Hippies, Pilgrims, 1950's, Day Dates, and Feasts!

So much has happened in the past week! With 2 kids in school with 2 different schedules and activities life is just go-go-go. I don't even want to think about how crazy it'll be with all 3 of my little's in school in just a couple of years! Except I suppose at that point I'll have alone time as well, so it might not feel so hectic ALL the time. I don't know? All I know is that right now, in this "season of life" I feel really, really, REALLY busy. There are some perks of having 2 kids in school though. I get some alone time with my boy, which I LOVE and absolutely cherish. And I really enjoy seeing the girls' flourish daily.  I LOVE their school and their teachers and their cute friends and so even though I feel overwhelmed, I also feel blessed. 

But enough about that, here are some highlights of our week!

Fall has really, REALLY hit- finally! The trees are GORGEOUS and Sully and I take lots of morning walks together. I love looking at the trees' reflections in our ponds. Fall is breathtaking. We also have a lot of Day Dates, just me and my boy.  He's turned into a great errand runner! THANK GOODNESS! (He also figured out how to pick his nose, much to his delight....)

 Speaking of alone time, Piper and I went over to our favorite little section of the Tulsa Metro to Christmas Shop! It's a quaint little old-time feelin' downtown area that we just love, but it's 30 minutes from home so we don't get to go often. When we do it feels special, so she wanted to take lots of pictures with me out and about that day. I loved having some alone time with her!

The girls' had to dress like Hippies for their activity night last night and I completely forgot about it until we were herding everyone out the door! I raced upstairs to see what I could scrounge up in their closets and did the best I could.  They still looked pretty groovy (especially Piper with that hair!), but trying to explain to them what a Hippie is was very hard to do, haha! I had to choose my words carefully.  They didn't ask WHY Hippies were so "calm" and "mellow." They just accepted it. Thank goodness.... I didn't even attempt to tell them about angry hippies....

Next, for the 50th day of school, the kids had to dress up as "1950's people." There are a LOT of costumes going on in our house if you haven't caught on yet..... 

Anyway, here’s the story: I have a daughter (Lucy) who literally CAN’T not pose for pictures. So she kept striking all these model poses and I finally said “hey Lu. Can you just stand up straight for ONE picture?” I said it nicely, I swear. But immediately she starting pouting about me suppressing her inner diva and her pout face was just too good not to post!😂 

Daddy installed the Christmas lights this past weekend. We have a Candycane Lane and all of our trees and bushes are lit up! YAY!!! The kids love watching him. 

Finally, both girls had Thanksgiving Celebrations/ Plays at school today... they were 2 1/2 hours apart  so there was a lot of driving to and from Central Elementary for us! 

Piper's was first and all the Pre-K kids sang some Thanksgiving songs and said some poems.  Piper's class were the Pilgrims. There were Indians and Turkeys from the other classes too :)  Then they all sat down together for a "Feast" of cheese & crackers, sliced Turkey meat and juice.  Oh, and cookies! We came home, laid Sully down for a nap and then turned around and went to watch Lucy in her class play.  Her class did the "ABC's of Thanksgiving" and Lucy had the very last letter. Z is for Zany! She went on to explain what was Zany about the first Thanksgiving so many years ago. Hehe, it was cute. Then they sang a whole bunch of songs that were adorable and had little Cornucopias of popcorn and candy trail mix.  I just know those teachers do so much to prep for these performances and I hope they know how grateful I am to them! They are the hardest workers!! I'm THANKFUL for them!!!

Next week the girls have school Monday and Tuesday, but then we get a nice long break after that and I am really looking forward to the down-time. I know we just had Fall break last month, but I'm ready for another break! I'm one tired Mama! Can't wait to relax and enjoy my sweet family this year. We are staying home for Thanksgiving this year and I have some plans for couch time with my babies and lots of PJ wearing! Oh- AND we will decorate the house for Christmas! I can't WAIT!

