Leaf Paradise

The kids helped with some fall clean-up work this weekend - they helped to sweep our patio and then rake up leaves into a nice big pile:

After that, it was time to jump!

Sean lost interest after the jumping 10 times and wandered off to play while Clare enjoyed dancing and singing in the leaves:

Her very own song, "Leaf Paradise"

Halloween 2015

Halloween has come and gone and boy, did the Sooy Kids have a blast!  First, we went to the best Halloween parade around to debut the kids' costumes - Astrid and Toothless from "How to Train Your Dragon."

The parade was as wonderful as always with Mummers, amazing homemade floats, and the pink tractor Clare played on over the summer at our favorite farm!

The Exorcist:

Area marching bands:

Star Wars!

A giant shopping cart trailing bubbles behind it:

The Polar Express

An aquarium:

We met up with our neighbor and the kids helped her grab as much candy as they could get from the passing floats:

 Next order of Halloween business was Clare's morning parade at school:

After the parade, the school gathered in the courtyard to sing a few Halloween songs and recite a couple of poems:

After Clare's parade, I went home to finalize a few things for Sean's school Halloween party (hooray for Room Mom duties!):

Next up was Sean's school parade - he was so happy to flap his wings and shake his tail around the school.

After Sean's parade and his party (which went pretty well if I do say so myself), Sean and I went to see the afternoon parade at Clare's school.  (Yes, the school had a morning and an afternoon parade.)  Clare was so happy we came...

Sean was tired so he rested his head for a minute.  He really needed his rest because after this afternoon parade and some photos...

...we went back to Sean's school for Trunk or Treat!  We decorated our trunk with a "spooky spider"  theme and then got busy trick or treating at the other trunks in the parking lot!

After trick or treating, there were games and a dance party.  Sean and Clare participated in a mummy-making game.  The kids had 60 seconds to wrap their partner as best as possible.  When time was up, the emcee told the kids to put the toilet paper down which Clare took quite literally, putting the roll of toilet paper down plus ripping the toilet paper she had wrapped around Seany, leaving him a wrap-less mummy - oh well!

The next day the kids had a morning out on the soccer fields, then we finally picked a HUGE pumpkin ("like one of Hagrid's pumpkins!") to carve - Thom John and the kids did a great job!

After dinner, we went trick or treating with our neighbors and even went to a little party afterwards.

Tonight, we went through the mounds of candy the kids have gathered from all of these events and the kids each kept 22 pieces.  The rest we are donating to Operation Gratitude, which is collecting candy to send to U.S. Troops overseas.  Whew!

Fire Station

Oh yes, it's time for our annual visit to the fire station!  This year, the kids didn't really focus on the cool trucks and equipment as much as other years - due mainly to the amount of Sean and Clare's classmates who were also visiting the fire station.  The kids had a blast running around and playing in the fire station with their friends, taking brief breaks to check out the equipment and to eat a quick hot dog dinner.

Seany's annual stand-by-the-giant-tire photo, age six:

At five:

At four:

At 18 months:

And Baby Clare at 18 months: