Boo at the zoo times two

Last night Grandma and Grandpa took Anthony, Emily and I to the Knoxville zoo.  We did their trick or treat trail twice, once with Grandma, Grandpa, and Emily, and the second time with Jayden and Nicholas from cub scouts.  The kids had fun but they were both wild as can be.

Tiger Can't Sleep on parade....

It took several trips to the store and three nights to make Anthony's costume and it was a hit. Grandma came up with the idea to incorperate Tiger Can't Sleep and the little stuffed tiger to tie his costume into the storybook charactor theme. Daddy attached the strings after we figured out the best way for him to wear it.  All the kids at school and the teachers loved it. But most importantly Anthony loved it. It suits his personality so well.  He's always drawing pictures at school of himself sleeping. Or making sure every sentence for his vocabulary words somehow involves sleeping or his bed.  He said when he walked into class this morning, all the kids gathered around him and his teacher told them to sit down.  When she saw him she said, "Now, I'm impressed."  She told me later that his costume was her all time favorite. His teacher from last year, Ms. Dale also commented on it.  And his speach teacher, Mrs Burnette, asked to take his picture. You could tell Anthony was proud.  After the school parade, when I went to his class to pick up his costume, he ran over and gave me a big hug right in front of all his friends.  I was so excited.  I think I was happier then he was. 

Tonight we rented Zookeeper with Kevin James for our movie party.  Daddy brought home pizza and soda for the movie.  We tried to put Emily to bed, but she wouldn't have it. She cried so hard she got sick.  So tonight Emily had her first Friday night movie party.  She kept saying "monkey and elephant," two of the animals from the movie.  She still didn't want to go to bed after the movie was over either, so Anthony agreed to sleep in the chair in her room.  He doesn't like to admit it, but I can tell.  He loves his little sister.

Seymour Primary Fall Festival 2011

Thursday night was the annual Fall Festival at Anthony's school.  We made a pineapple upside down cake and chocolate rice crispy treats for the cake walk. Anthony played all kinds of games.  He was very good at them too.  There were several different kinds of bean bag toss games, a fishing game, a hidden treasure game, a clothes pin drop game, and a throw the chicken in a KFC bucket game.  I think his favorite part of the night was riding in the Shriners mini trucks, (the driver of the purple truck went especially fast this year) and the cake walk.  He kept coming back for more tickets and asking to do it again.  His eyes got real big when I told him he could play until we ran out of tickets.  He won a bag of chocolate chip cookies, but was disappointed when they ran out of cakes and the game ended.  I don't think he needed a prize, he probably would have done the cake walk all night.  Afterwards, we went to the gym to watch the crowning of the king and queen of the school.  We didn't know the winners (they were in 1st grade) but the representatives of his class were Caden and Natalie.  Natalie is the daughter of one of the nurses at his doctors office. (the nurse who loved his cool eye trick - where he can shake his eyeballs) 

Garage sale goodies and Popcorn sales

Emily's new bike

Anthony in his cub scout uniform - notice the loops on his belt

Emily modeling Mommy's presents from the school garage sale

Every year Grandpa buys tickets to the Shriners circus.  Friday Daddy, Anthony and I went.  It was Emily's first circus and boy did she love it.  When she wasn't clapping, she was screaming. When she wasn't screaming, she was laughing.  We had such a good time. Saturday morning Aunt Kim and I went to Anthony's school garage sale and found lots of good deals.  I got Anthony a Titantic 3d puzzle and to share I got them a bowling and lucky ducks game.  For Emily, I got a little popper. (a baby toy) She's been having a blast running around the house with it and chasing Debbie. (We're dog sitting, while Grandma and Grandpa are out of town.) Then Aunt Kim came over to spend the morning with Emily while Anthony and I went to Krogers to sell popcorn for Cub scouts.   He was shy at first but did great.  The kids and I played the rest of the day. Anthony asked me to hide Emily's ponytails in her room for them to have a treasure hunt.  Then I hid them in Anthony's room and then mine.  They stayed busy for hours. 

We skipped the library today but later (while Anthony was in school) Daddy and Emily waited in the car while I dropped our books and dvds off at the library.  As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, Emily said, "Who wants to see Mr. Spence?  ME!!!!!!  When I told Mr. Spence that, he asked if Emily was in the car and he brought her a silly band bracelet and a lolipop.  Then we went to Walmart and picked up the stuff to make Anthony's bed costume for Halloween.   I hope he likes it.

