A Pirate says, "Arrhh!"

Halloween was a BLAST this year. We had a great time the Monday prior carving pumpkins and making caramel apples. Blake and Wesley need a little help with the carving part, but Astella was a STAR carving her pumpkin with limited supervision! She did a fantastic job.

On Halloween I helped out with Astella's kinder-carnival and then the boys and I went to watch Astella in the costume parade. Luckily the rain held off long enough for the kids to have a decent parade!

That night we enjoyed a little nutritious dinner before setting out to accumulate the largest amount of candy in the least amount of time. Astella, Blake and Wesley all obliged me by allowing me to make them matching pirate costumes this year. I must say they were the cutest band of pirates around.

After a little trick-or-treating and a little bit of rain, we returned home to assess the "booty". We let the kids eat as much candy as they wanted thinking it would deter them from wanting any the next day (not so). They had a fun time trying out new flavors and new chocolates--Nerds being the new favorite!

All in all, it was a REALLY fun event! Enjoy the pictures!

Astella's Fun Run

Today was Astella’s “Fun Run” at school. It’s the one big fundraiser for the year and their goal is to raise $30,000. The money is put to excellent use providing cost-free field trips to all the students, a K-3 Music teacher and a small classroom fund for each one of the teachers.

I loaded the boys into the wagon this morning and we trailed along beside her—as best as we could—while she did lots of running. 45 minutes later she had accumulated 21 laps. We figured out it was about 3 miles based on the size of the laps. The kids all had a snack and a water bottle, then headed back to the classroom for some regular education.

Thanks again to those of you who donated to Astella’s school! We really appreciate your support of her and her education!