Halloween packages are arriving!

We opened the door to the garage and found a big box from Grandma & Grandpa Rapp. It could only be one thing at this time of year. Halloween goodies!  We tried to wait for Daddy to come home, but at 6:20 it was too much to bear, so we started without him.  Gage got a Hulk costume and proclaimed
"THIS IS AWESOME" (he later hulked out on Daddy). Let me tell you...he really went all out on Daddy.  They wrestle most nights, but I think wearing the Hulk costume made him feel extra strong!

 Savannah got a Monster High doll and has since made Mommy re-attach all of the stray hands legs and heads to the other MHs she has. They are so creepy looking, but she digs them.

 There was some candy, or course. And....the hit of the whole box was Gage's crazy Pluto is a skeleton suit who sings goofy spooky music and scoots around in a circle.  They have been catching him in their teeth as he scoots on the floor, and he suddenly appears dancing next to me throughout the day. Thank you Grandma & Grandpa!!!

Mummies!!

No, this was not their idea, it was Mommy, but they got a kick out of it and was well worth a roll and a half of toilet paper.  It didn't last long, however, the mummies ripped their wrappings to shreds within minutes. I'm lucky I was able to snap a few pictures!

The bus stop

 To make sure I don't forget Savannah's bus, I have a timer set on my phone to remind us to get her at the bus stop.  Gage hears that beeping and yells "I ready mama"! He was looking especially cool yesterday with his batman shades, batman shirt, a spiderman and a snack trap (minus the trap). At the moment the crepe myrtle trees are all dropping round seeds, so we pick them off the tree and drop them into the sewer drain cover (to feed the fishies). Who IS the very grown up looking boy?!

 

Mr. Bones

Savannah has been really interested in bones lately.  After mentioning this to Grammy one day, a box arrived in the mail. Adam opened it up and got the kids all riled up saying "GUYS YOU WON"T BELIEVE WHAT SOMEONE SENT US" and then made this skeleton jump out of the box.  Gage got scared until he realized that it was just a Halloween decoration. Savannah started dancing with it. She has been posing Mr Bones in various positions and then mimicking the position to see what her skeleton looks like when she does things. She has been giving him piggy back rides, sticking vampire teeth into his mouth, and talking about how she wishes she could see all the things that are inside his ribcage, like his lungs and heart. So, thank you Grammy, Mr. Bones is a big hit :-)

Oh...don't mind the giant hole in our kitchen ceiling -- we had a plumbing problem upstairs and ended up having to out the ceiling.  Sigh.

Fall Festivus (for the restofus)

Last month I was at a PTO meeting to plan the Savannah's school's fall festival.  They were looking for someone to be in charge of games and no one would volunteer, so I said I would do it. Little did I know that the fall festival draws over 1000 people each year, and it revolves around the games. Oh, and there are 49 games that would need to be inventoried, picked up and then returned, set up & then broken down, supplies bought for, prizes bought, volunteers assigned, volunteers instructed, signs made, hung, and taken down, etc etc etc. So...for the last few weekds I have spent a LOT of time at Savannah's school getting ready. Last Friday was the festival and it was a big success. I am still recovering!  The kids all had a blast on bouncy houses and riding crazy trains and trying their luck at all of Mommy's games.  The Cake Walk game got the best of Spiderman (aka Gage). We all stood on #s and walked while the music played. When the music stopped we jumped on the nearest #s and a winner was called -- the winner could pick any baked good from the table -- including cakes, cupcakes, etc.. That winner was not Gage, and he was not happy. He.Wanted.A.Cupcake. Badly. He was never able to "recover" so Daddy took him home and Savannah stayed with Mommy.  Savannah came home with a bag of prizes and shared with Gage. 

Here's a picture of us riding "the happy train" -- some guy owns this and brings it to all the festivals and fairs they have in the area. He basically plays that country song that says "roll tide roll" in it over and over and drives in circles in his allotted area. And at dark it lights up with crazy lights. It was the most popular activity at the festival.

Wrapping up our beach trip

And, what else did we do at the beach? A little of this and that, like swimming....

 ...and having lunch at the Hangout. Since it's off season, they did not have the waterballoon fights, bubble party, etc., but it's still a great spot :-)

... we played at the beach some more. And...this time, Gage loved being at the beach so we didn't have to restrict our beach time to a few hours at sunrise and sunset like we did last trip.  He kept begging us to go to the beach any time we were out...

 Savannah did a lot of sea shell collecting, and we got some really beautiful ones!

 we took some pictures of some beautiful kids..

 we brought super heroes to the beach, and then freaked out when we buried them in the sand and could not find them!

