Our month ended with a whirlwind of a week that included a field trip, a class party, and what felt like a whole day of trick-or-treating.
Because I've always loved school and learning (if I had the time and money to take classes just for fun, I totally would), and because things like oh, say, Halloween make me wish I were still a kid, I sometimes live vicariously through my children's preschool experiences. I'm OK with that. It means chaperoning field trips and helping with parties are not so much duties as reasons for me to be as excited as the girls. Does that make me weird? Probably.
We had a sunny (hot!) day for the kiddos' trip to a nearby farm. They got to climb on giant tires and haybales, ride a barrel train, go on a spooky hayride, make their way through a (hot!) corn maze, and feed farm animals. Well, actually only one of my children (Reagan) was brave enough to even get in spitting distance of the animals. Clearly my country roots have not been passed down to these town girls. Their teachers could not get over how reserved they were with me there - apparently they are not shy at all at school! Hmmmm....interesting.
Even scarier than the animals was the hayride....luckily one of the teachers warned me that there were some Halloween decorations along the ride that moved, so I knew to have everybody sitting close. Otherwise I have a feeling someone may have leapt all the way out of the trailer at one point. My girls may be getting big, but they can still all fit on my lap at the same time when the situation calls for it. For instance, when a huge furry spider falls down out of a tree and onto our heads. (Or, when any of them perceive that a sister is getting .009 % more attention than they are at a given moment, but that's neither here nor there.)
My last field trip with a bunch of preschoolers was in October five years ago, when I was a teacher. At the time, I was actually finally pregnant - after so many years of trying - but didn't know it. We were working with doctors to help matters along, so I knew I might be, but it was hard looking at all the parents there and wondering if I'd ever be on the other side of things, and be there just as a mom, having fun with my own kids. If I had only known what lay just ahead! How sweet and funny and amazing this journey is.
A couple of days after the field trip, I got to be a part of the girls' class again by helping out with their fall party. Each parent is asked to assist in hosting one of the three parties throughout the school year, and I signed up for Halloween. Halloween parties are in my blood...my mom turned them into an art form when I was little. While I don't have her natural creativity or talent, I do have her enthusiasm. I may not possess the patience for her hand-crafted costumes or homemade giant haunted house cookies, but I have mad thrift store costume-shopping skills, and I did turn some store-bought treats into witch hats and broomsticks. Thanks, Pinterest! Although when I asked Kevin if he could tell what the broomsticks were supposed to be, he guessed a tree stump. (Huh??) Men.
Finally, our October went out with a bang as Halloween itself did not disappoint. Yes, it may have been overkill, but I took my children trick-or-treating three separate times. Before anyone calls the nutrition police, it was more about the experience than the candy - at least for me, and I'm the one in charge of the candy bowl. There was only one sugar coma, promise. Maybe two. In the morning, we visited a nursing home where some of the sweet residents were sitting outside their rooms handing out candy. Then that afternoon, we joined some friends for our tradition of trick-or-treating at the shops and businesses downtown. It's one of my favorite annual events in our little town, and I've taken the girls every year since they were a year old. Finally, after daddy got home and we all pretended to eat dinner, the five of us headed out into our neighborhood for the main event.
(Ignore me awkwardly hovering in the background. See? Way too excited for a grown-up.)
I started the day with two witches and a "pirate fairy" (if you have a little girl and Netflix, then you know who this is). Unfortunately at some point in the afternoon our pirate fairy suffered a fall that led to a busted candy bucket, followed by a bit of a wardrobe malfunction that landed her dress in the dirty laundry. So, by the time it was dark, I had two witches and Cinderella, who opted for carrying her lunch box. All's well that ends well, right?
And that was our October. Whew!
Because I've always loved school and learning (if I had the time and money to take classes just for fun, I totally would), and because things like oh, say, Halloween make me wish I were still a kid, I sometimes live vicariously through my children's preschool experiences. I'm OK with that. It means chaperoning field trips and helping with parties are not so much duties as reasons for me to be as excited as the girls. Does that make me weird? Probably.
We had a sunny (hot!) day for the kiddos' trip to a nearby farm. They got to climb on giant tires and haybales, ride a barrel train, go on a spooky hayride, make their way through a (hot!) corn maze, and feed farm animals. Well, actually only one of my children (Reagan) was brave enough to even get in spitting distance of the animals. Clearly my country roots have not been passed down to these town girls. Their teachers could not get over how reserved they were with me there - apparently they are not shy at all at school! Hmmmm....interesting.
Even scarier than the animals was the hayride....luckily one of the teachers warned me that there were some Halloween decorations along the ride that moved, so I knew to have everybody sitting close. Otherwise I have a feeling someone may have leapt all the way out of the trailer at one point. My girls may be getting big, but they can still all fit on my lap at the same time when the situation calls for it. For instance, when a huge furry spider falls down out of a tree and onto our heads. (Or, when any of them perceive that a sister is getting .009 % more attention than they are at a given moment, but that's neither here nor there.)
My last field trip with a bunch of preschoolers was in October five years ago, when I was a teacher. At the time, I was actually finally pregnant - after so many years of trying - but didn't know it. We were working with doctors to help matters along, so I knew I might be, but it was hard looking at all the parents there and wondering if I'd ever be on the other side of things, and be there just as a mom, having fun with my own kids. If I had only known what lay just ahead! How sweet and funny and amazing this journey is.
A couple of days after the field trip, I got to be a part of the girls' class again by helping out with their fall party. Each parent is asked to assist in hosting one of the three parties throughout the school year, and I signed up for Halloween. Halloween parties are in my blood...my mom turned them into an art form when I was little. While I don't have her natural creativity or talent, I do have her enthusiasm. I may not possess the patience for her hand-crafted costumes or homemade giant haunted house cookies, but I have mad thrift store costume-shopping skills, and I did turn some store-bought treats into witch hats and broomsticks. Thanks, Pinterest! Although when I asked Kevin if he could tell what the broomsticks were supposed to be, he guessed a tree stump. (Huh??) Men.
Finally, our October went out with a bang as Halloween itself did not disappoint. Yes, it may have been overkill, but I took my children trick-or-treating three separate times. Before anyone calls the nutrition police, it was more about the experience than the candy - at least for me, and I'm the one in charge of the candy bowl. There was only one sugar coma, promise. Maybe two. In the morning, we visited a nursing home where some of the sweet residents were sitting outside their rooms handing out candy. Then that afternoon, we joined some friends for our tradition of trick-or-treating at the shops and businesses downtown. It's one of my favorite annual events in our little town, and I've taken the girls every year since they were a year old. Finally, after daddy got home and we all pretended to eat dinner, the five of us headed out into our neighborhood for the main event.
(Ignore me awkwardly hovering in the background. See? Way too excited for a grown-up.)
I started the day with two witches and a "pirate fairy" (if you have a little girl and Netflix, then you know who this is). Unfortunately at some point in the afternoon our pirate fairy suffered a fall that led to a busted candy bucket, followed by a bit of a wardrobe malfunction that landed her dress in the dirty laundry. So, by the time it was dark, I had two witches and Cinderella, who opted for carrying her lunch box. All's well that ends well, right?
And that was our October. Whew!
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