Pumpkin Patch 2009

It's hard to believe that it's Pumpkin Patch time again! I believe that this is one of the most looked forward to events of the year. The school buses left the school between 8 - 8:30 am on Friday and went straight to the Pumpkin Patch near Richfield. After everyone picked their pumpkins, the kids went to the park, ate their lunch, and played on the playground. They got back to the school at 12:15 pm where all the parents picked up the kids and went home. Emily, Kate, & Kari had so much fun. What a great day!

Here are Kate, Emily, and Kari with their pumpkins.

Kate's "Charlie Brown" Pumpkin

Kate showed up from the pumpkin patch with the most interesting pumpkin. How do we put it nicely? It is just plain ugly! The kids on the bus kept asking her why she picked that pumpkin and when we got home from school, I asked her the same thing. This is what she said (in her own words):

"I was walking and walking all around the pumpkin patch. There were pumpkins everywhere, but I wanted to get a big one. I was walking and walking and then I saw this pumpkin. It was all by itself - all alone - on a pile of dirt. There were no more pumpkins around it - just dirt where all the other pumpkins used to be. It looked so lonely and I just know it wanted me to take it home. So I just said, this is my pumpkin and I took it home. Now it won't be alone any more."

Here is a picture of Kate's "Charlie Brown" Pumpkin:

School Lunch

This week is National School Lunch Week and the parents are invited to come and eat lunch with their children during this week. I chose to eat with Kari, Kate, and Emily on Tuesday. I decided that since Kari eats at a different time than Kate & Emily, I would eat with Kari and then sit with the other girls while they ate.

Tuesday morning, I reminded Kari that I was coming to eat lunch with her. She put her hands on her hips and said, "Well, Mom, you better look pretty!" I was a little taken aback - I don't think I've ever gone to the school looking too bad (maybe this is a hint from Kari??). I said, "I have to look pretty?" Kari then replied, "Yeah...Mrs. Dalton (the principal) doesn't like ugly mothers. If you are ugly, she'll just kick you right on out of the school!"

Sometimes I wonder how on earth she comes up with this stuff! I'm pretty sure Mrs. Dalton's never said that!

And -- according to Kari -- I have to put this on the blog. Tuesday afternoon was the first time Kari picked up Cheyenne. She's not too keen on touching the dog - she only likes to look at it. So, we were all amazed when we saw Kari packing the dog around.

Volleyball

The high school volleyball team does a little fundraiser every year. They have a volleyball camp for kids, both boys and girls, starting in the 4th grade. Emily brought home the note and was so excited to start her volleyball lessons. There are four teams and each week the volleyball players teach and work with the kids on their skills and then they get to play a couple of games. Emily got to play her first game and did pretty good considering she'd never even seen a volleyball before. She even served it over the net and was able to hit it over after someone served it to her. We bought her a volleyball so she can start practicing at home and she looks forward to her "game night." We might just have a volleyball player on our hands!This is Emily serving the volleyball.

Aunt Jill's Visit

We were lucky enough to have my sister, Jill, here for a few days. She and I had a nice shopping trip on Monday and she helped me with the Reading Store for the school on Tuesday. But, Emily, Kate, & Kari's all-time favorite moment of the visit was Tuesday night. Since I had Young Women's that night, Jill offered to stay with the girls (and Jason - but since he's 12, it doesn't really count as "tending." He watched a movie the whole time!) They had a little "girl" night complete with make-up and nail painting. When I got home, I saw Jill sitting on the floor in the kitchen with Emily painting her toe nails and Kate & Kari applying all different kinds of make-up and body glitter to her face. They had SO much fun and have been talking about it non-stop today! I took just a few snapshots of their fun! Thanks, Jill, for being such a great and fun aunt!

Fall Pictures

On Sunday, we took a little drive over Circleville Mountain. Since I've been waiting so long to take pictures of the kids, I decided to make it a "photo session." Admist the grumbling (only from Jason), we took TONS of pictures. I love the background fall provides!! So, here are quite a few pictures from Sunday:

Cheyenne

Well, I swore it would never happen again....yet - it did. Gary walked through the back door yesterday afternoon with a little puppy in his arms. I asked him whose puppy it was. His response - "ours if we want."

Our last experience with a puppy was terrible. Our kids remember the "dog experience" differently. Jason, Emily, and Kate think they loved Sadie. Kari, however, remembers that she hated it. Sadie was an Australian Shepherd and was so hyper and jumpy that we all felt trapped in our house. We swore when Sadie "was taken from us" that we would NEVER have another dog.

Our new puppy, which the kids named Cheyenne, is a tiny little Chiuaua. She is 2 months old and won't get much bigger than she is now. The kids are having fun with her and even Kari has picked her up. She will NOT have free reign in the house and we are fixing her a little place in the garage equipped with a heater and everything. So...here's Cheyenne: