Happy Halloween 2009

Here are pictures from Halloween 2009 -- the boys have had a full and very fun day today! We've even continued our fun adventures with our weekend houseguest, Dawg! :)

The Mad Scientist & Rock Star together

Logan - aka Mad Scientist

Caleb - aka the Rock Star

The boys and Dawg ready to go trick-or-treating

We found Dawg a hockey player costume downstairs on one of the boys' "Build-A-Bears" -- too cute!! :)

Chris - aka Indiana Jones & the Skull LOL!!

Our neighbors, The Cramb's, who dress up every year

The Cramb's house always all decked out. The kids love it!

Sugar High part 1

Sugar High Part 2

Logan's 1st Basketball Game

This morning Logan has his first basketball game. Typically only Caleb plays basketball, but Logan begged to play this year. So, since he hadn't played since he was 4, we decided to sign him up at the Y, even though I despise Y sports! The coach we we placed with, further proved why I despise Y sports. As he called the team, he admitted he didn't know anything about basketball and was looking for help (preferrably someone who knew what they were doing). Ummm if you know you don't know the sport -- then WHY would you volunteer to coach? That is just beyond my comprehension!! I thought maybe the Y had asked him due to lack of coaches and were desperate for coaches, however, I found out today from his girlfriend that no, he signed up to coach! Uggh!

So -- we've had 2 practices so far and thankfully our assistant coach at least knows the basics and has them setting up the correct defense, etc. However, that's as far as it goes, so far. We fully intended today's game to be ugly. However -- much to our surprise, they actually WON 10-5. Very low scoring game for basketball, but hey, at least we pulled out a win. That was crazy stuff. Had to have been because it was Chris' birthday. Or maybe it was because we had Dawg with us? Hmm not sure -- we just have to hope the rest of the season we will get as lucky lol! :)

Most of the pictures Chris took today were either dark or blurry. The lighting was horrible in this gym -- so maybe there will be better pics next week!

Logan in his first game

Happy Birthday, Freak Show Chris!!

Today is Chris' birthday. We celebrated with dinner at Carlos last night (I know, huge shock since we go there every Friday night), but our friends, the Snyder's joined us. Today for lunch, we went to Red Robin. Tonight, we will celebrate with the entire neighborhood. We have it arranged each year that as we walk to their door, they hand us candy. Yep -- we just have that great of neighbors. Don't be jealous!! :

The birthday flag

Celebrating at Red Robin -- doesn't he look thrilled? LOL

Happy Birthday, Chris!!

Top Dawg!

As if today wasn't exciting enough for Caleb, he was also selected to be "Top Dog" in his class for the week! He is the first student to be selected so he was pretty excited! When you are "Top Dog" in this particular class, you get to bring home a special backpack. Inside, is a stuffed dog, aptly named "Dawg". There is also a book that the student is to read called "The Great Gracie Chase". Lastly, there is a journal that the kids are to fill out detailing Dawg's visit to their home over the weekend.

Next week will bring many other opportunities. On Monday, Caleb will bring 10 pictures and 3 items to share with the class, along with reading his journal about what Dawg was up to this weekend as he stayed with our family. One day next week he will bring a special snack. And, lastly, he will pick his favorite book and have someone special come read it to the class. When Logan was in this same class, his grandma came. We'll have to see if she's available again this time! After all -- she can't play favorites -- right?? LOL :)

This is always a fun week for the students!! :)

Meet Dawg

Our first adventures with Dawg began by introducing him to Tucker. You see, we didn't have Tucker when Logan was in this same class 2 years ago. Some of you know the story that when Logan was selected as "Top Dog", he wrote in his journal how he wished he could have a dog. So, his teacher (being a good friend of mine) began to tease me about how we needed to get a dog for the boys, etc! After I felt guilty and caved -- we did in fact get Tucker about a month after that school year ended LOL! I blame you, Cathy!! HAHAHA!! :)

Tucker meeting Dawg -- too cute!!

Halloween Parties

Today the boys both had their fun Halloween parties at school. As always because they occur at the same time, Chris & I had to split up. Since I am the room-parent for Caleb's class, I attended his, while Chris went to Logan's. At least this year they are in the same building, which made it really nice!!

