Halloween 2014

A few weeks back, before Halloween, Daddy got some alone time with the kids.  I say alone time but it was only about an hour or two before he drove them out to G-ma and G-pa F's house.  There they met up with Uncle Brad and Fiona and little Miss Penny.  I'm not sure how long it took but they managed to get a picture of all the kids together and the majority of them are even smiling!

I had to capture this moment because while Ella and Gavin play pretty well together, it is not very often they are just calmly hanging out together. 

It's also very rare for Zoe to get some GENTLE love from Gavin...

The week before Halloween there were plenty of school activities to keep us busy.  Both Ava and Ella have decided to do girl scouts this year.  I don't know what I'm going to do when Gavin starts more activities!!??  Anyhow, they both had troop activities.  Ella and a majority of the girls from her class went to the pumpkin patch.  Here is a picture of all the girls and most of their siblings.

Ava's troop took a nature hike through Bee Tree park.  Each girl got a map as we followed the trail around the lake.  Ava really liked following the map!

The weekend before Halloween was the annual Trunk-or-Treat night at school.  It's hard to believe but it got up to 80 degrees that day.  A beautiful night, very UN-halloweenish!  The kids had a blast…Ava preferred handing out the candy at our car.  Gavin enjoyed running around, climbing all over our car and dancing to the Frozen music that was playing in the parking lot.  And our little social bug Ella ran around with her friends the whole time and preferred for us to hang back a little behind her so she felt as though she was running around without "the grown ups".  (She is way too eager to grow up!)

Here's the group we went with ready to head to trunk or treat!

And here is Ella's posse that she tried to stick with all night long.

(Ella, Maddie, Lily, Aubree and Emma)

Ella DID have shoes!!

With only three and a half more days of school before Halloween it was time for the classroom parties.  I helped in Ella's classroom for Halloween and while Ava was not happy with me I told her I had to rotate my classroom volunteer schedule so I could do some in her class and some in Ella's.  Here's some  "Hot Pumpkin" (instead of hot potato)….

There was also a mummy wrapping race.  Poor Grace did a great job while the kids wrapped her up…especially her face!

The girls also had Halloween parties at dance class (more candy). I thought it might be difficult to dance around as an angel and a fairy, so I found some more dance appropriate costumes for the girls to wear.  While Ava MUCH preferred her angel costume, I think Ella would rather have been a cat the whole time, which she plans to do next year.

The girls had a three day weekend for parent teacher conferences so we used the extra time off and made a road trip to TN to visit G-ma and G-pa C.  The 80 degree weather left just as we arrived so there was not a lot of time spent outside.  Instead, the kids played around the house and got into the Halloween spirit.  

 

This was by far the most appropriate accessory! ;)

 By the time we were ready to trick or treat it was a blustering 35 degrees.  We made it halfway down one street before Gavin wanted me to hold him to keep him warm and Ava was claiming to suffer from frostbite.  However, Ella was not discouraged, she continued to RUN from house to house ahead of the rest of us…of course.  All smiles and warm inside...

A little colder outside but ready to get some candy!!!

Once Ava had a decent about of candy and "frostbite" she had had enough of Halloween.

Ella probably would have continued around the subdivision if it wasn't for her wussy brother and sister.

 Gavin tried hard to keep up with his sisters and got some of his favorite candy.  It helps to say "trick or treat…I want some skittles" or "trick or treat…I like chocolate".  And yes, that is exactly what he was doing!!

The following day was a TAD warmer and the kids were a bit stir crazy in the house so we headed outside to kill some time.  Gavin was beyond excited to "drive" the lawn mower.  He was concentrating so hard on driving he would not look up at the camera...AT ALL.

 Apparently driving the car was a little less intimidating so I was able to get a picture.  Probably helped that the car's battery was dying so it was moving REALLY slow.

Ella was not interested in the car she just carried her "treasure box" around.  You can see her special box off to the right of the picture.  It can normally be found as decoration on my parents mantel, but she carried it around for all three days! 

As we ran around it seemed to warm a little more and Gavin continued to go from one toy to the next.  He was really excited he was now big enough to drive the toy version of a four wheeler.

Did we pass the time outside and wear out the kids??  I think so…mission accomplished! (at least one of them)

The kids had a blast in TN and wanted to stay "one more day".

 Since we returned from TN we have just been keeping busy with our regular routines.  Second grade has been an adjustment year for Ava so far.  It is A LOT more homework, more responsibility, her closest friends from years past are in the other class and she has found her future husband!  The homework is insane, about an hour and a half to two hours PER NIGHT!  She does a great job of doing it without complaining, but that is a lot for any 7 year old!  She has played with the same two girls since the first day of kindergarten and this year she is in the opposite class than both of them, which has forced her to branch out of her comfort zone and make some new friends. (It's a good thing)  Below is a picture of the kids and Ava's friend Hazel who recently came over for a play date. 

Finally, I will end with the story of how Ava met her future husband. (WARNING: If you cannot keep this to yourself and plan to tease Ava about this then do not read any further!  She is very sensitive about this information and WILL NOT tolerate teasing.  IT WILL END IN TEARS!)  The week before Halloween Ava came home one day from school with a story. Side note: when I asked "how was your day?" I got "good" and when Dan asked "how was your day" later that night he got "I can't wait to tell you..."----not sure how to take that!! :(  Anyway, she said when she got to school a little boy named Adam said he had something to tell Ava.  She said he seemed really nervous about telling her and it took a few minutes, then he said "OK I'm just gonna say it…I love you".  Ava replied by saying "OK, I like you to" .  Then they discussed that not right now but in the future around 18-20 years old they could get married!  Then they ate lunch together, she cheered for him as he played soccer at recess and then walked out to carpool after school.  This was a bit of a shock since I had never heard Adam's name before! There was a lot of talk about a boy named Josh who she found pretty dreamy, but it's now as if Josh never existed.  I tried to explain to Ava that she is a bit young to talk about marriage but it's OK to have friends that are boys that you like to hang out with, but stick with talking about weekend plans instead of marriage plans.  She followed up with the fact that I met Dan when I was really young, I pointed out I was at least 15, and she came back with "well Mom I am just really lucky cause I met Adam in second grade!".  She agreed to just let the friendship grow and not talk "too much" about marriage!  For the next week or so there were a few notes exchanged and then the teacher shifted all the desks around, as she does often, and Ava no longer sits next to Adam.  Needless to say they haven't spoken since!?

If you chose to read this and still don't believe how sensitive Ava is then read on….

Ella, innocently mentioned that her sister has a boyfriend at lunch last week to a few of her friends and the vice principal (who walks around and talks to all the kids during lunch) and Ava over heard.  Ava then lost it and cried and cried and cried!  She was SO embarrassed.  The vice principal tried to explain to her it was no big deal and that everyone has girls and boys that are friends, but she could not calm Ava down.  Ava went out to recess and seemed to be fine after awhile till she got home and the tears returned as she told me the story.  The vice principal then followed up with me the next day to be sure Ava was OK and apologized for not calling on that day.  I tried to explain to Ava that it really is no big deal and she may have over-reacted. While I think she would handle it differently now, I am not positive she wouldn't freak out again!