We brought the dogs to pick Anthony up from school.  Then we waited for Daddy to finish at the chiropractor.  Emily and I waited in the car while Daddy and Anthony went inside.  I played "Where's Emme?" (peek a boo) with Emily and Where's Emily's (body parts)  I asked, "Where's Emily's hair?"  She pointed to her hair.  I was trying to teach her a new one, so I asked, "Where's Emily's bangs?"  I meant her hair bangs, but she said, "Emme bangs" and started banging her head on her carseat.

Today after Emily's bath  she started pointing to and naming her body parts. 
Emily: (pointed to her chest) boobie
Me: Yes, that's your boobie.
Emily: (pointed to the other side) boobie
Me:  Yes, Emme has two boobies. (trying to distract her) Where's your belly button (she points)
We played the where's Emily's (body parts) until I said
Me: Where's Emily's hair?  (she pointed)  What color is Emily's hair?
Emily: PINK!

I've been brainstorming all morning for ideas for a Halloween costume for Anthony.  Every year we wait until the last minute because he never sees anything he wants.  The last day of school before Halloween they have a parade and the kids are supposed to dress up as their favorite storybook character.  Last year Anthony was going to be Fred from Scooby Doo (white shirt, blue pants)  Easy enough but we couldn't find any yellow hair spray paint. So instead at the last minute I dressed him in a red and blue striped t-shirt and gave him a blanket to carry and told him he was Linus from the Peanuts cartoon.  He was content, but I felt bad.  So this year I want to do something special.  I'm so excited.  I can't wait until he gets out of school to see if he likes my idea.  Every week Anthony is supposed to write sentences in class using his vocabulary words.  And every week he writes sentences about sleeping.  EVERY WEEK.  His teacher has written on his paperwork and mentioned at the parent/teacher conference that Anthony sure is obsessed with sleeping.  So this year I want to make him a bed costume.  I'm not sure of the details yet but if he agrees (which I hope he will because I'm excited) then that's what we'll be making.

Saturday, while the kids were playing on their swingset, I raked leaves into a big pile.  Emily had fun jumping in them but Anthony had more fun raking.  Carysa and Conner came over and jumped in them too. Cub Scouts has been going well.  Sunday was our pack meeting.  Anthony's den carried the flag for the flag ceremony and he received his bobcat badge and belt loops for archery, bb shooting and music.  Sunday after our meeting we sold popcorn to our neighbors and Grandma and Grandpa and their neighbors. Yesterday was the den meeting. We brought Carysa with us and the boys decorated their den flag.

Yesterday Daddy got the tent down out of the attic and we put it together.  All we have to do now is clean it out so we can sleepover at the next boy scout camping event.  Emily wants to go too.  She loved the tent

Today was Anthony's first Cub scout event.  We went to the Civil war reenactment in Corryton, TN.  Anthony and I woke up early and then picked up Aunt Kim. We didn't see our pack at first but we found Kaden and his mom Jamie. We met Kaden's dad, Darren and his little brother Coen.  Anthony got to shoot a bb gun, he got two bulls eyes when he shot a bow and arrow. Today he earned archery, bb gun, and his music loops for his belt. Then we got to see the Civil war reenactment.  That was so much fun.  After the first battle one of the confederate soldiers came over and I asked Anthony to pose for a picture with him.  Anthony told me no, until the soldier offered to let Anthony hold his gun.  Then he was a happy camper.  The second battle, they shot off cannons and attacked Fort Sanders.  After the reenactment, they let the kids go thru the trench.  We had such a great day.  On the way home, Anthony kept asking, "How much longer Papa Smurf?"  He kept changing 'Papa' to other adjectives so we played a game where we had to go thru the alphabet for different words to replace 'Papa'.  How much longer now adorable smurf?  How much longer now  Bossy smurf?  How much longer now crazy smurf? That kept him pretty busy and laughing the way home.  We dropped Aunt Kim off and went to Grandma's to pick up Anthony.  Grandma and Grandpa had company in from out of town and Emily took a liking to Grandma's Aunt Bashe.  They played catch with a ballon and where's Emme for hours.  Emily kept bringing her toys and I heard they shared oatmeal tickets.  Anthony did puzzles with Uncle Eric and neither of the kids wanted to leave.