Happy Halloween!

I sometimes surprise myself with how long I go between blog postings. I have some updates for the past two months to do, but for now, we'll start with Halloween day (more postings later will come with carving of pumpkins, Trunk or Treat, Jeff's class party... they'll be dated earlier, so scroll backwards for those updates later!).

This year Kara wanted to be a "dark fairy" and had to dictate much about how to make her tutu and how her eye makeup should be done. Brooke let us keep it simple and chose a costume on clearance we found a couple of months ago. Even Kara agrees that Brooke made the cutest Little Red Riding Hood ever! Amber was a hot dog once again and stole all of the attention while trick or treating with the girls. Jeff even got in on the act this year - other teachers at his school convinced him he needed to dress up and get the kids excited (which completely worked!). He was kind of a tough guy... I'm not sure what to call his costume for sure, but the kids loved it!

Some pictures:

Jeff's Class Halloween Party

 I have to say that Jeff is the most awesome 1st grade teacher ever! At least his class thought so after this awesome Halloween day at school! It was a modified day, so the kids were at school a shorter amount of time than a normal school day. In the morning, the kids came in, colored a fun Halloween packet, played a fun Jack-o-Latern game with their spelling words, and decorated treat bags for the party in the afternoon. Some of these kids are refugees or homeless and did not come to school with a costume. They all wanted to go on the costume parade, so I brought in some face paints and painted (poorly in some cases) the kids who wanted face paint so they could participate. It was a blast! I hope I'll be able to go in to school with Jeff every year and make it a tradition!

After the parade, the kids went to lunch. When they came back from lunch, we broke out all of the treats the kids brought to share, along with some treats from Mr. Stevens. They enjoyed their treats, watched Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin, and then it was time to go home. Some of the kids were so excited! And they loved Mr. Stevens costume! Although many of them found not the hairdo or the fake tattoos strange at all (I guess since most of their parents have those things?), but the black nails were the funniest part to them. Those nails were the idea of Kara & Brooke. The principal thought Jeff's costume was awesome... so much so that he took a picture of him and posted it to the school's facebook page!

Here are some pictures of the fun!

Pumpkin Carving

So we forgot about buying pumpkins until the last minute this year. I guess it's what happens when the kids get older and they don't pester me every two minutes about when we're going to carve them. We had to take what we could find, which wasn't much. The pumpkins were all going a little soft and were larger than we wanted, but beggars can't be choosers, right? The kids still had fun...

Jeff did not plan on doing a pumpkin this year, but then remembered that he had a teacher once who brought a carved one in to school and lit it when we was in first or second grade. He remembered how awesome it was to see it all lit up in his class and how excited he got over it. He decided he wanted to be able to do the same thing for the kids in his class, so he picked a pattern (which was VERY hard) and away he went.

This year the kids did not need any help scraping out the insides (until Brooke got rashy on her arms at the end, then I finished scraping it for her), transferring the patterns over, or carving. I got to relax while they were all busy... it was great!

Jeff's was a haunted house, Brooke's was a silly face, and Kara's was a mummy. I think they all turned out really cool!

Here are some pictures of the scraping, carving, finished pieces before being lit up, and the finished pieces all lit up:

Trunk or Treat

We have been fortunate to move in to an area where our church group puts on a fun fall family event, this year combined with a trunk or treat! There were bounce houses, games, food, and then once it got dark, the trunk or treating began (like trick or treating, but the kids go from car to car to get the treats). There was also a sounds system playing fun music for dancing, which Kara got into! A little girl was off to the side and it was fun to watch her mimic Kara's dance moves!

Some pictures of the fun!

Brooke's birthday party

 This year Brooke's birthday landed at the end of fall break from school. This meant that a lot of her new friends from school were not able to make it due to vacations. She had a couple of girls who were able to make it... they had fun watching movies and playing games all night and spent the night in our empty front room! Brooke said it was a lot of fun!

Happy 10th Birthday, Brooke!

I cannot believe how quickly time has flown! Brooke turned 10 today! She's growing into a smart, funny, and caring young woman that Jeff and I are very proud of. We love her and we cannot imagine life without her!

Sea World!

My parents were nice enough to let us crash at their house (including our dog) for the weekend so we could get away! This trip included a jaunt to Sea World! A special thanks to Aunt Katie for watching the dog so that we could enjoy the day in San Diego without worrying. The weather was nice, the company was nice, it made for a good trip! Besides the disappointment that the shows were a little different and not as spectacular as they used to be, we all had a great time!

Here are some pictures from our day:

Kara looking at the sea otters - this was the first stop, which is why she's still got the map out!

Brooke at the sea otters

The girls looking at the dolphins

more dolphins

touching the bat rays!

Grandpa enjoying touching the bat rays too!

Brooke

Kara

fun way to spend time!

feeding the sea lions - Brooke

Kara feeding the sea lions

Brooke with the sea lion she fed

Kara with the sea lion she fed

close up of the sea lion the girls fed

while waiting for a show to start, the girls braided Grandpa's beard

Kara wanted to sit in the very front to get wet!

looking at the sharks

Grandpa liked looking at the sharks too!

dinosaur shark jaw

looking at the sea turtles

sea turtles!

Penguins! (for Aunt Ali)

polar bear

Shamu!

all 5 orcas swimming together

out of the water! :)