Happy Halloween!

I haven't been doing a very good job at keeping the blog up lately. I've been really busy with volunteering at school to get ready for the Fall Carnival, Grandparents Day and the Bookfair. On top of that, I've been trying to catch up on housework and help Keithen establish some better homework habits.

ANYWAY.....I'm actually getting Trick or Treat pictures up on Halloween night! Yeah! Kaylee was ready to go out as soon as she got home from school. I had to remind her that she needed to wait until after dinner. She was also very tickled to answer the door and find her Kindergarten classmate, Nicholas, trick-or-treating at our house with his little brother. Can you see the sugar buzz in their bright eyes? I didn't think we'd ever get them to bed, but somehow we did manage lights out by 8:30.

ACK!
Having problems with posting pictures.
Promise to try to add them tomorrow!

Fall

Some pictures of Ruby enjoying a sunny (but windy!) fall afternoon on Monday.

Pumpkin Carving

We carved pumpkins after dinner on Sunday night. I swear we need to do this in the middle of the day instead of after dinner. We always end up staying up late so someone can finish.

Our Look-a-Likes

I definately agree with the Kevin Costner. I was surprised he didn't get Mel Gibson. (Although they looked more alike during the Braveheart era when they both had more hair.)


Matt said, Jodie Foster? Mmmmmm....
Personally, I figured I'd get Jami Gertz because that's who people used to tell me I look like.


Liza? Maybe it's the bangs?


I was surprised that Kaylee was the one who got matched with Daniel Radcliffe and not Keithen. (For anyone out there who's been hiding under a rock, Daniel plays Harry Potter.)


So.....Do you think Ruby could tour with 50 Cent? They could be billed as "1 Dollar and 50 Cent."

Picking Pumpkins

We went to Waterman's last Sunday to pick out our pumpkins. It was kind of cold and windy, but the kids enjoyed themselves anyway. Unfortunately, the pumpkin eating dinosaur wasn't running for some reason. After going in a few circles, we finally made it out of the cornfield maze. We left with 5 pumpkins, a jug of apple cider and a few tomatoes. Ruby insisted that she wanted a smaller pumpkin.....one that she could carry. I hope it's not too small to carve. We were still chilly when we got home so we had hot chocolate.

On Tuesday, Kaylee's class made up their previously rained-out field trip to Tuttles pumpkin patch. Ruby and I were scheduled to go along. Kaylee rode the bus to school and we were supposed to take the van and meet her in the classroom. Right about the time we were ready to walk out the door, the phone rang. Transportation was calling to tell me that Keithen had thrown up all over the bus and they were bringing him back home. Great. Turns out he was reading on the bus, got dizzy and tossed up his breakfast. I think he just got motion sickness because he wasn't feverish and never threw up again all day. He's been fine ever since. I pray that he's not going to start having problems with getting carsick on the bus. The poor kid has an hour long ride to and from school. Since they can't get out pencils (they might get impaled if there was an accident!) he can't draw or do puzzles, just read. That bus ride is going to get OLD if he can't take reading on the bus anymore.

Recital day!

Ruby had her ballet recital yesterday. Really, they just do their normal class but parents and guests are welcome to sit in the classroom and watch.

Blogging Baby picture of the day

Ruby is the picture of the day over at Blogging Baby today.

That one was actually taken last year at Halloween.

This year she'll be dressing up as Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

4 in 10 Indianapolis kids overweight!

An article in today's Indianapolis Star says that 40% of Indianapolis area kids are either overweight or obese. The study was conducted by the Marion County Health Department. This study, which is the most comprehensive look at childhood obesity in Marion County, found that 22 percent of the 90,147 school children evaluated were obese, while another 18 percent were overweight.

YIKES!

Maybe they need to get off the couch, away from the TV, XBox and the compter screen and get a little exercise. Maybe they need gym class every day instead of twice a week. Maybe they need more than a 10 minute recess at school. Maybe mom and dad need to look at how many Happy Meals they eat a month.

Cat starts fire: Dog saves disabled owner

Unfortunately, both pets died.

Yet another reason to give birth unmedicated and at home

Methodist Hospital is in the news for another "human error" this week. An 18 year old woman was given 10 hours worth of epidural medication in a one hour period. She has now lost the use of her legs. They don't know when/if she will be able to walk again.

Lost tooth!

