Our Hogwarts Halloween

It's been a really warm October.  Right up into this week, in fact!  But today? Today, the many Elsa's trick-or-treating brought with them some cooooooooold weather and wind and we were forced to put on layers and hats and gloves and everything at the last minute.  At one point in the night, it actually SLEETED on us!  Seriously.

Harry and Hermione 

didn't even flinch when the drops and ice hit their faces, though.  

They were running door to door like pros. 

So much so, that Josh and I were grinning to ourselves when we passed those poor suckers pulling babies and toddlers in wagons.  We don't miss lugging all that around on Halloween.  Those were the days, though.  Long gone days .... or are they? :}

Anna wimped out after the first mile and had to hitch a ride, have me heave her full bag, and start skipping houses off and on.  Noah remained undaunted, however, hitting every house that was open for business in our 2 hour trek around the 'hood.  Love that kid!  HE loved the fanfare he was met with at every house, too.  Harry Potter was a BIG hit all night.

This was the haul they both brought in by night's end... before we sorted out the peanut-y death traps, that is. :}

I'm dealing with some of those offending Reese's right now, in fact, all in the line of duty. Ha! It was a great night!  Hope y'all's was, too.  Happy Halloween from Hogwarts!!

We Fall for Fall Leaves Every Time

We fall for the bright falling leaves every year.  And I can't help snapping shots of the fun every time.  Which reminds me of last year's leaf shots ... and how that was the day we said goodbye to Chewie.  :(

Anyway, back to the leaves.  Big hit every year. :)

Notice my newest potted plant solution there by the door.  Something I can't kill.  Ha!!

Anna Goes Fancy and Crazy

It was a very nostalgic thing for me to pull out the old sponge curlers for Anna this week in an attempt to curl her hair.  Oh, the many, many uncomfortable nights I remember wearing those bad boys - sometimes all over my head, other times up in a ponytail.  Ouch!
Beauty is pain, right?  

Well, not exactly.  Not if you are an Anna girl.  She loved it and said she slept just fine. ♥

 

And by morning, she had unrolled them all herself.  Knowing her hair wouldn't hold curl well, I smothered it in hairspray, which might have been so heavy as to make it go flat sooner.  Ha!  At any rate, it was sweet and curly and clipped galore like Fancy Nancy for her Character Day at school.

She also had a touch of make-up on, sparkly painted nails, a tutu skirt with leggings and boots,

and two bracelets and necklaces before she walked out the door.

She said no one really knew she was supposed to be Fancy Nancy, but she had fun channeling her anyway. Other fun this week at school included Pajama Day Monday and Crazy Day today.  Anna wore mismatched clothes, socks, shoes and an inside-out, backwards shirt, with a scarf and her unbrushed bedhead that I slapped 8 barrettes in to.  Wanting to go the extra mile, Anna thought it would be crazy to go to school with bad breath too, but I vetoed that detail and had her brush her teeth after all, much to her protest. :}

Tooth #5 for Noah

Friday's Firehouse Field Trip

Our homeschool group checked out a local fire station yesterday.  

I think the last time Noah visited one he was only 4 years old, maybe?  Been awhile!

Fireman tid-bit .... all that gear weighs about 60 lbs.  And they get it all on in less than two minutes.   

 

Check out Noah wiggling his loose tooth.  He got that bad boy out later on in the day. :D

 

These guys were so comfortable with all our kiddos.  And I have to brag, all our kiddos were so well-behaved.  

 

Noah did this part twice.  I loved how long this guy would let them sit there and chat with him one-on-one.

 

Checkin' out the spray nozzles for the hoses.  You would be surprised at how HEAVY they were!

 

Noah asked him about the axes, so he pulled those and a few other tools out, too.  These firemen were so sweet to the kids. Fun tid-bit here:  This particular fireman was homeschooled, too! :D

 

Good day!

