october 28

thankfully kevin is working from cincinnati this coming week so he can take part in all of the halloween festivities, starting with a cousins' halloween party this afternoon.  all of the kids were so adorable in their costumes, and stella's hand-made dragon costume was unbelievable!  my sister is amazingly talented!!  the kids had the best time together, and aunt heather had some hilarious halloween surprises in store.  the kids had a mummy contest where we wrapped them in toilet paper from head-to-toe, and then they tore it all off.  it was crazy, out-of-control, messy and hilarious!  we could not stop laughing.

october 27

this morning we had stella over while heather and danny went to the doctor for their implantation appointment.  praying that is works and all goes perfectly this time around.  the kids had a fun day together.  this evening we carved big pumpkins to get ready for halloween!  as usual, kevin and i did all the work while the kids supervised!  happy kids, happy pumpkins, happy parents :)

october 26

fridays have taken on a whole new level of fun because kevin typically flies in on the red-eye and arrives home first thing in the morning while we are still in bed.  it is a tough schedule for kevin, but it allows us to be together as a family for 2-3 days, and that's important to both of us.  this morning we made cinnamon rolls for daddy and walked brooke to the bus stop.  kevin and gavin put on their matching batman shirts and had a fun morning goofing around.  super hero powers unite!

october 25

today i got out my "real" camera and practiced with different sources and direction of light.  the kids cooperated for about 2 minutes, but it was just long enough to get some good shots of them.

october 24

i had the pleasure of spending the morning with chase - just the two of us!  we ran a couple errands, and i was so tickled to hear him yelling out the letters he saw in different signs/stores along the way.  such a smart little cutie pie!  we came home and chase played on the little roller coaster in the driveway until it was time to pick-up gavin and joey from preschool and get brooke off the bus.  then chase had lots of fun playing with his cousins :)

october 23

today i got to volunteer in brooke's classroom for the first time, and i enjoyed every second of it.  one of the biggest differences between kindergarten and preschool is that i am never at the school.  with bus service, i very rarely have to step foot on school grounds.  i miss the day-to-day interactions and closeness that i felt with brooke's preschool(s).  so today i got a peek into a day in the life of a kindergartener.  it touched me to see the kids saying the pledge of allegiance, and i marveled over the way the kids fought to sit next to brooke and i during circle time.  i had to administer a benchmark-type test and saw a wide range of abilities.  i also offered to help mrs. nowak by taking home a project, which made brooke extremely happy.  brooke was so excited that she did the entire project (collating ABC books for each student) by herself after school today.  finally, we ended the day with brooke READING a Bob book all by herself for the very first time!!!  it was such an exciting moment for me.  what a great day!

october 22

we enjoyed a warm, indian summer-like day at the zoo today with heather & stella.  we saw snakes and tigers and rhinos and much more, then we topped it all off with some ice cream.  i treasure these days.