Halloween 2014

Halloween was fairly uneventful this year.  We knew that we had to get up early the next morning to drive to the Aggie game, so we planned to trick or treat early and get home at a reasonable time.  The Trunk or Treat that we always attend started at 5:45 so as soon as we finished dinner, we got dressed in our costumes.  Parker chose to be a ninja this year and the girls were going to be fairies. But at the last minute, Lily decided that she wanted nothing to do with the Tinkerbell costume I had bought her and changed to a princess dress.   She also wanted nothing to do with taking pictures before we left but thankfully had found her happy heart by the time we got to the church.

 

We started inside playing games and all three kids did great!  They all participated and had fun winning prizes!

Next, we went outside to get candy at the Trunk or Treat.  I'm still not sure what happened, but at one of the very first trunks, something upset Eden and she started crying.  Nothing Cory and I did could settle her down, so we finished up as fast as we could and headed home. 

Our annual Halloween picture with the llamas for Aunt MerMer

Lily and her sweet friend Dylann Rose

On the way home we stopped at two houses- Mrs. Becky's and Mrs. Brightwell's.  We have been going to their houses since Parker was a baby so we had to continue our tradition.  Eden was still upset and would not even get out of the car.

We got home so early that Cory and I suggested that the kids stand at the door and hand out candy to the trick or treaters in our neighborhood.  In all the years we have lived there, we have never handed out candy.  The kids absolutely loved it!  It was their favorite part of the entire night! Cory and I loved watching how excited they all got when someone knocked on the door.   We decided that from now on, we will spend our Halloween handing out candy after we go to Mr. Reed's Trunk or Treat. 

Despite Eden's meltdown, we had a fun Halloween night together.  As always, there was way too much candy consumed but that's what Halloween is for, right? 

 

Happy Birthday Dylann Rose!

A few weeks ago, the girls got to help our friend Dylann Rose celebrate her 4th birthday with a spa party at her house.  Dylann and Lily are only 6 days apart and love spending time together. 

 

Lily was very excited about the party but Eden told me on the way there that she didn't want to participate.  I told her that she could just sit with me and watch Lily.

 

The first thing the girls did was listen to a story about Fancy Nancy while they soaked their toes.  Then they divided into two groups: hair/makeup and manicures/pedicures.  Lily started with makeup and hair.  Eden still didn't want to do anything so she sat with me and watched.

When they switched groups, Eden decided that she wanted her nails/toes painted.  I was so excited that she chose to participate a little. 

While I was waiting for Lily to get her toes painted, I realized that Eden was nowhere to be found.  Once I started looking for her, I discovered that she had sneaked back into the hair/makeup room to have her makeup done.  Sweet girl!

After the girls had been pampered, they put on their fancy dresses for a fashion parade.  Lily looked beautiful!

They stayed in their fancy dresses for cake and ice cream. 

We are so glad that we got to help Dylann Rose celebrate her birthday this year!  I hope that she and Lily stay friends for many years to come!

Lily's Community Helper Fair

As soon as I left Parker's Reading Bee competition, I headed over to Lily's preschool for her Community Helper Fair.  They have been studying community helpers during the month of October and they finish their unit by dressing up and participating in several community helper activities.

 

Lily dressed up as a baker, complete with a cute apron and spatula!

She loved having her friend Hadley as her partner during the fair.

She enjoyed pretending to be a fireman, trash collector, librarian, veterinarian, baker, dentist and grocery store shopper during the fair.  When I asked her what her favorite thing was, she said "All of them!".

This is the fifth Community Helper Fair that I've attended in the past five years (Lily was only a few days old at the first one!) and it is always great to watch the kids have fun as they learn about the people in our community.  I'm a little sad that next year will be my last one! 

Reading Bee

We found out a couple of weeks ago that Parker won the Reading Bee for Gerard.  The Reading Bee is a reading competition for second graders that evaluates them on their reading accuracy, speed, and comprehension. 

 

Because he was the Gerard champion, he was able to move on to the district competition last Tuesday.  I took the day off so I could go with him and Cory was able to come for the award ceremony at the end. 

 

There were 7 students competing at the district level- one from each elementary school in town. 

Parker did not win the district Reading Bee but we were so proud of him for representing our school.  He is a great reader and has developed a love for reading that I hope lasts the rest of his life!

Parker and his 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Humphreys

Gerard Fall Festival

The last few weeks have been so busy!  Between baseball games, birthday parties, and Halloween festivities, I feel like we spent most of the month of October on the go!  I am so tired once I crawl in bed that blogging is the last thing on my mind.  So I guess I will back up a few weeks and start from the beginning of the festivities in order to try and catch up!

 

Two weeks ago was the Gerard Fall Festival.  We have been to our fall festival every year since Parker was 18 months old.  The kids were so excited and couldn't wait for it to start!  Since I am room mom for Parker's class this year, I wasn't sure how much I was going to be able to walk around with the kids this year.  Fortunately, I had a lot of parents sign up to work our class booth so I was able to spend the first part of the festival watching the kids play games. It is so much nicer now that they are bigger.  I don't worry about losing them in the crowds and they can participate in all of the activities without my help.

 

The only game Eden wanted to do was the Duck Pond so we went there first. 

We also did the pumpkin grab, nail painting, and ping pong toss.

Eden wanted no part of the soda pop walk but Parker and Lily had fun participating.

Eden and Lily both got brave and got their hair painted- a first for both of them!

We finished up the evening with pumpkin bowling and putt-putt before we ran out of tickets. 

We had a fun time at the fall festival and for the first time ever, we made it through the evening without any tears at all!  It was a great way to spend a Friday night as a family!

Parker's 1st Aggie Game

Yesterday we got to take Parker to his very first Aggie football game!  Cory and I have wanted to take him for a while but the opportunity never came up.  A few weeks ago, some family friends called us and told us they couldn't use their season tickets and wanted us to have them.  I'm not sure who was more excited- Parker or me and Cory! It has been 6 years since we've been back to the A&M campus and it's always great to go back to a place where you spent some of the best years of your life!

 

We had to leave very early yesterday morning because the game started at 11am and we wanted to walk around campus a little before the game. 

We took Parker to the Sul Ross statue and the Century Tree where Cory proposed to me almost 18 years ago.  Then we walked around the newly renovated MSC before finding a spot to watch the Corp of Cadets march in. 

We realized during the march in just how chilly it was that morning and were very thankful we had brought jackets with us!

The newly renovated Kyle Field was awesome!  It is nothing like the Kyle Field we remember from the 90s!

Our seats were great but unfortunately for Parker, they were not in the sun.  He spent the first quarter of the game "freezing to death"!  Luckily, the sun finally hit our seats about half time and he was finally able to comfortably watch the game!

Parker loved watching the Fighting Texas Aggie Band!

The Aggies (barely) pulled out a win so we were able to go home happy!  It was such a special day getting to finally take Parker to Aggieland!  I hope that this will be the first of many to come.  And hopefully we will get to take the girls with us next time.  It's never to early to start that Aggie brainwashing!