Sylvie's Date with Gram & Krampa

Gram & Krampa took Sylvie with them to stay at the hotel last night. She was really excited to get to do something special by herself with them!

She reported that when they got to the hotel they ate popcorn and watched TV. Then she snuggled up with her blankie and Gram and fell asleep. (Poor Krampa sacrificed for her and slept on the pull-out sofa!)

Gram reported that Sylvie did snuggle up close to her in the middle of the bed, and that Sylvie's 4 stuffed friends got some room on the other side of Sylv.

Sylvia liked the big breakfast at the hotel, and chose a chocolate frosted eclaire and two tiny blueberry muffines for her breakfast.

She felt really special, and loved the "just her" time with Gram & Krampa!!

Slumber Party!

To celebrate Annah's 7th birthday, she got to have a slumber party! Her friends Ashley and Jada are here this evening, and Gram & Krampa came into town too.

Here's the crew on the couch watching The Wizard of Oz.




Annah chose to have an apple party theme.
So, of course, we bobbed for apples!

Caeden tried too!


And Sylvia was really into it; she'd stick her whole face down in the water to get those apples!



















Annah, Ashley, and Jada played games like Perfection, Triominoes, and Pretty, Pretty Princess before bed.

Annah's Fall Class Party

All five us got to be part of Annah's class' fall party this afternoon! (Daddy took almost half a day off work and surprised us all by showing up at the party!!! How cool!!)

I was in charge of taking crafts for the party. We made little foam pins with reflectors for the kids to wear when they went trick-or-treating, and make-a-monster sticker sheets.

It was great to be in Annah's classroom and get to see her there, and learn all the kids' names!

The school gave Annah a birthday crown and bracelet to wear for the day. Her teacher gave her a card/certificate.

Annah's class before the party

Sylvia's Class Halloween Party

Sylvia's class:

(Front row): Sylvia (Belle), Ryleigh (Cinderella), Ella (Snow White), Eve (bride), Haley (Snow White)

Back Row: Tyler (Transformer), Zachary (dinosaur), Mikey (Power Ranger), Reece (Woody), Sean (ninja turtle)

Sylvia bowling during the class carnival.

Caeden watched the kids playing and really wanted to join in. Poor kid. I really can't wait for him to get to go to school next year and get to do all these things! He can't wait!!!

At the end of the party, the kids did a cake-walk. Sylvia won a Belle jump rope! (She had actually asked for one for Christmas, so she was totally thrilled!!!!)

A Special Blanket

I had the honor and pleasure of being part of a very special answer to prayer!
A wonderful friend's son has a special blanket which was given to him when he was born. It was one of those very important blankets that went everywhere with him and was loved even after it literally fell apart. He had only a small part of it left and had been praying for months, along with his grandpa, that his blanket would "become big again."
His grandpa wanted to help the prayer to be answered with a new blanket, so my friend asked if I would make one for her son. She gave me a small piece of the border of the old blanket, and I chose yarn and figured out the pattern as close to it as I could.
I finished it last night and took it to their house today. The grandparents are visiting and have talked with the boy about how God has heard his prayer and will answer it.
I am just honored to be part of this process, and can't wait to hear what he thinks of his new blanket!

Jack-O-Lanterns

We lit our pumpkins on the porch tonight!



Each kid designed their own pumpkin face!

Annah's pumpkin


Sylvia's pumpkin


Caeden's pumpkin

Parent/Teacher Conferences

**DISCLAIMER!** (This is one of those posts that I'm recording for our own future reference. Please don't take it as bragging, or that I think my kids are better than others. I just want to record this all while I remember it, so I can look back on it later.**

This evening we met with Annah's teacher for a conference. She showed us assessment tests Annah had taken at the beginning of school and had done very well on. She told us:

• Annah knows the answer when she is called on, but doesn't really raise her hand to volunteer an answer.
• She asks Annah to read [out loud in class] when there is an important paragraph with big words that she wants read clearly so that everyone will understand it.
• Annah pays close attention in class, and always listens--even when other kids are talking.
• Annah doesn't ask questions when she is confused about something.
• Annah is honest, even when her classmates tempt her to lie.
• Annah is doing great in 1st grade.

We had a really nice discussion with her teacher, and feel good about how Annah is doing, and how things are going for her at school.

Annah wanted us all to see her locker. Then Daddy asked her if she could still fit inside, so she showed us.

Pumpkin Gutter

Have you seen the pumpkins by The Pumpkin Gutter? Amazing! Enjoy... www.pumpkingutter.com

Pumpkins!

We carved pumpkins tonight! The big fun was playing with the guts!




The kids also were excited to roast the seeds for a "tasty snack," like they had read about in a book Annah brought home from school. I used this recipe, and they turned out yummy! (I used butter instead of oil.)

costumes!

We had fun dressing up in costumes for our fall festival at church this evening! (Actually, the fest had a western theme this year and was called the Fall Westival!) Jeremy & I were in charge of coordinating all the trunks for the Trunk 'r Treating part this year. So we were super busy trying to help out, plus keep an eye on the kids and try to help them have fun!

They were extremely excited about their costumes and getting all dressed up though, so that was a blast!

Annah decided a couple months ago that she wanted to be a white cat. I put together her simple costume. I even did some hand stitching, which I enjoyed. She loves it.






Sylvia wore her Belle gown and crown. She will always love this! We added a little extra excitement...I let her wear blush, real lipstick, and mascara!






When we watched The Incredibles for the first time a couple months ago, Caeden instantly decided he wanted to be Dash! (I didn't think we'd be able to make a Dash costume happen, but some friends gave us this swim body suit! It came with the floatation vest inside--perfect for looking like muscles! I just made the mask and the insignia out of felt.) He felt super cool.