Halloween in Grayling

The kids were super excited about treak-or-treating at Gramma’s house…and we were, too…until the Michigan weather happened. Yeah, it was 38° and rainy. Egads. If you look closely enough you can see Katie’s polka-dot long johns under her white tights (and she also had on pink tights!).

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On the front porch where my Halloween picture was taken every year…

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Everyone (including Uncle Rob) ready to head out!

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There weren’t many houses lit up but the ones that were were handing out TONS of candy! You see how full their bags look? We had only hit maybe six houses at this point!

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After about 15 minutes they gave up on the umbrellas and just ran from house to house while we waited at the road. Soon enough we were back at Gramma’s door!!

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Home after an hour of being out in the rain—they were soaked but happy!!

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Tom gave the kids a hot shower and put them in PJs while I made them hot cocoa!

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Eating Mallow cups from daddy and Uncle Rob—they were Grandma Marsha’s favorite treat and someone brought a bag of them for the boys.

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LOOKS AT THEIR HAUL!! The weather sure stunk but it was great for quick candy accumulation. They got 9# of candy from less than 20 houses!

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Kidisms 18

Owen: Mom, my tongue hurts.
Me: Why does your tongue hurt?
Owen: Because I really want to eat.
Me: Yeah it doesn’t work like that.

Owen: Burger King is delicious.
Me: Yes it is.
Owen: But the breakfast meals are deliciouser.

As we are driving in the car:
Tom, to Katie: Kisses!
Katie: I can’t reach! I’m in my seat!

At Costco after Katie said she had to go potty and was successful:
Me: Katie, you did such a great job! I’m so proud of you!
Katie: I know. Thank you.

Driving to Kalkaska:
Owen: Mom! You missed it! The white tree with black spots. Like in my game!
Me: Those are birch trees and we’ll see more!

The same stage!

On the same stage where my school pictures were taken cough 30+ cough years ago. I’ve been wanting to visit the school for probably the last 15 years and finally just went and did it! It was a bonus that I was able to take the kids, the gym was empty, and I could take a picture! Funnily enough, I had forgotten my phone in the car so after our brief walk around, I had to go back to the car to get my phone so I could get my picture! I had waited so long to do it that I wasn’t going to miss my opportunity!

  
   
 

Last T-ball game of the fall season!

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I love that his tongue is out the entire time. Click photo for larger image:
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He was in the pitcher position for an inning and he did REALLY well getting the ball and throwing it to first base! Click photo for larger image:
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And this is what Katie is busy doing during the game…sitting on the sidewalk by the parking lot, co-opting someone’s mitt and running around, and playing with someone’s dog. 🙂

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Stay tuned for the team photos! The fall season didn’t have official photos but the coaches wife took some!

Halloween starts tonight!

Owen’s school Fall Festival was tonight and we wanted some one-on-one time with him so asked friends to watch Katie. They were going to a Trunk or Treat event so she was excited! She was Rapunzel—with Pascal on her shoulder!

And then we had Harry Potter—SO stinkin’ cute!

With his fresh scar:

Getting his new shoes tied. I bought these shoes on clearance about four years ago and they’re finally the right size…and worked well with his costume!

Couldn’t you just eat him up?


We kept bouncing back and forth between the games in the gym and the music in the cafeteria. He didn’t want to dance but loved playing with the hula hoops! He was very shy because he didn’t know many of the kids.

And you’ll notice he’s missing the glasses. Yeah. He decided about 15 minutes in that he didn’t want to wear them. Or carry his broom. Kids. :/

Back to games!

And then since it was crazy crowded and he was pretty much done, we suggested frozen yogurt—and he wanted to leave immediately. 🙂

Katie actually got home later than us! They said she qas very well-behaved and had a BLAST! And she came home with a TON of candy!

The vampire teeth were the favorite thing.

And, lastly, pics from Katie’s night. Her friend Ainsley is Tinkerbell.

