Girl Scout Cookie Time

So, remember last year when Olivia sold almost 500 boxes of GS cookies?? Remember how into she was, and how hard she worked? I betcha think I am gonna say that she is totally blowing it off this year, right? NOPE! She is in it with a vengeance this year!! It is nuts! We have sold cookies every day since the sale has started last Friday. She has already sold 100 boxes! Her goal is 500+ boxes this year. The girl knows what she wants. Get get 'em, honey!!

Merry Christmas!! (Er, um - this is being posted a little late!!)

It's here and it's been fun so far! We have gone to church, fed the reindeer, skyped with family, opened some presents, seen what Santa brought, and have begun to test out all the new goodies. And, it's not over yet!! We still haven't gone to Grandpa Saint's and Mimi's yet!!


Some highlights of the Christmas fun so far:

1. Seeing Olivia as Mary in the children's church service.
2. Watching the joy on Aidan's face when he opened his Thomas Action Canyon.
3. Having Rick home, even if for only a few days.
4. Skyping with my sister and her family.
5. Being home for Christmas and spending time with my mom.
6. Phone calls with Santa and Dad.
7. Spending time with Grandpa Saint and Mimi.

I am sure I will be able to add to the list this evening!

Enjoy the photos, oh - and the video of Aidan!

Oh Yeah, She Rocks!

Olivia wrote this song. The music and the lyrics. She amazes me!

(By the way, if you go to the bottom of the page and turn off the playlist, you should be able to hear Livi just fine!)

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer!

Last night, both the kids had their choral programs. Yes, I said BOTH. What a disaster! Rick and I had to make a choice, who will see which program? Livi decided that Daddy should come to her show and Mommy would go to Aidan's. Okay, seemed like a plan.

Aidan was so excited to go sing at the church! He was smiling his big smile and even giggling a bit. I thought it was going to go off without a hitch. Boy was I wrong!

We got there and Aidan went into overdrive. He was a wild man. Running around, roaring - I left him in the good hands of his teachers and hoped he would straighten out!

Finally, he and his classmates began to come up on to the stage. They looked adorable! White over sized sweat shirts with reindeer painted on the front, antlers and red noses - who could resist these little preschool reindeer?!

The music began and Aidan began to sing with his class. He made it through one song, before he spotted me. Once he saw me, he stopped singing and tried to yell stuff to me! Stuff about the boy standing next to him, the tail on his shirt, the string that had come loose on his shirt - why couldn't he just sing the songs!?!

Eventually, after kinda singing some of the songs, he went AWOL and left the stage to look for me! What a mama's boy.

His teacher brought him to me after his group finished. He was so happy to see me and didn't seem bothered at all that he really didn't participate. He just wanted to go home and hang out with me!

I love that kid.

Dress As Your Favorite Book Character Day!

Livi was rocking the Kaya outfit today! Kaya is an American Girl doll. If you don't know about American Girl, they have novels that tell stories about the lives of their historical dolls. Liv chose Kaya, the Native American doll/story. Doesn't she look great!? I had the dress in my stash of costumes at school and we added the underclothes and slippers - yep, those are slippers! I made some bead necklaces too. We have a friend who is Mohawk and she loaned us the more intricate bead necklace. Jackpot, right!? I braided her hair, added some feathers and some leather cord. Tie off the waist and voila! Last year, she placed third in her whole third grade class for her Hermione costume. We will have to wait to see how she does this year!

Update: Livi didn't win the contest - boooo!

Halloween!!

We have been looking forward to Halloween for about a month now. Olivia has flip flopped on what costume she wants to wear about ten times and Aidan has asked "Is it Halloween?"every morning. He has been funny about what he wants to be. When I brought home a dragon costume, he was so happy. Then, he changed his mind and wanted to be his cousin Abbie May! THEN, he changed his mind again and wanted to be a ghost. Finally, we talked him back into being a dragon.

Trick or treating started out a little rough. Aidan was really crabby - horrible mood! He was whiny, and restless, and even went out and laid on the porch. He almost didn't go. But, thankfully the Davis' showed up and off we went! Olivia, of course, was stoked for getting as much candy as possible. After a few houses, Aidan shook off his funk and was having fun.

It was fun to have the Davis' with us. Their little boy, Logan, was a cowboy - horse and all. Our new neighborhood was very busy, plenty of houses to go to and lots of other costumes to admire and judge. I also saw a bunch of people that I knew from school. Students, parents, other teachers - even my headmaster!

The evening ended with a sleepy dragon asking to go home. So, off we went into the night with our candy and tired feet!

Evans Orchard

It's officially Fall when the family makes the trek out to the pumpkin patch. We decided to make the run yesterday and it was so fun. We thought we were going to the same patch we went to last year, there are a few to choose from around here, but when we pulled up we discovered a new patch! We had heard of Evans Orchard, but never checked it out - until now. It was great. There was a hayride, a huge wonderful playground, camel rides, pony rides, a petting zoo, piles of pumpkins for picture taking, really good food - these people should pay me for good advertising! It was a really fun time. There was also a beautiful apple orchard on the property. We bought cider and apple pies and I even treated myself to a cute little Halloween decoration from their shop. Livi ran into her friends and they got to play for a bit. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed ourselves very much! Yay, us!