A Little More Halloween/Birthday

The girls dressed up their little doll like a witch and handed him a wand one night. He thought he was all powerful!

Here he is casting a spell on the fridge. I think he's hoping for ice cream.

On Friday night Shari got to have her birthday late over. It was really fun.

9 yr old Angel

For Shari's birthday we planned on visiting her cousins in their brand new house for the first time. She was looking forward to it all week. The night before her birthday Donald developed the croup so when we woke her up the next morning I was worried about delivering the bad news that Donald had ruined her birthday plans. She didn't say a word about herself and only asked how he was doing. She even said, "We'll get to have a family party." She has such a wonderful way of looking at the bright side of life.
For her birthday breakfast we had donuts and she gave half of the one she wanted to Rebecca. For her special birthday XBOX turn she chose a game that everyone could play and didn't even complain when they didn't do it her way. In fact, she made an effort to let them all play the places they wanted. She's pretty amazing.

She was super excited to get her first big legos set. She's always finding her way into the boys room to build theirs. She was also thrilled to get the Homeward Bound movies and her very own robe to keep her warm this winter.

I have to say this really is the face of an angel. She helped me make her birthday cake and her birthday dinner. I love her so much.

I hope her wish comes true.

Halloween Fun

We had the best Halloween this year. We threw a big party and invited lots of cousins and some Aunts and Uncles. It was so much fun. My sister took some great pictures and they are featured on her website http://sharidphotography.blogspot.com.

Here is Donald enjoying his first time trick or treating.

Here is his first treat.

Pumpkin Carving

We actually participated in this glorious tradition a week ago but it's taken me this long to post pictures. First of all our pumpkins were right out of our garden and they smelled so good! It was really amazing. The whole time we were carving them we were all breathing deeply. It was a really yummy melon smell.
Here is Dan working hard and Charlie presiding over the pumpkin carving tradition. This is Charlie's favorite time of year.



Donald wanted to make silly faces with his brothers and sisters for the pictures. They are all so cute.

Family Night Activity

This is Donald's new favorite activity.

All Day News

I actually have news today. I wasn't too impressed with Charlie's kindergarten teacher so I tried to get him switched out of the class on the first day of school. The principal really wanted me to wait and see how things went.
Well, I waited and on Tuesday I did some volunteering in his classroom and realized that it was time to make the switch. Charlie's so structured. He makes up rules for all of us because he NEEDS rules. Just the other day before dinner he was making up the new rule that only one person could get out a red cup at a time (he was getting out a red cup) so that the person who has a red cup doesn't get confused with other people's cups. It was so hilarious and unfortunately I already had a cup out so that would have meant his rule would prevent him from getting out his chosen cup. The point is he thrives on order.
His kindergarten teacher seemed to feel discipline and order brought negativity into the classroom. You can imagine how that group of kids had a hey day with that. Charlie just became more and more frustrated and took the law into his own hands several times.
I went into the principal on Wednesday and said it wasn't working out so I wanted Charlie to be with a different teacher. He told me that we'd have him switch at the beginning of the next term which is not for a week and a half.
This morning on my way into school the principal pulled Charlie and I aside and said Charlie could move into the all day kindergarten class today!!!
I wanted to cry tears of joy when I walked into Mrs. Gibson's classroom. She has seating assignments and discipline charts/plans/rules. She spoke directly to Charlie and gave him specific directions! When they do center's its amazing. They have an assignment at each center and then when it's time to rotate they put it in a folder! and take that with them to the next center where they accomplish another academic task. In Charlie's take home folder I got more work from him just today than I've gotten the entire year from his former teacher.
I just wanted to share this amazing news.
I don't want to make it sound like I'm glad to get rid of Charlie for the whole school day, but I do think I'll survive the lonely afternoons as best as I can.

Magic

Yesterday I was bugging the kids to get their jobs done and Charlie was stalling so he was imagining how great it would be to have magic. He said, "Mom, if I had magic I would make all my toys do my job and straighten my room." I said, "Then how would you become a good and useful person?" He said, "I'd use magic and make myself a good and useful person!"
Wouldn't magic be great?