Busy Saturday

After Maggie's morning gymnastics class, we headed out to Fort Cobb. Meme made the kids' Halloween costumes, so we went to her house to pick those up and hang out and visit. The kids couldn't wait to try on the lastest creations by Meme. She made a beautiful white dress and an incredible hat for Maggie's toadstool costume. I loved hearing her tell about her and Papaw working together to figure out how to make this incredible hat. I guess she had one idea and Papaw had a very different idea. I can't imagine Papaw in on the action, but I'm pretty sure he's proud of his contribution! Lakin's OSU-color cheerleader costume is adorable, and Jayce's Mario overalls are PERFECT! We watched the OSU game while we were there. They were SO close! A win over Texas would've been awesome. Next we headed to Carnegie to Liberty Theater to eat show dogs and to watch High School Musical 3. We all loved it! The music was lots of fun. After the show, we headed out to Nana's house to say hi and to pick up Halloween cupcakes and popcorn balls that Nana had made for everyone. We got to see Uncle Stephen and Morgan for a few minutes before finally heading home. Whew! (Pics with the Halloween costumes will be posted later!)

GWL Part 4 -- MagiQuest

Jayce and Jaxon participated in the interactive treasure hunt that took them to all parts of the hotel. The boys purchased a magic wand and followed the clues in their MagiQuest book to locate special pictures, treasure chests, etc. that led them one step closer to becoming Master Magi. Aunt Mundy was in charge of this particular activity, although Daddy and Uncle Den got in on the action as well. This is a super popular activity and it seems like everyone in the building was involved!

GWL Part 3 -- The Spa

Each kiddo was treated to an extra-special treat in addition to the water park. The girls got to go to Scoops, the spa for girls under the age of 12. Maggie chose to have a strawberry soak while Lakin had a chocolate soak. They each got to pick two different colors of nail polish and had a flower design painted on their thumbs with a rhinestone in the middle. All the while, they ate gummy worms and relished in the fact that Mom was not welcome to hang around. My girls are growing up!

Great Wolf Lodge Part 2 -- The Water Park

AKA....Mom and Aunt Mundy did a lot of screaming! Whew! They had some cool slides in this place. The Howlin' Tornado and the Coyote Cannon were Jayce's favorites. I must say that I did some major screaming on the Howlin' Tornado. Jayce told me that you drop 12 feet, and I'm telling you....it felt like more. Maggie loved riding the Alberta Falls with me, Daddy, Uncle Den, Aunt Mundy -- anyone who would go with her. This was the only ride she was tall enough to ride and she had to do so with a grown-up. She also really enjoyed the Wave Pool. Lakin's favorite was the Crooked Creek, but she was on the lookout for the boys in the tree house that were trying to dump buckets of water on the people in the creek below. We had to take her out of the water twice because her lips turned completely purple. Poor girl! The treehouse had two smaller slides that all of the kids enjoyed as well as all kinds of places that spurted water, water guns and you name it! There was only one possible way out of the park, so Jayce, Maggie, and Jaxon got to go on their own for part of the time. Ah, independence! They loved it. Here's some shots from the water park....I was nervous about the camera, so I didn't take a whole lot.

Great Wolf Lodge Part 1 -- I've turned in to my parents

The Great Wolf Lodge was super cool. I mean, how many place can you stay where there is an indoor water park? And a kids' spa? And an incredible interactive treasure hunt? But Geez Louise! For what we paid per night for the room, one would think that said room would have some insulation so that we couldn't hear the conversations next door and be awakened by the slamming of the doors in the hallway. Even so, the kids had a very good time, and we will probably do this one again....only for just one night.

Lakin's visit to the Orr Family Farm

Lakin's first ever field trip was Oct 14. The kindergarten and pre-k classes went to the Orr Family Farm. She was very excited about getting to take her first ride on a big yellow school bus. Isn't it funny how they love those things when they are little? I took the day off and joined her for the adventure. We listened to information on the different types of pumpkins. Lakin's favorite is the Cinderella pumpkin which looks like the pumpkin that the fairy godmother turned into a coach. We took a hayride to the pumpkin patch where Lakin picked out her very own pumpkin. Lakin got to pet a sweet bunny rabbit and a huge, very large pig! She road a pedal car and we took a train ride around the farm. She decided to ride home with me and was fast asleep shortly after we left the parking lot.

Blogging

As expected, I'm not too good at this blogging thing. I think I'm going to blame it on the fact that I'm on the computer all of the time at work so I don't want to be on it at home. Yea, let's blame it on that. On that note, I'm requesting help from my fellow faithful bloggers. I am not about to sit down and read how to make my page look cutsie, but I want a cutsie page. Sarah, the next time we're together, will you help a sista out? Now, prepare yourselves for a flurry of blogs as I catch you up on the latest.

Jayce's Big News

I picked up a happy guy after school today. After tryouts, call backs, and a lot of waiting, Jayce found out today that he got the part that he wanted in the 3rd grade Christmas Play. So, mark your calendars, because Jayce will be playing Santa Clause in "The Littlest Christmas Tree" on December 4 at Parkland Elementary. And a Star is born!

Parent Teacher Conferences

I had a crazy day last Thursday. It was a nice crazy, though, because I attended conferences for all three kids and heard wonderful things. Lakin's teacher wants to take her into the computer lab and test her because she believes that she is reading some. She teaches kindergarten in the afternoons and is willing to work with her some if that is the case. She told a story about holding up a book with a picture of an apple tree. Lakin said, "Are you going to read Apple Blossoms to us?" Apple Blossoms was the name of the story, but she reasons that even if she were guessing the title, she would have guessed something like Apple Tree or Apples.

Maggie's teacher thinks she is a hoot. She is very bright and way above second grade on her reading level. She is encouraging her to read some of the upper level 2nd grade books, though, because, as she says, Maggie is still a just a 2nd grader and a young one at that! She told me that she has to remind Maggie to take care of herself first since she does seem to be always concerned about everyone else. (In a nice way, of course) She also told me that the other day she told Maggie to save up all of her hugs until the end of the day and to give her one big one then because she kept having to stop what she was doing to get her hug! Too funny!

Jayce's teacher said he is doing wonderfully in his classes. He too is way above grade level in his reading. She thinks he has a wonderful attitude and said that she would never have guessed that he was a "new" kid at the school. In fact, she told me that she thinks Jayce could make friends with a bump on a log!

It's nice to go to parent/teacher conferences and get good reports. I'm proud of them!