Happy Halloween from the Middle East

Happy halloween from Aladdin, Princess Jasmine and the Genie!

Don't forget Abu the monkey!

You can see the trunk is decorated like a market from Agrabah, the fictional town in the Aladdin movie.

Will and Sebastian. Just like in the movie, Aladdin and his sidekick monkey Abu!

The multiples club had their annual trunk or treat on Sunday. Luckily it was a gorgeous day, in the 70's, so we headed out to participate. The kids were so excited to decorate the trunk and win first prize, like we did last year. And....we DID win! The kids helped me draw and paint the palace that we put inside the trunk. They also helped me gather anything we could think of to make a "marketplace" and we made our trunk. We even added the lamp (where the genie lives) and a "magic" carpet. We had a great time! Our prize was a gift certificate to the movie theater, so maybe we'll have to go see a matinee one of these weekends.

In our other news, Will lost a second tooth. He actually couldn't find it when it fell out (during dinner). He found it on his chair, which we're still not quite sure how it got there! They had dentist appointments last week and Will has a cavity, but the others were fine. They all got these "appliance" things, they're really orthodontic trainers. My dad thinks this will open up their bite and they may not need braces as long when they get older. They are supposed to wear them at night, and it will also help with Will's mouth breathing, because it makes you breathe through your nose when you have it in. That would be great for Will if he could breathe correctly at night, and maybe help with his asthma!

Things with Jessica, the new babysitter, are going well. She picked them up twice last week, while I was subbing at Maxey. We're very pleased with her. I also appreciate how she is flexible, because I never know when I am going to get a call to sub!

That's about all our news for now. We'll post more from Halloween and other things later this week! Happy fall everyone!


A pumpkin patch kind of day

Xander found the perfect pumpkin.

Will's pumpkin is a little dirty!

The group of kids that were with us all day. They were assigned to us as a group (us being myself and another dad). We had to stick together all day. They were a good group!

Xander's class. That's Mrs. Williams on the left.

Grace's class. Mrs. Kitchen is not pictured!

Will's class. Mrs. Langen is on the left. Mrs. Keithley, the student teacher is on the right.

Playing in a sand box, but instead of sand, it's corn!!

They spent forever jumping on these gigantic pillows. Lots of fun!

So, three kindergarten classes went to Roca Berry Farm on Tuesday morning. The kids were excited, it was their first time on a school bus! They loved it. The parents that volunteered were assigned a couple of kids, I got my three kids plus 3 others from various classes, along with one other dad. We had to stick together all morning, but could go wherever we wanted, eat when we wanted and get pumpking at our leisure. That was nice, to let the kids decide where to go, rather than getting dragged around by a huge group.

The kids that were with us were very sweet and I had fun getting to know them. I also spent some time talking to other parents and the teachers when we would see them. The weather was gorgeous (a little muddy) but perfect. They were done by 11:30, and hopped back on the bus to school. A great morning!

Then, after school the kids had just an hour to rest and do homework then we hopped in the car, picked up Brian and headed out to Avoca to Bloom Where You're Planted Farm for the annual multiples club hayrack ride/pumpkin patch outing. Yep, that's right! Two pumpkin patches in one day!!!

The one in Avoca is smaller, but nice. It's also super far away (about a 45 min drive). So, the kids relaxed and watched a movie in the car. We played a little, had a hayrack ride, roasted hot dogs and s'mores and Brian and I got big pumpkins. We didn't get home until late, the kids weren't in bed until just before 9. So, we had some tired kids today that fell asleep right away. Here's some pictures of Bloom Where You're Planted farm.

One nice picture.....

One silly picture.....

Eating late in the evening. They were starving by then!

Some of the multiples on the hayrack ride!



In other news, I had the kids' first Parent-Teacher conferences last week. The good news is, they are all doing great! Grace is getting solid 4's in all her areas of the report card (the grading scale is 1 - 4, with 1 being "not meeting expectations" and 4 being "exceeding expectations") I'm very proud of her for that! She's testing at a reading level of 2, which is good for the 1st quarter. They expect all kindergarteners to test at a level 3 by the end of the year, so she's ahead of the game. Will is also getting 3's and 4's on his report card, and is testing at a level 3 in reading. Good for him! Xander is the same, 3's and 4's. He's at level A in reading, but that's great for him. He's shown improvement in all his areas of reading, it's always been the hardest for him. The boy has a head for numbers, he comes home spouting difficult addition problems and multiplication, even though he doesn't know it (Daddy, 3 fours is 12! Mommy, 21 and 21 is 42!) Just like his dad! All three are very well behaved in school, no problems there. If only the teachers would come home and see behavior at home......

Our other big piece of news is that we've hired a nanny! I finally am all set up to do some subbing for LPS in elem. music. I had been looking for an after school daycare where the kids could walk to, but hadn't had any luck at all. Several multiples club families have had luck finding nannies/babysitters on care.com, so I went ahead and went that route! I posted a job last week, and had several interested people. The girl I chose is named Jessica. She's a freshman at the U, pre-physical therapy major. She lives in the dorms and is from Wood River. She's a quiet, sweet girl and I think she'll be great. I met her for the first time on Sunday night, and she came over Tuesday to meet the kids, see the house and pick them up from school with me. I am going to start subbing on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Friday, so she'll pick up the kids from school the days I am gone. Her first day with the kids will be Tuesday the 18th. That is my first scheduled job, then she'll just come over last minute when/if I get called. I think she'll be great and I'm glad she flexible! That's about all for now. We're getting family pictures taken on Saturday, so stay tuned for pics from that! Happy fall everyone!

Soccer is over!

Will and Xander's team after their final game. Go Hawks!

Grace's team, minus Claire. Go Jazz!

So, this last weekend was the last soccer games. I know the kids enjoy it, but it will be nice not to have games every Saturday and Sunday afternoon. The last few weeks, Grace has played at 12:30. She has dance on Saturday mornings until 11:50. The poor thing was eating lunch in the car and rushing from place to place. It will be nice not to rush anymore! The kids are learning more and more about soccer, and becoming more coordinated. Now, if we could just get them to be more aggressive, they'd be great players. Overall, it was a good season. Grace had 2 goals all season and both the boys had a couple of assists and a few good plays. We'll try again in the spring and see how it goes!