November School Happenings

Inner Space Caverns Field Trip

Kaylee had a fun day exploring our local cave system with her class that ended with a picnic at a park.

Homecoming Week

Because my kids go to a K-12 school they have already been exposed to Homecoming. The high schoolers included K-8 in some of their Homecoming festivities this year, which thrilled Kaylee. She loves to dress up on themed days. Landon wasn't into it as much. They'd previously had quite a few themed days, and I think he was a little burnt out on the whole thing. Ainsley has always been hit or miss on dress up days. She picks and chooses the themes she likes best. A couple of the themed days included:

Nerd Day

This one was Kaylee's favorite day. I think Landon was a little offended by this one because we're all kind of a bunch of nerds around here. Kaylee, on the other hand, was all for it. The "Kick Me" sign was totally her idea, and yes, she did get kicked. 

Twin Day

Landon participated in this one. Most of his class wore red shirts, blue jeans and white socks. I didn't realize how tall he is until I saw him in this picture. I thought he must have been standing on something, but he says he wasn't. Sheesh!

Thanksgiving Feast

Gateway holds a Thanksgiving Feast for the kids and their families each year.  My mom and dad were here for it this time.  Fun!  Landon's class put on a Thanksgiving play before they ate.  It was super cute.

That's pretty much it for school activities in November. Now it's on to Thanksgiving!

October in a Nutshell

Decorating

October was full of Halloween and Fall fun. We actually decorated for Halloween at the end of September. I tried so hard to wait one more week, but I love decorating for Fall and Halloween. My kids were begging, and I was having a hard time resisting, so the decorations came out September 22nd.

  

Halloween Tree

We made our traditional Halloween tree for Family Home Evening the second Monday in October. When we were kids, my brother and I used to produce pretty tame creations - pumpkins, ghosts, bats, etc. But, my kids like to make everything zombified and creepy. I'll thank Chris for that one. It always turns out cute though.

Pumpkin Patch

Landon's Kindergarten class went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch mid October. As much as I still miss it, it's quite a bit easier to attend school outings when I don't have a little one at home with me.

Carving Pumpkins and Decorating Cookies

For Family Home Evening two days ago we carved our pumpkins and decorated cutout Halloween cookies. Our good friends Elizabeth and Caleb joined us. Kaylee designed and carved her own pumpkin. That's a fairy in the pumpkin's mouth. Ainsley and Landon went with templates this year. Ainsley carved a witch with a small amount of help from Caleb. It turned out great!

Halloween

 I had fun sewing costumes this year. Kaylee decided to dress as Kirsten (An American Girl), Landon wanted to be a Pokemon (Umbreon to be exact), Chris humored us and agreed to dress as Ash Ketchum to go along with Landon's costume, and Ainsley decided to dress as Emily (a character from the comic book series, Amulet). By the time I finished their costumes there wasn't much time to make anything for myself (I will make a Sally costume one year), so I wore a pair of cat ears and called it good. 

Today I'll be putting Halloween away. Landon was feeling bummed last night because it took forever to come and was over so quick. I still feel like that sometimes, so I understand. I reminded him that Halloween is just the beginning of the holiday season. Plus, we still get to keep out the fall decorations for another month. That cheered him up a bit. Especially after he remembered that "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" will be making an appearance this afternoon. Happy Halloween