thesellers.net

Leah had her class Halloween party, which included the traditional singing in costume for all the parents to watch. She did great.

Lots of superheroes in the class, including several from comics and a couple (like Leah) of their own invention. And, of course, one Swedish pop star, as you’d expect in a preschool class.

Molly’s school had a costume parade for the parents as well. A huge sea of parents showed up for a very quick parade. I had to be fast to get a picture of Molly before she blew by.

And they’re gone, with only capes and tails in view.

We finally got around to buying a couple of pumpkins to carve. We got them from the Baugher Farm stand right near our house. These two were perfect choices.

Time to carve the pumpkins. But first, let’s scoop some goop out.

Molly looks like she might just take a bite. OK, maybe not.

They needed some help getting the last bits out of the pumpkin. Mom to the rescue.

Molly selected her pattern and drew on the design herself this year, then Jen did the carving. I drew on the pattern Leah selected and then carved it.

Here are some scary girls with their finished glowing pumpkins.

With the lights off, the girls are scary, but with the lights on they’re just scared.

Ever since Halloween last year, we’ve had an ongoing conversation about costumes for this year. We all wanted to do a family costume and Jen was ready for a break from princesses after the last three years. Jen and I pushed for more creative costumes (e.g. a lunch box, sandwich, juice box, etc.) while the girls wanted something more common. In the end, they really wanted to be superheroes, so we decided to make up superheroes of our own. From left to right - the Caped Computer Crusader, Music Molly, Rainbow Girl, and the Super Seamstress. Together we are the Super Sellers.

Jen made all the capes, masks, and tutus and appliquéd the designs on their 3 shirts. She also cut the hole in my shirt and applied stabilizer in it. In that hole is an iPad running an app I wrote for this that types out computer code (complete with typing sounds). Also, Music Molly has an iPhone strapped to her leg playing music wherever she goes. Here are a few more pictures of us to enjoy:

Since Halloween day was going to be very busy and Aunt Caroline would not be home early enough to see the girls then, we decided to trick-or-treat at Grams’s house a few days early. We were already getting dressed up to go to Trunk-or-Treat at church, so Sunday made a good time to visit Grams as well.

We wanted to get a few pictures with the girls, but Leah decided to be stubborn and refused to take them. Eventually she came around.

The girls are superheroes, while Aunt Caroline and Grams maintain their secret identities.

Before arriving at the Trunk-or-Treat festivities at church, we already knew where the girls wanted to go first - the donut swing.

After some indoor fun, we headed outside to trunk-or-treat.

This car was our favorite - a prison cell with a little door to reach through for candy.

The girls were very excited about the costume competition, and even more excited when we won for best family costume (the Minnie Mouse jar full of candy was the prize).

All that, and Halloween was still 5 days away. Lots more fun to be had before then.

For her birthday, Leah got two giant Lego projects - Rapunzel's Tower with 299 pieces and Olivia's House with 695 pieces. Leah's gotten very good at patience, focus, manual dexterity, and other skills required for Lego construction. With Jen's help, she managed to assemble Rapunzel's Tower in a couple of hours spread over two days. Then she constructed Olivia's House with my assistance over the course of a couple hours a day for three days.

Good work, Leah.

Leah’s preschool had a picnic (as they do every year) and lots of fun was to be had. Molly found if she stood on this stone wall, she could pop the bubbles that floated up high.

Molly loves to hula hoop. She was doing 4 hoops at one time later as well.

Molly found an old preschool friend (the older sister of one of Leah's classmates), who showed Molly how to make a hula hut.

These girls thought they could hide from my camera. They were wrong.

Molly does love to spin.

We also had some yummy waffles from the La Pearl waffle truck. We'll pretend like that was a healthy dinner and not a dessert.

We’ve debated taking the girls to a full-size amusement park (as opposed to one for little kids) for some time. We’re also debating a trip to Orlando, and thought this might be a good low-cost experiment to see how they handle a full-size park with full-size rides. So, we spontaneously (yes, shocking for us, I know) decided to go to Hershey Park, then headed up a couple days later. The girls are very excited to be in the Sweetest Place on Earth.

Leah was very excited about a boat ride, so our first stop was the Coal Cracker - a flume boat ride with a big plunge at the end. Molly sat with Jen in the front of the boat.

And Leah sat with me in the back of the boat.

Jen took two Dramamine in order to be able to ride rides, but she still wasn’t going to get on the tea cups. So, it was me and the girls. And Molly got sunscreen in her eye, which meant she had trouble with the sun. So, she stole my hat and covered her left eye.

Molly and I went to the bathroom to wash out her eye while Jen and Leah stood in line for the Skyview. We got back in time to watch them soar above everyone.

Eventually, I convinced the girls to try out a roller coaster. We went for the little Cocoa Cruiser. It’s so small that they let you go around three times before you get out. Leah handled it well and did not freak out or get scared, but afterward calmly said she did not like it and did not want to do another roller coaster. Molly, on the other hand, was excited to do a bigger roller coaster.

As a reward for trying the roller coaster, we got ice cream. Molly went for a Pepsi float, and Leah got a cup. Both were comically large.

