Halloween 2011!

For those of you who haven't yet seen this picture on FB, here it is again: Silas as a wolf in sheep's clothing.  I think this might be my favorite of his Halloween costumes, to date.  I made the hooded vest and ears from the Bainbridge sheep's wool.  It's knit with spun yarn as well as with un-spun batting.  I also knit the wolf-paw gloves, but credit for the mask goes to Drew who cut all of the pieces, and my friend Barb, who sewed it together for us.  Thanks Barb!

We began our Halloween with a video chat with Grandma and Papa.  That afternoon, I dropped Silas off at school and got to see all of the adorableness that is a preschool costume party.

Comparing outfits:

Circle time, in which each child got to tell everyone about their costume:

He might not be a lion, a tiger, or bear (oh my), but I do think you might want to keep your distance, Dorothy!

After school, we headed to the Island, met up with Drew, saw some friends, and participated in the obligatory trick-or-treat madness.  Then it was back to the house to pass out candy for neighborhood nighttime trick-or-treat.  I took Silas to a few houses of people we know, but really, we were pretty tired by then.  Time for this wolf to start counting sheep :)

Jack-o-lanterns

Happy Halloween, everyone! 

Lots of pictures will follow, after the day's events...

Back to the pumpkin patch

On a beautiful fall day last week, Silas' class went to the pumpkin patch (you can see last year's trip here).

Drew went along and dutifully took pictures for me.

These next two pictures melt my heart:

Silas and his best bud, J.  These two are thick as thieves this year.

With the pumpkin patch trip behind us, we are gearing up for Halloween.  The costume is done.  Now all we need to do is to carve the pumpkins.

Grandparent reinforcement, stage 2

(A little behind with this, but here goes.) Grandma G came to stay with us the 2nd week that Drew was gone. She took Silas up to school and even got to work in his classroom one day.

Look, they're even color coordinated!

Playing outside of the school house...

We are very grateful to both sets of grandparents for traveling 2000 miles in order to help us get through those two weeks. Thank you!

He's home!

We picked Drew up from his retreat on Friday.  It was a long two weeks for all of us and we're so glad to have him home!

I didn't intend this blog post as a Halloween spoiler, but Silas REALLY wanted to wear the part of his costume that I'd finished so that he could show his dad. And that's all I'll say about it...for now :)

Grandparent reinforcement, stage 1

As some of you know, Drew is away for two weeks for yoga teacher training.  The grandparents on both sides have stepped in to assist while he's away.  My parents came for the first week.

He has no idea how funny he is:

We went to the harvest fair.  Silas sort of disliked the big slide this year, and was a bit afraid of the hay jump.  But ride a horse?  There was no way he was going to miss out on that!

We go to the harvest fest every year, and it was wonderful to have Grandma and Papa along this time.

Grandma made Silas a Lego bass.  Fun!

Their visit was all too brief.  Silas and I have been spending the past three days on our own.  I worked in Si's classroom on Thursday, and we hung out at the cafe with Patrick (a typical Drew activity) on Friday.  Today we went to the farmers' market, an activity that Silas and I engage in almost every Saturday.

Tomorrow, Grandma G arrives!

Half birthday

A few weeks ago, we celebrated Silas' half birthday with a few friends. I made him a crown as part of an ever-expanding costume collection.

He entertained friends:

And enjoyed the yummy cake from Monica's Waterfront Bakery:

 
Showing off his crown the next day:

I can't believe my boy is half way to 5 already!

School year wrap-up and Habitat Hollow

 Yep, still playing catch up.  Bringing you to the end of preschool year 1, we have the hatching of chicks...

Silas' class music recital: all I can say is that Silas is actually following along.  Whenever I go to anything where he is expected to move along with something, he usually just stands there. Maybe it's just me being there...who knows.

And, we are done with the school pics.  On to (or rather, back to) Stillwaters.  Last time we were there, Silas showed me the Habitat that he had built in Habitat Hollow.

So very proud, he was...

Adjacent to Stillwaters Environmental Center is Gordon Elementary, and bordering Gordon is a nature preserve and trail leading here, Carpenter Lake.

Kind of reminds me of Wisconsin.

We celebrated Silas' half birthday last Friday.  I'll post pictures of that soon.

Preschool, year 1, part 3

Here we go with round three...

Art

 and more art...

Sharing time...Silas show's everyone Orangutan, on loan to us from Patrick.  

If you've ever wondered how to give an orangutan CPR, just ask Silas: 

Okay team, we've got the briefcase.  Make the swap at 0900 hours.

Then meet us back at the bat cave.  This is serious business, boys.

Self portrait.

What can I say... he's an abstract thinker.

I've got a few more stragglers to post from the end of the school year.  As for the new school year, Silas made it through his first week (his classes are Mon-Thur afternoons).  This morning, he was practically shaking with excitement.  I asked why we was feeling that way.
"I've got school today and I'm so happy!" he replied.  Yea!

Preschool, year 1, part 2

The trip down preschool memory lane continues...

Outside exploration:

Learning to be helpful:

They can come over and wash my dishes any time...

Field trip to the post office:

Everyone mailed a letter to themselves.

See?

Then we waited to see how long it would take for the letter to arrive. Ours came the very next day!

Playing bus (one of his favorite pastimes) with a friend:

Music and sound exploration:

That brings us to March. More to come...