We'll begin with pictures from Caleb's party:

Cute Peanut-Butter Ritz Spiders

Black Cat Swiss Rolls



Caleb and his friend, Grayson

A Rock Star!

Is this Wendy's frosty not the cutest thing??

Remember those bags that my friend, Kim, & I spent 7 1/2 hours tie dying? Today, the kids finally were able to draw their Jack-o-lantern faces on and then autographed each other's bags. They had such a good time doing this -- it truly was a hit with all of them! The parents also loved them, which makes the time, money, & energy put into them well worth it!! :)

Caleb drawing his Jack-o-lantern face

Caleb & his teacher, Mrs. Clynch, autographing bags

Then the kids had a relay race. Boys VS Girls, which is always a huge hit!! They had to see how much candy corn they could hold on a plastic spoon and carry it across the room to a cup. Once all the kids in the line had gone, the number of candy corn were counted to determine the winner. The result? Boys won both races! Too bad we can't count them as they are going in the cup -- it would have been fun to let the girls win once too!

Caleb focusing on not dropping any of his candy corn

Caleb & Logan with their completed bags from their party today -- TOO cute!!

The backs all signed by their classmates

Now on to Logan's party:

Aren't these ghost cupcakes awesome! My friend, Kim, is INCREDIBLE!! I tried to tell people I made them, but for some reason, everyone just laughed?? I didn't think that was very nice LOL!! :)

Logan's class picture! Yeah I realized that I win room-parent of the year award as I totally forgot to take a class picture in Caleb's class. Uggh -- oh well!!


Logan with his teacher, Mrs. Peters

Logan, the Mad Scientist

Another experiment gone wrong....

Trick or Treat -- Smell My Feet....

Ok so there weren't any tricks, treats, or smelling of feet going on today -- however, there was plenty of painting of feet. You may recall for 2nd grade's Halloween party, we tie dyed tote bags and the kids will draw their own Jack-o-lantern faces on them! Well, for 4th grade, we made ghost bags, by painting each of the kids' foot. Here are pictures of today's activities -- what a CUTE project!!!

Logan getting his foot painted with white paint

Standing up on the bag -- you'll see that we've already written their names on the bags in puff paint previous to today's events

Ta-Duh -- now we went back and filled in each footprint with heavier paint so it would look better

In the meantime, the kids got a spa treatment of soaking their feet in water to get all the paint off their feet LOL

My friend, Kim, filling in the footprints with more paint -- aren't those too cute??

During the party tomorrow, the kids will then use a sharpie and draw eyes and a mouth on their ghost. Once that is completed, each student will turn their bags over and autograph each other's bags to make this keepsake even more special! I LOVE the group of mom's in our class. Not only are they creative & giving -- they have become such great friends and are tons of fun to be around!! Not to mention they all have great kids too! :)

Stayed tuned for party pics tomorrow -- hopefully I can get them posted on the same day!! :)

We'll miss you Donahey Family!!

It's been some sad times around our church as we are losing a great family. The Donahey clan is moving to Fort Worth due to a new job opportunity. I can still remember Troy & Kimberly's first Sunday with us as "the new family". They had a cute little boy named Braeden, who while still cute, is far from little. He's 10 now and in 5th grade. They have since grown their family with Amelia and Bennett!

Some of you may know that I watched Amelia & Bennett when I had the daycare as well -- Amelia and Caleb, being only 3 weeks apart, were always great playmates!

My kids knew this day was coming -- but they have asked me several times this week "Why did the Donahey's have to move"...."Will we ever see them again", etc. I think it's been very tough on all of the kids of our church! Kimberly was most recently our Children's Ministry Director, and therefore, close with all of the kids -- and them with her!

Sunday after church, we had a going away luncheon for the Donahey family. Miss Jan (another very special teacher and close friend of ours) had been collecting pictures of each family within our church ever since learning they were moving. She then created a photo album and presented this to them during the luncheon. All of the kids signed a huge card to give to them as well! I know it's something they will be able to cherish and remember their last 9 years as involved members of Live Oaks Community!!

Jan presenting the photo album to Kimberly & Troy (the kids were too busy eating to come up -- who can blame them lol)

Troy, Kimberly, Braeden, Amelia, & Bennett -- you will definitely be missed!!!