Another costume.

Aria wore another costume for our Mommy & Me class today. This version is a fairy costume that my sister gave her. Class was fun. There was a parade through some classes and some parents brought treats. Aria had a blast (once again). Looking forward to Halloweenie tomorrow!

Class picture. Aria's teacher (Teacher Sandy) is the one wearing the cat's ears. The other lady (Teacher Nancy) is the T.A.

Wow, look what a little piece of candy can do to a kid's face. She's smiling. You would think someone gave her a $50 dollars bill or something.

Trunk or Treating

We attending an event hosted by a local church tonight. The event was called Trunk or Treat & Chili Cook-off. It was held at 6 PM but because of the time change it felt more like 9 PM to me. Aria had a blast. She ran around chasing a couple of kids in costumes while wearing her Snow White costume. A. and I sampled some chili. He picked the better version. After that we headed down to the parking lot where the church head a trick-or-treating event from the truck of 5 or 6 cars. Aria picked up on the idea pretty fast and said her 'trick or treat' and 'thank you's. I love the whole idea. I got a wonderful sense of community from attending.

Aria and her candy sack.

All the cars were decorated too. Very cool.

Snow White Costume

Please excuse the chocolate sundae mustache. We just came back from brunch at Carrow's and Aria did not wipe her lips.

Pizza Party

We went to birthday party for a 2 years old boy yesterday. I met his mom through the local mom's club and has known each other for over a year now. I remember attending his birthday party last year and it didn't seem that long ago. Boy, time really flies. His party was held at family-friendly pizza place called Peter Piper Pizza. I've never been there before. It's similar to Chuck E. Cheese's but I have to say that I like Chuck E. Cheese's alot more. We were about 20 mins. late but to our surprise we were the first guest there. Even the hostess and the birthday boy had not arrived yet. She really has a major problem with being on time (she's worst than me!). We were her only guests for all most an hour. I started to feel bad for her. Luckily more guest started to show 2 hours after the party started. Aria and A. had a blast while I scarfed down food and socialized with other moms. We stayed for about 4 hours and headed home after the cake was served. I had 2 pieces and I'm blaming that on being preggie. Overall, it was a fun party and it gives me a good gadge on what not to do at Aria's party - have more than enough food and drinks for your guests, don't run out of cups, and don't be late to your own party.

Happy Early Halloweenie!

This is Julia. She's so cute. Love her outfit.

Aria with Zoe. A. loves Zoe because she's the only one of Aria's playmates that remembers his name and will say 'Hi, A.!' to him everytime she sees him.

The end is near.

Aria's last day of Co-op preschool is coming up. It's going to be next Tues. on the 31st. There will be a Halloween party on that day so today was her last regular day of school. I don't think she understands all this and I hope she makes the transition from this school to the new school well. She has come a long way. She no longer cry when A. drops her off at school and she's more willing to go play with other kids when I have to work at the Co-op. She's made a few friends at her current school too so I hope she'll cope well when she no longer gets to see them. I'm personally glad that she's leaving the school. I physically can't work there for much longer. My body aches after working there for three hours. I don't think she learns anything academic and I know her new school will provide that. Well, wish her luck!

Aria is the weather girl for the day.

She brought her turtle for show-and-tell today. Here she is answering questions about her turtle.

She's showing the turtle around.

Listening patiently during circle time.

Twinky Toes

Remember my fustration a few months ago with Aria's progress in ballet? Well I'm glad to say that's she's doing alot better. Heck, I can even say that she has a great time in class. She's listening really well to the teacher and is following directions and imitating all the moves. I'm so proud. I'm not saying she's going to be a ballerina when she gets older, I'm just glad that she's having a good time and that she's fits in!

Here's Kristen and Aria goofing around while they're waiting for their turn. Kristen is in Aria's Co-op class. We're going to miss seeing her on a daily basis. Hey, we still got our ballet class together.

Doing a jumping excercise. Sorry for the blurry picture.

Silly girl.

Aria waiting patiently for her turn.

Following the Teacher Jenn's directions. Great thing is I don't have to do it with her anymore! She's willing to do it on her own.

The waiting is long. Aria was getting antsy but she's staying in the general area.

Aria gave Azaria a hug goodbye. I'm glad to see that they've become good friends.

Running

Aria rediscovered the joy of autumn leaves yesterday. She was throwing it around, stomping on it, lying on it, basically having a blast. She makes me rediscover the joy of autumn leaves too. Thanks, Aria.

More pumpkins.

A. did an awesome job at carving the pumpkins this year. He's fast and kept the work area pretty clean too. I think he should do it every year (wink, wink). Aria wasn't too hands-on at cleaning the pumpkins. She didn't want to dig into pumpkin guts, but she loved the whole process nevertheless. We have them all lined up outside our doorstep and Aria loves to sit there and play with them.

Spoookyyyy!!!

Fieldtrip to the pumpkin patch.

Aria's preschool Co-op had a fieldtrip to Underwood Family Farms this Weds. and I tagged along. We both had an awesome time there. This is the third year in a roll that we've went there to hunt for pumpkins. We got to ride around the farm in a tractor-pulled wagon, we fed the animals bags and bags of baby carrots and Aria climbed tractors and played on wooden structures. Great fun. She's turning into a fun child. I don't have to worry about her every move as much as previous years because she can fend for herself better now. I did loose her for 5 mins while we went to wash our hands after feeding a pony. She disappeared on me and I swear I couldn't find her. She was wearing a royal blue Co-op t-shirt but so were tons of other kids. It made it so much harder for me to find her. Fortunately, she found me and told me she had wondered over to some tunnels. I kept better watch of her after that. We stayed there way after her preschool class left. I got really hungry and I had to bribe her with souvenirs from the country store just so I don't pass out from hunger. I gotta find a better way to drag her away from fun. Can't wait till next year for our annual pilgrimage to the pumpkin patch!

Right off the ride and straight into the pumpkin picking.

Reaching for a carrot.

She loved feeding the cow.

She's this tall.

New purchase.

I was at Walmart this morning with Aria and I spotted a new product in the kid's area. I just saw the commercial for it yesterday and was pretty impress with the product. Moon Sand claims "to looks and feels like sand yet it can be to molded into any shape, like dough. Once you create a sculpture just bake the sand and it will keep its shape forever. When you feel inspired to do another masterpiece, warm it up again and crumble it back to sand. The sand never hardens and never dries out." Aria remembered the commercial and showed alot of interest in it too (surprise, surprise). Well it was going for only $20 so I decided to purchase it for her. We opened it up just now and A. and Aria are having a go at it. I have to say that I'm not too impressed with it. The sand is very hard to get out of the mold. You've got to tap the mold alot and the odds of the sand retaining the shape of the mold is slim. All the pieces that A. has gotten out of the mold were all misshaped. They've made a great mess and there's sand pretty much everywhere. I think I rather have Aria play with regular sand outside in her sandbox. There's Moon Sand everywhere right now. A.'s very patient with Aria and is trying to clean it up. I don't want to look at it or it'll give me a headache. I'm sticking to good old playdoh from now on.

Princess Aria.