4th week of October, 2017

It was a FULL week!

I did a craft with the kids - like for real...  I did a craft with the kids!  (I feel like I don't do enough of that.)  they each made their own beaded pumpkin.  Even Emmalyn was able to participate.

All done!

Maxwell had his turn at the pumpkin patch after Kindermusik.

Lots of pumpkins to choose from

The special one

Go Cubs!  So excited to wear the shirt I got at Wrigley field.  They are going to take it all the way!

Emmalyn doing a great job riding her trike.  She's got the pedaling down.

Look at that mess of hair!

The only time it goes straight is on a slide with tons of static.   :)

Costa Vida finally opened!  We were excited to go try it out for free on their practice night.  I was in heaven with the pork salad.  :)

We went to the annual Halloween party at our next door neighbor's.  This year we went as hippies.

Tyne and me

The decorations were fantastic!  (Katherine and me)

Group picture

She was so sweetly sleeping when I got home that I tried to get a pic, but whoops, the flash bothered her.

I painted the kids' fingernails.  Maxwell was really excited about his orange/black fingernails

Maxwell's wall still has his poster and maps from preschool.  He worked hard on finishing up the maps when he was there this summer.

I had a work trip to California and stayed at Julianne's house.  This was my first time going to her new house.  It was a gorgeous home up in the hills with an amazing view.  I went out on Sunday so I could spent a little more time with her.  We spent the whole day just talking.  At one point, Derek joined in for a few hours.  It was so relaxing and enjoyable.

We cooked dinner!

Lemon, basil, asparagus chicken pasta

The next day after work, I hung out with Jules on set at her show, where she's a judge.  

All dressed up for the show.  I was feeling going about my weightloss so far and felt really pretty in this dress (with some serious heels, you can't tell how high they are in this pic)

I got to sit pretty close to her so we were able to talk a little during breaks.  I was coughing at one point and she kindly got up and gave me her water.  We were also naughty and texted a few times.

After the show

Jules, Kristy, and me enjoying some amazing Greek food after the show

It was nice spending a little time with Derek during this trip

The next morning we had time to go to breakfast before I had to go to work.  It was a really great visit with Julianne.  We had tons of deep, meaningful conversations.  I love her tremendously and I always leave her feeling uplifted and inspired.

I got home pretty late from LA.  While I was waiting for my luggage, I looked through my purse to find my car key... except it weren't there.  I started to panic a little bit but figured it must just be in my luggage.  I got my luggage and tore through it multiple times and couldn't find the key.  I had driven Peter's car and we only have 1 car key (we think Maxwell may have thrown the other one away when he was little).  

So, long story short... Peter had to drive all the way to the airport to get me.  I tried to get a locksmith out there but no one was able to come out that late and make me a new key.  They could let me into the car but every I called didn't have the specific type of key on hand to be able to make me a key.  Poor Peter was a trooper because at one point he had left the house and I called him and told him to turn around because I had found a lock smith who would be able to help me.  Well, then 10 minutes later I get a call from the lock smith saying they couldn't do it until the next day so now Peter had to leave AGAIN to come get me.  I really appreciated that he had a good attitude about it because I felt so awful.

The stinking key!!!  Julianne ended up finding it in her bag that I had borrowed and the next morning she overnighted it to me.  Peter and I decided to still have the lock smith come to the airport because it would be tough being down a car for two days plus it would be good to have two keys again.

So the next morning, I drove Peter to work and then continued to the airport to meet the locksmith.  That was an ordeal!!  He worked for like an hour on my car and then told me he needed to go back to his shop to get a certain machine.  So, I ate lunch at the airport while I waited.  Finally he finished and so I drove back to Peter's work that afternoon in my car and then we went back to the airport so that he could drive his car.  It was such a hassle.

The locksmith

Unfortunately the locksmith ended up taking basically my whole day and that night I was hosting a craft party, which I had planned on spending my afternoon prepping for.  So instead I scrambled to get everything together.

