First grader

Grace's first grade photo arrived this afternoon.  Not perfect, but it does look like her, messy hair and all.  I love the missing tooth, too!  She had on the cutest outfit with embroidered fall flowers on the bottom of the shirt and the jean skirt.  But you can't see any of it in the photo.  Next year I need to remember to add something more interesting on top. 

Grace's school must have changed photography companies since last year the class photo was a composite.  But, I like the traditional group photo like this better!  I love that Grace is right in the middle, but you can't see her cute outfit here either!  

It is the end of the grading period so a bunch of work has been coming home the last few days.  This one we have had hanging on the refrigerator.  

Her favorites are:  French Fries, the color red, tigers, and reading.  Grace says she wants to be a rock star when she grows up.  

Trick-or-treat

Trick-or-treating is more fun with friends.  Tonight we went with:

Parker as Jack Frost, Makenna as Dorothy, Hayden and Kendall as Spiderman and Spidergirl, and Lyla as a witch.  

The kids had a great time together running from house to house.  In Makenna's neighborhood  a lot of people really get into the spirit of Halloween.  Many houses have bonfires on the driveway or front yard and people are sitting out enjoying a couple of hours when the neighborhood comes together to "treat" the kids. It was definitely fun for Grace but she was cold so we went back home to give out treats at our house - which is fun too!

Pumpkin Carving

The new thing about pumpkin carving this year was that Grace drew her own design for her jack-o-lantern.

She is not hesitant about getting her hand inside and pulling out all the pumpkin guts!  Grace was a pretty good helper, too.  She picked up the seeds that fell on the floor and found the candles to put inside.  But she wasn't allowed to light them!

This week, I got to help out in Grace's classroom for "Pumpkin Day". The teacher had 6 different stations set up and the kids did activities at each center. They measured how "fat" and tall the pumpkin was, what pumpkin pie and seeds taste like, described how they feel and sound, and played an online game where they did a virtual pumpkin carving. The whole time they were estimating, predicting, writing, make graphs, and other educational things that didn't feel like school work.

These two are a team.  They talked about their designs, looked on the internet for ideas, and Grace explained exactly what she wanted for hers - especially the big eyes and triangle nose!

And the finished product?  Here they are:

My poor baby looks so tired.  She gets up so early and goes, goes, goes all day with hardly a complaint.  I am one very lucky mom.

May the force be with you

Why are the bad guys always the most interesting? There is something about the "dark side" that draws you in even if you know it is dangerous.

At work on Thursday I ate lunch with 48 kindergarten and first grade students and I asked each one what they want to be for Halloween. There were the typical princesses and fairies for the girls and the famous athletes and superheroes for the boys. All that is fine.  Nothing wrong with it.  And, as a school principal, I have to be glad that we are not faced with blood, gore, and weapons  But I was hoping to hear something unique. Have someone make an "out of the box" choice that would be surprising.  For that, I didn't need to look any further than my own home.  Grace told me weeks ago that she wanted to be Darth Vader.  That was a surprise.  First, I wasn't even sure how she knew about Darth Vader since she hasn't seen Star Wars.  At least not that I know of. And, Darth Vader is a man. And he wears a mask which I really don't like on costumes - too hot, not allowed in school, can't see...you get my point.  So, I started searching the internet, Pinterest, and Etsy for "girl Darth Vader costumes" and I settled on this:

I love that it was "girly" and didn't have a mask.  It was "perfect" according to Grace who bounced around the house in delight when the costume arrived and she tried it for the first time. (It was cold and rainy when I took the photo above.  She really is happy with it. I promise!) When she came home from school and told me that that other kids said she can't be Darth Vader because she is a girl, Mama Bear came out and responded:  "Girls can be anything they want to be."  That should settle it.  If nothing else, I want her to grow up being strong and confident.

Tonight the Girl Darth Vader costume made its debut at the Cleveland Aquarium's "Hauntaquarium" - a Radio Disney-sponsored Halloween event.

We invited Grace's male BFF Noah to join us and they had a great time.  His mom joked that it was their first Sweetest Day date. Ha!  But maybe not too far from the truth.  They do have a special relationship.

Noah was dressed as a pirate.  See what I mean about the bad guys?  But, he didn't think a pirate was bad enough since he told me he wanted to be something bloody or undead but his mom wouldn't let him. Love her!

The kids had a great time viewing the aquarium before we went to the Radio Disney party where they had a mechanical shark to ride, face painting, crafts, music, games, someone making ballon animals, jugglers, a magician....you get the idea.  There was a lot to do and I drove home with two very tired kids asleep in the backseat!

BTW, I took all these photos with my iPhone, handy little thing.  I had the big camera with me, but keeping an eye on two 6-year olds - even two as good as Grace and Noah - is a lot.  It was dark in the aquarium and I needed to fuss with camera settings on the big camera which just wasn't possible.  Another reminder of why Grace is an only child!

For the last few years Kyle and I have dressed up to match Grace's Halloween choice - Swiper and Dora to her Boots (2009),

Grumpy and the Evil Queen to her Snow White (2010),

Shaggy and Velma to her Scooby-Do (2011),

and a family of vampires (2012).

For the first time since she could express and opinion, Grace didn't care if we dress up.  But, I work at a primary school so dressing up is part of the job.  So....when I had the choice of what to be did I choose the good Princess Leia or revert back to a favorite the Evil Queen from Snow White?

I told you...there is something intriguing about the dark side.

Weekend project

Grace and I took this plain unfinished wood footstool....

...and turned it into a super cute table for Lily and her friends!