. There are hay rides, outdoor electric trains (a favorite of Sam) and lots of pumpkin activities (carving, painting). They also have all of the fun tasty fall treats to munch on between activities (cider, cookies, pies etc).

This Friday after dinner I decided to take Sam and Sarah to the festival. When it was time to go I looked for Sam and found him sound asleep on the couch. Thinking maybe we wouldn't go, I went to find Sarah and as usual, she was wide awake, coat on ready to go. My little Energizer Bunny never disappoints.

It was a crisp 40 degree Fall night here in Rochester, and we had a wonderful time. Sarah painted two pumpkins and we also took part in a bunch of other Fall activities. When it was time to get something to eat I asked Sarah if she would like some hot chocolate or something else to warm up with. She responded "No, but could I have some purple ice cream ?". I looked where she was pointing, and there, behind the glass was a whole variety of ice creams, purple (Raspberry) being one of them. I asked her if she was sure, that it was freezing out. She replied in her independent, confident little voice, "I know, that's what I want.". So I ordered myself a nice hot Cappuccino and my little independent daughter a small cup of purple ice cream. She enjoyed every bit if it while we sat at a table shivering and enjoying the rest of the night.

Thomas's first day of daycare

So today was a big day for Thomas. He is now officially part of the infant room at Storybook child care. Today Sarah took Thomas in, and showed him around. Sarah is very excited to have Thomas at school with her. She is growing into the big sister role quite well.

Thomas had a great day too, Laurie was a bit broken up at drop off, and was worried he would cry all day. As it turned out, he did great, probably flirting with all the teachers checking them out. He has figured out how to focus on people and tends to stare with an innocent curious look.