And, we had an amazing and relaxing trip.  These.are.the.days.

Monkey business

We always stop at the zoo while in Gulf Shores, and were excited to do the Lemur animal encounter this time!!  We got to spend about a half hour with four 7 month old lemurs. They were crazy. They were swinging from ropes, jumping across the enclosure, and....they sat on our heads :-) 

 which was pretty fun, as you can see :-) . I hope Savannah will remember this, these animal encounters are such amazing, fun, and silly experiences!

We were warned to watch out if the lemurs got up in the rafters, because they tend to poop while up there. Well, Adam learned that first hand. He got pooped on!!!!  His head, neck, arm, leg --- covered!  The culprit is inspecting the poop stains here :-) We told Adam it was good luck, but he didn't really buy it!

 These guys were so soft it was incredible, and so playful.  I know Gage will probably not remember this, but he sure did enjoy it!

Good morning, beautiful beach!

We started our morning by bolting out to the beach to check for seashells.

 ...and we found a little tiny crab. We LOVE these little guys, especially because they don't pinch!

 Gage saw a flock of seagulls and took off running to try and catch a bird.

 he came back looking a little sad...don't let those birds get the best of you, buddy!

Ahh...the beach...we needed this

It has been a stressful couple of weeks around the Rapp household, so our beach weekend could not have come at a better time for us. We went to Gulf Shores again, but one of these days we need to try someplace else  (like Rosemary Beach, Destin, FL, etc.) as they are just a little further down the road.  We took Savannah out of school at lunchtime and hit the road. The minute we checked into the hotel (which Savannah told us smelled like "crab poop", and I have to agree with her), we hit the beach.

are you ready for some foooottballlll?

Saturday used to be "a rugby day" -- well, this week it was a football day.  There was a lot of running, falling, tackling, crying, laughing, and sweating!

after about 20 tackles I told Savannah to cool it.  She went off pouting. Gage started moping. He wanted MORE tackles. So, everyone got back in the action tackling...  and everyone was happy! Gage got so hot & sweaty that he came to me and told me he had a fever :-)

Riding the school bus

Before school started, Savannah decided that she wanted me to drive her to school rather than ride the school bus.  I agreed, because (a) she seems so little to be sending off on the school bus, and (b) her school is only a few miles away, so I figured dropping and picking her up would be easy.  I was wrong. There are 3 school zones in the 4 miles to school, and traffic is terrible. So it takes me 30 minutes to drive 4 miles. Two weeks ago she started telling me that she wants to ride the school bus.  The school is only K-2, so there are no "big" kids to worry about bullying the little kids. Also, her bus ride takes about 10-15 minutes. So, we signed her up for the bus. Daddy was home that first morning, so the whole family walked her to the bus stop. She was VERY excited about walking to the bus.

 and waiting at the bus stop (which is just on the otherside of our neighbor's house)...we worked on her remembering her bus #, which we made a rhyme for "118 don't be late"....

 ...and she was jumping up and down as the bus came over the hill.  Her bus drive (Mr. Tom) introduced himself and she climbed on. But, I have to say, she looked a little uncertain as she started walking down the aisle. The bus looked much more full than it does in the afternoon (when we see it drive by us as we wait in the pick-up lane at school).  So, I was curious to find out if she was happy about this bus riding decision or not....

...that afternoon when we asked how it was, she replied "I LOVE THE BUS!". She said she made a new friend already, she sat with a little girl who said "Hi Savannah", so she seemed so excited that the girl knew her name.  She also told me the most fun part is that the bus bumps along so she bounces on her seat with no seatbelt and she "even hit her head on the seat in front of her".  Exciting stuff!  So, now she is thrilled that she is a bus rider. Mommy is excited that I don't have to leave the house at 2:15 to pick her up at 2:45, and that I don't have to sit in that traffic every morning from 7:15 - 8:00!!  Instead, Gage & I just stroll down to the bus stop. He smooshes ants and throws rocks down the drain. It's only a matter of time before he loses a toy (like Lightening McQueen) down that drain adn it's gone FOREVER..mark my words.....

Gage taking gymnastics

We know that Savannah loves gymnastics. Well, Gage is usually a little wiggle bug sitting on the bleachers (who am I kidding -- he's walking on them, hiding under them, jumping off of them, begging me for my phone to play with, running around like a nut, etc). while his sister does her class. This year, I decided that he could try it to. Well, the first week he would not go in alone. I finally went in with him but he hung on my leg and said he would try again when he was a bigger boy. We even left class and went to Dollar General next door for a minute, where he saw a spiderman toothbrush he wanted. I agreed to buy it if he agreed to go in and give gymnastics a try. He agreed. I bought. Don't judge my parenting approach - it was $1. The little stinker went back inside the gym, took off his shoes, went out to the boys class, jumped across the trampoline once, and then told his teacher to bring him back to Mommy. When he got to me, he said that he did gymnastics and now he wanted his toothbrush.  Gage 1. Mommy 0.

