Hooray for fall breaks! This is something we never enjoyed in North Carolina--they went full speed from September to Christmas break. The Colorado school schedule here is a "modified fall/summer schedule," which means it's similar to year-round school in that there are more frequent, longer breaks during the school year, and a shorter summer. So far I'm seeing the wisdom in starting school clear back at the beginning of August, if it means we get little "breathers" like this along the way!
We started this break off with a trip to the eye doctor for Zach-O. His teacher had mentioned he squints a lot, and seems to struggle with seeing the whiteboard. She moved his desk clear to the front, and we decided we'd better get his eyes checked. Sure enough, the little guy was doomed with his genes and needs glasses. He's pretty excited about looking more like a hipster though!
Zach's favorite place to get lunch is at Panera. He loves their broccoli cheddar soup, and has since he was just a little baby. Since a) it's semi-healthy considering his other favorites (cheeseburgers, sugar, and ice cream), b) I don't get to take him on lunch dates very often, and c) I can't deny his blue eyes anything, we definitely made lunch happen.
This little sneakster was supposed to stay home with Jon, who was off work, but she threw a fit when she saw me leaving with the older two. She promised to be on her best, BEST behavior, and she mostly was... until we saw the pumpkin cookies!!
Lucy of course is always a lady, and got to come to lunch too. She was recently invited to participate in her schools "Battle of the Books" (BOB) program-- as the only 3rd grader in the entire school!! She recently tested again at an 8th grade reading level, and her teacher was floored. It's normally an honor reserved for 4th and 5th graders, and sometimes very special 3rd graders, so we are totally proud of her. There is a list of books put out by district, and their BOB team (10 students) decides which student will read which books, and then they become "experts" on two of them. This winter they will have "meets" against other schools where they answer trivia questions, and try to win all sorts of glory and honor for their school. It is totally up her alley, a good challenge for her, and she is super excited!! Go Lucy!!
That night we decided to make our own pumpkin sugar cookies. It was a MESS-- flour everywhere, sprinkles in places I never imagined possible-- but the kids loved it and it's a fun tradition.
I always forget to double the recipe (guh!) so after all of that hard work we only ended up with enough to last us into the very next day, sadly, mostly thanks to the handiwork of Leah and Zach who are true cookie monsters!!
Wednesday afternoon we needed out of the house, so we went to the matinee of Hotel Transylvania 2. My kids looooove the first one-- Leah laughs so hard at it, and although I thought it was kind of silly they really enjoyed the sequel. It was so nice to actually go to a movie with three kids and have them all sit and be entertained!
The trees in our yard are finally changing colors, and they are beautiful! I must accept that fall colors are never as brilliant on camera, but I love looking out our back window and seeing a sea of red and gold leaves!
Zach decided he'd be helper and swept up all of the ones that had fallen with my house broom, ha, ha, but Jon was sure glad he didn't have to do it himself! What a helper!
Our fall has been soooo warm so far!! Warm enough for naked babies to play outside! I keep mentally preparing myself that this IS Colorado, and the cold is coming....
Friday morning I woke up to a voicemail from my next door neighbor saying that their daughter Savannah (who they'd conveniently been home all week playing with) had lice. UGHHH. I about passed out!! I think I am still healing from last year's epic battle against the lice. I immediately checked Lucy and sure enough I found bugs. Yuck. Zach was fine, and Leah was mostly fine except for one bug and a few nits. I spent all morning of OUR LAST DAY OF BREAK doing laundry, sanitizing the house, and nitpicking Lucy's head. Thankfully Savannah's mom called me right away so I could catch it quickly!! The silver lining is that I learned a thing or two from last time, and had invested in a special comb you can only buy online (I shall guard it with my life) which was a MIRACLE-WORKER at stripping heads full of lice and nits this go round, and less than 24 hours later we are LICE-FREE ((knock on wood))!! And I'd really, really like to stay that way for awhile this time. Just saying! Anyway, that night we went out for pizza at Mellow Mushroom because this pregnant lady was totally exhausted. Leah loves all the crazy hippy artwork.
The kids helped me pick out winter boots at Wal-mart on one of our grocery runs, and they looked so cute playing "snow time" in the basement together. This week proved to me why you have lots of children. At a certain point they actually do start playing together and as I've always said, the best entertainment for kids is other kids. They did great playing with each other all week. Leah is going to be sooooo bored now!
Saturday morning Lucy had a sewing class (and yes, I double and triple checked her head before I sent her that morning and found NOTHING, phew!) where she learned to make a felt monster purse. She sure loves being crafty!!
That afternoon (while Jon was at work) I had the bright idea to take the kids on the bike path and walk to Main Street in downtown Parker. It's all decorated for Halloween and has tons of blow-ups and spooky store window scenes. I thought it'd be a nice way to get out of the house. Ha! My kids walked about halfway and were D-Y-I-N-G. It was hot, they were thirsty, and Leah was soooo tired even thought she was being pushed in the stroller. But with a little begging perseverance we finally made it.
Leah found this black cat which matched her Halloween shirt!
All in all it was a great fall break. I'm actually kind of sad they have to go back to school tomorrow! I know Leah will be. But since there's still lots of fun things to do and see this October, we have lots to look forward to!
