Rainy day off

It was a rainy day off in honor of Christopher Columbus. Too bad the weather didn't cooperate with the day off of school, but we had plans for the afternoon.

About a month ago, Shawn declared our costume assignments for Halloween. He would be S'mores, Lilly a hot dog, and Raj and I would be campers/boy & girl scouts/ a camp fire... Something along those lines. Amazingly, there was a hot dog costume at the Mothers & More resale and one of the members, who overheard me talking about Shawn's plan, gave me a Frosty the Snowman costume that she made out of a giant stuffed teddy bear. "It's perfect for his marshmallow!" she suggested. She was right.

While Lilly napped, I used pieces of Ikea boxes from Shawn's new desk and made the rest of the S'mores costume. I also needed to cut feet holes in Lilly's sleeping bag style hot dog costume, because, while she could fit inside, it was made for a non-mobile infant. I finished just in time to go to a Trick-or-Treating Nana's Playgroup with Mothers & More. Lots of fun. The senior residents gathered in the lobby and the kids trick-or-treated from walker to wheelchair to cozy couch seats. There was a nice crowd of very sweet grandmas & grandpas with too much candy! The kids also decorated foam pumpkin cutouts with stickers and handed them out to the residents. I'm really glad Shawn had the day off & could come along. (These events are often during the school day.)

Shawn and I agreed that he could go to karate a different day this week so we didn't have to rush around between activities. In the evening, he had his first meeting for Primrose Farm CloverBuds, the precursor to 4-H. Instead of meeting at Primrose Farm though, they opt to meet at Hickory Knolls Nature Center because it's more accommodating to inclement weather - that worked well today! They did some exploring inside the center while parents filled out paperwork. Tonight's main activity was just to get introduced to the pledges (US & 4-H) and to meet each other. The kids sat at a square of tables while parents sat in a row of chairs off to the side. (It's been made clear that this is not a drop off club, but I think it should/could easily be.) The kids made name tags with a picture of favorite thing on back. Introduced themselves & shared their pictures. Lots of pets, games, toys, rainbows... Shawn shared his picture: "Spending time with my mom." I melted. He just grinned at me, knowing exactly what he had done to me. That kid. Geesh!

This is the nametag that Shawn made with the picture of his favorite thing on the back. (It says, "Me and my mom.")