The second week, he did it!!  He just walked into class and had a blast. He jumped around like he was spiderman, did the rings, the parallel bars, the trampoline, etc. You can't really tell by the picture, but this is Gage bouncing across the trampoline.

McWane Science Center

On what was supposed to be a rainy Sunday in Alabama while Daddy was away in NH for a wedding, Mommy decided that we needed a little adventure. So...off we went to the McWane Science Center in Birmingham!  I thought there would be no one there on a Sunday at noon when they open, but boy...was I WRONG!  It turns out they have a special Dora & Diego exhibit for a few weeks, and they were going to be there TODAY. So, it was crowded today, but a great place. We stood in line to meet Dora & Diego (apparently we are just warming up for a trip to Disney this Halloween!)....

Although Savannah is our budding paleontologist, it was Gage who LOVED the dino dig. He made friends with this little guy, and they went to town. At one point, the little boy fell down and Gage gave him his hand and pulled him back up - such a good little man.

 We had tons of fun playing with giant foam blocks. Savannah made a road, balanced some blocks on her head, and then Gage made a big tower that he of course plowed over...

We also saw some slithery things. First Gage found a ball python, and this is the closest he got to it. Savannah ran over and petted it with no fear. We also found an iguana, a bearded dragon lizard (who was so cute it was unbelievable), and a boa constrictor. Gage was not interested in petting any of those either. After I tried to persuade him to pet the iguana, he pouted and moped, saying "I not very brave" :-(

we smooshed our faces into these cool straw things (that is Gage's face & hands)...

we stood inside a tornado

and we played with all kinds of light things -- lasers, a disco floor, shadow walls, etc.

And that doesn't even begin to show what we did. There were so many exhibits -- we spent 3.5 hours there and could have spent at least 3 more. We have lots of things to try out next time we visit.  

Oh...but brave Gage DID have a milestone--- he pet a shark in the shark & ray tank.  He has tried to do that in Mystic, Atlanta, etc. and has always been afraid, But....this time...he did it!!

Bama swim school

This year.....BOTH of the kiddos are taking lessons. Last year we took them at a swim school that I wasn't completely happy with. This year I found that the university has a swim school, and Gage & Savannah could BOTH take lessons at the same time (and save a trip).  The first day they did a swim assessment, and about 5 minutes in they moved Savannah up to the bigger kids' class.  Gage was 1-on-1 with a teacher, and both of then had a blast. As I wondered to myself "Is it too early for Gage to be taking swim lessons...I saw 2 boys about 8-9 years old....and immediately felt glad that his is learning now.  I want these kids to be darn good swimmers -- not only for safety, but because if they love it, its an exercise that that will carry them through life. So far, we are loving Bama Swim School!

Gage at preschool

After telling Mommy that he just wanted to stay home with Mommy and did not want to go back to school this year....the day of school he was EXCITED!  He decided that he had to have a Spiderman backpack this year, so we took his sleeping back out of one (it is its carrying case) and decided to use that. We dropped Savannah off at school and he was SUPER excited to go to preschool, but I said that we were stopping home first to do some chores and get his backpack. wrong.thing.to.say.

Gage: You forgot my backpack? WAAAAAAAA...I WANMYBACKPACK...BACKPACKWAAA!
Mommy: Dude, it's okay, we'll be home in 5 minutes and we'll get it.
Gage: I WANT IT NOWWWWWWWW WAAAAAA

And then, we got home, he snagged his backpack and he got back in the car because he wanted to go to school N-O-W.  So, as any good mommy would, I closed the garage door and left him in the car with the door open to pout while I did some laundry and got ready for the gym. 

We got to school and were very excited to meet his new teachers, but it turns out we know them from last year! So, we hung out in his classroom for a while and then I opened his backpack to give his teachers the bag of extra clothes to leave at school (just in case) and hmmm...they were not in there, but, guess what was....a giant Captain America toy and a handful of random Super Hero Squad guys. He confirmed that he took the clothes out, he said "they at home, Mommy".  He had a great day, and Mommy is just a LITTLE happy (okay, I am ecstatic....bwahahahaha) to have BOTH kids at school for 3 hours, 3 days a week! :-)