Halloween Party Preschool Style

Preschool Halloween parties are chaotic,crazy, sugar-laden, loud, fast-paced, and fun. They are also pretty short, which isn’t all together a bad thing. Too much chaos and sugar paired with loud and crazy activities can head south pretty quickly, if you know what I mean.

Luckily, Molly's party was the perfect balance of pint-sized fun that moved along at a fairly brisk pace. So hold on. here is the whirlwind of events that were squeezed into about 40 minutes.

The kickoff: Costume Parade around the hallways of the school. How cute is my little Minnie Mouse?!

Next up was power trick-or-treating in the church foyer. Molly scored a whole bucket of candy inside of 5 minutes.

A quick group photo before heading back to the classroom.

Hannah Montana (aka Makenna) and Minnie Mouse (aka Molly) pause on the red carpet for a quick photo op with the mamarazzi.

A spooky Halloween tale….

…and some silly Halloween songs.  Almost time for the good stuff: CANDY!

But first…time to pray before gorging on junk food.

Now it’s time to dig in! You do notice Molly’s apple slices, unopened, on her plate. She went right for the sugar. That a girl! (BTW the apple slices are still unopened in my refrigerator and my kid is in a sugar coma on the the couch as I type.)

For the finale, Molly stops to hug her teachers and thank them for a spooktacular Halloween Party!

And since she is still on her sugar high in a particularly jovial mood, Molly stops for one more hug with the director.

Now we have 48 hours to recover before the big event: Halloween Night! Molly gets the whole Trick or Treat thing this year and boy, is she excited!

Pumpkin Patch 3: The Final Chapter

These Pumpkin Patch posts are kind of like one of those bad Halloween films, aren’t they? The first one was okay but then come all of the sequels. This is the last one. Promise.  You see, we are quickly approaching Halloween and then I will have numerous posts with Molly in her oh-so-cute costume, attending various Halloween functions. Yep, more sequels!

This pumpkin patch visit finds us on a field trip with Molly’s preschool class. I use the term field trip loosely because in order for her to attend, I had to drive her there, supervise her, and then drive her home. Correct me if I am wrong but aren’t you supposed to ride on a bus and be supervised by teachers on a field trip?

Anyway, call it what you will, we ended up at the pumpkin patch with lots of screaming precious four-year-olds and their stressed out dedicated mothers, who didn’t mind one bit that they had to give up their precious 2 1/2 hours of alone time to visit the pumpkin patch for the third time.

Okay, Okay. Sarcasm aside, it really was an enjoyable morning. I got to see Molly socialize and interact in her school mode. Teachers, friends, big groups. It’s always interesting to see how grown up my baby is getting.

Kate, Brooklyn and Molly with their new friend Jack. Normally Molly wouldn't get within 10 feet of this pumpkin. Too scary. Amazing what a little peer pressure role modeling will do for you.

Having fun in the hay maze.

Me and my sweet girl. Notice anything different? I cut 10 inches off my hair!!!

Molly  loves her teachers. Here she is holding hands with both of them at once. She was in preschooler heaven. So much attention paid to her by her teachers. Me? I was chopped liver. Left in the dust. Kicked to the curb.That’s okay. It was exciting to see Molly leave my side and branch out on her own.

Molly thinks that donkeys stink. I have to agree.

Here’s  another picture of  Molly and  me simply because I am still so amazed to see myself with short hair. 

Let the hayride begin!

Molly trying to figure out why the heck she is at the pumpkin patch yet again.

Picking perfect pumpkins for Daddy to carve because she knows full well that Mommy does not do pumpkin slime.

  The class picture. Aren’t they sweet?!!

Heading into the corn maze.

20 minutes later, after hitting multiple  dead ends, we lifted the caution tape and took a short cut out of the maze. Believe me, finding your way out is much harder than it looks. We started to feel like we were in a bad Steven King film.

Molly put together this festive Halloween display when we got home and then instructed me to take a picture for the blog. So here you go, sweet baby girl. It’s on the blog.

Happy Halloween and please, no more pumpkin patches!

What Not to Wear

Okay, I am just going to put it out there right off the bat….

