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.

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).