Three Years of Halloween

2012- Little Bo Peep and her sheep

2013- nurse and doctor

2014- Dorothy and the Scarecrow

Fall Parties

We had Ella's school costume parade and Halloween party- so much cuteness!

She also had a really fun princess birthday party at a hair salon where they do their hair, makeup and nails and then have a fashion show!  Adorable!

Broccoli kid

Everett is hilarious!  He apparently loves broccoli (or was super hungry) and ate a ginormous plate of broccoli. Ella only eats the tops off her broccoli so Everett proceeded to stuff every single one of her broccoli stems in his mouth at once!  Who eats plain broccoli stems?!  Crazy kid!  I wish I got a pic of him with his mouth full, but I only captured him LICKING Ella's plate to be sure he didn't miss a single stem!

More Proud Mama- Everett Edition

I had Everett's parent-teacher conference, and to my great surprise, it was all positive feedback!!!  Let's just say, Everett is not the easiest child at home, but apparently, he is WONDERFUL at school!

He is either age appropriate or above age level for every category.  She said he is one of her "best talkers" (what?!), she understands everything he says, and he comprehends everything.  He maintains friendships and has two best friends at school, however, he and one of the other boys are very similar and have a very strong connection so she is trying to teach him to treat his friends differently based on their personalities- he and the one friend are very in your face and friendly, whereas the other boy sometimes needs a bit more time to get used to things.

He is age appropriate for fine motor, but while he does everything perfectly, he will often quickly finish his desk time activities so he can go play trucks or whatever because he is very "on the go."  Sounds about right!  Something we may need to work on later when he actually needs to sit for real school!

He is apparently off the charts with regard to gross motor skills.  He is the best in the class when it comes to playing ball, etc. (music to Gary's ears of course)- he will look right at the ball and catch it, whereas the other kids look away or close their eyes.  I told her daddy is very big on practicing these skills at home. ;)

And the most shocking part of his review...with great hesitation, I asked her about tantrums because he is going through another stage where he likes to lay on the ground and kick and cry whenever he doesn't get his way.  She said, and I quote, "I never see him tantrum at school."  WHAT THE WHAT?!  Who is this child?!  And how do I bring him home with me?!  She said at most, when they redirect him and ask him to go to another area to play, he immediately listens, but he gets the "you hurt my feelings" face and pouts in the other area.  Um, they get a pout at school, but I get a screaming kicking tantrum at Target?  WTH?!  He NEVER tantrums there?!  I'm just kidding, it makes me immensely happy that he is so good at school.  I will take a million tantrums to have be good at school.

Oh and lastly, apparently at school, "he is one of the best cleaners" and always cleans up.  Again, WHAT?!  Seriously, who is this child? 

So proud of him!!!!!!

Proud Mama & Papa!

Major brag ahead...I am SO proud of Ella!  Each month (starting in October) her school awards "Student of the Month" awards to various students for different things.  The teacher chooses the students, and the principal hands out the awards in a ceremony in their classroom.  There is an award for loving to read, being able to count, etc.  But Ella got the "Super Citizen Award", which was explained on her certificate like this:

This kindergartener is a wonderful part of our class because she is ALWAYS looking to help out.  She loves to help the teacher in any way that she can and is always ready to help a friend in need.  Her teacher can count on her to be a helper to a friend and never has to worry about anyone feeling sad in class because this girl will always cheer them up with her kind words.  She is a super friend and citizen here at school.

It makes me cry just to read it again!!  I am so beyond proud that my girl has such a kind heart and is so caring.  We are so blessed!

First, the principal talks to the class and explains that even though we don't all get an award, we are very happy for our friends that do get awards...

Then the principal reads the little explanation about the award and calls the child up to receive the award...

All the kids and their awards with the principal and teacher...

BTW, they are all dressed like that (and not in their uniforms) because it's Red Ribbon Week to promote a healthy lifestyle, and today is "dress like a rock star" day because eating healthy ROCKS!

And not to leave out my little firecracker, we also had a very proud moment for daddy when I was working on a shapes puzzle with Everett...
Me: What shape is this?
EC: Triangle.
Me: What shape is this?
EC: Square.
Me: What shape is this [it's an oval]?
EC: FOOTBALL!
Me: No, it's like the shape of a football, but it's called an oval.  Let's try again.
Me: What shape is this?
EC: Rectangle.
Me: What shape is this [trying the oval again]?
EC: FOOTBALL!

I give up.  Gary has him too well trained.  If I try to change the channel on Saturday or Sunday, Everett screams at me, "NO MOMMY!  Daddy watching football!"

It's Fall! Pumpkin Patch 2014

We had plans to go to a really popular pumpkin patch, but there were about 200 cars waiting to get into the park so we scratched that plan and decided to go to a pumpkin patch at a local mall.  We thought it would be pretty lame, but it ended up being so great!!  It was adorable, and the kids had so much fun...best part...no crowds and easy parking!  This will definitely be our new go-to patch.

Ryan and Everett had on the same shirt, and their dads won them the same toy...

There were tons of fun rides and games...

They had adorable John Deere tractors to ride, but all the kids were pretty bored because they were SO slow!  The ones we have at home are way faster, so Everett kept getting off his tractor because he thought it was broken or running out of batteries. ;)

The kids even rode the dragon roller coaster- it was super fast and Ella and Everett's first real roller coaster!  Everett looked terrified at first but ended up liking it...

Now, if we can just get some real fall weather instead of this 80+ degree BS, it will really feel like fall. :)

A Fall Weekend

Ella had her first field trip to the pumpkin patch with her class on Friday!

That night, two of Ella's friends from school had a joint "movie night" birthday party- such a cute idea!  The kids had a blast.

The next day, neither our soccer coach nor assistant coach could attend the game, so Gary got to be coach for a day!

And a cute photo someone sent me from Ella's party...

Ella's 5th Birthday

This girl just turned FIVE!  We had a little Halloween birthday party to celebrate, which meant lots of fun decorating for my favorite holiday!

I made her invitation on Photoshop (my first time using it for graphics!)...

I did a "Trick-or-Treating Bar" for favors and made a sign to match to the invitation...

The sweets table...

Godsister love...

The party clan...

A little nail salon time...

And for her actual birthday last Wednesday, we told her she could chose anywhere she wanted for dinner, and my little California girl chose sushi!  Here she is with her "Frozen tower" from grandma...all Frozen gifts...