Self Portrait

Alex's class has been hard at work making self portraits. Last night, he came home with a carefully wrapped package, and it was his portrait framed. I love that it's such a happy picture and am pleasantly surprised at how much detail he put into it.

The artist with his self portrait

Decorating

This weekend we put up our tree and a few other Christmas decorations. Here are some shots to share the fun.

He loved putting on the ornaments.

Mommy got to help too.

So proud of the tree, which includes
a popsicle stick creation of his that he asked to add.

I didn't get a good picture of him setting up the snowmen,
but here's one of him standing with the snowman family.

In front of the stockings.

He wanted to put these jingle bells on his door as a doorbell.

Soccer Class

I am woefully behind on posts and have lots to catch up on, but that will have to wait for another day. Today, however, we have video and a picture to share from Alex's first soccer lesson. He had a great time but complained on the way home that it wasn't really soccer because they didn't play a game. He kept watching the older kids on the field next to us and wanting to play with them.

In his uniform, getting the hang of being on the field.

Click here to see him doing a jumping drill.

Click here to see them working with the ball, freezing, and then kicking and running when the "avalanche" comes. Alex is on the left of the screen.

Back Seat Driving

Alex often likes to help point out parking spaces, but yesterday he went in to full-on back seat driver mode. We were in heavy traffic on the expressway when I hear this from the back seat: "Mommy, we need to be in a different lane." Then, a few minutes later, when I hadn't moved I hear: "Why haven't we changed lanes? That lane is moving faster."

Happy Halloween

Traffic conspired against us, but we made it home in time to do some Trick-or-Treating. Or, as Alex likes to call it, Happy Trick or Treat!

We weren't quite sure what costume Alex would wear tonight. For the last two years he was a monkey. That costume is a bit too small for him, but when we went to the Zoo's Halloween festivities, he wanted to wear it. He and Dave also built a robot costume a month or so ago that we thought would make a great Halloween costume.  They labeled it the XF-17 after a Curious George episode called "Robot Monkey." (I think you can see where this story is going...) So, on the big night, he decided to go full-on George and dress as the Robot Monkey. Even though he regularly took off the robot part of the costume to make it easier to navigate candy collection, he loved being a robot monkey and was a big hit in the neighborhood.

At the start of our night

Trick or Treat!

Robot Monkey

Enjoying the spoils

Big Boy Bed

Alex has graduated out of the toddler bed and into a real big boy bed. He loves it! Of course it is decked out in Toy Story sheets, so we stacked the deck a bit. Now the next project will be wall paper removal and new paint.

Day Trip to Michigan

We had a fun adventure traveling to Michigan today. Our friends Dan and Reva gave us a heads up about a Harvest Festival at an orchard in Union Pier. We made a day of it and spent about an hour hiking in Warren Woods State Park, made a quick stop in Sawyer (where Alex saw the tallest scarecrow I've ever seen -- it was about two stories high and had two pumpkin heads), and then headed to the festival. The festival had apple pizza, apple pie, and homemade ice cream. We had a tractor ride, picked apples and pears, and listened to some fun music, including a jug band. It was a great way to take advantage of this wonderful weather we are having.

Hiking with a stick

In the "cave" made by a fallen tree

Checking out a spider making its web

More fallen trees

Apple picking

Having fun in the apple trees

Tractor ride!