Kindergarten Thanksgiving

Ella and Zoe's Kindergarten had a special afternoon of activities in their classroom topped off by a Thanksgiving Concert.  I took the afternoon off from work and met Tom and my mom at their school -- it was SO nice to be the mom and not the teacher in charge of everything (so much planning/organizing/managing/clean-up goes into events like this, thank you Mrs. Olson for making everything so special) -- we had a really fun time : )

For the concert the kids all chose what head coverings they wanted to wear -- Ella wanted to be a turkey (which is just so fitting) and Zoe wanted to be a pilgrim girl (which is also so fitting).  Their performance was adorable too.

Somehow during the performance one of Ella's turkey eyes fell off so she was a cyclops turkey -- which was just so SO fitting and funny.  Also very fitting was when she looked down and found the missing eye without losing a beat ...  kind of a 'had-to-be-there-moment' but it was pretty good comedy.  A fun start to our long holiday weekend!!

The Past Few Weeks:

Ella and Zoe's class went to Orchestra Hall for a field trip -- they watched a special performance for young children and then were given the opportunity to try a variety of instruments played in an orchestra themselves.  SO cool -- SO glad Tom could go along as a chaperone.

We also celebrated my mom's 70th Birthday at a fun Italian restaurant.

LOVE this photo of my parents!!

The girls even got to make their own mini-pizzas ....

... and we all thought it was nice the Pope was able to make the party too ....

The Pope AND great big undies -- Grama's Birthday was perfect!!

Then we celebrated Conner's 5th Birthday at the zoo.

Another fun celebration -- Conner got super big undies too from Grama and Grampa, and Spiderman undies from us ....  VERY funny stuff for five-year olds ....

..... and when the kids toured the zoo they got super close to the wolves (who usually stay out of sight).

I've been putting in a ton of time with my job -- it's a very long day, all of the curriculum is new to me (and very specific) and I have a class full of very needy children.  When it's a tough day it's a really tough day, but when things go well I feel like I can do anything (so similar to parenting ....).

Despite me not spending as much time with Zoe and Ella (which is really hard for me and makes me sad), they are spending a lot of great quality time with their Dad (which makes me very happy) -- and all three of them have a blast together, going for bike rides .....

exploring the woods .....

and biking some more!!

A Few Funnies:

*Zoe and Ella are learning about nouns and verbs in Kindergarten (thank you Mrs. Olson!!).  The other night Ella told me she 'had one for me' and asked if I knew what was both a noun AND a verb.  The answer:  poop.  It is something and you do it (I love the stuff their Dad teaches them).  Ha!  Makes me laugh.

*The other day Tom told me he was holding Zoe and talking with her.  He said she was looking at him so intently the whole time he felt like he was really making a great connection with her.  When he finished Zoe told him he had a really small face and a big forehead, just matter-of-factly.  Ha!  This makes me laugh too : )

Now time for lesson plans ......a

This Halloween ....

.... the girls were Lalaloopsy Dolls.  

Zoe was Mittens Fluff 'N' Stuff.

Ella was Spot, Splatter, Splash.

I didn't make their costumes this year, to save time I bought them online (for more than I ever thought I'd ever pay for Halloween costumes).  But the girls LOVED them and put them on within minutes of the mailman delivering them to our house.

They even worked on their homework while dressed up.

Pumpkin Time this Halloween was a two-part affair.  Thanks to Grama Dianne and Grampa Lindy the girls chose their own pumpkins and pumpkins for Tom and me.  Thanks to the Dollar Store they had these funny face pieces (like Mr. Potato Head) to use as decorations.

This is one of my current favorite photos of the girls -- and Zoe's little puppy Emma, too.

Pumpkin carving took place Halloween Night.  Now that I'm bringing in an income again Tom is able to take days off more easily, so he was home to celebrate Halloween with us, and very year I am so thankful that he loves carving pumpkins.

Then the rat-race began.  Dinner, costumes, hair and make-up (plus a little wine for me and some beer for Tom) -- and of course time to take some pictures.

Finally we were ready to head out .....

But before we made it to our first stop (cocktails at our neighbor's house) the girls realized wigs are not as much fun to wear as they thought they'd be -- and that it was chilly out and a jacket would feel good.  So the wigs went off and the jackets went on -- and off we went again.

The girls had a blast going up to the doors by themselves while Tom and I waited on the street.  I'm pretty sure they remembered their manners, and I know they were asked a lot about their costumes -- not too many people know about the Lalaloopsy Dolls.  But my favorite two moments were when they came running back to us super excited and Zoe said 'mom, I got a BEER!' (it was a can of fruit punch and it still makes me laugh when I think about it) -- and when they were going up to one house that had two doors (one at the front and one on the side) but only the side door was brightly lit.  Zoe headed towards the unlit door and Ella said 'Zoe, go to the light!!!'.  I am also still laughing about that one too.

They did make it back from 'going to the light' ...

.... and were also pretty amazed by all the pumpkins carved into Jack-0-Lanterns at this house.  I can't even imagine.

It was a really fun night, but now that I have kids who are in school full-time and I'm teaching full-time and I still have a full-time husband I really, really think it would be great if Halloween was always on the last Saturday of October.  Trying to get all this fun in after being in school all day, and then going to school the day after (and trying to teach kids who still have Halloween on their minds and Halloween Sugar supplying even more energy to their little bodies) was pretty crazy.  Fun but crazy.

Goodbye 'til next year, Halloween.