GS Halloween/ Juliette Gordon Low Party!

Last night was our Halloween party for girl scouts. It is also, techincally, a birthday celebration for the founder of the girl scout organization, Juliette Gordon Low. We had a pizza party and the girls learned a bit of trivia about our founder while they ate and then it was time for the games! I ran a face painting booth and brought Lucy along to help out. What a stroke of genius that was! She is so artistic AND great with the kids AND she got some community service hours for her AVID program! Win-win! Emma had such fun running around with her friends, playing games, making pudding "graveyards," decorating cookies, making handprint spiders, and even concocting a baggie full of slime that she got to bring home and play with. It was a great evening!

GS Family Picnic

Today was a nice, relaxing afternoon. After church & brunch with our friends, Emma & I came home to pick up Karen & TJ. Then we headed out to the park for a girl scout family picnic with the troop. The kids had fun playing on the playground and collecting acorns (which will come in handy for an upcoming thanksgiving project!) and the potluck was tasty too. Emma & I are loving being part of this troop.

Super Saturday!!!

  

Well, today was another busy busy Saturday for us. We were going going from sunrise to long after sundown but it was a lots of fun. We started off by meeting up at Lowes to build "creepy keeper boxes" with the kids. Then Karen & I & the kids met up with Mom at the pumpkin patch so they could all play and we could get some more pictures. Then it was off to the grocery store. In the afternoon Emma had a tball game and then I took her to buy a halloween costume. Emma has decided that she is over princesses this year and wanted to be something scary. So my sweet baby girl decided to be... a blood-sucking vampire! Yep... times they are a-changing. We finished up the night at home carving pumpkins... It was a good day. :)

Pumpkin Patch with the girls...

Today I picked Emma up from school and we rushed all the way back across town to Mentone to meet our friends and squeeze in a trip to the pumpkin patch before Halloween. It was a nice afternoon, not too hot out, and the girls had a fun time checking out all the pumpkins, playing on the playground & train and in the "bush maze." It was a fun afternoon and we even got some shots where they were all smiling at the same time! That in and of itself is a major feat!

Storytime

Our girls are learning so much so quickly, especially now that they are in kindergarten. I love how, between learning new sight words, being able to phonetically sound out some words, and rote memorization, they now think they can read. In fact, sometimes storytime now involves them reading to each other rather than asking us to read to them... Amazing. Tonight Hayden & Emma were reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom to each other. And, yes, it turns out that there would in fact "be enough room." :)

Pumpkin Votives!

I helped my Daisys make jack-o-lantern votives tonight at our meeting. They were a hit!

Halloween at Bass Pro Shop!

Karen & I took Emma & TJ to Bass  this past weekend. They love this store! And, truth be told, so do I! Where else can they make crafts, get pictures taken, climb on & pretend to drive ATVs & party boats, crawl through tents, shoot pop guns, buy fudge, watch giant catfish swim by, and ride in a glass elevator "under water?" It's awesome!!!

Kindergarten Conference #1

I had Emma's first "real" parent-teacher conference this afternoon. My little smartypants is doing very well in school! She is in the highest reading group and her teacher said she is ready to start the AR (Accelerated Reader) program, so she sent home the first library book. In math, Emma is doing very well and even got a couple of excellents! The only problem Emma is having right now is being a bit fidgety. She is often standing at her desk, or leaning one leg in her chair instead of remaining seated. She also tends to get up on her knees during carpet time (hence her new location in the back row!) but it's nothing too major. I mean, she just barely turned 5, so she is one of the youngest kids in her class. The sittings still will come with time. I couldn't be any prouder of my little girl!

Pinkalicious!

On Sunday afternoon we had a 3 generations girls day planned. Mom, Emma, & I were going to join Erin, Sophia, & Nancy and Jen, Hayden, & Charlene for the Pinkalicious musical. Unfortunately, Mom was still sick. So TJ took her place. Even with all his tiny testosterone, he enjoyed the play. Especially the part where Pinkalicious' brother and dad discuss that it is okay for boys to like pink too. :) It was a cute play and the girls had a great time together. They even got to meet the cast and get balloons and perfectly pink cupcakes after the show. Yum!