Pumpkin Carving

We had a few neighbors over to do some pumpkin carving. Steven did his first ever free handed design, and it turned out cute as could be. Amanda Lily and George did their annual pumpkin collaboration. George breaks out the drimmel saw every year for her designs. Sophie and Tre' were both able to join us, and that was a delight. I got an adorable picture of one of our littlest neighbors, Lilli. She is too young to carve, but she still had her special pumpkin. We all had fun watching the kids remove the pumpkin "guts". Gross! It's Halloween.

Class Halloween Parties

This year's class parties were so much fun! Mrs Roberts allowed 4th Grade to dress up as their favorite book character. Steven went as a Military Commando from his book "US Navy Seals, an inside look." His class took the responsibility of party planning into their own hands, so I didn't have too much work to do. They broke the class up into committee's (Food, Decorating, and Entertainment). Each committee was responsible to plan and organize, right down to drafting and printing up letters to send home requesting specific items for parents to send in. We were asked to send in Rice Krispie Treats, so we dipped them in chocolate and sprinkles to doll them up a bit. The class had a blast playing "Mummy Wrap." They broke into teams and wrapped a friend in toilet paper, and then Mrs Roberts chose the best looking Mummy. The craft was fingerprint stamping. The kids were all so proud of the way the party turned out.

                                  Even the class pet got a party favor

                                                        Decorations

                                                    Fingerprint craft

                                          Classroom Door Decor HA!

               Mrs Roberts was a teacher who turned students into apples!

In Amanda Lily's class, Ms Bierlien made cupcakes and rice krispies. Amanda Lily and I brought in "Mummy Dogs" which were just hot dogs wrapped up like mummies. They were a huge hit, and super easy to make. Honestly, these get a ZERO on my nutrition scale, but they got an A for cuteness! They each chose a small pumpkin out of the class pumpkin patch, then decorated them with markers. They watched "The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" and had special treats. She really wanted to wear a costume, but I explained to her that not all teachers have the same idea of what makes a fun time. Her class is twice the size of Steven's, so I can understand how it might be harder to keep the kids under control in costumes. Anyhow, she had a fun time after taking her spelling and memory tests. Seeing how her face lights up when I come into the classroom, never gets old. It makes me so happy. Happy Halloween!
                                       Amanda Lily's pick of the patch

                                                        Mummy Dogs

                                          Aww Charlie Brown....a classic

Ballet Halloween Celebration

Amanda Lily has been looking forward to this day for a couple of weeks. Her ballet instructor allowed each girl to bring in her Halloween costume to dance in during class. The girls all looked absolutely adorable, and had so much fun. They were split into 3's to choreograph a short dance to do while the other girls watched on. The pictures are grainy and blurry because I was taking them through an observation window. At least they tell the story of how much fun the dancers are having. At the end of the lesson, Mrs Wheeler placed everyone for a group picture, and we parents got to come inside the studio to take it. It's the one decent shot I got. Amanda Lily is the sparkly dragonfly in blue.

Fourth Grade Field Trip

Last week, Steven's class took a field trip to the Orlando Philharmonic. Because we have such a small school, we only have two buses. It was an "upper grade" trip, so we had a bunch of kids 4th-8th grade. The boys rode on the worst of the two buses and for some reason called it the "Cheese Bus". As we were boarding I was thinking Oh, please don't let this bus smell like stinky cheese. LOL. To my great relief....it didn't. Steven noticed how rickety it was and asked me if we could sell hot chocolate at the restaurant to raise money for a new bus.

We all made it there and back without breaking down, and had an awesome time listening and learning about famous American composers.
                                              Riding The Big Cheese

                                                         Picnic lunch

                                                         Orchestra

                                                     

Pumpkin Pie Contest

My girl and I spent the afternoon in the kitchen today. We did some fall baking for her schools pumpkin pie contest tomorrow. We made two pies. One for the judges, and one to be auctioned off for charity. We are hopeful for a blue ribbon, but even if not, we had lots of fun! I already have a Williams Sonoma pumpkin pie recipe in my recipe log, so if you are inspired, click on the link to the right. The only thing we did differently is add little cut out leaves and acorns. I thought it would make for a good presentation. (:
Did I mention how much I LOVE this time of year?

*UPDATE: I am happy to say our pies won 3rd place overall and 1st place in presentation! Yea!

