Halloween Carnival

Today we had Bridger's preschool Halloween Carnival.

We love the Halloween Carnival so I decided to let Saxon miss school and come.

Darth Vader, Obi Wan Kenobi, Baby Yoda:

And me as Princess Leia (LOL)

Wait until you see Nate's costume this year.

Can you guess?

Bridger is right in the middle:

The only song he sang was "Thump Thump Thump...Who's there?"

For everything else he just sat there.

Part of the time he was rolling around on the ground, until he got tangled in his Jedi cloak, then he went back to just sitting there.

But I was really proud of him when he sang his one song!

Go Bridger!!

The boys caught worms:

The boys got Halloween tattoos:

And Saxon and Bridger with the best teacher ever!!!

Ms. Nettie as Mary Poppins:

Cotton Candy:

Baby Yoda made some weird faces when he ate his cotton candy.

I'm not sure he liked it :)

Brittany came with us which was sooo helpful!

At one point we let Bridger and Dalton go in the spook alley.

It had a jumpy tunnel to climb through and then a jumpy wall to climb over to get into the spook alley.  Saxon didn't want to go because he didn't want to take off his shoes.  Bridger and Dalton went right in.  Dalton got stuck though because he couldn't make it over the jumpy wall and bigger kids kept knocking him down.  So he settled for just jumping around inside the jumpy tunnel.  We were standing next the the jumpy thing and talking to Ms. Nettie.  We kept looking over and laughing at how Dalton was stuck but seemed to be having a good time anyway.  

 After a few minutes we were ready to drag him back out and we saw that he was gone.

We thought "Oh...he made it over the wall..."

So we waited by the exit for him to come out.

But he didn't come out.

We sent Saxon and Bridger in the exit to go look for him.

They said he wasn't there.

Then Brittany went in to go look for him and she came back out and said he really wasn't there.  

So I started to get nervous.

She went one way and I went the other way looking for him.

Britt found him in a different bounce house.

Since he coudn't find us, he just decided to enjoy the carnival on his own.

The little stinker scared me to death but he wasn't phased.

He was having a blast!

When it was time to go, Bridger said to me

"That was the best day ever!!!"

The Witch Hunt

On Friday Nettie invited us to go up to Gardner Village with her since it was fall break.

Mike came with us and it was so fun!

It was a little rainy, but that was ok, because it kept the crowds away.

We had lunch and then went on a witch hunt to find all of the hidden witches.

Saxon got his face painted:

This was one of my favorite witches...they gypsy witch:

Bridger's favorite witch was the one sitting on the potty reading a newspaper :)

It's hard to see in the picture, but there is a witch in a boat behind Saxon and Drew.

So fun!  I'd never taken my kids to Gardner Village for the holidays before and we loved it!  

And the best part was that it's free.  LOL.  

We bought lunch, but the witch hunt was free :)

Cornbellys

Last week, Mike came with us to take the kids to Cornbellys.

This year, they had way more than usual.

One of the new things was a zipline.

The boys were so excited they could hardly stand to wait in line.

Bridger went first...sooo brave!

 Saxon was next...

 And last...can you tell who that little person is up there on the left?

 Yep, that's my baby on a zip-line.

 He looked so tiny up there!

I'm still amazed at how brave he is.

Nothing is going to stop him from keeping up with his brothers.

 Saxon lifted him down and congratulated him on his first zip-line!

 Cow train ride:

 Dalton driving the wooden tractor:

 3 peas in a pod:

 Nate, Saxon, Bridger on the train/hay ride:

 Me and baby Dalton:

Mike was there too, but he didn't want a picture.

The boys had so much fun that they kept asking "can we stay a few more minutes?"

LOL, it was fall break so we stayed pretty late.

They loved it!

September Artwork

September was a busy month for us.

Saxon started kindergarten, Bridger started preschool, and Dalton started field-trip-Fridays. 

At the end of every month I take pictures of the kids artwork.

They do an art project every single day in preschool.

Here is Bridger showing off his art: 

Can you tell how proud he is of his work?  

And how excited he was that I made him take this picture?

They read "Butterflies in Timmy's Tummy", "Rainbow Fish", they learned "Mary had a little lamb" and learned about metamorphosis.  They talked about fire safety, Johnny Appleseed, and drew lots of pictures.

This is Bridger's version of "play".

They each had to draw a picture of their favorite thing about school.

This is Bridger's apple with a worm coming out of it.

Every day when I pick Bridger up, I ask:

"What did you do in school today?"

And everyday he tells me:

"I'm not telling you.  It's a secret."

But on this day, he laughed and said,

"Look!  A worm!"

 So that's why this piece of art gets it's very own picture.

Because it was Bridger's favorite :)

Saxon also talked about Johnny Appleseed in school and made apple prints.

This was the only art work they have done in Kindergarten so far.

It's hard to compare because we had the best preschool experience in the world, but I am a little bummed that they don't do more art and drawing.  Saxon is really artistic and loves to draw.  He does draw and paint a lot at home, I wish they did a little more in school.  They do have music time on Mondays, so I guess that's good.

If he comes home from school knowing how to read by the end of the year, then maybe I will re-evaluate my opinion of public schools.

For now, I'm undecided.

*Sidenote:
Saxon wore this shirt on picture day.  When I dressed him, he asked "Why am I putting on a church shirt?"  I told him that it was picture day.  He walked over to the mirror and checked himself out from every angle and then said "Ooh...I look handsome!"  Yes he does!  I can't wait to get the pictures back!!

Autumn Boat Ride

Mike was nice enough to take us out on the boat one last time, on the last day of September.  The weather was beautiful, but the water was freezing!

The kids didn't seem to mind that much though.

Saxon hopped right in to go knee-boarding.

 He LOVES knee-boarding!

He's getting really good too.

Mike's given him a lot of practice this year.

Each time he has taken us out in the boat, he lets the kids go as many times as they want to.  Saxon usually has a turn in between everyone else.

Saxon - Nate - Saxon again - Bridger - Saxon again - Dalton - Saxon again - me...etc.

 Dalton loves every minute of being in the boat!

He sits on his little spot saying

"Me, my turn!"

the whole time.

 So, Nate was brave enough to get back into the cold water to take Dalton knee-boarding.

Dalton couldn't stop grinning the whole time.

Here's the proof:

 This baby was born to be in the water!

Bridger, was a little nervous about the cold water (so was I) but he braved it and got on the knee board anyway.  On his first turn, the knee-board submarined and he went under.  After dunking in the freezing water, he decided that he had had enough knee-boarding for this season.  Maybe next year... :)

 I was the biggest wimp of the group.

I sat on the edge of the boat with the ski on trying to think of a good excuse to chicken out and not have to get in the cold water.  After about ten minutes of counting silently to myself (1...2...3...GO!) but not actually going, I finally just had to hold my breath and get in.  It was every bit as bad as I imagined it would be.  It was soooo cold!  Luckily, once I got up on the ski it wasn't quite as bad.  I skiied for a long time because I did not want to fall and get back into the water.  Finally my arms were getting tired and I either had to let go or wait til I crashed so I let go and then swam as fast as I could for the boat.  I'm glad I did it though because it's going to be a long time before I have the chance to ski again.

And Saxon showing off his "moves" on the knee-board!

Love it!