The Last Vestige of Babyhood

Heather is officially no longer a baby.

I held onto her babyhood as long as I could, but now that she's about to turn 3, she's reached a couple more milestones. For one thing, she's given up her naptime. After many nights of her being awake in her room until 9:30 or so, getting out of her bed to play with her dolls or sneaking into Wayne and Cole's room to see what they were up to when they all should have been sleeping, I decided It must be time to let go of the nap. It was not easy (for me) but now she goes to sleep as soon as her head hits the pillow in the evening.

For another thing, not only can she give herself a haircut, but she can also get dressed (almost) all by herself. See how proud she looks. You can't really tell from the picture, but she has two shirts on, and one of them is on backwards with the tag sticking up. She doesn't seem to mind. When she looked at her outfit in the mirror, she said, "It's perfect." She wasn't a baby for very long.

The kindergarten class took another field trip to a Catamount Arts performance of Hansel and Gretel, by the National Marrionette Theatre.
This was a gentler version than the original, while still holding somewhat true to the story. Their real mother lets them go into the forest to find berries (rather than a stepmother abandoning them in the woods.)

Angels protect them in the forest until morning.

After being pushed into the oven the witch turns into a gingerbread woman.

Cole is home sick today and the rain is rinsing all of our snow away. I have a couple of videos of W & C sledding for sometime when I get to the library.

Wayne's Piano Recital

Here's a little video of Wayne at his recital on Saturday afternoon. He was Great.

New Hair Style

Just in time for Christmas card photos and looking pretty in holiday dresses.

This morning, at about 5:30 as I tried to pry my eyes open with caffeine, Heather decided to go down to the basement and get creative with her craft scissors. Not with construction paper, but with her hair. Five minutes later, she came proudly into the kitchen, where I was standing with my mug, to show me her achievement.

I woke right up.

Poor girl. My reaction was not what she expected. These pictures don't really show the complete "style" very well.

I tried to even it out some and will have to do a better job later after a bath, when her hair is wet. It's not as short as it looks, I just have some of the choppy layers tucked behind her ears.

Expect hats to be part of this year's Christmas card picture.

Wayne's Report Card

I told you I'd keep you posted on Wayne's report card, so here you go. Not too shabby!

I think her comments are a little weak. I expect much more profuse gushing about such genius.

Cole's First Report Card

You've seen a few of these from Wayne. Now here is Cole's first report card. I hope you can see it ok. I don't have a scanner, so my camera's macro function is the best I can do. Click on a picture to enlarge and see it better.

Wayne's report card hasn't come home yet, but rest assured, I'll keep you posted!

Red Ribbon Week

It's Red Ribbon Week at school, which is an alcohol and drug awareness campaign.

Each day of the week has a different theme. Monday's theme was "sock it to drugs." Everyone wore crazy socks. Tuesday's theme was "Drugs Won't Get in My Way." Kids wore a costume or uniform of what they hope to be whe they grow up. Wayne's first choice was "author" but we couldn't figure out how to dress like an author in an interesting way. His second choice was "scientist" but we couldn't find a white shirt to use as a lab coat. So, as you can see below, he went as his third choice, baseball player. Cole went as a "structural engineer." He's dressed ready to go to his office.
Here he is in his office, getting ready to work on the computer, doing whatever structural engineers do.
Meanwhile, while the boys were at school exploring career choices, Heather and I made cranberry nut bread.

In other Red Ribbon Week news, Wednesday's theme was "Team up against drugs." Students wore either a school team shirt or a professional team shirt/jersey. Wayne and Cole wore their t-ball uniforms. Today, Thursday, the theme is "Drugs and I don't mix." They wear mismatched clothing - mismatched shoes, socks, Wayne wore a camoflage and stripe mixture. Cole wore colors that clash. Tomorrow is "Red Ribbon Day." They will wear as much red as possible.

More Halloween

Halloween just cannot be contained in one day. Here's our Halloween weekend in a nutshell.

Friday
As I mentioned before, the school has a pumpkin carving contest every year. Here are some of the entries.

