First week of November 2016

Pajama day at school (and Maxwell participated!)

Playing at the park

Look who is wearing big girl panties!

With Grandma Donna (I think during the day with Britt)

My friend Beth at work

My friend Andrea came to my work and helped about 50 of us make these signs.  I made one with a "G" so I could give it to Maxwell's kinder teacher - Garza.

Crazy hair day at school

It certainly looked crazy :)

Emmalyn joined in the fun too

Playing at the mall during the day with Britt

"cheese face"

Yup, cheese face again.  Those ringlets!  No curling iron needed for this one.

Cuddled up with the kiddos

Maxwell practicing his Kindermusic rhythm cards.  He's doing a great job.

We took the kids to the "Festival at the Switchyard" in downtown Carrolton.  The kids had fun playing games.  (They took turns though because we were standing in a silly line waiting for face painting.  While I'm glad to see my kids now enjoy it, face painting is the WORST line wherever you go.  You spend at least an hour just waiting and then trying to entertain the kids while you wait.  This new trend of total face painting instead of the old way with a ghost on a cheek or a rainbow takes so much time!!!!

Maxwell waited in the stroller more than Emmalyn did

Emmalyn got some flowers (mom's choice) and Maxwell is the Pokemon Pikachu

We took the kids home and left them with a new babysitter - girl down the street and then we headed back to the concert for a free Barenaked Ladies Concert!

First we went out to dinner and while we were eating fireworks went off behind us - it was great show!

The concert was so fun!  The last time we saw these guys was at an Medal Ceremony Concert during the 2002 SLC Olympic games.

Being silly with dad outside of Costco

Loving the smiles and giggles

We had Souper Salad for dinner.  Peter and I used to go all the time when we lived in SLC so it was a little nostalgic.

So, we have been sort of potty training all week.  Emmalyn does great with pooping on the potty but then she will sometimes sit on the potty, do nothing, and then pee on the floor a minute later.  If she's in pull-ups she treats it like a diaper so that choice is out.  It's either panties, nude, or diaper.  She's having multiple accidents a day.  :(  When we went to the festival I just put her in a pull-up because I didn't want to deal with it.  That night with the babysitter she was in diapers but then asked to go potty before going to bed.  The next morning she said she needed to go pee and she actually did so that's a win!

Mornings are good.  Maxwell gets up around 6 am.  Peter will give him cereal or will leave a bowl with cereal in it and put a cup of milk in the fridge so he can do it himself.  Emmalyn wakes around the same time but I try to get her to cuddle with me in bed for an extra half hour.  She immediately asks for milk when she wakes up by saying, "your milk" and I'm still telling her it's empty.  After about a half hour she'll go to the kitchen and Peter will get her cereal.  Both kids watch their iPad while eating and can be independent which means we can get a few more minutes of sleep!mo

Dentist, Halloween Fun, and Neon Run

Emmalyn, Maxwell, and I all had dentist appts.  I checked Maxwell out of school early and then Brittany brought Emmalyn a little later.

Maxwell getting his first x-rays

He was nervous.  He did help by holding "mr slurpee" but he kept doing this nervous coughing thing.

Emmalyn got to see Maxwell go a little bit.

Maxwell has some adult teeth coming in.  The dentist doesn't think he will lose any baby teeth though until he is 6.

While I went, they were pretty well behaved.  It was super stressful to me though because I'm laying there with my mouth open, not really able to respond or prompt/direct them, etc.  Thank goodness they are good kids!

After watching Maxwell and I, Emmlyn was comfortable and ready to go.  She's been excited about this!

Emmalyn just had a quick teeth check by the dentist - no cleaning this time.

After the dentist, I took the kids to my work for the annual kids trick-or-treating

Maxwell and Donna

They came home with a ton of candy

My blue ninja and little Asian girl

She loved the section that was decorated like Halloween

He was wiped out and fell asleep on the way home.

Woke up for a huge yawn..

...and then back to sleep

The stuff Maxwell did on my board in my office.  Definitely not Kinder Curriculum level here.

Maxwell's elementary did a Neon Run fundraiser that I was able to attend.

Emmalyn came with Brittany.  She loves her "flag shirt" and would wear it every day if she could.

Getting the "rules"

Starting out strong!  Even when the other kids were walking.  He wore two wrist bands to school today but let one of his friends wear one.

Still running!

One of the neighborhood ladies was running it and kindly gave Emmalyn her own shirt.

Landen running

Hot, tired, yet still so focused!

Her stash she brought with her is spread all over.

The  kids got a few breaks to get a drink and dance a little.  It helped to break it up rather than having them run for 45 minutes or so straight (which would never work with Kinder kids!)

I don't know the kid on the left, Maxwell, Julien, and Landen

During one of the dance breaks

All the kids and the teachers

The school is largely Indian so my little pale boy with glasses is easy to spot in a crowd.

Taking a picture with her fake phone

Still trying to go potty on the potty every once in awhile.  She was successful this time.

We swam next door (for maybe the last time this season)  the kids braved both the hot tub and the pool.

Mary Ann brought out the skeletons from the Halloween decorations for the kids to play with.

Maxwell jumping from the rock

HAHA!  Maxwell put his goggles on his skeleton.

Emmalyn hugging the alien skeleton was just creepy but they all had a lot of fun.

We finished the night off with roasting marshmallows and some smores.  I think this is the first time my kids have ever roasted marshmallows.

sugar happy

Maxwell's School Picture.  I love it.  It's not his genuine smile but it sure the smile he puts on whenever you ask him to smile so in that way, it's genuine Maxwell.

The picture Maxwell drew at school.  I was impressed with the colors and detail of the water park.  This is certainly an improvement for him.  

Wearing her Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader costume to Kindermusik

waiting for her sticker

Class picture

Everly, the twins, Emmalyn, Max, Luca, and Brennan

We love Mrs. Carolyn!

The YMCA next to Kindermusik was have a festival thing so Emmalyn and I checked it out.  She got her face painted.

She loved the obstacle course

She got quite a few goodies including a free t-shirt!

Wahoo - Peter's car key arrived from California.  Now we have two keys again.

Blue Ninja Maxwell at his Kindermusik class.

Maxwell's class

They were still doing the pumpkin patch at the church Kindermusik is held in, so I let Maxwell get his face painted there since Emmalyn came home with her face painted.  This is the first time that I can ever remember Maxwell REALLY wanting to get his face painted.  He has always not been interested in it.  He was super excited about getting a smiley face.

We played some of the games.

She found some lotion and got it all over herself

She loved looking at her face paint in the mirror.

We carved pumpkins.  This was the first time Maxwell has helped scraped a pumpkin.  He was, naturally, disgusted but did a good job.  A lot of firsts today!

He's making the same face as his pumpkin.