This is the ugliest dress ever made and it is upstairs hanging in my daughter’s closest as I type this post. *gasp* The dress is dreadful. Its color block pattern, the hokey appliqué, the formless shape. Clinton and Stacy would emphatically throw this rag in the garbage can without hesitation and make the owner shop for something much more stylish that followed some rules of good fashion sense and decorum.

I have no plans to trash this fashion disaster, but I did keep the receipt and am definitely considering returning it to the store from whence it came.

What’ll stopping me? The little four-year-old girl who thinks that it is the most beautiful thing that she has ever owned.

So what will I do? Be the kind-hearted mother who sets aside her own disgust and embarrassment over the dress in order to make her little girl happy.  Or be the cold-hearted witch who laughs with glee as she returns the hideous dress to the misguided retailer who sold it me. Haven’t quite made up my mind, but i am leaning heavily toward the cackling witch scenario.

Now on with the rest of the blog post.

This is a sad season for me. You see, I love shopping for new clothes for Molly. I would rather shop for her than for myself. One look in my closet would confirm that. But this season, Molly didn’t need any clothes. None. Really.

Many things from last year still fit and she has loads of great hand-me-downs. Her closet is chocked full. And so are the drawers. And the shelves. And the under-the-bed storage thingies.

But somehow a few new purchases found their way into our house. I simply don’t know how they got here. But they did. Want to see?

Yes, I really am posting pictures of clothes. The blog is periodically turned into a keepsake book for Molly. Can’t keep all of the clothes to show her when she is all grown up, but i can show her the pictures. 

Someone  I know is very excited about her new wardrobe.Maybe she’s so excited that she won’t even miss the ugly dress that I really, really, really want to return. What do ya think?

Eeek! I’m a Redneck!

My friend Tressa tells me that her goal is to turn me into a redneck. After all, I do live in a Mayberry kind of town. But I am so not the Green Acres type. I am a city girl, just like Ava Gabor. Without the fancy clothes and feather boa.

Well, not anymore. During the past week I have been to the pumpkin patch, the farm and the apple orchard. Scary. What’s next for me, NASCAR races and ice cold Budweiser? I hope not.

Last weekend, we joined two other families at a local pumpkin patch where you can actually go out to the field in a hay-filled wagon and pick pumpkins off the vine. The weather was beautiful—85 degrees and sunny—a far cry from the previous week’s pumpkin patch adventure (brrrr!).

Ever since Autumn Moon, Mattie Gail and Molly spontaneously break out in dance whenever they hear music.

Mattie Gail, Molly and Jaiden petting the local livestock.

Sneakin’ and peekin’ in the hay maze.

Taking a break from the hot Summer Autumn sun.

Yee Haw! I’m on a horse and wagon ride!

Waiting for the hayride to the pumpkin patch (just in case you didn’t read the sign).

Be honest, we have country bumpkin written all over our faces, don’t we?

Molly’s pumpkin.

Riding back with our kids, husbands and hand-picked produce.

Three tired girls. This was the best pose we got. Can you say, “Time for a nap?”

Redneck Taxi Service.

Hold on to yer hat, partner, cuz we are heading to the farm!

One of the best things about this farm are there super gentle animals that love attention from little hands.

Here’s my country girl shooting hoops in the hayloft.

Molly, Mattie and the bunny.

Here is  the same bunny back in July. The bunny is sooo much bigger now. Thank goodness that kids don’t grow that fast.

Waiting “patiently” for a pony ride.

Look at the excitement in their faces when we stopped the pony ride to take a picture.

Now, the last stop in the redneck trifecta…apple picking.

Nothing says redneck like posing for a picture in an enormous chair.

Molly getting a lift up from Avery. Is that sweet or what?

My girl can pick with the best of them. Just look at that technique.

Avery reaches for the perfect apple with help from her mom.

Apple pickin’ pals.

Posing in the orchard.

Now THIS is what we came here for...yum!

Molly and Avery hand in hand. If that doesn’t melt your heart, I don’t know what would.

These pictures don’t really belong in the redneck trio, but good golly, I am starting to dress my kid like a redneck! Bib overalls and a western shirt. OH.MY.GOODNESS!

I so need to get myself to the spa and have all of this country girl nonsense scrubbed off of me before it’s too late!