Spooky Spaghetti Dinner

Tonight was the Spooky Spaghetti Dinner at Cougar Ridge where dads from the school served and waited on the kids dressed in Halloween costumes. It was a fun concept and the dads who were helping were all decked out in their finest Italian waiter gear.

Maggie must have had a sixth sense about the evening. Earlier today, she asked me several times in the Spooky Spaghetti Dinner was going to have the lights on or off. I told her for sure the lights would be on and there would be nothing to be afraid of. As we were walking to our table with our plates full of spaghetti, the power went out! I immediately stacked the plates so I had a free hand and grabbed Ragen and Jeremy pulled out his Blackberry for a little light to keep Maggie calm. It was only out for a minute and we weren't really sure if that was for effect (given the name of the event) or if the power had really gone out on this blustery night. When we got home we realized our power had been out at the house as well so I guess we got our answer.

It was a fun way to kick off Halloween as the kids were super excited to be in their costumes for the first time.

So excited to have Daddy at the dinner with us!

Mommy's Little Mermaid and Luke Skywalker

I love asking Maggie what she's going to be for Halloween because the answer is always "a muhhhh-maid"

The force is definitely with this kid!

So patriotic!

Somewhere in this video with atrocious quality, there is a darling little 5 year old saying the Pledge of Allegience and then busting into "You're a Grand Old Flag". I completely cracked up when Ragen told me he'd like to give me a show of all his "school songs." I ask him EVERYDAY what he did at school and he's totally that kid...you know, the one who says "I can't remember." So I had no idea they were saying the Pledge everyday nor did I know he knew so many wonderful songs. The first time I heard him, I was brought to tears and goosebumps. I love his annunciation (I'm not sure that comes across in the video) and I love that the only word he consistently gets wrong is liverty instead of liberty.

I'm happy to report that since taking this horrific Blackberry video, I bought a Flip camcorder and will be taking much better quality vids from now on!

Pumpkin Patch 2.0

We've had massive rain here lately and it's tough to find a break in the weather. Last week I had promised the kids I'd take them to the pumpkin patch to get our "real" pumpkins since they each get small pumpkins through school. Wednesdays Ragen's school gets out at 12:30 so it was a good day to go and they were super excited. Of course Wednesday it was raining cats & dogs when I picked him up but they still wanted to go. So we geared up in our boots & raincoats and ventured out. Bad idea. We were freezing and soaked to the bone and that was after only about 7 minutes out in the rain at the pumpkin patch. But, we got our pumpkins and that's what counts!

Don't they look happy to be there?

Playdate

We had Maggie's 1st official playdate here last week and she was so excited. Ellie Quinn came over because their school was out most of the week due to a teacher's conference. The girls had a blast (as evidenced by the tornado that went through my playroom). I have always felt guilty that Maggie seems to be carted around from activity-to-activity with Ragen so I'm making an effort to have more things specifically for Mags. Obviously it was a success because the girls never fought and Maggie is still talking about the playdate several days later.

Decorating Halloween cookies

They each had a plate for their creations. There's so much frosting on these cookies, you can't even tell what shapes they are!

Playing dress-up, of course!

Pumpkin Patch field trip

Ragen's class to their first field trip last week to the Pumpkin Patch and we lucked out with a beautiful sunny day. I was excited to join in the fun so I could witness how he was interacting with the kids in his class. We boarded the school busses and headed to South 47 Farm. All 80 kindergarteners from Cougar Ridge participated so the busses were pretty amped with noise. I was exhausted by the time we got back and have a new-found appreciation for kindergarten teachers who are with these kids all day!

Running through the apple trees

Petting the chicken after we watched her lay an egg 3 minutes earlier

Ragen with his buddies Ben & Zachary

Following in mommy's footsteps

Maggie started gymnastics a couple of weeks ago and to say that she loves it is an understatement. All week long she asks when she gets to go to "tomastics" and is so excited when Tuesday finally rolls around. It's been very nostalgic for me as she's going to the exact same gym (Gymnastics East) where I competed for over 10 years. One of my old teammates even owns the gym now.

Everyone who saw what I endured first hand all those years ago looks at me like I'm crazy to be putting Maggie into gymnastics. My answer is always the same - she's not going to compete and that's the big difference. To go once a week and have fun running around is one thing. To go 5 days a week for 4-5 hours a day is entirely something else.

For now, Maggie is loving her "tomastics", I love seeing her so enthused, and it's pretty fun to walk down memory lane.

How cute is that tiny leo?

Someone get that girl some spankys! (the underwear-like things that go underneath the leo to keep it from riding up your cheeks) :)