Monday, November 17, 2014

Pumpkin Carving

We did some fun things leading up to Halloween.  One thing we did, which was not fun, was getting flu shots.  I never tell the kids that we are going because some of them will unnecessarily stress out about it.  I think so anyway.  We biked over to the pharmacy after school and they were wondering what was going on.  Once inside I told them what was going to happen. Every year seems to go better and better.  I remember one year getting our flu shots at Walmart.  Most of the kids were screaming or crying really loud, and of course the flu shot station was right up front by the registers.  Anyway, I figured we better get these flu shots done while we were all healthy and well.   Glad they are over....for one year at least!
Oct 17 2014 Flu shots

We don't have hardly any leaves in our yard.  Mainly leaves that blow in from our neighbors' yards. We have one little apple tree in our front yard.  I wish we had at least one, big tree!  Live and learn.  When we lived in the house across the street there were a few trees on that property and we didn't mind the raking.  But again that yard is pretty small too.  I am not sure as of right now, but a week or more ago there were lots of leaves in the schoolyard. Elden played in them briefly almost everyday after school.  It was so cute. He even grabbed an armful to bring home.  Right after I took this picture he threw them on the ground though.
Oct 15 2014

Earlier that day (same day as flu shots) our school had their annual Race For Education.  I love this fundraiser!  I am going to be in charge of it next year so I helped out with it this year.  Our school raised just over $15,000!  All of the money goes directly to our school.  Some of you may have received a letter in the mail from the kids' school.  The basics of the fundraiser are fill out some address labels with family and friends' names and addresses, then the school sends out a letter (that each child helps fill in) asking for a donation that will go directly to the school. The kids get prizes for how many labels they bring in!  There are some fun prizes too. One I will mention in a later post.  But seriously...fill out address labels?!  I can do that! Since I have multiple kids in elementary school, I only had to fill out one set.  The kids got to pick a little prize, have ice cream at lunch, get an Elk Buck (a reward system at their school) and get a free t-shirt.  Sweet!

There is a race day too and all of the grades go to the nearby park to run laps.  Cal ran almost 5 miles that day!!!  He did a great job!  The class that brings in the most money gets to go to a nearby indoor waterpark in January--Massanutten. Lee was able to count his donation as a corporate donation along with giving credit to Cal.  And Cal's class gets to go to the waterpark!  He actually got to go last year too.  After expenses for stamps, paper, prizes, etc, we will clear basically $13,000! 
Oct 17 2014 Race for Education

I love seeing the kids' artwork and projects in the hall.  This is what I saw in the kindergarten hallway one afternoon.
Oct 16 2014 Elden

A snake!
Oct 16 2014 Elden (2)

Despite getting the flu shots, my kids were so excited to go to our friend's, the Dollers, to carve pumpkins. Sunny made yummy chili for dinner and we enjoyed visiting and of course carving!
Oct 17 2014 Doller pumpkin carving

Oct 17 2014 Doller pumpkin carving (2)

Oct 17 2014 Doller pumpkin carving (3)

Oct 17 2014 Doller pumpkin carving (4)

Can you tell by the way the boys were holding their knives that they quite enjoyed using them?
Oct 17 2014 Doller pumpkin carving (5)

Oct 17 2014 Doller pumpkin carving (6)

Clark stabbed his pumpkin. Of course.
Oct 17 2014 Doller pumpkin carving (7)

Oct 17 2014 Doller pumpkin carving (8)

Oct 17 2014 Doller pumpkin carving (9)

Oct 17 2014 Doller pumpkin carving (10)

Oct 17 2014 Doller pumpkin carving (11)

Oct 17 2014 Doller pumpkin carving (12)

Oct 17 2014 Doller pumpkin carving (13)

Oct 17 2014 Doller pumpkin carving (14)

Oct 17 2014 Doller pumpkin carving (15)

Thanks for letting us come Sunny and family!  We love getting together with our friends.  We need to do visit and do things more often with our friends here, but it can be so hard! 

1 comment:

Daniel said...

Yay for flu shots!

Also, nice pumpkins. :-)