Meet Jack and Dorothy

Happy Halloween to you all!  We hope you had a night filled with tricks and lots of treats!  The candy is exploding around this house...I think it is safe to say we have at least one of everything.  I took a few pictures of the kids before we went out trick or treating...I"ll try to post those tomorrow.  Uploading them from my school computer is SOOOO much faster than doing it at home.  In the time it takes me to upload 1 picture at home I can upload about 50 at school. 

This year Ava wanted to be Dorothy so bad!  She's seen The Wizard of Oz a few times but for some reason was set on being the girl with brown braids, ruby red slippers, and a basket complete with Toto.  Isaiah has been loving pirates for a long time now and wanted to be Captain Jack Sparrow.  The kids have been wearing their costumes to different festivities here and there and for some reason tonight Isaiah didn't want to go trick or treating in his pirate costume.  He spotted his old Buzz Lightyear wings hanging from his Spider man (he has a giant Spider man hanging from a hook on his ceiling and the Spider man is wearing huge Buzz Lightyear wings) and decided that he wanted to dress up as Buzz...just for trick or treating.  So Buzz it was.  The kids were a little chilly but came home happy with a basket filled with candy.

Meet Jack...he's a fierce pirate who sails the stormy seas on the Black Pearl.

Meet Dorothy, she ready to discover the Emerald City with her best friend Toto.  Those ruby slippers can take her back to Kansas.  "There's no place like home."

How cute are they!  I can't believe this is Ava's 5th Halloween and Isaiah's 4th. 

Another picture...similar to the one above.

How cute is this dress that Andy's Mom made?!

Aaargh maties!  That's one tough Captain!

In the past Isaiah has been an ISU football player, the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz, Buzz Lightyear, and this year Jack Sparrow.

Ava has been a skunk, Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street, Minnie Mouse, Sleeping Beauty, and this year Dorothy.  My time goes fast. 

The following pictures are ones that I took at church for the youth Halloween Party.

Ava listening where to trick or treat around the church.

Isaiah ready to go too.

At times I think these two look so much alike.  Like I've said before...they get on each other's nerves...but they really are best friends!

Ava trick or treating in one of the Sunday School rooms.

Isaiah getting candy too.

Making snack at one of the stations

Isaiah was playing with a pumpkin on a spring.

Ava was seeing how high it would jump.

Next...the craft room.  They made spiders out of various art supplies.

Indoor volleyball with balloons...this is where they got the idea to play it in our living room.

Ava and one of her Sunday School friends Will.

Get it Boo!

Next was tennis with the balloons.  They used different wooden paddles shaped like Halloween/fall things.

My Three Happy's:

1) Our school trick or treats down Main Street each year as part of our Halloween Party.  My parents came to watch Ava's preschool class walk by.  When my class came to them I realized that they brought candy and were handing a piece out to each child in the school.  Let's see...average of 20-22 per class...2EK sections, 6 kindergartens, 6 first grades, and 6 second grades.  That's a lot of candy!  That was very thoughtful!

2) Another Halloween come and gone...I know Thanksgiving is the next "official" holiday...but we all know that it's time to dig out those x-mas storage boxes from the basement.  Andy actually said today, "Don't we usually start decorating that day we have off from school.  Do you want to do that?"  That's this Friday (the day we have off after long conference days) and yes I do want to start decorating.  With 13 trees this year it's going to take some time!

3) I got to see Isaiah at school today.  When Andy went to get Ava for preschool he couldn't resist picking up Isaiah.  We ran a shortened schedule today so PE classes were done at 11:30.  I loved seeing Isaiah walking down the hallways and in my room with me.  It won't be long until he's here next year!  I remember an old teaching colleague...she's retired now...say to me, "Amy, you have no idea how fast it goes.  Cherish all the moments you have with your little ones.  They grow up to fast."  At that time I just had Ava and she wasn't even a year old.  I remember thinking, "I'm sure it doesn't go that fast.  I have plenty of time."  My daughter is almost 5 and my son is 3...it is going by to fast.  Treasure every moment...every opportunity.

Have a Spooktacular Night!

**Next year's anticipated costume selections...Ava wants to be Strawberry Shortcake and Isaiah wants to be Batman...we'll see if that changes or stays the same.

Just a few Randoms...

Do you ever have random pictures on your camera that don't really fit a theme but that you think are just so cute you have to share them with someone?  Here are a few I found stashed away that I thought were so cute of the kids.

Ava came home from dance the other day and she was honored with being the 'Dancer of the Day."  I guess they don't give this away every week, just once in a while.  She received this because she was listening, following along with the activities they were doing, and was doing her best.  They gave her this wand.  She was SOOOO excited and so proud!

