October Happenings

October was even busier than September...and yes, that is possible

The kids had the last of their swim lessons. Ethan has learned so much. He's my daredevil, so I gotta watch him. He only had another friend in his class, so he was able to listen...and he's actually really good at it. Dominic had about 4 other friends and he had fun too. For the most part, he knows his stuff, but he has a hard time actually doing it. So he keeps repeating level 2 haha. I figured someday it will stick.

The Y always does cute things for the holidays

Swim lessons for both kids- this is Ethan

Dominic and his hashtags

Early AM 

Dom had a class party. I am homeroom mom. I was suppose to get money donations to put this thing together and I only got like $40 total. I was nervous, so I got the most basic of things and went with it...and it was a big HIT! Goes to show you...that kids don't really care about a whole lot of material things...they just want to have a good time. We made bookmarks out of stuff I already had from home, we played a $1 game I found at target, and then we eat some yummy snacks. I also found some goody bag materials in the basement (probably last years' sales), so they even got a small goody bag.

Ethan had a fall festival. I miss our old preschool. They would have had a small singing bit and the kids would have dressed up and every parent would have shown up. This year, it was just a small parade of the the classes showing off costumes and then they got to class. I was pretty disappointed. The kids then, later on during the day, were allowed to play games and try new things at the festival, but only volunteers were allowed. They were only looking for 20 people and siblings were not allowed....so, basically, I couldn't do it and I dont' have pictures from that event. Ethan just said it was really fun.
Through the library, we were able to find the parent organization that helps with early intervention and early learning. I was able to get Ethan an appointment for his speech- we're mainly concerned that he started stuttering as soon as we moved here. We mainly know it's stress, but we wanted to make sure it wasn't something more serious. He did it when Spencer traveled back and forth- his speech and sleep suffered the most. It was awful- I mean. to the point, that I couldn't even understand him...he was repeating the same word like 6 times! It went away for a bit...and then came back again. So, we'll see what they say. I"m hoping the school system will take him and we can also work on some letter substitutions he has going on as well.

Library came to visit them. Ethan is the one in the red sweatshirt. 

Ethan got his speech tested

Fall Festival Day- Ethan is Luigi

we made homemade costumes- I decided to be proactive and handmade these customes for us. Nobody really helped me. But the kids kept saying they wanted to be Ghostbusters. And even though it's a popular choice, costumes are hard to find...and so expensive. So we bought a bunch of tan clothes and we made our own proton packs out of amazon boxes and cereals (amazon boxes work best), and extra materials lying around- baby bottle caps, plates, baby jar caps, swim noodles, small boxes, puffy paint, old hose...you get the idea.

After

And then last minute....Ethan decides to ditch. 

This kid loved it though!

Dominic also had his first Parent Teacher Conference here in MO. It went really well. Ms H actually told me that Dominic doesn't think like the other kids...I knew that...but no teacher had actually told me that. I guess now that there's more open ended questions and more thinking in class, he's starting to stand out. He is usually saying things that people don't think of right out of the gate....he's that kid. Nothing wrong with that- he just thinks different. He says Ms H tells him to "kiss his brain" all the time. All the kids get to display their work out in the hallway and I happened to find Dom's. The first one is separating an addition....and this is so Dominic...he chose the easiest one- the least amount of work....5+5. The other one is a piece of art that goes with a book they read. 

The teacher said he's actually adjusting well and has lots of friends...which is weird...because Dominic doesn't like school. He says he has little friends and school is way too long and if he can stay home. While, I don't mind him being home schooled, I just don't think I have it in me to teach him EVERYTHING he needs to know ever year. I dont' mind buying workbooks I find at Aldi or discount stores to help him keep up with the pace...but I"m not sure about being the ACTUAL teacher. I'm not really sure that he would like it either. We're still talking about it.

He chose the easiest addition

Piece of art

His classroom

His classroom.

The kids had their Primary Program and they actually dressed nice for it. I was very surprised...refused to do their hair. I was fine with that. I did tell them to wear ties.They both enjoyed talking into the microphone and both remembered their parts. For a little treat, the Primary let them have root beer floats. My kids had never had one- Ethan didn't' care for it....BUT Dominic....oh his face is priceless. He keeps telling me he wants one for his birthday.

"serious" picture

silly brothers

First time having a root beer float

Spencer works a lot, and when he does not work- he works on the lawn quite a bit. He keeps buying stuff to make it greener...and it works...but it's so stinky! And I am trying to keep up with putting stuff away from the move....and putting pictures up. And keeping up with the blog, and my church calling, and the gym...and SO many other things.
We did manage to carve out two pumpkins with family and decorate the house a bit. We entered the contest the neighborhood had, but I had no idea what kind of competition we were going to have. It's insane....I am not going to go buy animatronics just to win a $50 Lowes card...sorry haha. The neighbors clearly put too much money into this...maybe next year, we can actually tour the neighborhood...so many clowns in sewers and creepy people peeking out the windows.

And that's October....and days are moving faster now....