Hodge Podge

My profound apologies for slacking in the blogging department as of late. Time just flies by when you're busy & having fun! Here's what we've been up to.

Halloween 2009--
As usual the weeks & days leading up to Halloween were full of fun activities for our family. We received an invitation from some dear friends in Boulder to come to their church's Halloween celebration. The girls had fun painting little pumpkins, decorating cookies, getting their faces painted, making treat bags and playing with festive orange Play Doh. Caitlin, Ben & I went to the "kid-friendly" haunted forest but Cara wanted nothing to do with it and promptly started crying and wanting to exit the forest. We ended the night by listening to Halloween stories followed by the long drive home.





We also received an invitation to a Pumpkin Party hosted by Caitlin's Daisy Scout leader. We enjoyed hot apple cider, yummy cookies and a fantastic pumpkin cake, that looked like a real pumpkin. The girls & I carved our pumpkins too, even Cara got in on the scooping out of the pumpkin innards.





Finally, we wrapped up Halloween by going trick-or-treating not once, but twice. Both girls love the idea of getting candy for free, just by asking politely. During the day, we went to a local pedestrian mall where the girls trick-or-treated at various stores along the mall and also got to participate in a few Halloween activities and see some very creatively carved pumpkins. This was the perfect location and time for Cara since it wasn't scary or dark.
After this, we went to my brother's house west of Denver and trick-or-treated in his neighborhood. Cara lasted for about 10 houses, even though she was scared at time and wanted both mommy & daddy to go with her, before she wanted to find her big sister, who had gone ahead with her aunt & uncle, and go home. Caitlin was satisfied with doing about 3 streets. She was very pleased with her bag full of loot (which was carefully rationed by her loving parents...why didn't some one tell me that dentists were buying candy?).







All in all, the girls had a wonderful Halloween and this was the first year that Cara really understood what it was all about.

Birthday parties--
Caitlin has been invited to two birthday parties so far this year, both for classmates. The first was a party held at Monkey Bizness, an indoor inflatable play area. Caitlin and her classmates had a lot of fun bouncing and climbing around. She even talked me into climbing up and going down the big slide. I have to say, it was blast!





The second birthday party is this weekend and will be Caitlin's first sleepover party! She's so beyond excited to see her friends and stay up telling stories (I'm guessing that they will all crash hard at some point). All that I have to say is that the birthday girl's mother is one brave soul to have a house full of sugar-high 1st grade girls! I can't wait to hear Caitlin's recount of the night.

School projects--
We have been really busy with all things school related in our house too. Having two kids in school means double the projects and fundraisers. We've had a Daisy Scouts candy & nut sale, school picture days, a Hawaii poster project, an "I am Thankful for" bag and much more in addition to the regular load of homework and nightly reading. Caitlin's school is participating in the Book-It program with Pizza Hut and Caitlin is eagerly awaiting her first coupon for a free pan pizza! Cara & I do daily enrichment activities in a variety of areas, which keeps my creative gears turning as I search for fun and engaging things for us to try.

Sickness--
Right after Halloween, everyone in the family, except for me, came down with Strep throat. After several nurse visits and prescriptions for Amoxicillin, Ben & the girls recovered and were back to their normal selves. I thought it was so comical that Caitlin loved the taste of the medicine so much that she reminded me when it was time for a dose and wanted more after we'd finished the prescribed amount. Thankfully, minus the bout of pretty minor strep throat, everyone's been healthy so far this winter. We are thanking our lucky stars, for sure. As long as I cover every inch of our house with Lysol, I'm sure the germs will stay at bay, right?

After this very lengthy post, I can honestly say that I've caught you all up on happenings in our house. We are now gearing up for Thanksgiving, which we plan to spend with my parents at their home. Being around family is what the holidays are all about.

I hope that you & yours are happy, healthy, warm & safe!