And here is the kindergarten class showing off their entries. Neither Wayne nor Cole won the contest, but Cole received a certificate of participation, as did every student in the kindegarten class. I don't think that has been standard practice in previous years.

The kindergarten class party. I had also planned to visit Wayne's room for the 2nd grade party, but as it turned out, they had theirs earlier in the day. See in the background of the picture where there are trick or treat bags hanging in each cubby? Those were gifts to each kindergarten student from the kitchen staff. This little group of kindergartners is getting a lot of special attention.

Heather and Cole dressed in their halloween finest for the party.

At home later that afternoon, Wayne carves another pumpkin. Or Two.

Satruday

Saturday bright and early, I took everyone to hockey while Wes helped Tyler and Aimee move into their new house. I haven't seen it, except for pictures on Aimee's blog a while ago, but I hear it's NICE. After hockey, W,C,H and I went to Jeanne's house to help Joanie with the Christmas calendar. Then we rushed home to change into costumes for trick or treating.

We stopped over at Elaine and Bernard's house first. Wayne is wearing a bat costume from Martha and Cole decided to be a vampire. Gone are the superheros. I'm a little sad.

At the last minute Heather changed her mind about wearing her "buttersly" costume and decided to wear the same pumpkin costume she wore last year. Elaine had made chocolate cake. Yummy!

Trick or treating turned out to be a miserable experience due to pouring rain and wind, but the kids made away with tons of loot, so they were happy as can be.

Sunday

Halloween is a busy day to have a birthday, so we celebrated Wes's birthday on Sunday. The kids and I made a cake.

There was a big fight over who would blow out the candles.

Wes opens his gifts. This one is from Joanie - a vintage looking rice crispies treats cookie jar. So cute.

Hope you all had a fun Halloween.

Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween all over the place around here.

No costumes allowed at school, but it's orange and black day, so Wayne and Cole wore orange shirts with Halloween logos on the front and back. Heather wanted in on the fun, so she's wearing her sweater. Each class has a Party at school later in the afternoon. Heather and I will go and have fun even though it really should be her naptime.
Heare are Wayne and Cole's pumpkins for the contest. Wayne's is on the top and Cole's is on the bottom. After carving these, Wes took the boys on a haunted hayride at Hazen. Heather has been feeling mean with a cold, so she and I stayed behind. Sorry, no pictures. Wes is not the photographer in the family.
Usually I just go for the triangle eyes and nose look, but this year I got creative. Look like anyone you know?

Check in later in the weekend for an update on W,C,H's Halloween antics: costumes, parties, trick or treating, calendar making with Joanie at Katie and Lizzie's house, ice hockey, and of course we have to bake a birthday cake somewhere in the midst.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Hockey Night in Lyndonville

When Wes and I met in college, I used to go watch him play hockey at the Fenton Chester Ice Arena in Lyndonville. I never dreamed that years later, I would be watching my own child play hockey on that same floor.

Here is Wayne on his very first day on his very first hockey team, Red Wings. This is not a game - just a practice.
It's ridiculous - there's something like 40 kids on the team. They broke them into red and yellow.

I always thought Wayne was a pretty good skater, for his age, but most of these kids were even better. This is the very beginning level, called the X-Ice league, but some of these kids look like they already have some experience with the game. Here I think they're learning how to fall, spin, and get back up again, all in one swift move. They loved that.

Wayne Gretzky, make room for the other Wayne in hockey.

First Snow

Wayne and Cole got dressed and ate breakfast in a hurry this morning. They had to get in some "snow time" before school.
This is the first time Spike has seen snow. He was excited as Wayne and Cole were. He even loved it when they (gently) threw snowballs at him.

He is so fast, they were hardly able to get him. Sparkle was a nice dog, but now I'm so glad we ended up with Spike.

Later in the morning, Sophia went outside with Heather. They were out for a long time and then came in for hot cocoa when Joanie stopped in.
Remember when you were so excited about the first snow that you had to be out there at the crack of dawn?