Halloween 2016

 We settled on costumes a few weeks ago and Jason is in love with the Hulk (even though he's never seen the movies).  He likes to pound on the door and say "Hulk smash!" when he's arrived at Mum Mum's house in the morning.  In the picture above, he proudly balanced on the fire wood and said "Quick!  Get my picture!"

 Emily and her bestie Aela coordinated their costumes to both be butterflies.  We grabbed our glow necklaces and bracelets and headed out to Aela's house.  We were invited to join them for chili before going trick or treating in their neighborhood.  On the way, we made a quick stop at Grandad and Mum Mum's house.  They live on a busy road and never get trick or treaters.  And they wanted to see the kids' costumes!

 Well, we put my two together with Ginger's four kids and it was just mad chaos all over Fox Run this year!  I brought along the wagon for when Jason finally decided to stop walking and ended up pulling him most of the night.  Tim and Ginger's husband John set up a fire pit at the end of their driveway and handed out candy while Ginger and I herded the mass of children around the neighborhood.  My arms are definitely feeling the strain from pulling Jason around the streets while the girls ran everywhere and then collapsed when they got home.  I'm sure tomorrow morning will be a joy for everyone :)

Happy 4th Birthday Jason!

 Jason Oliver was born at 3:05 PM 4 years ago today weighing a hefty 8 pounds, 9 oz.  He hasn't stopped growing since!  Jason decided he wanted a party at Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate and wanted to invite 3 friends from school (Caiden, Colton, and Lily) and his THREE girlfriends (Emma, Elizabeth, and Abby).  Elizabeth was nice enough to play along by attending the party!  (All 3 "girlfriends" are 12 years and older--Jay likes older women).  

Pizza!  Lemonade!  Fruit punch!  Sugar overload!

Hanging with Chuck E.

Ticket blaster!

KG Fall Festival 2016

I got Caroline's hair "parade ready" with a big ol' pile of french braids!

 It was the 57th annual King George Fall Festival this weekend, and we couldn't let a little something like Hurricane Matthew stand in our way of enjoying the festivities!  First on board was a visit from Cammy for the weekend.  We had the older 2 at the high school by 9 AM Saturday to march in the parade.  At that time, it was just a light sprinkling.  We headed out at 10:15 AM to stake our claim in front of BB&T to watch the parade, as we do every year.  At this point, it was a heavy downpour and the street was pretty wide open.  Timmy brought along our 10x10 canopy so that we would stay dry (for the most part).  We even ended up inviting people under the canopy to stay clear of the rain.  The parade was every bit of an hour and a half long and we stuck it out!  The participants still threw candy at the kids, and we ended up having to throw most of the soggy mess away :(  After the parade, we headed home to change into dry clothes, they went back to the high school for the craft fair, kids' rides, and of course, food!  

Watching the parade and waiting for candy!

the marching band!

Caroline in her "penguin suit", trying to stay dry

Emma and Abby from the drum line

Drama Dept was selling cotton candy for a fund raiser!  We also had hot dogs, BBQ, pumpkin cinnamon chip scones, and some sort of cinnamon streusal cake thing.

Library Fun: Giant Coloring Page!

 Even though English classes visit every other week, I see kids all day long, every single day.  Sometimes they want a specific book, and sometimes they just want a safe haven from the mean, cruel world where they can hang out with their friends and discuss Minecraft.  So I've been adding passive stations around the library that don't require a huge time commitment or a lot of work.  For instance, I made these giant coloring pages from a roll of art paper from IKEA and a permanent marker.  I just free handed a bunch of shapes and design, adding lots of pattern, and put out a big cup of markers and colored pencils.  The kids love it!  They have already finished one, which I promptly hung up above the doors in the back of the library.  Once they finish the next one, it will go right next to the first one and make a giant border around the room.  Anything to cover that nasty wood paneling!  And it adds lots of color to the library.  
Surprisingly, the students haven't written bad words or drawn bad pictures on the coloring sheets.  They seem to take the coloring very seriously.  I have a student helper during 2nd period (she dislocated her knee and can't participate in gym for 2 months, so she comes to the library instead of the gym) and she helped me make the next coloring sheet, so I have one in reserve.  I might start theming them out (autumn, then Christmas, then winter/snow, etc.) but for now, they are just random pics and patterns for the kids to color.

Kindergarten Field Trip: Snead's Pumpkin Patch!

 I accompanied Emily on her first trip of kindergarten today--a visit to Snead's Farm in Port Royal.  All 5 kindergarten classes from KGES went and we rotated between 5 activities:  lesson in the learnin' shed, animal visit, hayride, barn (with hay swings), and pumpkin picking.  By the end of the visit I was exhausted and ready to steal a nap mat.  Emily had a great time!  Her teacher is awesome and laid back and we had tons of parent chaperones to help with the chaos.

Gettin' our learn on!  How pumpkins come from seeds, why we have different colored pumpkins, etc.

Checking out the baby moo cows!

The horses weren't impressed with us.

Off to find the chickens!  As you can see, Snead's Farm also does the "cut your Christmas tree" in the winter.

The whole crazy class.

Chilling in the Gourd Garden.

Hayride time!

Emily and her bestie Lindsay.

Rope swing time!

Finally!  Time to pick a pumpkin.....and promptly hand it off to Mom to carry for the rest of the visit.