This picture is exactly what Andy and I see each time we drive home from an Iowa State football game.  Both of the kids are always so tired that they crash.  I love the black I-State stickers that go under their eyes.  They look "just like a real football player."

Isaiah is adorable when he wears his baseball hats.

One tired monkey!

One day after preschool Ava was so tired that she fell asleep in the car.  I carried her in and she ended up resting on the couch like this for about 45 minutes.  Preschool wears her out.  She doesn't nap anymore but I swear if you'd lay down with her in the afternoon, she'd fall asleep every time!

I think this was on a Monday and we had gone to Sam's Club the day before and gotten  more paper towels and toilet paper.  I hadn't put them away yet and they were sitting in the pantry.  I kept seeing Isaiah running back and forth through the kitchen with a roll of paper towels here and a few toilet paper rolls there.  I was hoping that maybe, just maybe he was putting them away for me in the linen closet.  Nope...this little guy was making a stash in his room.  The look on his face was priceless...all I could do was laugh! 

That very same day Ava wanted to get in her dance gear and practice what she learned.  They do bar exercises to start ballet class each time and she was showing me the different things they do.  Maybe that was another reason why I was so distracted that I didn't pay much attention to Isaiah running back and forth.  Kids do crazy things...but they are treasures!

My Three Happy's are on the next post that I already posted today.  Happy Saturday!

Fire Safety and Prevention Week

Yes, fire safety and prevention is always in October and was a few weeks ago but as you know I'm trying to catch up with all the picture's I've taken.  The thing I love about living in such a small town are all the opportunities that you have that bigger cities don't.  For example the nice men that work for our local fire stations always put together a little program for the kids every year.  Kids from the preschool class through 1st grade get to ride on top of a fire truck around town (yeah...it's probably illegal because of the "no seatbelts" but so fun for the kids).  They drive super slow around Slater and blast their sirens.  The community knows that this goes on every year and you can see people out in their front lawns waving as the kids ride by.  Not only do they ride the fire trucks but they get to go to the fire station for a little presentation on fire safety, practice stop, drop, and roll, and they get to climb through one of the fire trucks.  On warmer days they even let kids use the hoses.  I was so fortunate that my class went the same time as Ava's preschool class so I snapped a few pictures of her.

Ava on top of the fire truck.

Ava's class...she's smack in the middle.

Getting ready to drive away...she's smack in the middle again wearing a pink headband.

Away they go...here come the sirens.

Ava's class in front of the fire truck.  She's to the left of the boy in the Sponge Bob shirt.

Ava listening to the presentation

They dress a fireman up to show the kids what they look like and remind them that they are here to help us and we shouldn't be afraid of them.

This picture was kind of dark..sorry.  Ava is practicing covering her face and doing the "stop, drop, and roll."

I thought this old fire truck they had was kind of neat so I took a picture of it.

Ava climbing through the fire truck.

We read a book called Spot the Fire Dog.  To extend this story we painted Dalmatian ears and made K9 headbands.

The kids dipped their fingers into black paint to make the spots.

They loved this!  All kids love getting their fingers and hands full of paint.

Ava wanted to take a picture of her K9 fire hat.

The finished product...how cute...Isaiah was the only one who wanted his picture taken.

One thing I did at school that I wanted to do at home was to make fire trucks out of food.  You frost a graham cracker with red frosting, use pretzel sticks to make a ladder, and add Oreos for the wheels.  The kids at school loved this activity and I'm sure the kids would too.  Next year, right!

My Three Happy's:

1) I wish the Ballard team would have won their first playoff game but let me tell you how nice it is to have Andy home after school.  Last night was his first Friday night home since the middle of August.  The kids love their Daddy and are thrilled to see him more!

2) Ava went with Aunt Jody to see a theatrical performance of Beauty and the Beast.  We are meeting my parents and my sister's family at Reiman Gardens for Halloween activities.  It should be a fun evening!

3) What didn't we do today!  I'm serious!  I took some pictures that I'll upload later after I take more tonight.  The morning started out with a "dance party" (we crank the music and dance away).  That was followed by carving 4 pumpkins and roasting pumpkin seeds.  Next was indoor volleyball.  We attached ribbon from one side of the room to the other and the kids were knocking  balloons back and forth to each other.  That was followed by making Halloween mini cupcakes...I swear there are 60 or more.  They frosted them with orange frosting and added Halloween sprinkles and candy corn to decorate them.  What are we going to do with 60+ little cupcakes?