The spread turned out okay than to everyone bringing stuff too

We all did Thanksgiving/Holiday themes on either canvas or chalkboard

My friend Andrea does this as her business and was a great teacher!  It was fun to have both neighborhood and work friends there.

The finished products

Maxwell came home with his first reported card from school.  They don't get letter grades at this point.  He was meeting all expectations on the report card.  For math, he had achieved all parts of the kinder curriculum (which I thought was great but a little ridiculous since it's October and he already knows everything he's supposed to learn this year and they aren't going to challenge him to go beyond that).

First Week of October 2016

Maxwell writing love notes to family we've seen lately like Natalie and Aunt Tammy.

We are excited to be starting a new semester of Kindermusik!  

Emmalyn came with Maxwell and I to his pediatricians to get our flu shots.  She loves going to the doctors - always!

Woo hoo - we did it! (I think this might be his first time getting it in his arm.)

Emmalyn sat outside and enjoy a healthy (ha!) lunch of a McDonalds happy meal while Maxwell was in his Kindermusik class.

Maxwell has moved up to the "young child" class where he will be learning how to read music and how to play a glockenspiel - it's like a xylophone.

Rootbeer floats and a movie at home

Enjoying her candy bracelet from our "boo" stash (see last post)

Maxwell doesn't have homework other than reading but this particular book had instructions on making a treasure map so he had fun doing that.

Helping Momma with the gardening

Maxwell's sort of report card for writing.  Not bad to have all but one marked off when he's only been in class 1 month.  This is the form with the expectations for the whole year.

I had put up Halloween window clings and this pumpkin was destroyed by Emmalyn.  She's not horribly destructive but certainly more destructive than Maxwell is.

Comin at ya!

Peter and I really enjoyed seeing Rent together.  It's been more than a decade.  I really love the music, especially the first half.

Maxwell had spirit week and one of the days was walk to school day.

We didn't walk the whole way but we drove the car across the street into the neighborhood where the school is and walked part of the way.

Emmalyn loved tagging along on the walk with Mom and Dad.

One of the other spirit days was "wear your pajamas to school" which he has NEVER wanted to do and he totally wanted to this year.  That's a big change for him.

Sweetly sleeping during her nap - puppy on one side of her head and turtle on the other.

Britt and I took the kids to the Heard Museum to check out their live action dinosaur exhibit where the dinos move and make noises.

Maxwell was excited to use his map to guide us along.

The first dinosaur we came upon.  The kids all look happier than they really were.  We had some scared kiddos.

She would wave to the dino but only from far away.

Maps - always a win with this age

This one is called the "Utah Raptor"  It's pretty scary looking.

This one spits at you.  They were much more life like than I was expecting.

Playing in the wood town before we left.

Maxwell is doing tennis lessons outside and in the morning this time around.

Emmalyn and I checked out the pumpkin patch after Kindermusik one day.

My little readers

We stopped by Costa Vida to take a selfie in order to try to win free Costa Vida for a year when they opened.  We ended up meeting the owner and he let the kids come in and check out the restaurant and the bubble wall.  He was a really nice guy and we can't wait for them to be open!! (sweet pork salad - yummm)

Emmalyn is awful at picking at her scabs.  She just doesn't leave them alone and so they stay wounded forever.  As much as I don't like bandaids (they are addictive for kids!), we have had to put those on her to get her to leave them alone.
She says, "hip hip hooray" so cutely!
She will add "for?" on the end of questions. For example, "What are you going to work for?"
She can open all the doors in the house now except the back door because it's more sticky and hard to open.  This is both a good and bad thing because you can't keep her out anymore.
Emmalyn can take off her pajamas and diaper by herself in the morning (zipper pjs and shirts/pants pjs).
Twice in the last week she has peed on the rug on the bathroom.  GRRRRR.  One time, it was right after I had her sit on the potty and nothing happened.

Maxwell is now tall enough that he can turn on the lights!  Our lights are high on the walls and so he'd have to get a stool or something to turn them on.