Big Day

Tomorrow is a big day. In the morning, we get to have our first parent-teacher conference at Amelia's school. We just got her report card and it was great. I'm excited to hear what her teachers have to say about her progress and her transition into kindergarten.  So far, I couldn't be more proud.

In the afternoon, we are heading out of town for our anniversary. Grandma and Grandpa came up to watch the kids so we can get some actual relaxation. Judging by the fact that they brought their own sno cone machine, I doubt relaxing is what they have in mind here....

Teachers

When you have children, you find out the world is full of teachers. They learn from the teachers at school. They learn from their parents. They learn from their friends.  They learn from everything.  However, there is one place where they particularly like to pick up bad habits - the television. This has become especially evident with Everett. While the kids only watch age appropriate shows, he gets the benefit of watching his big sister's favorites. This provides a growing vocabulary words it isn't ready to handle. Thanks to Sheriff Callie and Charlie Brown, he's got two new favorites.  He used them both on me recently...

Me: Everett, be still so I can change your pull up

Everett:  Nooo, I don't want to change my pull up

Me: Buddy, we have to change it. Now stop moving.

Everett: You stop bullying me, blockhead.

Me: 1) Don't say that 2) We gotta stop watching TV.

So, there you have it. I'm a blockhead and a bully. Who knew??

Brrrrr

It looks like Jack Frost has decided to stop by our house. Luckily, Ev is a man who loves a hat...

Parade

What is the only time you are rooting against your own son? When they are handing out Halloween costume awards, your insanely competitive daughter hasn't won one, and her new friend she met on the parade just won the Most Royal award for her Elsa costume.  Unfortunately, our rooting didn't matter. Everett won the Most Heroic award and while she's the most beautiful witch I've seen, Amelia came home empty handed.


A fire truck led the way with a witch and ninja turtle following close by...

 Ev's award....

Ev using his new found hero fame to convince his new little friend that those ghosts weren't real...

Winning

Today was a great day.  My mom and sister are in town. The Gators won their big game against Georgia. Meggan made delicious brownies. However, the biggest news of the day was Amelia finally earning her yellow band at swimming (on the same day her best friend earned hers). A yellow band essentially means you will not immediately drown if you get in the pool. To earn it she had to swim to the middle of the pool and float for a time period. It may not sound hard, but for a kid who had a year's worth of lessons and still would not let go of the swim instructor a few months ago, this was a miraculous accomplishment.  I couldn't be more proud of her and she couldn't be more proud of herself...

Carving

This is how we thought Everett would look while enjoying our pumpkin carving last night....

This is how Everett actually looked after he went back inside 2 minutes into pumpkin carving (as photographed by Amelia as she went to check on him)...

Mirror Image

Amelia drew Meggan this portrait to hang in her office. I don't know about you, but I think it looks just like her...well, at least it has blue eyes....