Halloween

Halloween was fun as usual, but this year, I dressed up as well.  Because I teach 4th graders, they want teachers to dress up.  I understand why.   So, I decided to dress up as a "lady in waiting" or at least that's what the costume packaging said.  I told my class I was the Queen of Kingdom 18 (My classroom number is 18).  All day long the kids addressed me as "her majesty" and they bowed at me when I walked by them during their lunch recess.  I have to admit, it was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the kids.  They had some great costumes too.

Kyson dressed up as a vampire and Kodi was Rapunzel.  Kyson has had an obsession about vampires for some time now and so when he was able to dress up as one for Halloween, that was so cool for him.  He was very excited.  I was even able to go to his school parade to see the kindergarten costumes.  That is a great benefit of working at Challenger.  I'm able to go to all of my kids' events because Challenger will get someone to cover me while I do.

Kodi's costume was pretty cool and even came with a wig.  I've had to hide it from her since I bought it because if she had her way, she'd sleep in the whole costume.  Because she goes to school at two different schools, she would have had two different Halloween parties.  Instead, she got sick and was throwing up for both of them.  I was worried Kyson would miss his day too, but we got lucky and he was able to go on that day.

Trick-or-treating that night was a little crazy.  I always buy a lot of candy, and this year I bought a lot, but not as much as usual.  We ran out.  This was the first year we ran out of candy.  We typically have about 300 trick-or treaters, and this year was no exception.  We have a lot of kids in the neighborhood.

Pumkins and Houses

In order to really jump into the festive spirit of Halloween, we went had an evening of family bonding at the pumpkin patch and a haunted house. 

We went to the pumpkin patch that we go to every year to pick out pumpkins.  I think we got there late in the season and late in the day because there weren't very many good pumpkins to choose from.  That didn't stop us from having a great time.  We played on the farm equipment, ran through the corn maze, rode on the hay ride, and of course, ran through the pumpkin patch.  It doesn't take much to amuse little kids, and when the kids are happy, parents are happy.

After the pumpkin patch, when it got dark, we went to a haunted house that I heard about on the radio.  It is a haunted house that is made for kids and is "PTA Approved."  Kyson is the more sensitive kid and he's the one that I thought would be afraid of a haunted house.  This one had some scary elements, but everyone that was talking to you to scare you was behind a fence so no one would touch you.  They also had gooey stuff at the end to touch.  It was really cute.  They also had the Pumpkin King from "The Nightmare Before Christmas" greet the kids as they came.  I believe it was a success.  The kids really liked it.

Tumbling

Kodi has been doing tumbling for a short time now and I have to say, she is pretty good.  Her favorite teacher is leaving though and I'm nervous about how she'll react when Lexi is gone.  Lately, she's been acting like everything is a joke.  She plays around instead of listening and I don't know if it's because Lexi is leaving or because she's just being a stinker.  Either way, we'll only keep her in tumbling for one more month if she continues to behave this way.  It's too bad that she behaves this way.  She's good at it and I believe she likes it.  I hope we can find something she likes.

Swimming Lessons

Kyson has a affinity for water and has been asking to swim lately.  We decided to put him in swim lessons and see how he does.  He took a class or two when he was younger, but it's been a while.  I had him tested and he was able to skip a level from where he was.  He's just been practicing when I take him to the pool.

So far, he seems to be a natural.  I think if he decides to stick with it, he will do very well.  He's a hard worker and very motivated.  Of course, because I was a swimmer, I've very excited that he wants to swim.  If he chooses to stick with it through high school, he'll have a huge head start that I didn't have.  I'm j

ust so excited for him.