Their school raised money to give to a local farm (who does great things for the community) when they lost all their chickens. So the farm gave back to the school by giving every single student (some 500+) their own pumpkin.
Kalyana lost ANOTHER tooth. This time a molar.
Makayla told her teacher all about her wonderful daddy and asked if he could come in and teach her class how to draw.
(You might have to log in to click on these to see them bigger. If you can, you can see what Tarl has drawn up on the board.)
The kids LOVED their art lesson. He gave them really helpful info like seeing your picture in shapes and drawing those shapes then building on each other. Even Mrs. Patterson tried it out to see if she could draw.
My book club was up on the far east bench of the city so on my way home I took this photo. Here's what I wrote when I took it: The booming (little) city lights. Caught this one after bookclub tonight. Sometimes (momentarily) I forget how different it is living in a town of 50k. But then there's the- never any traffic, takes 10 minutes to get any where in town, no crowds, no (seriously no) waits at restaurants, friendly folks that stop and chat at the grocery store moments happening all the time that remind me. And I kinda dig it.
Another Friday Scary Movie Night. Another fun crowd and good food.
Shantae plans an annual Halloween brunch/breakfast for the whole family always with a fun theme (and then all the food gets spooky/gross/creepy names). I thought it'd be fun to have some games for the kids to play so this is what I came up with. Eyeball target practice (we hung them in the trees and they got to throw pingpong eyeballs at them. I was hoping to shoot them out of a gun but the gun didnt seem to cooperate). Ghost bowling (Makayla helped me draw faces). Witch hat ring toss, we used glow stick necklaces as rings. Halloween bingo. And jokes (I had a BUNCH inside my brown bags and the kids could take turns drawing one out and reading it to everyone.)
The kids costumes for the breakfast party.
I got to help at school the week of the book fair so Makayla came in during lunch to help me ring up the customers and put away the items they didn't want.
Her bike pretty much fell apart so she got a new one. Just in time for rain and snow season but hopefully she'll get a few weeks out of it before it's touch and go! (I figured now would be better since both Christmas and her birthday are even more deep into winter.)
Tyce has been writing notes like crazy. It's like an entire world has opened up to him now that he's a more confident reader. He sometimes writes me SEVERAL a night. Anything to not have to relax and go to bed.
I dont know what to do with this boy. He does not like to be alone at night but I can't start them out together otherwise they play. Sometimes after stories and songs and prayers I leave to go finish cleaning and if they're really quiet I don't mind if they end up like this. If they think they're being sneaky they're more likely to be quiet and fall asleep. :)
Tarls starting to work on his costume. He got professional grade this year.
A few more pieces.
Every Friday, for our movie nights we'd put glow sticks in our pumpkins.
Tyce showing us a science experiment he learned at school. He asked me to add m&ms to my shopping list so he could put them in water and I thought he was a bit silly but it turns out it was pretty fun.
Dad and Jan came into town to see the kids Primary Program so we went out to dinner. It was A LOT of fun having them here. The kids, of course, had to show them their rooms, and all their things, and give them a talent show of piano and violin, and jokes and anything else they could think of. Hayden and Cheryl came over on Sunday for the primary program too so we had everyone over for lunch. It was REALLY nice to get to visit.
Heather went on a trip to hit a few more states (she's pretty close to getting all 50!) and sent me this for my collection. I love him. Thanks Heather!!
Tis the season of big boxes arriving at our house (Tarls stilts). Tyce of course new just what to do with it. This was his house for a couple of weeks and as you see, he really did sleep in it a few times.
I get to volunteer in Tyce's classroom on Mondays.
Such a handsome dude.
He always begs me to have lunch with him. Tyce takes a home lunch but when I go he wants me to buy a school lunch and he eats half of it. He's got money in his school account but the only time he'll eat school lunch is if I'm there.
I often find an abundance of sleeping kid pictures in my picture reel. My theory is because I like to text Tarl pictures at work so he knows we're thinking of him. :)
I dont know how it's comfortable to be sleeping on the beanbag like this but to each their own.
Off to school.
Throwback Thursday I think this was like 1988ish.
My good Samaritan. There's a guy in the photo that Tarl's helping it's just he's directly in front of Tarl and you can't see him.
Some mornings, the stars align, and everyone is awake and happy, and helpful and we have extra time so Makayla teaches Tyce songs on the piano. (Also this was the day after we started doing our chore bucks again so they were doing everything to earn as many as they could.)
Proof to remind me my kids fight. No not really. But it was a cute picture nonetheless.Yesterday's easy get up and calm serenity was no where to be found this morning. She smacked him on the head and he threw a brush down the hallway. This was there quick make up right after realizing she was going to get to come into his classroom today to read with him.
Kaly's school had a week of dressing up the week of Halloween (but the kids couldn't wear halloween costumes). I think this is the only day she participated. It was senior citizen day. What does it say that she's wearing my skirt (that we sewed to fit her), my cardigan, my jewelry and borrowed Makayla's glasses. Hahhaha. We all loved the outcome and thought she pulled it off really well.
