Happy Halloween!

This was going to be the year that I took decent pictures of the kids in their Halloween costumes.  Usually, I wait until was are headed out, and it is too dark, and the kids won't hold still because they just want to finally get to go trick-or-treating.  Malcolm only had a half day of school, so we planned to head to the park to get some decent shots of their costumes.  Well, it was freezing cold, windy, and has snowed on and off all day.  I left the car running, had one kid jump out, took the quickest pictures I could, then switched and did the other one.  The photos are not what I imagined, but they are were the best I could do since they didn't want to be outside without a coat for more than a minute or two (and I can't blame them).

 Malcolm is Gene Kelly from "Singin' in the Rain".  The base of this lamp post was too vertical for him to be able to stand on, so he had to just stand next to it.

 He knows several of the dance moves from the movie.

 He was too cold to sing for me, but he knows he song and is adorable singing it.

 He makes a pretty handsome Gene Kelly.

 Dorothy is Rapunzel from the movie "Tangled."  We even had a green chameleon puppet that I pinned to her shoulder to be Pascal, from the movie.

 You get the full effect of the hair braid in the back.  She loves the long hair in theory, but has been taking if off after a short time because it is heavy and gets in the way.

 I told her to twirl in a circle.  You can see that it was just a little breezy.  Good thing Pascal is pinned on.  Malcolm's hat kept blowing away.

This is closer to what I had in mind for a "twirling" shot.

She loves her dress so much.  When we were trying it on for the first time, she kept saying, "Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow!"  It is easily the fanciest thing she owns.

 Because turnabout is fair play, the kids took some pictures of me as Minnie Mouse.  They took their pictures from the warmth of the car, and the angles are terrible.  Malcolm took these two.  They don't show my fun yellow shoes, but they are better than Dorothy's.  She did get my shoes, but my head is chopped off in almost all of them.

My eyes are closed, but he didn't do too badly for a seven year old.  I honestly didn't expect for any of their pictures of me to turn out at all.

Santa's Village

The season is almost over, but we finally made it to Santa's Village today.  It was a tiny bit chilly, but overall, a beautiful day.

 Most of the pictures for the little rides came out blurry, but this is a cute one of Dorothy in a helicopter.

 The kids were much less impressed with the skunk than Kevin and I were.  Dorothy pet it, but I don't think Malcolm did.

 Kevin and Dorothy took a spin on the carrousel.  I'm a little sad that she no longer calls them a "Mary Poppins."

 They were really cute coming off of the ride.

 Kevin let Malcolm drive the old-timey car around the track.

 Grandma was even more brave, letting Dorothy drive.

 Kevin and the kids went on a fire truck ride where they got to put out a fire.

 Malcolm discovered a love of the bumper cars this visit.  It was the first time he has ever done them, and he loved it.  He ended up doing the bumper cars four times.

 Kevin drove while Dorothy went along for the ride.

 I'm not sure how nice it is to bump your own kid.

 Dorothy didn't want to have a second turn on the bumper cars, so we all watched while he drove.

 This sheep was Malcolm's favorite animal in the petting area

 Kevin was holding Dorothy's extra food while she fed small amounts to the animals.  This goat was attempting to reach the food in his hands.

 Reading the map to see what else they wanted to do.

 Boat ride!  Dorothy had to wait until it was almost time to go to ride the boats, which was one of the first things she wanted to do.

While Malcolm had one more spin on the bumper cars, Dorothy had another ride on the carrousel.

It's a cute little amusement park for the kids.  We are pretty lucky to have it so close to home.

Apple Orchard Field Trip

Dorothy's class had their field trip to the apple orchard today.  We got there a little early since we left right after dropping off Malcolm at school.  One other mom had the same idea, and got there around the same time as us.  It was pretty chilly when we first got there, but warmed up nicely later.  She had a great time running around with her little friends, eating apple cider doughnuts, and picking apples.  We got home just barely in time to pick Malcolm up at the the end of the day.  He was a little sad that he didn't get to go, but I brought home cider and doughnuts (and apples), so he's good.

 She stood up on the bench willingly, but notice how she never looks directly at the camera. 

 She's my little animal lover, but didn't go into the barn this year.  She looked at the goats right away, then got swept up in her playing and forgot about seeing the animals.

 This would be so cute if she would have looked at me.

 Again, with the not looking at me, despite asking me to take her picture.

 With two of her little friends from school, on top of the wood pirate ship.

 With her best little friend, wildly driving the tractor.

 There was a sea serpent (or something) made of old tractor tires that the kids climbed over and over again.  Here she is with two more school school friends.

 This is so cute and she is sitting so nicely.  I wish I had stepped out of the lunch line a bit more so that the stroller handle wasn't there.

 Here, she is sitting on another red milk pail; and not looking directly at me.

 Apple picking time!

 We had two baskets, and she filled them almost all by herself.  If we hadn't had a time restraint, I would have let her do all of the picking.

