Happy Halloween

Hope everyone had a spooky day!!

Jack O Lanterns

We carved our pumpkins this weekend and transformed them into spectacular Jack O Lanterns. Part of my Halloween season is to visit a pumpkin patch and delight in the scene of orange. However, this year due to some very kind friends and neighbors, we were given pumpkins from their gardens and therefore my sweet husband felt it wasteful to make the extra trip. While I appreciate the generosity of the pumpkins given, it did put a bit of a damper on my holiday festivities. Oh well, this year has been different all around. Because of my current position, it was necessary to cut back on some of the extras and keep it a bit more simple.....thus no Halloween Party...gasp!!
We still had our fun with carving and were quite pleased with the results. Bailee and Karsyn are pretty much pros now with all their years of carving experience and Emmrey is getting a little better about all the gooey guts. They all came up with their own design ....Emmrey wanted to add a "bucked out tooth" to hers because she currently has her first loose tooth. Wait....seriously? Could she really be at the age for losing baby teeth already? Impossible!



This years Jack O Lanterns




We also made these cute little lanterns earlier in the month with canning jars and tissue paper....so easy and fun!!



Let the Trick or Treating begin=)

Spook Splash

Last weekend we headed to Lander for the first CKAT meet of the season. This is always such a fun meet and includes a Halloween themed relay in the middle of the first day. Since Bailee wanted to compete both days of the meet, we stayed overnight. She did so well and received ribbons in several events. She placed 9th overall in the 100 Back....way to go Bay!!!

Our team has grown this past year and we had double what we had last year at this meet for sure. They are so good to support and cheer for one another!!

Bailee has become good friends with a few of the girls and it is so fun to watch them all wait to congratulate each other after their heat.

These two are quite the little cheer leaders...yelling for Bailee as well as all the other CKAT swimmers. They were sooooo good sitting in the stands for 2 very long and HOT days by the pool.

After the first day's meet, we had some time to kill before our room was ready. We took the girls to this Pioneer Museum where you could walk through the buildings set up like a pioneer village. Unfortunately, the buildings were closed for the day but we had fun walking around and looking inside anyway. The girls felt like they were living the dream of Little House on the Prairie.


Emmrey loved ringing the Old Schoolhouse bell, although she could barely reach it on her own.

The girls stopped for a break in the "pooper"....it was a double seater and all!!

It was a gorgeous autumn day and we were drinking it all in.

The girls were torn between staying longer and getting to the hotel to swim. In the end they decided to call it a day in the village and hit the pool.
Before heading for home the next afternoon, we had to take advantage of the beautiful weather and hike around Sinks Canyon for some fall colors....it was well worth the trip!!

Student...Teacher.....MOM:)

I am going on 9 weeks of Student Teaching. For the past 4 weeks I have taken over the classroom completely. I have been "present" in the classroom full-time since the first week in September and teaching part-time, but this is a whole different ball game. While I love almost everything about teaching and being in the school, I must admit it has been SO HARD juggling it along with my most important job as a Mommy. I feel like most days I can't keep up and the simplest tasks seem unattainable. I lay in bed at night thinking about all the things I didn't get checked off my list and wondering if I am short changing my girlies as well as the kiddos in my class.





We are all trying to figure out this new routine in our life right now. Bailee and Karsyn don't seem to be overly affected by the change. Bailee is a great help in the mornings and even packs me a lunch sometimes with cute notes on the sack and I know that Kars loves that we are school together all day. Emmrey on the other hand is struggling to adjust to her time without mommy and it is not something either of us are getting used to:) Mark has been a tremendous help (when he is in town;) He takes Emmrey most Fridays and she looks forward to her "daddy day" all week. While the girls are hanging in there, I can't help feeling like I am not doing enough for them right now and as a Mom that is the worst feeling ever!!

This is what I have been working toward all these years and I am finally there....doing something I absolutely love....so why do I feel so torn? I know that I am doing the right thing and this will all be worth it someday, but in the mean time, I am looking forward to spending more time with my precious little girls in the near future who I LOVE the MOST!!! (I will miss little notes like this)

Singin' ...and other stuff:(

Bailee had her first Choir concert of the year this week and we were all anxious to hear her sing. Unfortunately, Emmrey "puked" in the parking lot on our way into the school...just out of the blue....told me her "neck hurt" and before I had a chance to respond.....I'll spare you the details. So Mark and Karsyn had to tape the singing for us to see later. They did a great job...these Singin' Cougars!!! Wish I could have stayed to watch the whole thing.....I am sure poor little Emmrey does too:(

Membership

Emmrey has been wanting her own Library card for some time now. I had told her that when she turned 5 we would get her one. Since since September was her birthday and National Library card sign-up, it worked out perfect. This was one excited little girl and she went right up to the counter to take care of business. She signed on the line with her very best penmanship with a sly little grin on her face.

She then headed straight for the Kid Area to find her first books to check out on her spankin' new card. She checked out a couple of books and hit up the movie section before leaving.

How proud Emmrey is of her new membership at the Park County Library and how proud her momma is that she is a little READER!! Those books can open up a whole new world....let the adventure begin:)

Children of the Corn

Fall around here usually means a trip to the corn field to pick sweet corn. The family that Bailee takes piano from have a dairy farm and they have planted corn every year that we have lived here. We used one of Bailee's piano lessons as an excuse to go pickin'. We were a little later in the season than usual and the choices were more sparse. But we managed to find plenty of corn to cook and even a little to freeze. Truth be told we really like to play in the corn field the most:) I thought about making this picture all "Children of the Corn-ish" in honor of my favorite holiday, but it was just too cute as it was.

Happy Pickin'!!

Soccer Stars

Both Karsyn and Emmrey wanted to play soccer this year. Karsyn is an ol' pro at it now, while Emmrey was a rookie. The little Preschool league is short and sweet and the kids play about 5 games total. Karsyn is still in the thick of it with 2 games a week. We have had BEAUTIFUL soccer weather (oh..other than the game where kids were dodging tumbleweeds blowing viciously through the playing field:) and have been really enjoying watching them both play.


With Emm's team you have kidlets somersaulting across the field and getting their head stuck in the goal net, while most of Karsy's teammates have played and are getting more aggressive. I think Karsyn has some real potential with the sport, but depending on who you end up with for a coach, the Parks and Rec. League is more about having fun than truly learning the game so we may look into other options for her next time.

Either way they have both been having a ball running the field. And they have awesome team names..... Go Cheetos and Devil Legends!!!