Halloween

Halloween was a great day.  No other way to put it.  We started by getting Dillon in his costume and packing Kayda's costume up.  Then I went in to Dillon's class to help with the center day.  I got to help them stamp treat bags and glitter pumpkins.  After that Dillon and I headed back home and spent some quality time together while Carson napped.  Then I was off to Kayda's class to help with their Halloween party.  There were a LOT of parents there and not enough jobs to go around but it was still fun!  My favorite part of both parties was how excited the kids were for me to be there!  It makes me feel like the world's best mom! After that we waited for Daddy to get home then headed off to visit Grandma and Papa H.  That was the first door they got to trick or treat at!

 "Hi Brett" Carson said shyly...

 Then off to Baba's.  We kept all our visits short so we could get back in time to trick or treat around our loop.

 We were the first trick or treaters at Grandma and Papa G's house!

We made it all the way around the loop which took about an hour and a half.  Carson was super interested.  Kayda and Dillon would get up to the door and take turns ringing the doorbell, each time Carson would wiggle his way right in front of them, ready to snatch another candy bar.  He is definitely NOT shy.  He even tried to run into people's houses on a couple of occasions.  It was a great, exhausting Halloween.  I can not wait until Halloween is on a Friday and we can sleep in the next day!

Kayda's Parent-Teacher Conference

On October 22nd we got to go in for Kayda's Parent-Teacher Conference.  I have a tendency to get very excited about these... last year for her preschool one I was all grins and  butterflies to go and hear about my little girl who I know to be all kinds of wonderful.  I love to hear other people say good things about my children just like every proud parent out there.  So Daddy got some time off work that day so that he could go in with me and hear all the wonderful things also!

Mrs. T told us that Kayda is quite the rule follower and likes to "report" when her table mates are doing something they shouldn't.  She wants people to follow the rules, we have a lot of discussions with her about letting other people make their own choices and that the only person she needs to worry about it herself.

Mrs. T went on to tell us about Kayda's test scores.  We already know this but it's always nice to hear it anyway... Kayda is a very bright little girl.  She has already met the goals for the entire year of kindergarten.  She counts past 100, identifies all her shapes, reads high numbers, is reading close to a first grade level.  We were especially impressed when shown an exercise they had to do.  They were told numbers and they had to write them down.  They were told "one hundred nine" and "one hundred fifteen".  Apparently most kids write 100 9 and 100 15.  She wrote the correctly, 109 and 115.  Mrs. T said that's the first time she's seen that this early in the year.  We were beaming of course.  Kayda is doing so well that Mrs. T had to write up new "end of year" goals for Kayda so that she would progress over the course of the year.

Mrs. T also shared with us that Kayda is an excellent reader.  She thought it was interesting that Kayda struggles with the smaller words and does well with the big words.  She wants to skip the sight words, so of course we've been working on those.

Kayda has been SO interested in reading lately.  She is doing incredibly well.  She is a joy in our lives and makes us happy in so many ways.  We love our sweet little girl!

Pumpkins!

It's that time of year again!  When I was little and living in California we used to go to the pumpkin patch for my birthday.  Of course there it was sunny and beautiful, you could go on hay rides and not get your bum soaked and your shoes wouldn't be coated in mud.  Not so here!  The weather just recently decided to go bad, the rain is here and if there is no rain it has the sharp coldness in the air.  We spent the morning at soccer games freezing our tails off.  We actually went to Kayda, ran home to dig out the winter coats, gloves and hats and then went back for Dillon's.  After lunch we went to see Hotel Transylvania which was thoroughly enjoyable.  I loved it and the kids really did too.  Though Daddy fell asleep for a few minutes and then was up letting Carson wander around in the exit hall.  After that we headed to the pumpkin patch.  We tried out a new one this year, it was having a Halloween party and included pony rides, a little "train" ride and lots of animals to see.  They also had a rope swing in the hay loft for kids to try out.  The kids got to go in full costume and trick or treat as well.  

