School Festivities

The morning of Halloween, I woke when it was still very dark outside, took a deep breath, and asked God for the strength to get through this day.

It all began with Lauren's class starting earlier in the day than their normal start time.  And none of the kids could be convinced to buy school lunch that day (am I the only mom trying to coax her kids to buy lunch once in a dang while??).  Add in homework folders and costumes and someone's library book for library day and a carved pumpkin all having to accompany us to school half an hour earlier than our usual mad dash out the door in the mornings.

And that was just the first ninety minutes of the day.

We had to go back to school at the exact time Jonah usually goes down for his nap.  Witness his face.  That face, accompanied by a loudly persistent whine, was his immediate response any time I had to set him down for the whole two and a half hour school "volunteering" I was attempting to do.  But!  We made it to see Lauren walking with her class for their costume parade!  I couldn't miss this.

Then back to her classroom for cupcakes and juice.  Where Jonah loudly whined about not getting one to eat too.

Big sis saved the day though when she gave her Oreo cookie to him and then set him up with some of her lunch.

Made a cracker sandwich for him.  This boy has it good, I tell ya.

And the highlight of his no-nap day was when we got to join bigger sister's class for part of their recess time.

Then we (Lauren whose class had a minimum day, Jonah and I) went to visit Allie's class to see a bit of their classroom party.

Before we had to dash over to Mikey's class to help him get in to his costume and grab a quick picture with his teacher...

Before dashing back over to get a quick picture with her teacher before she left for the day (because I forgot to do it earlier)...

And then returning to Allie's class in time to see their mummy wrapping contest.  And also realizing that in all this running back and forth, I managed to miss both the older kids' costume parades.  Nice.

At least we got to see this part.  The kids loved this activity.

This one kid brought in a unicorn head as his costume and wore it the whole time they were mummyfying him.  Hilarious.

And then this guy began to see the fun there is to be had in a roll of toilet paper.

Oh no.  I am now very, very afraid of his new discovery.

Jumping right in with the big kids.

This group had a couple extra "helpers".

Another highlight of his day.  So thankful for my older kiddos who both understood that Mommy had to go back and forth between their classrooms in order to see everyone and who were just glad I could be there even for parts of it.

And then it was time to collect everyone mid-party so that we could end up...

Here.  At the dentist.  On Halloween.

Mother of the Year, right here.  :p

Pumpkins

It's been a busy month in our house with Phil studying and taking yet another board exam (felt like old times when he'd have to work all day and then come home to study all night. Ugh, bad memories) in addition to all the other regular activities going on.  So we just couldn't fit in a trip to the pumpkin patch this year.  Boo.

But!  I seized the day right after Phil's test and designated it pumpkin carving day.  So I sent him and the kids off to the market to pick up pumpkins and whatever else he deemed necessary to tackle the task at hand.

All set up and ready to do this thing.

The girls had fun playing with the pumpkin guts.

She was living up the squishy grossness.  Eventually shed her gloves so that she could squish with her bare hands.

But this is what this guy thought of pumpkin guts.  He still remembers the year I made them taste the lid of the pumpkin which totally grossed him out.  It's burned into his memory.

Being the awesome-face-your-fears-head-on type of parents we are, we of course made him reach right in there...

and get those pumpkin guts outta there.

Nope, not a fan.

And yes, he's been wearing this shirt for three years.  He refuses to let me retire it.

Got my pumpkin carved and ready to go.

He wanted to keep things simple with the pumpkin carving this year.  This was Jonah's pumpkin.  He didn't have much input on it as he was busy napping away while all this was going on.  Some day he'll be awake to join us...

I couldn't resist printing out a few templates for the kids to use though.

And it seemed easy enough.  At first.

Although my pumpkin was finished awhile ago, I somehow got roped into "helping" Lauren with her pumpkin.

Finished!

She did most of it herself and did an awesome job.

He worked really hard on his, too.  So proud of him for sticking with it even though it proved to be harder than it looked at first.

The whole pumpkin family.

All lit up inside.


So um, my seizing of the day was a tad premature.  As in, we did it ten days ago and uh, they didn't quite make it til the big day.  As in, I looked at them yesterday and one was completely black with mold inside and was oozing pumpkin juice everywhere.  Yuck.  And the others weren't looking too hot either.

One of these years I will remember this.

And the kids wanted to enter a pumpkin into their school contest tomorrow, but none of the above were salvageable, so this is what they and their daddy did tonight:

Happy last day of October, however you choose to celebrate it!  :)

Thank You

My sweet friend Lorie has continued to remember each of our kids' birthdays and always manages to send them their very own package in the mail to enjoy opening.  It's quite an exciting event around here whenever a package from Auntie Lorie arrives at our doorstep.

Just so thrilling as a kid to see your own name on a package and know there's a present inside especially for you.  Auntie Lorie is so good about these things!

Package opening day always draws spectators.

Not only is the outer package neatly wrapped, but the present inside is always wrapped in fun wrapping paper, too.  Non-Christmas wrapping paper, even!  Along with a hand-written birthday message from the whole Schnell clan, too.  Boy, I tell ya, she's really, really good.

This one just made his day.

He was a wee bit excited.

I take that back.  He was completely, totally, teeth-grindingly excited.

He disappeared to go build his new Ninjago car.  A little while later, he came and asked me to take his picture with this sign he'd made.  He asked me to send it right away so you'd know how much he loves his gift.  I'm very sorry this is so belated!  He would be chagrined to know it took me this long to show you this picture.  :(

A couple months later, another special package arrived at our door!

Which, like I said, always draws spectators.

Sometimes it's a little tricky getting past the packing tape.

That's when the spectators are happy to jump in and lend a helping hand.

See?  Wrapped in adorable pink Hello Kitty paper which is a far cry from the red and green striped paper I still try to pass off as good for year-round use.

This one contained an assortment of Lauren's current favorite things.

Very handy to have a big sis to read you the birthday greeting.

Mikey, equal parts mystified and amazed, asked me how Auntie Lorie always knows exactly what they like to play with.

I just answered that Auntie Lorie and her family are one of God's extra special blessings to us.

Thank you, Schnells.  Thank you for loving on our kids in this way, and most especially for your faithful friendship all these years.  We love you guys!


PS- And a very happy birthday to you, dear friend!