Trick-or-Treating

After Em's party, we cleaned up, went to see Grandpa and Grandma, got their traditional Halloween chili and breadsticks YUM!, then got ready for trick-or-treating. Emily was Ariel and Ashley was Barbie Mariposa. It had started to rain like crazy, but they were brave and went out anyway. Luckily it stopped raining soon after they left and they had an enjoyable time until they got cold and came home. Overall it was a great night and they're still eating their candy to this day.

I had to post both of these pictures because when we were ready to go out trick-or-treating, Ashley was upset about something. We told her to smile and she said, "No, I want to cry for the picture!" So I took one with her crying.

Then I asked if she could smile in a picture and she said, "Okay" and promptly stopped crying to smile. Then when I was done, she would start crying again. She can turn the waterworks off and on just like that. This is totally my little Ashley!! :-)

Their loot--if you look close you'll see that Emily came right home and sorted all her candy and put them all in rows. This is totally Em! :)

Super Star

Emily was chosen to be Student of the Week and the Super Star of the Week during the week of her birthday. She got to choose pictures and make a poster (with some help from mom and dad of course!) She loved it and was very proud of her poster. Her favorite part was the picture she drew and put on it. Way to be a super star, Em!!

I just love her pose so much!

Emily's Birthday Party

This was the first year that we let Emily have a friend party, so it was very exciting. She invited friends from the neighborhood, her cousins, and even two friends from school. We, of course, had a Princess party. We encouraged the girls to dress up like a princess--which they did and all looked beautiful!

When the girls arrived we had them make crowns with their names and decorations on it. Then we played pass the "glass" slipper (like hot potato). When the music ended, if the girl was holding the slipper they got a prize. Then we did the opposite and played pass the "poison" apple. This time if the girl was holding the apple when the music stopped, they were out. The girls LOVED this game and requested to keep playing it. Some girls stayed after the party was over and wanted to play this game again and again.

After that we played a similar version to princess musical chairs, where they would walk on a princess and when the music stopped whatever princess was drawn the girl on that princess would get a prize. That game was fun too, but they totally demolished the princess pictures by walking on them. Next time, I'll just have them walk around the pictures.

After all the games, we had cake and ice cream and opened up presents. I think it was a big hit! The girls seemed to really enjoy themselves and Emily just loved having a party with friends. It was a fun morning and we still had time to recuperate before we went out trick-or-treating that night. Happy 6th Birthday, Emily!

All our princesses in their crowns

Blowing out those candles

Opening up one of her many "favorite" presents

Playing Pass the Poison apple

Playing Princess Musical Papers

Ashley

So, as I was sitting down to write yet another blog post about Emily, I realized that Ashley has been being neglected in my latest posts. So, I thought I would do a quick thankful post about my little Ashley girl!

I cannot tell you how much I love this child. Even though she is a lot harder than Emily was, I love her fiery personality (well, most of the time anyway). I love her ability to tease and be teased without crying. I love her naturally curly hair and her cute high voice. I love (also most of the time) how attached she is to me. She never wants to be very far from me and in the morning (if I'm not already up), she'll come in and lay right next to me in bed and just smile so wide at me and say, "I love you!" over and over and give me hugs too. Just being so happy that she's next to me.

I love that she's so independent, even though this can also be a pain sometimes too. I love her so much and I love how she is blossoming in her own way to be such a beautiful, smart little girl. I am very blessed!!!! Love you so much, sweet Ashley!!

How could you not love this smile!!!

Oh, I love this girl so much!!! :-)

Ashley singing one of her favorite songs from Preschool. She loves it so much cuz she gets to scare you at the end!

Emily's Birthday/Halloween at School

Emily's Birthday is October 29th. This date fell on the Friday that they celebrate Halloween at school this year. Emily didn't care though. She got to dress up, bring treats, parade through the school, and have a party--and that was all before lunch. Then that night was our Classic Skate Night so she also got to go there and scooter to her heart's content. They also wished her a happy birthday over the intercom too! She had a great birthday and was super excited for her first friend birthday party the next day (that'll be my next post.)

Emily in her beautiful Ariel costume

Sorry the video's a little fuzzy; this is Em in her parade

Carving Pumpkins

For Family Home Evening before Halloween we carved pumpkins. Ashley wasn't interested in doing; she just watched. I helped clean out all the "guts" and then Kenny and Emily carved them. They turned out cute! Too bad with the nice weather that they rotted so quickly, but at least they were cute for a few days!

Money Machine

So, I've been busy the last couple of weeks and haven't updated and now I'm REALLY behind. I've got birthdays, birthday parties, Halloween, and contests to write about but I'm kind of anal about posting things in order so those will have to wait...for now.

Our school held a fundraiser this year selling Happenings books. As an incentive for the students, if you sold 6 books you got to go into the money machine for 10 seconds. Well thanks to my wonderful friends, neighbors, and family Emily sold 16 books!! She was excited to go into the machine and luckily didn't have any expectations of riches!

As she was waiting, she kept giving me the thumbs up and then pantomiming how she would grab the money and put it in her shirt. It was super cute! Finally it was her turn and she did great. She got $5, which is what most of the little kids got and not bad for only 10 seconds. She was so excited and can't wait to go to the dollar store and spend it. Way to go, Emily!

Getting in the machine and getting ready

Grabbin' her money

My students started chanting, "Emily, Emily" and it caught on. It was really cool!