Welcome to the neighborhood

We have new neighbors. We spied from our window as they were moving in, and noticed they had a little girl. Amanda Lily immediately hatched a plan that we should go check our mailbox, which happens to be directly across the street from their house. (Neighborhood Cluster Box) The Mom saw us, and yelled from across the street "Well, Hello new neighbors!" (My kinda girl, friendly) Her name is Shea and her daughters name is Karleigh. They have two other kids, a little boy who's 5 and a brand new baby girl.
I put together a welcome to the neighborhood gift and had Steven and Amanda Lily walk it over with me one afternoon. On the way back, Amanda Lily offered "Mommy, do you think I should have a welcome to the neighborhood tea party for Karleigh?" OH. MY. You know what they say about the apple and the tree? Needless to say, I supported the idea and helped out by making the tea party foods and special tea for the girls. Amanda Lily got to work on the invitations. She invited our other neighbor, Annaleise, who is also the same age. We stopped by their houses the next morning on our way to school, and dropped off the invitations. After school, Amanda Lily went upstairs to her room and decorated. She placed a crown at the place setting of both her guests, and strung beads over her chandelier. We walked our little culdasac picking up each girl.
All 3 girls were giddy with excitement. Honestly, I was too. I remember walking the tea tray up the stairs to her bedroom, and thanking God for the precious innocence of these girls. I took lots of pictures of them in their fancy dresses, and was thinking how maybe one day I can show them to the girls as young women. Just look at these sweet faces.

Monday Night Football.....Go Bucs!

We picked the kids up from school on Monday, and were both wearing our Tampa Bay jerseys. George had his Bucs flags flying from the Hummer, and the kids jerseys were each laid out in their seats. We had a surprise we had been keeping from them......we were heading to the MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL GAME!!!!!! This would be Amanda Lily's first experience in a football stadium, so we were glad the game didn't start until 8:00. When George asked the kids if they were ready to go to the game, Steven looked like a deer caught in headlights. His reaction was priceless......he started laughing and crying at the same time. He was so overwhelmed that he literally didn't know what to do with himself. LOL!
The game was amazing. All of our favorite old players and coaches were there including Derek Brooks, Tony Dungee, and Jon Gruden. When the players were anounced, the kids jumped up and down and cheered and danced. The excitement was palpable. We were 2 rows from the field on the 30 yard line of our teams sideline.....awesome seats. We had a great time cheering and giving high fives with all the fans. There was even this one sweet looking Grandmother a couple of seats down from us who didn't like a lot that she was seeing. So, to my great surprise, she started letting the referee's know just how she felt. It was pretty funny to us that the fans who sat in front of us who were decked out in their pirate gear and face paint weren't nearly as vocal as the sweet looking Granny. The kids just covered their ears. We had prepped them before hand that they may see and hear some colorful things. Amanda Lily jumped out of her seat when they started playing "Party Rock Anthem." It is her current favorite, so she was rockin it.
We didn't leave the stadium until midnight, and pulled into our driveway around 3 a.m. We made so many fun memories that night.....a night we will none soon forget. GO BUCS!

Grandparents Day 2011

Amanda Lily's class invited all Grandparents to come in for a special day. We had a fun chapel service that included the Grandparents, then went over to the classroom for brunch and crafts. My contribution was baked cheese grits, and the children read stories to their Grandparents and made refrigerator magnets for them. It was so sweet. Amanda Lily made Nana's plate of food, and let her have her seat. All the children were so proud of their Grandparents, and had so much fun sharing them with their friends. The bond between kids and their Grandparents is such a wonderful blessing. I was fortunate to have my Nannie for most of my life, and now I encourage the relationship between our children and all their grandparents. Just look at those happy faces!

Pumpkin patch arrives at church

The annual church pumpkin patch is now open for business. This was another H-O-T day. I took the kids straight over to the church after school, so we were there during the hottest part of the day. George and a few of his friends were already there unloading the full sized tractor trailer worth of pumpkins and gourds when we arrived. It was quite an undertaking to get all of those pumpkins onto crates and into bins. I was so proud of my boys though. George unloaded countless crates worth of large pumpkins and Steven unloaded an entire bin full of the smaller sized pumpkins and gourds. After all that hard work, I couldn't get any decent pictures because they were all sweaty and grimy.  We took a trip over to High Five for frozen yogurt treats to cool them down. Every time we drive by on our way to Target, or go to church, Steven see's the reward of his hard work......A BEAUTIFUL PUMPKIN PATCH. Good job Dad for leading by example, and teaching him the importance of volunteering and service.