 Yummy, red delicious apples.  We also picked golden delicious, autumn beauty, and a couple of fugi that were leftover from last week.

 She really wanted to climb the ladder to pick, but didn't like being up so high.

 Sitting on the ladder.

 With one of our full baskets.  I wish I had set the basket somewhere a bit less dappled, but I had to be fast or we would be late picking up Malcolm.

This is her "I'm going to pose super nicely" pose.  Still not looking at me, kid.

She and I came home exhausted, but she had a great time.  I'm going to be making some apple pie this weekend, so everybody wins.

Fall Consignment Sale

I haven't done a consignment sale breakdown in a while, but was encouraged by a couple of people to do one for this latest one.  I completely missed the sale last Spring, because that was when I came down with the terrible strep throat that later turned into rheumatic fever.  This is just about the clothes, not the kids, so if you don't have any interest in kids' clothing, sorry, that's all there is this time.  For anyone local, this is the sale I go to.  It is very well run, and since they are picky about what they will accept, it is pretty easy to shop since you don't have to wade through quite so much poor merchandise.

Grand total, I spent $175 and a few cents.  For that, I got:

6 pairs of pants
2 sweaters
6 long sleeve shirts
1 windbreaker
2 sweatshirts
5 dresses
1 pair of tights
6 pairs of socks
3 pairs of shoes

Not too bad, I think.  Usually, the older boy section is pretty slim, but this time, I found more for Malcolm than for Dorothy.

My pictures are not the greatest since I took them indoors at night, but you can get a good idea of what I bought.  Everything is in very good condition, and a few things were brand new.

 Gymboree rugby shirt and Tucker & Tate cords.  They were not sold as a set, but they look sharp together.

 Hanna Andersson shirt and Boden lined skate pants.  These were also not sold as a set, but they look like they were made to go together.  I happened to talk to the mom who was selling the pants, and she said her son rarely wore them because she didn't have anything to match them.

 Gymboree button down shirt and Hanna Andersson sweater.  Also not sold as a set, but they look good together.  I already have a pair of black cords these will look great with and I'm thinking about getting Dorothy a coordinating Hanna Andersson sweater dress to use for holiday events.  The design on the sweater is on the front and back, and I like that is also goes down the sleeves.

 Three pairs of jeans, none of which look like they have been worn.

 Two Gymboree sweatshirts.  Malcolm is super excited about the one on the left ad says that it has two of his favorite things; space and a kangaroo pouch.  The one on the right looks better in person.  It is a dark green fleece with a grizzly bear embroidered in the same green on the chest.

 Close up of the bear.  I don't usually go for the aggressive animal designs, but it was really cheap, a style he likes, warm, and we saw bears in the Smoky Mountains this summer.

 Gymboree heavy-weight shirt and The Children's Place sweater.  I like the cable knit going down each sleeve on the sweater, and it is really soft.

 Steve and Barry windbreaker and Gymboree tan cords.  The windbreaker was new with the tags still on it and Malcolm has already worn it to school a couple of times.

 Gymboree sweater dress and a red turtleneck.  They were not sold together, but I'm going to see how the dress looks with the turtleneck.  If I don't like it, I'll put it with something else.

 Two Hanna Andersson dresses.  I love the navy and white one and Dorothy loves the colorful twirly dress.  She's going to have to wait until Spring to wear her favorite (its a touch big), but I knew she would love it so I went ahead and bought it now.

 Gymboree owl jumper and a Boden jumper with big polka dots.  Both of these are corduroy.  The pink shirt was actually sold with the polka dot jumper, but I like it better with the owl one.  Dorothy had a similar polka dot dress in purple in a smaller size that I loved, so I was excited to find this one in blue.

 Gymboree purple velvet dress and Land's End tights that were brand new.  Don't worry, these won't be worn together.  The dress is fairly dressy, but I'm just going to let her wear it to school.  Right now, Dorothy is all about the "fancy" dresses.  The tights were packaged with 6 pairs of new Land's End socks.  It was hard to tell exactly what was in the package, but I'm glad I rolled the dice on this one.  The socks are colorful and cute and Dorothy has already worn two or three pairs of them.  I love the tights a lot and will see if they will match anything we already have.  I know we have some red and navy things that are solid colors, so hopefully, they will go with something.

Burnt orange Elefanten T-strap shoes, navy Land's End mary janes, and tan Merrel mocs.  Malcolm is relieved to have some slip on shoes that he can wear at school.  He has been wearing shoes that tie and while he can tie them, he gets frustrated because he isn't very fast at it.  Dorothy is unimpressed with the may janes, but they match the navy and white dress perfectly.  She does really like the orange shoes, but I'm not sure when they will go with.  I'm sure we will find something.  Orange is still her favorite color and these were really cheap (and not a cheap brand) and looked like they have never been worn, so I went ahead and bought them.

This might be the first sale where I did not come home with any non-clothing purchases.  I would have liked to get a couple more things for Dorothy, but overall I'm very happy with what I bought.