a rainy fall morning

Something I've learned since staying home with my kids: rainy days are not for the weak.
Before the fall weather ever started, I decided that this year would be different. I made the choice to buy a planner (I haven't had one since I taught) and make the long days at home count.  Instead of counting the hours until Justin got home, it was time to make memories with Ty and little E.
This morning was no exception.  It was a morning that my bed felt extra cozy and there was that faint smell of the heater that just recently kicked on.  I knew that there was no way we were doing any Harris Teeter runs today, so it was the perfect day to do some of the pumpkin activities that I had in my back pocket for a day like today. (all of which are from Pinterest, so I take no credit)

I didn't have to say a word to Ty as I set up the kitchen for our little experiment.  Ty has a sixth sense for fun activities and he took it upon himself to drag a chair up to the counter to see.  Elena also needed her front row seat.  While I cut the top off of one of our pumpkins, Ty chose a color-- GWEEN!

Together we added the water, food coloring, baking soda, and when the pumpkin-cano was good and ready, Ty poured in the vinegar...

this boy loves a job!

His joy came when he saw the BUBBLES! Mine came when I saw his face!

"whooooaaaaa"

Of course he had to play in it for a while.... and Elena had to watch his every move.

"let me stir it, mom"

Once he got bored with the bubbles, I gave him some of the pumpkin chunks that I cut so he could stamp shapes.  This boy loves a good shape.  Especially a TWIANGLE.
You would think that this would be enough, but as I said, rainy days aren't for the faint of heart, so I had another back up game to play.
There is a house a few houses down in our neighborhood that does awesome decorations every holiday.  Ty currently calls it the spider house and demands that we take a wagon ride to it every day so he can "check it out."  There is a GIANT spider web and some other ghosts and tombstones, but it was this that started Ty's loves affair with spiders.  So, with his sissy napping, we built our own spider web together.  This kid went bonkers for it.  Then we used it to sort poms-- ok, we sorted for about 10 seconds, then Ty threw them everywhere, but he got the point. :)

Finally, before lunch, I let Ty use the guts from the pumpkin to play with.  At first he didn't even want to touch the completely dry and closed Ziploc bag because he remembered how the guts felt on Saturday when we carved the pumpkin to put Elena inside.  He hated it.  But after I told him he could SMASH the poms with it, he was all about it!

Usually on days like today, I am like "Dear God, it's rainy?" but after our morning, today I'm like "Thank God it's rainy!" It's the little moments I love best. Now for my warm cup of coffee...