Halloween 2016

Pumpkin Carving
It is always interesting to see what the year will bring for our pumpkins. Brad is the designated carver and I'm the seed cleaner and baker. We like it this way. :) This year the kids wanted to draw a picture for Brad of what they wanted, then have him draw it on the pumpkin, then they carve it. Both didn't quite get all the carving done, but and worked hard on them. Brad finished up when they ran out of steam. They both wanted scary pumpkins this year. For some reason they are really liking the scary and "trick" part this year, and spent a good part of a day setting up contraptions on the front porch they hoped would scare the trick or treaters.

Cookies
At the last minute I was disappointed that I rarely make sugar cookies with my kids. My mom was a champ at this, so I would like my kids to have a few good cookie memories too! :) Makin was my trooper and cut them out without any help from big sis. :) She helped when it came to frosting though. They both had fun decorating...and eating of course.

All Dressed Up
This year Lorelei decided to be Merida (from the movie Brave) after deciding to purchase a Merida dress with her birthday money. :) Makin is very into Legos and after seeing Nexo Knights at Legoland and then reading a book or two, he was thrilled with the idea of being a Lego Nexo Knight this year.

They both walked for about an hour, and then enjoyed handing out candy for another hour or so.

Happy Halloween!!!

Hughes Meet Up

We headed to Magnolia Market in Waco to see the Hughes. If you have never seen Fixer Upper, it will make no sense to you where this comes from, but it was the perfect place for a meet up. While Mary and I certainly didn't get to shop for any items, its still a great place to enjoy and makes you feel happy just being there. :) And it makes you want Joanna Gains to come fix up your entire house...of course.

Nothing like Campfire and Shiplap cupcakes for a mid morning snack!

So grateful to see this friends we miss dearly!

The Lawn

This was Makin's favorite. There was equipment for every sport available to them to play.

The Garden

This was Lorelei's favorite spot. They played in this little house for a long time!

I loved these swings!

So glad they live close enough we can do this. The traffic on the way is pretty tough so it won't happen a lot, but so grateful for our time together!

Fall Fun

You all know I love my pumpkin everything. While our fall weather has felt like early summer, we are still trying to embrace the new season as much as we can...which may need to mean we just get used to pumpkin ice cream every October!!!


Our yummy-smelling fall play dough provided some fun a few afternoons.

We love our pumpkins! Even in chalk!

Lorelei didn't want to wash off her face paint. ;)

We have had a chance to enjoy parks a bit more now that the temperatures are bearable. We had Macie play one day she had off, and met Lydia and Nayeli another week. We have been doing more things like this after home school work is done, especially on Fridays.

Pumpkin Painting
We had a pumpkin painting get together with the Kindergarten and 2nd grade classes. We did this last year as well, so we decided it will now be an annual event Brittany and I organize every October. The kids had a great time painting pumpkins and playing at the park. I got a chance to see Makin playing soccer with his classmates, and Lorelei loved having Nayeli's new puppy as a playmate.

K (top): Judah, Emelia, Charlie, Makin, Asher, Luke and Grayson
2nd (bottom): (front) Lorelei, Stella, Jaeden, Savannah, and Nayeli
(back) Kayla, Peyton,and Addie

Pumpkin Patching
This could be the most low-key year of my life since kids for visiting a pumpkin patch. I'm not sure why exactly, but I decided to embrace minimal pumpkin patch"ness" this year and just go to the one closest to our house.

It is about 10 minutes away, and is completely free. :) It worked for this year!

The Set Up

Our Not-So-Little Pumpkins!

Haybale Maze...that they could see over. ;)

Cornhole and Hayride

Free Face Painting

Bake Sale Puppy Chow
These guys were more than a little excited for this treat!

Minimal pumpkin patch adventure this year, but still a fun morning as a family!

School Update

We are really enjoying K and 2nd so far this year. While I still don't feel I have perfected juggling two at the same time, we are managing most days just fine. :) For example, I would love to let one play while I help the other as needed, but they always want recess at the same time, so this plan doesn't work so well. Still working out the kinks.

Adjectives Game

Lorelei loves 2nd grade. Her teacher reported that Lorelei is "so happy" and didn't have any concerns so far. When I am there making copies I sometimes catch snippets of the 2nd graders sharing their writing with the class. They usually start out the day with a little writing prompt and I love to hear what they are sharing. Her teacher seems immensely patient, laid back and so fun for them. So far math has only had a few challenging moments, but for the most part seems to be going more smoothly than last year. (Even borrowing while subtracting three digit numbers!) I feel like reading is going along very well also. There are definitely some rough home school moments with this girl, but hoping she improves her attitude.

