Field Trip to the Christmas Tree Farm

Today I chaperoned Sami’s class field trip to the Christmas tree farm – it was so much fun!  I got to ride a school bus for the first time in a LONG time!  We went to the tree farm that backs up to our neighborhood where we get our tree each year.  They gave the kids cider and cookies while the teacher (a substitute today) read the kids a cute Santa story (so happy to see them reading Santa stories and saying ‘Merry Christmas’!).  The kids had traced their feet and then cut them out and colored them, and teacher had their creations laminated.  We then used their “rulers” to measure the height of a tree.  Then we measure how many feet it took to go around the tree.  And finally we found trees that were taller, shorter and the same size as each child.  I had 5 lovely girls in my group, including Sami – they were such fun.  I have to say I was relieved not to have a group of all boys and try to keep track of them running around the tree farm!  It was so fun to see Sami with her friends – they are such a sweet and happy bunch.  What fun to go to Kindergarten for the day!

A Spooktacular Halloween!

Once again our neighborhood was over the top for Halloween.  From the decorations to the mobs of trick-or-treaters (we had over 300!), it was Halloween central. Grandma & Grandpa were in town for the 2nd Si View Halloween – it was fun to have them with us, and nice to have their help handing out candy!  We also had lots of friends from outside the ‘hood come over so we could all trick-or-treat together.  It was the most fun Halloween EVER!

We kicked off the Halloween weekend with a visit to the Microsoft haunted house with Grandma and Grandpa.

There were 4 floors completed decked out in theme – Harry Potter, Star Wars, Peter Pan & Tim Burton Films.  I was busy making sure the kids weren’t scared so didn’t get many photos!

Next activity was a super fun party at the Aspinall’s across the street.  I made this fun puking pumpkin, which I came close to resembling the next day after too much fun!

Grandma & Grandpa helped us to make ghosts out of blow pops & paper towels to hand out to the trick-or-treaters.  This is how we KNOW we had more than 300!

The Trick-or-Treat gang: Jagger, Jake (aka “Billy the Exterminator”), Asa, Sami, Jojo (aka “McQueen”), Scarlet and Ryan (a rat, to go with big brother “Billy”!!)

 

What a gang of ghouls!  Sami was tough to keep up with – she charged ahead with Asa while Joey took his sweet time with each house.  He'd receive a piece of candy and say “Ooooh.  This is my favorite kind” as he’d look longingly at the candy.  Then he’d insist on holding it in his hand rather than putting it in his bag. 

Check out this house at the end of our street – flaming pumpkins on the roof, and a giant pumpkin creature made from 13 pumpkins!

Johnny & Asa were great trick-or-treat buddies, and even shared their candy with the kids who came to our door after we ran out of candy!

Pumpkin Time!

I love pumpkin patch time!  This was our 4th year at Jubilee Farms.  It’s so fun to have a family tradition like this, because it takes me back to those moments in time each season.  Joey falling off the pumpkin after we made him sit on it as a baby.  Joey in my tummy while we tromped through the mud.  Sami seeing her party pony buddies.  This year it was foggy in the valley, but a perfect crisp fall day even though the sun was only shining up at our house.  Joey loved the tractor ride and pony rides, and Sami thought finding tiny pumpkins was lots of fun – she found some great ones! 

Life in Kindergarten

Sami is really loving life as a kindergartner.  it’s so fun to see her show a delight for learning.  Her teacher is magical.  I love hearing her little riddles for letters, like the “g” that’s going fishing for an alligator with it’s hook, or “loop around the bend and back down the track goes the train” to make a “2” or something like that. 

Last week was a field trip to the pumpkin patch!  Sami got to go bowling with a pumpkin, launch a rocket she made, and eat s’mores!

For crazy hair day, Daddy did an AWESOME job hooking Sami up with CRAZY hair!

“Friends” at the bus stop.

Johnny Appleseed Day!  That’s Lucy & Ethel’s cage behind Sami – they are the class Guinea pigs!