Riley's Thanksgiving Feast...

After celebrating Reece's Thanksgiving Feast we headed over to Riley's school for her feast. Riley's class sang a few songs, recited a poem, made Indian necklaces, did some Indian dances and then we had a turkey feast. Riley making her Indian Necklace

Riley's class gathered sticks and rocks from outside and made their own campfire. They used red, yellow and orange tissue paper to look like the fire and had a flashlight shining up through the twigs. It was really neat.

Riley's class doing an Indian dance around their "campfire."

Reece's Thanksgiving Feast...

Reece had her Thanksgiving Feast at preschool on Monday, Nov. 23rd. The kids were so adorable singing all their Thanksgiving songs and wearing their Indian and Pilgrim hats they made. There was a HUGE Thanksgiving spread. I have never seen so much food at a preschool feast. It was like Thanksgiving Day with all the fixings. Reece and I did not get to stay for the whole feast because Riley's class was having their feast too. So, I attended Reece's feast for 20 mins. and then we rushed over to Riley's feast. Reece eating her yummy food.

Reece's class and the below video is one of the cute songs they preformed. In the middle of the song, Grace's brother (1 yr. old) started dancing to the song. It was so CUTE and everyone was laughing. You will see all the kids start smiling and watching him as they sing.

The Dental Fun Begins...

Riley has been way ahead of schedule for getting teeth and losing teeth. That is all good for a child who wants money BUT when your mouth is not growing along with the teeth you get problems. Riley's mouth is incredibly small and can't keep up with all her new teeth. Her permanent upper molars have been coming in sideways and were pushing on her baby molars. We have been watching them and hoping the permanent molars did not cause the baby molars to come out too soon (you are not supposed to loose your baby molars until you are about 10). Well, this week we had to take Riley to the dentist because the tooth on her upper left was very loose. The dentist ended up pulling the tooth and we are going to have to put an appliance in the back to straighten the permanent molar and keep the space open. She will go back in two weeks for dental impressions and then again for the appliance and then every 2-3 weeks for 4-5 months to have the bands adjusted. So, good thing I love dentistry because we are about to start living at the dental office. :( And our huge prayer is the right side is going to correct itself or otherwise we will be going through the same thing on the other side. The dentist said 60% of the time it corrects itself. So, we are praying for that! The dentist said Riley will not be able to chew gum and eat chewy candy (taffy, tootsie rolls, etc.) until this is all said and done (we are probably looking at about 3 - 4 yrs. before the permanent ones come in). Poor Riley!!!!! I think Riley has inherited my teeth. :(

Halloween 2009

This year I told the girls they had to find their Halloween Costume from something we already owned. They have so many dress up clothes so I knew that would not be hard. Riley chose to be a cowgirl (since she was dressing up as a cowgirl for her school Hoe down), Reece chose Tinkerbell and Regan chose to be a pilgrim (this was her colonial day costume from last year). They all looked very cute. Riley asked Daddy if he was going to dress up. He said he was going to be a Bald Eagle. Riley replied, "but you don't have a costume." Daddy said, "sure I do I am going to shave my head and my arms will be my wings." I said Daddy will definitely be bald and Reece thought I said "ball." So, Reece replied, "Yeah, daddy your head can be a ball, a baseball, and your body can be the baseball bat!" The things she comes up with! Daddy had fun telling the girls that I was going to dress up as a 35 yr. old. He teased me about that ALL night!

Every year we try to leave our neighborhood because it is so wild. The HOA closes down the neighborhood to all thru traffic and they have guards at all the neighborhood entrances. No cars are allowed in except residents. People come from all over and park outside the neighborhood and walk in. I heard from one neighbor that they had over 300 kids come to their door. So, we do not go Trick-or-Treating in our neighborhood. Instead, we joined our dear friends, the Doucets, at their church's Trunk-or-Treat. We have done this the last 3 yrs. and our girls love it. Riley and Reece ready to go

Riley (Cowgirl), Reece (Tinkerbell) and Regan (Pilgrim)

Precious Tinkerbell

Pilgrim Girl

Getting ready to go Trunk-or-Treating - just the mention of candy makes them smile.

Someone carved all these amazing pumpkins. I tried to capture them in a photo but it does not show how amazing they are. These two pumpkins are of Jonah in the whale and Noah's Ark.

These two pumpkins are of Jesus wearing the crown of thorns and John 3:16

JC Pumpkin stands for Jesus Christ and a Lion and the Lamb Pumpkin.

Regan (Pilgrim) with her dear friend, Hannah Doucet (black cat)

Regan showing all her loot.

Can't I just have one more piece of candy.

Riley (cowgirl), Reece (Tinkerbell), and Rachel Doucet (clown) at the end of the night.

Carving Our Pumpkin...

We carved our family pumpkin this week. The girls had fun taking turns getting the "stuff" out and then we roasted the seeds. We chose a traditional "happy" jack-o-lantern face. Riley scooping out the insides of the pumpkin

The finished product - a happy pumpkin - we don't do scary at our house.

This is as scary as it gets - well not scary just crazy! :)

Riley's School Hoe Down - Yee Haw...

Riley's Class had a Hoe Down on Friday, Oct. 30th. They got to dress up as Cowboys/Cowgirls or farmers. Riley was a combination of a cowgirl and farmer. She has been so excited about this day. Her class has been working very hard in music to prepare for this fun event. Riley's class performed the square dance for the parents and then they got to pick a parent to dance with. Riley chose Daddy and he was thrilled to square dance. :) When Regan was in Kindergarten she too picked Daddy. He is becoming quite the square dancer. He won't admit that he had fun but I captured many smiles on the camera. After the Hoe Down, we went back to Riley's class for refreshments and they sang a couple of songs for us ("Down on Grandpa's Farm" and "Sweetly Sings the Donkey") and recited a poem on manners. It was a fun day! Cute little cowgirl/farmer

Riley and Charlie do-si-do

Swing your partner

Riley and her partner Charlie sashaying

Riley and Charlie going through the tunnel

Riley swinging her Daddy

Do-si-do

Riley and Daddy sashaying - check Riley's feet - completely off the ground.

Riley and Daddy going through the tunnel. This was fun to watch Tony doing! :)

Riley's class all dressed up - Yee Haw!

Charlie and Riley Sashaying

Daddy and Riley sashaying down (Riley's teacher caught this on camera)

Riley and Daddy almost through the tunnel

Reece's School Parade and Party...

On Thursday, October 29th Reece's school had a Halloween Parade. Reece dressed up as Tinkerbell (a costume she received as a gift from Grandma and Grandpa Crissman). She looked adorable. It was a pretty day for the parade and Tony and I were both able to be there to watch her. It was nice actually attending a St. Luke's Parade without having a younger child in tow. Reece also had a party in her class that day. Each child was given a plastic pumpkin with all kinds of goodie bags and treats. It looked like she had already gone trick-or-treating. Here are Reece's Teachers Mrs. Sharon (the pumpkin) and Mrs. Stathelson (the butterfly)

Reece's preschool class all dressed up for the Halloween Parade

Here comes Reece's Class with Pastor Joe leading the way on his unicycle.

Reece as Tinkerbell in the parade