The first thing you see when you come in is the ponies.  Carson saw them and immediately started going "Ay, ay".  That's how he says Nay in case you didn't figure that out! He was so excited and so adorable in his raccoon costume.  It totally fits him because just like the animals he gets into EVERYTHING.  Kayda went as Bloom from her favorite cartoon Winx club and Dillon was Captain America.  Baba calls him the all American boy and he sure looked it.  We were laughing because he had the "hero" strut when he was walking around.

 I was overwhelmed by Carson's cuteness.  My children are all beautiful and I know that when Kayda and Dillon were this age I felt the same way.  But he gives me chills, seriously, he is so stinking cute that sometimes I have to wiggle out my arms to get out the love.

 Daddy got to wear his pirates of the Caribbean hat again.  He was very excited.  

 The train was basically a tractor that pulled the cars but it looked like a train and the kids loved it.  

 The lady guiding this horse told us Carson was too young, most kids his age will just get on there and scream but she told us we could try.  We set him on there and he was perfectly content.  Towards the end he even started holding onto the saddle.  After we were done, even before he rode, he was constantly trying to run back to the horse!

 They got to paint some pumpkin masks, there is now paint all over their nice warm coats.... hopefully the farm was smart enough to use washable paint....

 The farm owner wanted a picture, he LOVED Kayda's wig.

 Saturday was full to the brim of excitement so we carved pumpkins on Sunday.  Carson was very interested.  We bought kids carving equipment so that Kayda and Dillon could carve their own this year instead of choosing the eyes and such.  They had a great time of it.  

 Dillon hates and has always hated the gooey insides.  The first time Daddy took them out and brought them close to him he said "That almost made me throw up!"  

 Kayda was all about it.  Totally willing to get gooey to carve her pumpkin!  

 Carson didn't mind it at all.  

 Mmmm... Pumpkin!

Dillon decided his pumpkin was going to eat Grandma G with its great big mouth!

Science Center

For Daddy's birthday this year we decided to go to the science center for the first time ever (for the kids).  Kayda and I went into her class because I was scheduled to work that morning and then she came home with me.  We all ate lunch in the car on the way up so that we were able to have maximum play time.  Sorry for all the blurry pictures, the flash on my camera decided to stop working again, so I need to try to figure that out but I didn't want to miss the whole day so you'll just have to deal with some semi-blurry pictures!!!

 The kids had a great time with the mirrors!  Course Dillon was moving so fast I couldn't catch him most of the time.

This actually has a beach ball that is supposed to float over it, Kayda and I thought it was much more fun to do this!

 Welcome to the butterfly exhibit!  You actually walk into a room full of butterflies, they are everywhere!  Dillon's favorite part was the fish in the pond though.

 They got to do some hands on investigating with dead butterflies and tweezers.

 Hello owl butterfly!

 Tide pools!

 Carson's favorite part was the kid area.  We went there while Daddy, Kayda and Dillon saw the snake show and followed the snake back to its home to see it put back in its tank.  We all got to go on a trip to the moon int he planetarium too!  We even got to dance on the moon with maracas and everything!  Carson didn't like the trip back to Earth though.  He actually cried out when the Earth got bigger before we landed on it again.  He did NOT appreciate the rapidly approaching planet.

 I think this room was MY favorite part, they had metal bowls on the walls, xylophones, drums, a pipe instrument you played by slapping it with flip flops.... it was a great deal of noise and a great deal of fun!

It was a good day despite all our physical ailments.  It has been a rough few weeks for our family.  Carson and I have been fighting a cold for 3.5 weeks, Carson is now on antibiotics for a sinus infection.... I haven't gone to the doctor yet.  Thursday night I rolled my foot when I went out to feed the dogs so it's black and blue all down the side and hard to walk on... that made the science center especially fun.  Then today Daddy tried to stop the dogs from fighting (they like to fight over his attention) and ended up getting two stitches in his toe because one of the dogs got HIM.  So we spent some time in the urgent care today while Grandma H got Dillon over to his soccer game.  We got there just after it started and then stayed to watch Kayda.  Thanks Grandma H for the help!  Hopefully things will start to get a little easier again!!!