Practicing Spelling Words In Shaving Cream

Habitat Project (Pond)

Makin is loving Kindergarten. While his class isn't the set of sweethearts Lorelei has been blessed with, he has a decent group of friends and is always happy for his school day at GCA. He plays soccer every day at recess (with the exception of literally one day, where he played Frisbee, per Gracelyn's request) with many of the boys from his class. His teacher has a heart of gold and Makin holds his own with a class of mostly boys. The four girls in the class are gems. His teacher commented on his happiness as well and is thankful for his leadership. He is doing great academically. I am having to supplement some lessons, particularly with math, so he is working on addition facts and counting by twos. I could add more, but juggling the two grades makes me a bit of a slacker so far in going beyond "the list". Still planning to improve on this.

Measuring With Cubes
Weighing Various Objects With Cubes

He was told to write three sentences to answer these questions.
Loved his pictures to go with!

Mrs. Harris (K) assigned an apple project one day in Sept. I was thankful it was an assignment as art projects seem few and far between these days. We enjoyed apple stamping. :)

It finally cooled off enough one morning we had school outside in the front yard. Hoping for more of this soon.

Comfy Math Fact Practice

Weekend Visitor

We had a fun visit from Brad's lifelong friend, Dennis over the weekend. These two have been friends since kindergarten and we hadn't seen him since his wedding 7 years ago, so it was great to catch up. He was flying to Houston for work Monday, so decided to make a stop off in Dallas just for us. :)

Supper Out After Airport

Making Sure Dennis Read Some Humorous Books

Legos!

When talking about something fun to do Saturday morning, we eventually settled on the idea of the local science museum. We hadn't been there, but had been told by a few moms it was great. It was a good fit for a Brad/Dennis visit as they could embrace their inner science geek and play with the kids at the same time. :)

The biggest hit was definitely the giant bubbles section! It was fun to watch the tenacious personalities of the boys, who were determined they were going to get those bubbles figured out, and they sure did! Lorelei didn't quite get the hang of it, but after I put the camera down, after multiple tries and some coaching from the boys, I got it figured out as well.

That afternoon Dennis got the real Texas experience...watching children's soccer! :)

Sunday morning was church, playtime and movie night before Dennis headed back to the airport.

We so enjoyed our visitor!

Gymnastics and Soccer

Lorelei chose to continue with gymnastics this year. We picked a class after school on Tuesdays, to allow Fridays to be more open to fun. Also saving us another 15 minute drive once a week.

I'm not thrilled with the teacher/student ratio for these classes, which I feel keeps Lorelei from gaining a lot at each session. But, I am proud of how much more confident she is on the balance beam. :)

She is adjusting to the different teacher and class, and Makin and I are adjusting to staying during her class, as it is shorter so there isn't enough time for a library run.

Makin is playing soccer again this fall. This is our first season having games every Saturday, and I have to admit I'm a little begrudging of loosing my Saturday freedom. It has been a bit chaotic working around birthday parties etc, but I'm trying to get used to it!

Makin has come a long way in the last several weeks. We are thrilled that he is working with Coach Andy again, and he is getting to know his teammates better, now that they have consistent games each weekend. His coach, teammates and the other parents are encouraging.

Coach Andy has mentioned that Makin is naturally defensive minded, so he has played a lot of defense and does a great job. They do not have goalies at this age, but they do stay on their half of the field in case the ball comes that direction, and he is good about staying and watching, while some kids have a harder time staying put.

As much as you tell him he is doing a great job on defense, every kid wants to score a goal! Thankfully we have a coach wise enough to know this. During Makin's fourth game I heard Coach Andy talking to the kids. "Everybody has gotten to score a goal this season except for Makin, because he has been playing defense. Now it's his turn to score a goal. So pass it to Makin." Sure enough they did, and I just loved looking at the pictures with all his teammates with their arms up in the air excited for his first goal of the season! Then he proceeded to make two more goals within a few minutes. Coach Andy bragged on him and explained that was called a hat trick and yes I had to look it up. ;)

 

"In soccer, a “natural" or “flawless" hat trick occurs when a player scores three consecutive goals in the same game without being interrupted by any other goals."

Makin has requested that I ALWAYS bring my "nice" camera to the games, but now my next step is to get up and get some better action shots. :) But we do have a few keepers from the season so far.