Kaylee finally lost her wiggly tooth tonight during dinner. After several minutes of worried crawling around on the kitchen floor, we finally found the tiny tooth. It's waiting in a little dish for the Tooth Fairy to arrive later tonight. Kaylee even went to bed early because she is so anxious for the Fairy to make her first visit.

Honor roll

Daddy took Keithen to the honor roll breakfast at his school this morning.

What the heck?

I tried to load my blog and it came up a blank page with a Spanish heading reading, "El Sendero del Pejeal 2006."
What's the deal??!?!?!?!??!
All my posts are still there if I go in to edit mode, but not if I try to load the actual blog.

Royalty!

King Peter of Narnia, Princess Snow White and Princess Belle were at our house today. Most of the time outside in their costumes was actually spent playing Narnia, with the girls fussing over who got to be Queen Lucy. Kaylee wasn't a very willing participant in our photo session.

Wiggly and giggly!

Kaylee had something very important to share this morning when she woke up. Her very first wiggly tooth! She told me she thought she had one that was loose. Sure enough, I took a look and I don't think it will be long before she loses one of her bottom front teeth. She said, "No wonder it was so hard eating that apple before bed last night." LOL! I'm surprised she didn't lose it last night if it was loose then. If she does lose it soon, she'll be several months younger than Keithen was when he lost his first tooth. She wanted to wear a dress to school today "to celebrate her first loose tooth." Makes me wonder if she'll want a party when the thing comes out! LOL! I hope she doesn't lose it at school today.

Hard work = hardware!

Last night was Keithen's final soccer game and their awards. I have to say, of all of his trophies, I think this one is the one that he really worked the hardest to earn. His team was amazing this year. They had a great coach who really stressed playing as a team.

The difference for all the kids was phenomenal this season. Suddenly they were playing together instead of playing to get the ball. They were passing....and their passes were connecting. They were setting each other up to score instead of fighting each other for control of the ball. They were able to defend the goal and didn't allow very many teams to get one past the goalie. They didn't even allow the other teams to get very many shots off. They were so much fun to watch. I hope that all of them remember what they learned this season and carry it forward to the next.

The team drooling over the hardware.

Keithen getting his award from Coach Armstrong.

Do you think he's proud of it?

Trophy #8 - do you think the shelf can hold much more?

Sign ups for winter soccer are right around the corner, although he won't start playing again until January.

Kaylee's school project

Kaylee brought home instructions for her very first school project on Monday. She had an outline of a pumpkin. The instructions said that her pumpkin "didn't want to become pumpkin pie" so she needed to disguise it somehow. It wasn't due until Friday, but she dove right in and worked very hard on it last night. Here is what she came up with:


A butterfly pumpkin!

WARNING: The End is near!

As I write this, there are approximately 3 days and 11 hours until "The End" arrives on Friday, October 13th.

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, "The End" is book 13 in Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events," so please don't start worrying about apocalyptic events. Instead, worry about the fate of the three Baudelaire orphans who were last seen sailing off the top of a hotel in a boat with Count Olaf. Mr. Snicket pleads with his potential readers to quickly put the book aside, sure that they "probably can't stand such unpleasantries as a fearsome storm, a suspicious beverage, a herd of wild sheep, an enormous bird cage, and a truly haunting secret about the Baudelaire parents."

Keithen and I are both anxious for Friday. We've pre-ordered our copy of the book from Amazon.com and hope it arrives on time. I'm secretly hoping that he doesn't want to read it on the bus so that I can try to finish it while he's at school next week. I'm torn between wanting to see a happy ending for the Baudelaire children and not wanting to see the books take an uncharacteristic turn where everything is "happy happy joy joy!" I'm anxious to see how Snicket wraps things up.

Terri Irwin's Revenge

Play Terri Irwin's Revenge.
Matt said he was surprised that he hasn't heard any Steve Irwin jokes yet since it's been over a month since he died. I stumbled on this game today.

New on the blogroll.....Being Five

George Sfarnas' comic Being Five was recently featured on Blogging Baby. Being Five is about Georgie, a Kindergartener who blogs using voice recognition software. With a Kindergartener of my own in the house, it's a pretty entertaining little comic.

Kaylee and Toad are Friends

Kaylee spent most of her afternoon on Saturday playing with this little guy. We couldn't decide at first if it was a frog or a toad. I'm pretty sure he was a toad. If we would have let her, I think she would have kept him for a pet. She named him "Hoppy" and was very attached to him. She eventually did let him go free before coming in for dinner time.