Halloween

Courtney started her new school on Monday. Yes, on Halloween! It actually was a really good time to start her! It was a party atmosphere, and we went back at 10:30am for their Harvest Festival, so she really only had 2 and a half hours without us there. So, it was a great way to ease her into her first day! She had a great time too. Here she is in her class singing a song about a pumpkin, dressed as a unicorn!

Halloween night was madness at our house, but good madness! We had 3 other families over for pizza prior to trick or treating. Yes, that made a total of 8 adults and 8 kids, 16 people! And of course the kids were SO excited for dinner and then dinner to be over so that they could head out. Finally we said "time to put on your costumes!" And they were all so excited! Here are all the kiddo's prior to heading out the the door!

Kasey was Scooby Doo. She was cute, but she would not wear the hood which was Scooby's head, but people were still able to figure out what she was.

Once we were starting to head out, our neighbor's carpool friends came to join us too. So then we had 11 kids and 4 adults. The Mommy's except for the one carpool dad took the kids. It was crazy for a bit. We made one trip around the block, then had to head back to the house to regroup and get the wagon and a stroller. The littlest kids were struggling to keep up with the big kids.

Meanwhile the dad's were set up in the driveway with all the candy and treats handing out candy while having a Halloween drink or two. Two of the other families were neighbor's and both the dad's decided they wanted to all hang out together instead of all being at home alone to hand out candy. So, they went home at the beginning of the night, got their candy, and put a sign on the door instructing trick or treaters to come to our house for candy. At one point another one of our neighbors also joined them with his candy bowl. He, however, had had a few too many Halloween drinks, and didn't last long. He did leave his candy for the other guys to hand out, and he went home. Ah, Halloween memories were created that night!

Kasey started crawling out of her crib last week. So, to be sure she didn't hurt herself, we took off the front side of the crib (it was made to do this). My mom had a rail to fit a toddler bed to make sure Kasey doesn't fall out. However, now she can get in and out of bed really easily. The first night we went in to check on her and this is how and where we found her:

She is behind the rocking chair in her room. She loves to hide back there. We have had a hard time keeping her in her bed at nap time, and when I go in to check on her, she hears me coming and RUNS to hide behind the rocking chair. I am currently thinking we may need to find a tent for her bed so she can hide in there. Maybe that will keep her in bed more... I just can't wait until this phase is over. It's a tough one. She has hardly napped this whole week which makes for some tough evenings. However, come bed time, she does normally stay in bed and crashes quite fast.

Courtney has really enjoyed her first week at school so far. She didn't go yesterday due to snow, but today was her 3rd day. They are doing a lot of testing with her to find out which levels she needs to be at. She was already put in the 1st grade math, but she doesn't have to go to the 1st grade room. The other kindergarten room is doing a 1st grade math program. They were testing her reading, letter sounds and site words this week.

She certainly has been coming home in a better mood, and more talkative. Not sure if this is due to the new school or due to the fact that she is only half day, but I like it! I can't wait to get in there and volunteer and see how things really work!

Winter has come. Not really since it doesn't start until December, but we just had our 3rd snow, and it's COLD. I miss summer already.

Yesterday Courtney was asking me why she and her friend Ava do not go to the same school. I told her that Ava goes to a catholic school and we are not catholic, we are Presbyterian. She then asked me "Why are we vegetarian?" Ah, it's the little things they say that make me laugh!