November catch-up

Whew......November came and went! I have been a super busy mama (how is it that as they get older life just gets busier?!?!) We have had a month packed full of fun though! I celebrated my 34th birthday in style (volunteered in Caroline's class, got an 1 1/2 massage, took Caroline to lunch and back to school for her parent teacher conference (she is at the top of her class, which we knew :), home for a 2 hour nap, dessert with this lap full of my love bugs, and out to a fun new restaurant in town with our dear friends sans kids.....I'd say the BEST birthday ever!!! This picture about sums up my day....JUST SO HAPPY! 

 Patrick's 40th stretched on (as a 40th should!).....Laura brought over another gift, a handmade birthday hat a friend made for him, it is just exquisite! 

Another duty of the homeroom mom this year (whew, this is quite a lot of work this year!!) was making the teacher a wreath for Christmas. I incorporated gift certificates with the wreath to show her just how thankful we are for her! 

 Since I put up our six Christmas trees (YEP, you read that right) on Veterans Day we have been in the holiday spirit for a while now! This night it was homemade pizza....holiday edition! We made pepperoni candy cane pizza, a chicken pesto christmas tree pizza (complete with ricotta cheese food coloring dyed ornaments) and a white cheese snowman pizza.....all delicious! 

 cheers.....it was such a fun night we even pulled out the kid wine! My girls LOVE kid wine! (aka sparkling apple cider)

our creations

 oh this kid........

 these were Scarlett's creations.....she loved the dyed ricotta cheese, and surprisingly she ate every bit of this! 

We had fun tailgating (without kids for the first time in forever!) at the ASU/Notre Dame game and enjoyed watching the game and leaving with a W!

 and so having two older sisters dress you up begins...........

 just a fun morning on the way to school with time to spare.......which means doughnuts! 

 lots of Christmas book reading under the tree for these two

and Caroline has been practicing writing and reading

 Scarlett is doing really well with potty training, but getting dressed is another story! She came out the other day like this and said "Mom is this right?" Um, WHAT!?!?!?!?!

 Caroline's class is growing a garden at school and she was so excited that they found a "double decker" radish in the garden bed, and she got to bring it home! She was over the moon! 

 these two cuties shared a drink after school....I love those little noses! 

 Caroline's school had these hung up one morning for Principal's day....one for each class. Caroline's class was words of advice for him, and they were hilarious! 

and tonight we loaded up the kids in their Christmas jammies, stopped at Starbucks for some hot chocolate, and headed downtown to look at lights and some gingerbread houses at the Sheraton hotel. Cooper was mesmerized by the trains! 

We have also been playing outside (still in the 70s here), playing hide and go seek, building forts, listening to lots and lots of christmas carols, we went to the tree lighting in our town and watched it snow (snow made of soap I think :), and we are just loving this season! 
Tomorrow Elfie arrives for Caroline's 6th birthday!!!

Daisy's.....officially

Caroline (and I, since I am the troop leader) became an official Daisy tonight! They we so cute saying their pledge and getting their smocks. 

Daisy Caroline

the girls with their certificates and smocks

having a little snack after the ceremony with friends

car......

So my new work car (ok it's a year old) doesn't say how many miles there are till empty, it just says low......and well, I am a pusher of limits. I learned my lesson the hard way last Thursday....at a stoplight my car just sputtered and died. Caroline was with me and lost her mind with worry. Thank goodness a cop was behind me and within minutes got me pushed off the road. Patrick came and saved us shortly thereafter. To calm Caroline down the sweet cop gave Caroline a police sticker and told her everything was ok. The whole event was pretty seamless and we were super lucky....lesson learned.....NO MORE DRIVING ON LOW!!! 

Halloween

We joined our friends the Dettmer's and had a fun night trick or treating! 

We went around for about an hour and the kids did great and LOVED it! Coop was a trooper the whole time and even played the part so well....if his hat ever fell down, he would make me pull it right back up! The kids were at such great ages this year! 

Patrick dressed up as his favorite coach......coach Graham (ASU's coach). I made him a little microphone and he is ready for SATURDAY vs NOTRE DAME!!!!! 

All Saints Party

First of all a little shout out.......I'm the room mom for Caroline's class, which means lots of fun planning events....and LOTS more work executing them!!! Thank goodness I have a good partner....Patrick helped me trace patterns while watching football! Thanks P!

Halloween was All Saint's Day at school. The kids were asked to come dressed up as a Saint, and we went easy.....meaning we used what we had lying around the house.....St Gianna, a Doctor! 

On the agenda for the party was a craft, a snack, and a few games. First up, the Pope puppet craft.

I had the kids all pose in front of the picture background

our snack coordinated with the saints as well.....pineapple halos, St Gabriel trumpets (bugles), St Francis friends (animal crackers), Tonure bagels (that ring of hair around male saints heads), and St Elizabeth pumpkin patch muffins (with cute toppers) and a pumpkin cutie.

we did 5 games on rotation.....stacking blocks for the Tower of Babel

the whole class

The kids had a blast at the party.....room mom job one in the books! 

Train Park party

Our dear friend's little man, Colgan, turned 3 last weekend.....so we partied it up Train park style! Jen did such a good job with the food and decor, right down to the conductor hats in the goodie bags! What a fun day!