Sweet November

Sweet November... I wish I could say that about our November this year... or at least about my November this year, LOL!  I think November felt like the longest month of my life... although December has been pretty close, as well.  We found out at the end of October that we were going to have another baby!  This was exciting news for us - and silly us, we thought I'd have another fairly easy pregnancy.  Ha... not so much.  ;-P  I spent much of November lying on the couch when I was home and feeling as though I was suffering through each day.  Thankfully, November is only 30 days long... although it felt like an eternity to us. 

So we didn't do much in November.  Sara was supposed to travel to the Toronto area that week after Niagara Falls and to Sault Ste. Marie in the Upper Peninsula the week after that, but had to cancel both trips due to "morning" sickness.  Kevin was also supposed to be traveling on the days Sara wasn't, but he had to cancel his trips, as well.  We're very thankful we have understanding bosses at work!  Carson also came down with his first sinus/ear infection mid-month, after he and Sara had been suffering through some bad colds.  But he got over it, though we both had lingering coughs for a long time... and Sara still has hers, it just won't go away. 

We didn't do too many fun things in November, but we did make it to celebrate Great Poppy's birthday and to Thanksgiving with Sara's family.  We also got the Christmas tree and decorations up the weekend of Thanksgiving.  It took all weekend to get just the living room decorated (when it would normally take half a day), so we decided we'd stop there and forego decorations in the other rooms of the house.  We also had our first good snowfall at the end of the month.  We got about 5 1/2 inches of snow overnight, which Carson and Jet were both very eager to go play in!  I didn't get many pictures of everything, but here's a short run-down.

Niagara Falls, Ontario

The fall seems to be a busy time for both Kevin and Sara at work. And it almost always involves quite a bit of travel for both. Luckily, we're able to take advantage of it at times. Sara had to attend a conference in Niagara Falls, Ontario and make a presentation at the beginning of November, so Kevin decided to use his last couple vacation days and tag along with Carson.

This was Carson's first trip to Canada - which is kind of unbelievable considering how often Kevin and Sara are both there. The weather was perfect while we were in Niagara. We had a good time, Kevin and Carson especially. It was good for the two of them to have some good one-on-one time together. They had fun exploring the city and checking out the falls. They also enjoyed some swimming at the hotel pool and made a side trip to check out the Welland Canal Locks, which connect Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.

Our hotel had a perfect location overlooking the falls and at the foot of Clifton Hill. It made for easy exploring. Carson was quite impressed with the waterfalls. He thought it was pretty cool that you could feel the mist from the falls pretty much where ever we went. And he loved the sounds the falls make - he does a pretty good imitation. :)

When Sara was done with the conference on the first day, we all took off for the Skylon Tower. Carson was so excited to ride in the yellow elevator on the outside of the tower and was not intimidated by being 785 feet in the air whatsoever. You really get a bird's eye view of the falls from that height. Its was beautiful!  

Carson also loved seeing the falls all lit up at night. Too bad we weren't there the following week when the holiday lights begin - we heard it is even more gorgeous then.

It was a nice little getaway for our last family vacation of the year.  We all had a good time. It had been quite a while since either Kevin or Sara had been there - at least 15 or more years for Kevin and 6 years for Sara. We were surprised to see what a tourist trap everything is... we just don't really remember it from our earlier trips. Everything is so overpriced and cheesy. But it's worth dealing with to see the Niagara Falls. :)

Halloween Festivities, Part 2

I finally had a little time to continue on with all the fun things we've been doing for Halloween this year...

On Friday, we met up with our friends Kati and Tony for some shopping, lunch, and mall walking at Great Lakes Crossing.  We all rode the carousel while we were there.  It was baby Tony's first ride!  He seemed pretty confused, but did great! 

On Saturday, we headed up to the Flint Institute of Arts for some Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) fun.  The kids got to trick-or-treat through the art museum.  Carson really enjoyed looking at all of the art.  It's a pretty big museum for a little boy, though, so he was getting a little worn out towards the end of it... he just wanted to go make some crafts.  :) 

So we went into the art school and got to make some cool Halloween crafts.  We decorated a bag.  Carson drew the ghost on white tissue paper all by himself.  Then Sara put some glue on the bag in the shape of a pumpkin while Carson crinkled up pieces of orange and green tissue paper to put on the glue to form the pumpkin.  Carson wanted to add some hair to the top of the bag, so he cut out a purple fringe to glue at the top.  It turned out pretty cute!  Carson decided to use it as a gift bag for Great Poppy - to help him feel better since he's been having some pretty bad back problems caused from a fall. 

Then we made a dancing skeleton mask.  Carson drew the face on completely by himself.  The only thing he needed help with was cutting the face out and putting glue at the top for the streamer hair.  He cut the streamers and decorated everything all by himself.  He did such a great job! 

Then we got to make a skull out of clay.  Sara formed the skull shape (sort of), and Carson poked the eyes and nose, but wanted Sara to do the mouth.  Then Carson colored it all.  In a few days, it'll be dry and hard. 

After the FIA, we headed out to Crossroads Village for some trick-or-treating.  We had hoped to ride the train, as well, but by the time we arrived, the next available train was 4 1/2 hours later!  We decided to skip the train this time and return another time to ride it - maybe at Christmas.  We all had a lot of fun trick-or-treating and taking lots of fun pictures.  Carson got to ride the carousel and the kiddie train, so that made up for not riding the steam train. 

Halloween Festivities, Part 1

We've been enjoying so many awesome Halloween activities this year.  Carson is at such a great age for all of the different festivities and it makes it extra fun right now.  We're also trying to make sure Carson enjoys lots of different Halloween things this year since we're going to miss out on our tradition of trick-or-treating with Anna, Joel, and Jonah on Halloween.  We're all pretty bummed about that, but Sara has to attend and present at a conference for work on November 1st and 2nd in Niagara Falls, Ontario, so she had to travel on Halloween.  Kevin and Carson have since decided to tag along for the trip, so they'll miss out on trick-or-treating, as well.  Therefore, we made the most of Halloween doing lots of other fun things this year and we're looking forward to a few fun days in Niagara. 

We started out our week of fun stuff last Sunday.  We met up with all of the Holleboom cousins at Potter Park Zoo in Lansing for Boo at the Zoo.  We got to see a few animals, do a little trick-or-treating, and mostly just catch up with everyone and have fun.  It was so cute to see all the cousins together in their costumes.  They all looked adorable!  They had so much fun together, too.  They held each other's hands through most of the zoo, pratically, and were just super excited to be together.  We'll have to try to make a point to get the cousins together for a Halloween activity every year because they just had so much fun! 

Carson had a Costume Party at preschool on Thursday.  He got to wear his costume to school and parents were invited into the classroom at 10:30 for some fun, so Sara went in for that before heading to work.  Carson's class had a costume parade through the church and got to go trick-or-treating in the main office and at each of the pastors' offices.  We got to catch the tail end of the costume parade and then went into the classroom.  The kids sang us several fall-themed songs they've been learning.  You could tell they were all so proud of themselves - as well as all the parents being proud of them!  :)  Then the kids all sat down at their tables and got to decorate sugar cookies.  Then it was time to show the parents some of their favorite things around the classroom.  And then it was already time to say goodbye.  Carson's teacher, Mrs. Hans, was dressed up as Cat in the Hat, and her helpers Mrs. Dahms and Mrs. Clor, were dressed up as Thing 1 and Thing 2.  So of course, we had to snap a picture with our own Cat in the Hat.  :) 

That's it for now... more to come soon about more of the fun things we've done for Halloween this year!