This is the Sweet Swing, and it is just a giant swing. It is a very simple, but the girls loved it. They did it twice, and would have kept going all day if we’d let them.

Second time, still fun.

Next, Molly and I went to try out her first big roller coaster - the Comet. It’s a wooden roller coaster (which I love) that seemed like a good first coaster. Molly was very excited.

What we didn’t realize was that the Comet began with a 96 foot drop. As you can see, Molly got scared. But she recovered quickly and had a great time on the rest of the ride, smiling and yelling along the way.

Here’s proof that Molly was smiling at the end of the ride. She said it was great, and wanted to ride on another roller coaster.

While Molly and I waited for the Comet, Jen and Leah went back to the Skyview. Here’s the two of them high up above the ground. They actually saw us on the roller coaster from their high-up vantage point.

Jen and Leah then headed to the Carousel while Molly and I sought out another roller coaster.

Molly and I next rode the Trailblazer, a steel roller coaster with no big drops (though some pretty tight turns and good speed). She loved it.

After being separate for a bit, the girls were excited to ride something together again.

We then ate some dinner and left the park, but not to head home. We headed over to Chocolate World. We took the Great American Chocolate Tour, which the girls claimed was their favorite part of the whole trip. Then we bought a big pack of Twizzlers, a giant Hershey's Kiss, and stuffed toy versions of those same candies.

Finally at 8:40, we were on the tram ready to head back to our car. It was a very long day.

The girls had a lot of fun and were immediately asking when they could go back. I'm not sure when that'll be, but I give Hershey Park a thumbs up as well.

After much celebration, Leah’s actual birthday finally arrived. After lunch, her mom and dad took her to Yogi Castle for a sweet birthday treat.

Later that day (after Molly got home from school), Leah had a few more presents to open on her actual birthday. Happy birthday Leah!

The day after her birthday, Leah got to be the birthday girl at school. Here she is enjoying her class singing Happy Birthday to her.

Snack time is better on your birthday.

Leah wanted to make sure she got a birthday picture with her buddy.

The end.

You already saw the pictures of the party, but I neglected to post the singing. So, here you go. Enjoy!

After church on Sunday, it was time for Leah’s mermaid party. Of course, there were lots of decorations. I’ll show you a few close up, but for now make sure to notice the seaweed and bubbles on the wall, and something interesting hanging from the ceiling.

Leah told Jen she wanted her cake to be chocolate and vanilla, because some of her friends liked chocolate and some liked vanilla. So, Jen obliged. She baked a 3 layer cake, with 1 chocolate cake layer, 1 vanilla cake layer, and 1 chocolate/vanilla swirl layer. Of course, Jen also added fancy decorations.

Jen also made a fancy mermaid banner for the occasion.

Hanging from the ceiling were jellyfish that Jen and the girls made. By putting them right under the lights, the glowed above us.

Once all the guests arrived, Jen entertained the with a reading of Mermaid Sister.

After the reading, the girls made seashell necklaces.

The girls were very still while they focused on stringing their necklaces with beads.

After the necklaces, we moved outside to make some sand art. This involved a little parental assistance.

After all those crafts, the girls needed a snack. Jen prepared fancy snacks from under the sea, including sand dollar cookies, seaweed grapes, star fish cheese crackers, and goldfish.

Jen also made a starfish piñata, per Leah’s request. This was Jen’s first piñata. Here it is hung up and ready to be attacked.

Leah was happy to get the first couple of whacks in.

It didn’t take long before it broke off its string. So, the girls attacked it on the ground. I love Leah’s war cry here, though using two hands might inflict a bit more damage.

One of the smallest of Leah’s friends ended up being the toughest. She hit harder than anyone and pushed the piñata almost to its end.

It’s raining candy. Can you catch it?

Then it was time for cake. Yum.

After cake, the girls blew some mermaid bubbles.

Soon after I started taking pictures of the bubble blowers, they decided I would make a good target. So, I was attacked by bubbles.

My view of the bubble attack.

You probably already noticed them in all the other pictures, but all the girls are wearing mermaid tails sewn by Jen.

We didn’t open presents at the party as we had so many other fun activities to do. But afterward Leah was very excited about all the fun gifts her friends gave her.

The party was lots of fun for all involved. Thanks to Jen for putting in so much effort to make it great, and to all the girls who came.

Jen asked Leah over and over where she wanted to go out to dinner with family to celebrate her birthday. She always had the same answer. Chick-fil-A. It is not only delicious, but includes a toy (it’s a bug light).

We purposely went to the least busy Chick-fil-A in the area, which worked out well. Here’s the whole crew enjoying the fancy birthday dinner.

After dinner, we went to Grams’s house to open presents. Aunt EA and Uncle Scott upheld their standard of fun singing cards. This one even includes a dancing mustache.

After presents, it was time for cupcakes.

One of Leah’s gifts was a set of tiny Frozen characters. I told her I would extract them from their packaging while she was sleeping. Once they got out, they posed for a picture.

Thus endeth the first day of celebration. But twas not the last.