4 more sleeps

Only four more sleeps until the wedding.
Both of my daughters will be flower girls in my cousin Amanda's wedding this Saturday.
I will be the matron of honor.
Ray will be the patient husband trying to survive the wedding madness.
Check back soon for wedding photos.
We will be busy the rest of this week getting our nails painted and hair styled.
(Me and the girls that is.....not Ray.)
I'm off to sleep now.

Harvest Fest at Church

Each Halloween, our church will host a Harvest Festival for the youth group. The children dress in not-so scary costumes and come out for a day of fun, games and candy. I believe, and my children will agree,it is the best youth event that we have all year at the church. This event is usually the first of many that my kids get to wear their costumes to each year. Since it is a daytime event, I usually get the best pictures. Here are some photos of this years event:

Marley a.k.a Miley Cyrus a.k.a Hannah Montana!

The worlds most popular POP STAR!!!!!

Ella as Diego's best friend Baby Jaquar the Rescue Cat! I love those boots. You can't see the tail. The tail is adorable.

Zach at Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean! How cool is that?

Don't be confused. You are not seeing double. We did not have two "jaguars" at the party. Peytan is a "Sassy Cat!" According to her mother, she can be VERY Sassy.

Baby Jaguar starts to get rather silly after eating some sugary sweet spooky marshmellow eyes! Silly Cat!

Abby was Jack Sparrow's side-kick Elizabeth! In this piture she is no longer wearing her signature hat. She donated it to the good of building her teams scarecrow.

In case you are not aware, our school does not officially celebrate Halloween. We have "Character Dress Up Day." Children can dress up as their favorite character from a book. They are required to bring the book to school and older children must do an oral book report. As a result, most Littlestown children end up with character book costumes at this party too. Other guest were Stelluna the Bat, Ariel from Little Mermaid, a few Ninja's and the Itsy Bitsy Spider.

This event was a lot of work for Kim and I who do all the planning. It is so worth it. The kids have a blast. We had a scarecrow making relay, a popcorn carrying relay, pumpkin decorating and other crafts. Oh, and I almost forgot about the pinata. I am happy to report that no one was injured in the beating of the jack-o-lantern pinata. I didn't take very many pictures because I was busy running the games. But I assure you a good time was had by all.

Boyds Bear Birthday

Recently, the girls were invited to a birthday party for their friend Sophia. The party was held at Boyds Bear Country. On our way into the barn, we met Digby the bear. The girls couldn't resist giving him a hug.

This murial is at the front entrance to the barn. They always go all out at Boyds when it comes to decorating for the holidays. It was a beautiful day to hang out and enjoy the October-fest that was going on. The party started with a run through the hay maze and a tromp through the pumpkin patch.
Then they moved inside for cupcakes and presents. Everyone received a set of bear ears to wear while the birthday girl opened her gifts. Then all the girls were invited to make their own bear, or cat or moose.... whatever your heart desired.

Here is Sophia with her best girl friends each posing with their newly stuffed plush friends. You must wear a hard hat and get your time card punched while working in the build your bear factory. What a great time! The girls are very lucky to have a friend who hosted such a special party. Thank you Sophia for including us in your day. Happy 6th Birthday to you!!!!

S-P-I-R-I-T!

We got spirit! Yes we do! We got spirit! How about you? LHS Homecoming Football game was held on Oct. 12th. Homecoming is a day where the entire school district is encouraged to go all out in showing school spirit. Ella is up early in the morning, dressed in her blue and gold and ready to cheer on the team.
Marley has on her Thunderbolt sweatshirt and poses with a football. You may not be able to see it, but her face is painted too. Everyone is ready for the big district pep rally at 2pm.
There was time to pass the ball around a few times in the front yard before heading off to class.
After the pep rally, the kids were psyched. We HAD to go to the parade too. The parade lasted about 2 minutes and consisted of about 10 decorated cars carrying the homecoming court, a float of cheerleaders and a float of football players. Not so exciting.....unless you are 5 years old. Every single car and float throws out CANDY! Look at this pile of CANDY! Ella will cheer for that. We got so much, the three of us could not manage to stuff it into our pockets. I had not brought my purse with me, so we had to fold up the bottoms of our sweatshirts and walk back to the car to unload before entering the field for the game.

