Kitchenware and Candybars

Halloween festivities galore this week! On Friday morning, Jack had his school parade, breakfast, and mini concert. Jack LOVES his music teacher, Ms. Jan, and sings the songs all the time but when it came time for the big moment, he was extremely shy and did not really want to stand on the stage. He was very excited about dressing up as Spiderman though, and Lily enjoyed visiting her alma mater for the breakfast.

On Friday afternoon, Lily had her school vocabulary parade - they made their own costumes and Lily chose the color red and strawberry - she spelled it 'strobare' which was a very good effort! After the parade, Kelly, Jack, and I joined Lily in her classroom for her party. Lily was a great big sister and included Jack in the games and story time, he got to sit on the mat with all of the other kids, and when Lily's teacher, Mrs. P., asked the kids what animal they saw, Jack yelled out the correct animal - he loved kindergarten and is counting down until 2013! ;)

We had a fun weekend - movie night with Aunt Kel on Friday and a playdate with a neighbor on Saturday. On Sunday, Lily had her first swim lesson and did very well - she may need to be in a more advanced class, her freestyle is advancing quickly and she is doing pretty well with breathing. On Sunday afternoon, Lily had a gymnastics birthday party, and later we went on a walk/scooter/bike ride - both Lily and Jack went the farthest they have ever gone, they are both getting pretty good. The walk was to distract the kids because they were all hopped up for trick-or-treating, counting down the minutes. Jack decided to be Batman and Lily was a vet. Lily ran from house to house with friends Maddie, Pierce, and Eileen, and Jack and Claire managed to keep up. Jack was excited by every piece of candy he received, and was very deliberate with his choices when offered the candy bowl, Lily was all about accumulating as much as she could - Jack was most excited by the glow bracelet and paper airplanes he received. We covered several streets and were out for a good hour and a half. Once they got home, Jack chose to eat crackers he received, and Lily tried a few things but stuck with a chocolate bar as her favorite.

Today, Lily did not have school, so the kids stayed home and they had a playdate with Maddie and Claire, and then we headed to the mall with Grandma Gail and Kelly - we made some final winter garb purchases in anticipation of snow (Dec??) and our CO ski trip in January.

Lily and Jack want to send out special birthday wishes to Great Aunt Donna who is celebrating her birthday on Thursday!

Enjoy the pics and video!


Jack at his Halloween soiree.


A little stage fright.


Playing in the leaves.


Lily as a strawberry at her Halloween parade.




Jack joining in the kindergarten class.


Clowning around.


The vet and Batman ready for some trick or treating.


Batman checking out the neighborhood sights.


The bounty.


Chowing down on some peanut butter crackers.


An evening in review.

Orange Blossom Special

This week Lily went on a field trip to a local farm where she fed the goats, saw some piglets and calf, and picked a pumpkin - Mom chaperoned and it was a lot of fun seeing all of the kindergartners in action.

On Saturday, we had our annual neighborhood Halloween Festival (which Mom co-planned). It started out with a neighborhood costume parade in which Jack and Lily held the banner, and culminated with fun on the moonbounce, ghost bowling, and three-legged and egg/spoon races. As you will see Lily is a vet and Jack chose to be Spiderman over Batman (will see what he chooses for Halloween). They were thoroughly exhausted and we had an early dinner with friends Andy and Jen, and an early bedtime.

On Sunday, we carved pumpkins and celebrated Dad's birthday with Grandma Gail, Grandpa Tom, and Grandpa Maurice - Lily and Jack send out special get well wishes to Grandma Phyllis.

Jack as Spidey: "I'm going to get you!" (he really has no idea who Spiderman is but he makes a cute/funny one.)

Lily wrote a book of nonfiction this week about animals, it was extremely creative and the facts were correct. Today she came home from school and carved a pumpkin for fairies, I believe it is sitting out front with leaves and sticks waiting for the fairies. She was very excited to get a new nonfiction library book which tells all about pumpkins - she gets to check out a new book every Monday. She is also very excited because she is the line leader at school this week and on Friday they have a parade in which they will dress up using vocabulary words (education for Halloween, no dress up).

Happy Halloween!


With her class at the farm.


Checking out some animals.


Petting a cow with her teacher.


Jack is trying to raid the special treat cabinet.


Spidey ready for movie night.


Spidey and the vet ready for Halloween Festival.


Parading.


Three legged racing.


Egg on a spoon.


...


Carving pumpkins.


...


With the wares.

Run For Your Life

Jack took his first field trip to a local farm on Tuesday - he fed the sheep and goats, picked a pumpkin, and took a hayride. He was having no part of riding the ponies, maybe next year. He rode the schoolbus with his friends like a big boy - Mom drove separately.

Jack and Lily spent the night at G Gail's and G Tom's on Friday night, they spent lots of time outdoors enjoying the nice fall weather. On Sunday, Lily and Jack participated in a Halloween Kids' Race - Lily ran the 1/2 mile and Jack ran the 1/4 mile - Jack ran the entire way without stopping once! They each got a ribbon and there was even post-race snacks and refreshments. Stuart said to Jack "Look you get a ribbon." And Jack's response was "And a snack!" They had a lot of fun and are already talking about their next race!

Lily and Jack want to send out special birthday hugs and kisses to Daddy who turns 35 on Sunday!


On the slide.


At the bottom.


Feeding some animals.


Checking out a donkey.


Jack and the Beanstalk.


Pre-race.


During race.


Post-race.


Clowning around.




Big jump.

Waterfallin'

Not too much exciting to report from the week that was. Lots of scootering and bike riding and school.

Lily and Jack both seem to be learning lots of new stuff at school. Lily is working on reading, punctuation, numbers and sorting. Jack is working on colors and going to the potty. We can't wait until he gets that skill down pat.

We had a busy weekend. Friday night was movie night with a neighbor friend watching the kids while Marcy and I went out to dinner to celebrate out an early anniversary. On Saturday we visited a local waterfall and took Daisy to the dog park. On Sunday there was some shopping and outside play.

That is about all to report. Here are few pictures from the week.


The view.


More view.


Climbing rocks.


Taking it all in,


More climbing.

Ride a Black Swan

Lots of pics and video to share this week! Lily and Jack spent Sat night with Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom and had fun biking/scootering, and at the local fall festival. Prior to the weekend, the kids got to hang with Aunt Kelly some more!

Lily had a great week at school, she has been working on sorting and patterns, and working on writing letters/words. She is working very hard at trying to read and seems to be working on sentence structure at school - she can now identify punctuation and three letter words quickly.

Jack loves music class and comes home singing all of the songs, but dislikes Spanish, he thinks his teacher is scary, although he is the nicest man. His pictures are getting a little more detailed, less scribbling. He is making some progress with the potty, he is going a few times in the toilet each day without much fuss, Mom's goal (dream) is by the end of the year!

Have a good week!


Jack's Halloween costume.


She has the bike down pat.


Scooting around.


Riding around in style.


Pony ride.


Using the facilities.


At the Halloween Festival.


Slip sliding away.


Pumpkin picking.


Working with chalk.


A little face painting.