The days have been full of school, school activities, dance classes, me teaching my college courses a couple nights a week, volunteering in the classroom at the Elementary School, field trips and all of the Halloween festivities that come at the end of the month. I don't mind the busyness too much, as I am a person that is constantly 'on the go' and thrive on lists and organization. But at the end of the day, as I settle into bed to read a few pages in a book (one of my favorite pasttimes), I feel a tad bit of guilt that it went by so fast and I didn't slow down enough to document everything. So, here are a few snippets of our month, mostly captured on my phone:
Samantha is settling well into Middle School and I couldn't be happier about this. There is less contact with parents compared to the Elementary School, which is purposeful because it gives more responsibility to the student. I was nervous about this because Sam struggles with organization, but it seems to be working just fine. She enjoys the extra freedom and finished the first marking period with all A's.
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James and I try to head to the bakery in town for lunch one day a week -- either on a Tuesday or Thursday after I pick him up from preschool. It is our special time together and I know that these days are limited, so I try to make the most of it.
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We have gone to the orchard every single weekend this Fall. It is the one of the kids' most favorite things to do and I manage to get a bit of work done there at the same time. I grabbed this quick picture of Jack out front because he loves this rock and he was looking so big to me that day -- two missing front teeth and feet that just keep growing and growing.
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Later that day, we stopped down in the pumpkin patch and let the kids pick out pumpkins. They all went for the BIGGEST ones that they could find, except for James. He opted for one more his size and Jack offered to carry it back to the truck for him.
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Sophia won the Candy Corn Gussing Contest in her Reading Group and came home from school with the whole container -- all 1080 of them! She earned a guess for each page that she read that week in a book ... 123 guesses and guessed it perfectly on Guess #16. Smiles for miles that day!
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James is in full-on learning mode. He loves doing projects both at school and at home. My favorite thing is to have him work next to me at the table while I am simultaneously grading and working on Answer Keys for my classes.
He loves dot-to-dot books right now.
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Samantha had to bring in a food from another country in one of her classes at school. Unfortunately, she was not able to choose a recipe herself; it was handed out to her. But we made the best of it, making a few minor substitutions, and it turned out to be the teacher's favorite dish! She helped me make the tomato chutney on the stove and found that she really did like it. (The tomato chutney went inside some puff pastry with caramelized red onions and sausage).
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Jack is doing well academically in First Grade. His math scores are tremendous and he hasn't missed a single spelling word yet on any of his Friday Spelling Tests. We paractice the words all week -- sometimes writing them in flour on a tray in the kitchen.
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School days are for learning and for celebrating friends' birthdays!
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We went trick-or-treating at Sleepy Hollow a few weekends before Halloween. We love doing this because it spreads out the holiday even more and the weather is typically better than it is on the actual day of Halloween (ahem, SNOW on Halloween this year!). Also, the kids get a trial run with their costumes and then I can make adjustments before their school parade and the big candy night.
Ready to jump in the van and drive the short distance to the State Park:
Most of the campers decorate their sites and it is fun to look at all of the decorations.
Sam's costume was a BIG HIT this year as Mary Poppins. Random people were stopping her and asking to take her picture. Ha! She really did make the most perfect Mary Poppins!
Afterwards, the kids stripped out of their costumes in the Family Room, with the fire going, and bartered their candy. They also filled a bowl of "discards," the ones that none of them wanted. These included Almond Joys, Peanut M&Ms and Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, and I wasn't mad about it one bit. Those are some of my favorites.
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Jimmy made applesauce with his friends at school and was utterly fascinated by the apple peeler. He is used to seeing me peel and core apples by hand, so this was a real treat for him.
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We are working with Jack on some small behavioral issues at school (not always listening or not always being friendly) and one day, we decided to send in a cinnamon-sugar donut from the orchard with a note to his teacher that he would try to be a better listener that day.
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We headed down to the park to take some pictures of the kids for our annual Christmas Card and let them be a little bit silly in between.
A real action shot!
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I found this school picture of Samantha from kindergarten and teared up a little bit. I remember this like it was yesterday, and now she will be turning eleven (11!) in two weeks. To this day, she still looks like her momma and acts like her dad.
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Early morning picture before heading to school on Picture Day. I haven't received his photos back yet, but I am hoping that the photographer managed to capture a great smile and that natural look of mischief in his eyes.
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On Halloween morning, when it was raining and about 30 degrees outside, we headed to the local pumpkin farm for Jimmy's field trip. It was downright frigid, but we managed to get a nice pumpkin and later warm up with a donut and cider following the WET hayride.
We were soaked when we arrived back home, but we quickly changed out of our wet clothes, gathered a few things and then headed to the Elementary School. While there, I was in charge of the games in both Jack's classroom and Sophia's, too. I brought my Pin the Eyeball on the Zombie game and a spider toss game and they were both big hits!
Everyone ended up with prizes and we were able to leave school a bit early (stopping to pick up Sam at the Middle School) before heading home to prepare for a night of company, food and trick-or-treating. The trick-or-treating was quick -- home by 7 pm -- because it was a snowing, wet and cold. But, it also meant that the kids were all tucked in bed by 8 pm ... something that is literally unheard of on Halloween night!
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