I will end this post with a "post" of my own on Facebook last week.  I'm doing this because I really want to remember this beautiful morning and it's always easier to copy and paste from one site to another.  I will always cherish my snuggles!

It’s been a LONG time since they came into my bed in the morning and snuggled with me before our day began. We used to do this every single morning no matter what, for years. But when baby brother came along, things changed. This morning i heard tiptoes and then the whispering “mama, are you awake?” It was 30 minutes before my alarm was set to go off, but i rolled over and told them to get under the covers with me for a bit. Snuggling them and smelling their clean shampooed heads from the night before and breathing in their sweet scent brought tears to my eyes. My heart was reminded why these morning cuddles were always my favorite.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope your Holiday is filled with love.

Halloween Festivities and Jog-A-Thon!

I LOVE Halloween. I do. But once it's over I always kind of breath a sigh of relief and am perfectly fine to wait another year for it :)  It is FUN, just busy. We had our annual cookie and cupcake baking nights, our Pumpkin-Painting-and-Carving-with-apple-cider-and-caramel-apples-night, and then the "big event!" I have to say, I LOVED our costumes this year. I thought last year would be hard to top, but I had so much fun being Cruella DeVille, so I think it definitely was as creative as last year! The girls were Dalmations, Shawn was the Dad in 101 Dalmatians, and Sully was one of the pound puppies! We looked awesome, if I do say so myself :)

But..... (there's almost always a but, right?!) Piper suddenly came down with a fever and a stomach ache.  It literally happened SO fast. Right before we took pictures.  It was so strange.  She felt SO sick. She could barely stand up for pictures.  She would take a picture and then whimper a little saying it hurt to smile. I was worried about her and offered to stay home with her but she would NOT have that. She would have been devastated to miss Trick-or-Treating. So we bundled her up in the wagon and walked it door-to-door alongside Lucy who was holding her sister's bag and collecting her goodies so that Piper could have candy too...Isn't that sweet? I loved that. At each door she dutifully held up both bags and pointed to the wagon showing everyone who she was getting her candy for.  But here's the strangest part: earlier that day the school nurse called me and Lucy came home from school early because SHE had a stomach and headache as well.  But with Tylenol, she felt better. It was just crazy that both kids got sick very quickly that day!  

It was also frigid outside for us Okies! It was in the 40's and windy.  There were hardly any trick-or-treaters out and if there were, most of them were driven in cars and the kids would hop out when they got to each house. So it wasn't the greatest night. We looked good and the kids got a good amount of candy, but we only had a handful of trick-or-treaters come to our house.  Last year we ran out of candy because we had so many kids. But it was in the 80's last year and the 40's this year. I seriously can't keep up with Oklahoma weather! All I know is that I kept Piper home from school the next day because she woke up still really cranky but by today she was back to her regular self.  And it's a good thing because today was Jog-a-thon!

We did Emoji Pumpkins this year :)

Next: Jog-a-thon is the school's biggest fundraiser all year. The kids collect money and run their little hearts out. It's adorable. There is loud music, water stations, misters (it was so hot!) and lots of cheering! There are quite a few little kids who take tumbles! It's so sad but cute at the same time. They fall and the little ones behind them can't quite stop fast enough so they tumble too, and then they all stand up and act super brave and keep on running :) I love these little kids! Lucy stopped at the drink station every single lap, haha! And Piper ran for about a minute and then stopped and said "I can't run anymore! It's just too much!" So she walked the rest of the time... needless to say, my kids aren't the most athletic of them all! Hahaha!

Anyway, we are fast approaching Christmas, can you believe it? My kids will be writing their letters to Santa in a couple of weeks and this year is just absolutely FLYING by. It's NOVEMBER. How did that even happen??!!

So, goodnight everyone! I hope you all had a very happy Halloween!

P.S. Sully is doing MUCH better. After the 7 day incubation lock-down he's allowed to go back out into the world and interact with friends. His sores are clearing up and he's doing awesome!