 

If you ask Noah, it was a GREAT day.  Next we hit the park with friends, then lunch out, then he got to play DS while I ran several errands, then we hit the car wash (he loves those still), then he pulled his tooth, and THEN he got to spend some of his report card money on a giant toy airplane, and then we went to have chili for dinner with friends, and then stayed out way past bedtime romping around after dark making smores over a fire.  A Friday well spent!!

Awesome

Noah had to turn a pumpkin into the main character or setting of a book he loves for a project at co-op.  He loves ALL the books he's read so far in the Captain Awesome series, so his was an easy pick.  He even turned down a Lego pumpkin idea to match the Lego book I got him at Anna's school's Book Fair.  How awesome and easy would a Lego head pumpkin be?  Totally awesome. 

But even totally awesome is just not as awesome as Captain Awesome.  See?

Tickled at how well Noah pulled it off.  And I only helped a little!  He has a week now to prep for the oral report part.  Piece of cake!  Good job, Noah!

And speaking of good job, Noah also did a pretty good job representing his first 9 weeks of Grade 2.5.  He got all A's and B's and one annoying C - Social Studies is such a pain... for the second year in a row - ugh!  We are tweaking a few things about how we cover the material and I am confident Noah will be able to pull that grade up by Christmas.  There is no way we are letting the Middle Ages take us down!

P is for Pumpkins!

Our pumpkin patch/porch so far. 

We have a 6th one missing from this photo because it is presently a work in progress.  Noah is painting it for a co-op project. Way fun!

Anna's Big Weekend

Look who got her first ever report card on Friday.  Adorable!  (Also, waaaaay more information than report cards were when Noah was in kindergarten.)

It was interesting to find a point of reference for Anna's reading level.  Apparently, kindergarteners are expected to start the year at a pre-reading or level A and  finish the year at level D.  Our little over-achiever has started the year at an E.  Ha! Proud of her and so thankful for how easy things come for her academically.  Kudos also go to her daddy who's been doing reading mini-lessons with her for some time now. It really shows!

In other news, Anna kept me on the run this weekend with two Frozen birthday parties and a school event all in one day.  Yes, I said TWO Frozen birthday parties, so it shouldn't surprise you to know that we ran into these {literal} characters along the way.

There was sliding

and singing

and storybook reading

and crafting

and more crafting

and even hair braiding and glittering.  Seriously - Hairdressing with the Stars. Birthday parties have come a long way since I was a girl!

You see my Anna front and center and ALL about it. She sang every word to the three songs they performed with the microphone to her face in such earnest participation.  So dreamy.

Another highlight of the day was the sunshine and cool air and a couple hours at Anna's school's Fall Festival in between birthday stops.

 

Anna's schedule so filled the day, I had to miss Noah's baseball game ... which was too bad because they won for the first time this season. Go Tigers! :D

Kimmie's First 5k

Guess who rocked (but really walked) her first 5k today?

 

This girl!

 

It was chilly, but bright.

 

Good friends were in sight.

Along with a slew of more friends all showing team solidarity in our way cute hats.

The event was appealing because it was about 10 minutes from home and, oh yeah, it was called

and the charity represented was Dreams and Wishes of Tennessee, a non-profit Wish Granting organization that grants wishes to kids between the ages of 5-21 who have relapsed from cancer or have a second life-threatening illness diagnosis. This explains all the characters lined up to greet us at the finish.

Yours truly came in at number 100 (ha!) and enjoyed her 5K jaunt at a hustling walking pace 

with my dear friend, Vivian. We gabbed and gabbed and even counseled each other a bit until we crossed that finish line one second apart. ♥

My 53 minutes plus some seconds is by no means an impressive time.  But me?  Doing a 5K at ALL?  Quite impressive indeed.

Also impressive?  The goodies we were loaded up with during the event.  I noticed too late that the logo on my shirt is WAY off center. Oh well.

Guess I will just have to sign up for another 5K to snag a better souvenir shirt. :D  I just might!