Happy Thanksgiving!

Eric got some new slippers. Heavy but cute.

In the second picture you can see that Casey lost tooth number four. The tooth fairy brought two Sacajawea dollar coins. And a candy necklace and pez. We told her it's VERY unusual to get candy from the tooth fairy. I think it only happens when you have a long flight the next day. 

Olivia meets the Velveteen Rabbit

We went to see the Velveteen Rabbit with Susan and Ava. Casey got some more mileage out of her Olivia dress, since she won't wear either of her two fancy dresses, as they are sleeveless and she doesn't want to show her armpits! We went to a milk and cookies with the cast party afterwards and the girls had a great time. They had chocolate milk with cookies and cupcakes, and then got to learn a few dance moves.

I will post the Thanksgiving pictures soon. There are a lot to go through!

The principal lost a tooth at lunch

Casey had a good time being the principal. She got to choose what classrooms they would visit, so she chose her room, of course, and the rooms of her two older neighbors, the kindergarten classrooms (her former teacher wasn't in, so she was disappointed), and another first grade class. She said she was a little nervous at first, because they started off with an assembly, but was pretty happy with the whole experience and wishes she could be principal and lose a tooth every Tuesday.

Principal for the day

From scientist to runway model to school principal. This girl is getting a chance to try out a lot of careers. At the Halloween carnival, Eric made sure to monitor the auction and win "Principal for the day" for Casey. He got into a bidding war at the end, but he didn't give up.

She has been so excited to get to wear a whistle all day, and has been a little worried about things like, "Will I get to play on the playground at recess?" and "What if I am playing on the playground at recess and it's time to blow the whistle and I accidentally blow it too loudly in someone's ear?" She gets to eat lunch with the principal and visit all of the classrooms and write notes to the teachers. They have an assembly at 9am. I can't wait to hear how it went.

Putting the run in runway

Casey was a model at a charity fundraiser last night. The kids walked out two by two and then at the end they all lined up and walked out again for an encore. Some kids were skipping and some kids were running to keep up. I took a couple of short videos on my phone and was watching them at 4am when I couldn't sleep, which of course didn't help at all because I started laughing so hard.

We were up late late late. Was a good time. Luckily we didn't have anything planned this morning.

Family Day

I can't believe it's been five years since we adopted our girls. Seems like forever ago and it also seems like yesterday.

The girls were playing around outside and then Eric got a ticket to a recital that said he could bring whoever he wanted. We all went out to check out the show. Everyone showed their talent. Casey threw a ball up in the air and caught it. And sometimes didn't catch it. (Apparently there was some controversy about whether it was ok to have a ball in the recital or not.) Ava sat on the bench and colored. Cami and Ashley danced. Brynn jumped through hula hoops, that is, until Ashley's breakdancing move turned out to be a little too similar to a karate sweep and she took out Brynn. It was the craziest recital I've ever seen.

School photo

Definitely better than the first school photo last year! So cute. Our big first grader.

Happy Halloween!

If you are looking for a fun kid's game, wrap the mummy with toilet paper is a good one for first graders. The kids had a blast. Just don't have them bust out of it while the wind is blowing or there will be lots of moms running around picking up toilet paper off the playground. They also did the egg race game with little pumpkins. I was so nervous that the kids wouldn't like the games but they were cheering for their teams and they kept going even when everyone had already had a turn. We could have just let them do it for a half hour. They even liked throwing Halloween erasers into a bowl. I'm a lot less worried about the next couple of parties now!

We went trick or treating with the neighbors and then came home and counted candy. She hardly ate any candy that night! I think she had one or two pieces. In the past she's just tasted candy the whole way, and then Eric and I negotiate over who gets the rest. We'd come home with a lot of wrappers and very little candy. This time she counted in the high seventies! Yikes. We put some away for the plane ride to North Carolina and the rest, well, we ate a lot tonight. 

Thanks to Grandpa Ron for making the awesome Olivia ears. They cover a headband with flowers coming out. Originally when we were talking about what she wanted to be for Halloween, Casey told me she wanted to pass out flower petals to everyone who gave her candy. I said, "Like a flower girl?" and she said, "No, like a flower EXPLOSION!" Maybe next year. 

Scary Halloween stuff

Casey's teacher went all out for Halloween. I was helping out in the morning with "centers" and one of them was the TARANTULA center. Of course I did not help out at that one. Everyone who wanted to got to hold the tarantula. Apparently she (the tarantula, I can't remember her name) was much friendlier than last year. My center was next to the tarantula center, so I know the kids learned a lot about them.

Mrs. C made a whole display of jack-o-lantern vegetables (check out the mouths and bean eyes), and she made gourd vases with flowers for the moms who have been helping out in the classroom (including me, since I did the auction and raffle baskets for the Halloween carnival).

She also made caramel apples with the kids! She had a melty pot of caramel for dipping the apples and then a variety of crushed graham crackers and cookies to dip them in.

I was just exhausted after the whole day. I don't know how Mrs. C does it every day. We are so lucky that Casey got into her class.

I will post more party pictures later but Eric was a little antsy for the tarantula picture. When I took it I told Casey, "Daddy will be very jealous!"

Olivia Hits the Monkey Bars

This is my favorite picture of Casey's costume. She was Olivia, the sassy and precocious pig from the Olivia books. If you haven't seen it, look up "Olivia and the Babies" or "Olivia Plans a Tea Party" on Amazon.