Learning

Aric is an avid learner.  As he was getting ready for school this morning, he asked me when his math flash cards would arrive in the mail.  I don't know any other kid who is excited about math flashcards arriving in the mail.

Aric's world was rocked today when we realized we did not carefully go through his new sight words last night. He was certain this new word is pronounced "now".  I've never seen him get so angry and refuse to let go of a flash card. 

It took some time and a phone call to daddy, but we finally got him past the word and onto something else.  Tonight we will have to go through the words again to make sure we are past this mispronunciation.

Note to self: Always look at the flash card even when it seems Aric is pronouncing the word correctly.

Trick or Treat

This year on Halloween we had a fun dinner with friends.  The menu was German food: spaetzel and schnitzel.  It was good even if we had a slight problem making the spaetzel.

After dinner we dressed the kids.

Aric was Darth Vader and Kellyn wanted to be a pink cheetah.  The Darth Vader costume was pretty easy to procure.  The pink cheetah was a bit harder, but we were able to make it happen and Kellyn was quite pleased with her costume.

Laura and I dressed up with the kids. 

My costume was a last minute decision and I made use of what I had.

The kids had a great time and I am glad to be done with Halloween.

Kindergarten Parade and Party

I didn't grow up acknowledging Halloween and I'm okay with that.  Ryan and I have made the decision to allow our children to participate in Trick or Treating and I'm okay with that.  It still strikes me as weird, though.  I'm just not used to it.

On Thursday I attended my first ever school Halloween party as a room mother.  I brought food and helped with the party.  It was fun to see Aric at school, interacting with his classmates.

The kids had a Halloween Parade through the school.  I was able to catch the tail end of it. It was fun to see the kids in costume and so excited about the parade.

After the parade, the kids came back and played games: toilet paper mummy wrap and hot pumpkin. 

The party was definitely a hit and I enjoyed being there with Aric.

Pumpkin Carving

This past Sunday Ryan and the kids carved pumpkins.  This year Ryan made the kids clean out their pumpkins before he would carve them.

 They didn't like that so much.  They found help.

After they were cleaned, the carving began. 

We had carving templates leftover from last year.  The kids were excited about them.  Aric picked a Clone Trooper and Kellyn picked Boo from Monsters Inc.

Ryan was a good sport about it, but said next year he will only make simple Jack O' Lanterns.

Those kids are never serious.

Family Photos

There is a reason why we don't have any recent family photos.  They tend to come out like this:

Kellyn would not look at the camera.  She was upset that we wouldn't let her play with everything in Aric's classroom.  Regardless, I thought it was a cute idea.

Things Heard Around Here

Me: Kellyn, look at the horses.

Kellyn: Oh, wow!  What's the building next to them?  Is it the glue factory?

Before you worry, it was just the barn.  However, I have no idea where she heard about the glue factory.

Aric "The Avenger"

This morning at Aric's soccer game the team was announced.  We had to supply a nickname for Aric.  It took us awhile to come up with something, since we don't call Aric by anything other than "Aric".  After throwing out multiple names, Aric decided on Aric "The Avenger" Peters.  Well, actually, he thought he was Aric "The Adventure".  It took a bit for us to get him to realize he wasn't pronouncing the word correctly.  I think we have that problem fixed now.

Aric's team ran through the tent three separate times.  After the first run through they decided the parents needed to line up and give the kids high fives.  I thought I had recorded the second run through, but apparently I didn't.  I did manage to get the first and third run through.

It was cold this morning, which was a bit better than the last two games when we were sweating and miserable.  While it wasn't hot and miserable, it was early.  Kellyn was cold, tired and hungry.  She spent the game whining, giving everyone the stink eye and cuddling in my lap.

Aric played well.  He most plays defender in the back of the field.  He got in a few good kicks and was able to take a turn as goalie, which is his favorite position.   There are only three games left, and I think he will be sad when soccer season is over.