Owen’s classroom tour

I had to drop off the table signs for the fall festival and a bag of odds and ends containers to the STEAM class…so just took Owen to school. Since we had extra time before school actually started, I had him show me around his classroom. I learned more about his days in that 15 minutes than I have all year. 🙂

Hallway art:

Color: Blue
Food: Pizza
Animal: Cat
Book: Stop the Bot

  • I will look for [I can’t tell and he couldn’t remember]
  • I will look for ink for writing
  • I will build a house for living
  • I will discover Spain
  • I will discover America
  • I will find fresh water
  • I will find gold and food

I joked with him, asking if that was really his handwriting because it was SO much better than what I get from him at home. 🙂

In his classroom:

I had him walk me through what happens when he comes in every morning.

First, the coat gets stuffed in the box (behind his knees), the lunch box goes across the room to the big lunch bin (the teacher carries it down at lunchtime because they go straight from recess to lunch), the Book Baggie goes in a specific numbered basket (each kid has their own number), and the homework folder goes in a bin.

Some of the book bins:

Owen’s hopes and dreams: to learn to write. 🙂

Some of their daily schedule:

Work centers—he had to point to each column and read all the names and activities:

This picture was sitting on the teacher’s desk and he pointed it out saying “Look! I’m wearing my Minecraft shirt!” Not what the picture was for or when it was taken, LOL. I asked and he said “just because.” I’m guessing maybe it was the first say of school because I know that’s what he wore that day. (The teacher wasn’t in the room so I couldn’t ask her.)

Then he told me about a bunch of other stuff in his room…poetry center where you grab a sheet from the basket and read it, how when they read to self they grab a book and a pillow and can sit “anywhere in this section,” etc. He was so proud and so full of information! I told him THAT’S the stuff we wanted to know when we asked him about his day. 🙂

Lastly, when his teacher came back, I spoke with her separately for a few minutes to update her on his GI issues. We told her he had a change of clothes in his bag and we just recently put his underwear in a separate ziploc bag in case he had to change them during class and didn’t want to be obvious about it. We also let her know that it’s okay to tell him to go change if she notices anything, and maybe she can take special care to let him deal with it after everyone has left for recess or lunch or whatever so that the other kids don’t know. She was very nice about everything.

Sunday walk with my protector. 

It was COLD this morning—in the high 40s, I think—when we set out. We were in multi-layers, Owen had gloves, and we both had our hoods up. 🙂

Today’s weapon was a lightsaber. 🙂

As we were walking along, I was getting the usual commentary about weapons and which bad guys are in the forest and why the minotaurs are no longer there…and then suddenly he stops, turns around, and says “Shhh! We’re in skeleton forest!”

I love this boy. :heart:

Throwback Thursday—In Owen’s jogging suit

This is a 2T outfit—he was in it under 2 and she’s in it over 3! I’ve been meaning to put her in it for quite some time now and finally did it today; the pants are slightly too short but the jacket is almost too big.

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Edited to add: Whoops! Those aren’t the right pants! Now I remember why I haven’t put her in that outfit before now… I couldn’t find the pants that go with that outfit!

Kidisms 17

Tom just came home early and threw Katie in the air a few times then put her down.
Katie: Do it again!
Tom: Daddy’s back hurts. I just had a major back cracking.
Katie: OHHH NOOOO!! Are you okay?

We asked Alexa to play some Christmas music. She started playing O Little Town of Bethlehem.
Katie: That’s not Christmas music. It’s not jingle jingle.

Katie was playing with my pill container.
Katie: Mama, when I want a pill can I have a pill?
Me: You don’t need any pills.
Katie: I KNOW THAT!

My phone alarm rang at 7:45 signaling Owen’s bedtime.
Me: Owen, it’s time for bed.
Owen: I don’t want to go to bed. I’m not tired. He wastes some time whining. I want to go to bed at 7:50.
Me: That’s four minutes.
Owen: Okay! Daaaad! I’m staying up late tonight! 7:50!
Tom: Laughs.

Katie’s first at-bat…and T-ball practice!

We got to the field quite early, so we had plenty of time to use the field ourselves. We gave Katie her first try at batting and she did very well! She missed three right-handed attempts…and then got the first left-handed attempt! Maybe she’ll be like mama! (I also tried and hit 2 out of 3—left-handed of course!)

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And then what I think all the kids think is the best part of every practice or game…snack time!

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