It was an easy win for the home team. How could they loose with all this fantastic support from fans like this.

(Note to loyal readers: Ella was allowed to get a glow in the dark necklace. Her first since the toxic scare from last month. )

Homecoming is always a great night to see old friends. I didn't see very many of my own classmates this time, but I did enjoy watching my two little thunderbolts interacting with their own classmates. I do feel blessed to have my children attending the same school I grew up in. For the most part, my days at LHS were very positive. Small towns have their advantages. Now that I am working in the school and I have two kids attending, I see that some things never change. While I grew up thinking a small town lacked much excitement, I have lived long enough to learn that less excitement is better. I am proud to call Littlestown my home.

WE GOT SPIRIT!

YES WE DO!

WE GOT SPIRIT!

HOW ABOUT YOU?

RT 194 Sunflower Field

Everyone in town is talking about the sunflower field that is growing along Rt 194 between Littlestown and Hanover at the intersection of Bollinger Rd. Many people have stopped to take pictures. Yesterday our family made our third trip out to the field. Each time we have walked down the lane and into the fields. We have chatted with old friends who stopped too. We have met some very nice people whom we otherwise would never have known. This time out we had our camera with us. I love sunflowers and I am so grateful that the farmers gave me this opportunity to take some beautiful photos. The Hanover newspaper finally ran a story today about the owners and the field. If you haven't been there yet, I encourage you to go....soon! They won't last forever. If you live too far away then you need to view our slideshow at least twice. We all can benefit from taking a moment to stop and smell the flowers. Much appreciation to the Arentz family for sharing this blessing with our community.

Here is a slideshow of our latest visit.

Marley's Special Award

Each month at Rolling Acres, a student from each 2nd and 3rd grade class is given the Handwriting Award. Tuesday morning on the announcements, Mr. Rudisill called out the names of this month's winners. Marley was very surprised when her name was read. She was asked to come to the office and get her award. She received a certificate and a nice pencil. Ella was so excited to tell her sister that she heard her name on the announcements. What made it even more special was that her mom was working in the school that day. Several teachers and the principal gave me wonderfully kind comments about Marley and her work. Marley's handwriting assignment, the Apple Poem, will hang in the lobby right next to the principal's office all month long for people to see. Congratulations to Marley!!!

Pumpkin Patch

Each year the kindergarten children from our school are invited to take a field trip to the Hedges Farm to visit the pumpkin patch. I was invited to go along as a chaperone. Here is Ella in the patch with her friend Caneesa. Ella and Caneesa were inseperable through the entire trip.

Here is Ella and her classmates with Mr. Don pulling up a pumpkin vine. The vine was long enogh for everyone to grab a piece and help hold it. Mr. Don is in charge of growing all the pumpkins for the patch. He was full of interesting knowledge and a few silly tricks.
Each child was allowed to select a pumpkin to take home. Here is Ella with her cousin Abby. They have each selected a pumpkin. Imagine having to help eighty 5-year old kids get home on a bus without breaking their pumpkins. We were reminded to "hold them like we love them." Notice that Abby is following the directions. I do think all the pumpkins made it back to the school in one piece.
We also got to take a hay ride through the fields at the farm. We got to see the changing leaves on the trees all along the edges of the fields. The kids enjoyed the bumpy ride in the back of the wagon. Personally, it was a little rough on my rear end and I was wishing I had not drank a 20 oz coffee on the bus ride out to the farm.

Here is Miss Gunther's class posing for a photo. It appears as though Ella is not the only child in the class with a sense of humor. We had a fantastic time on our visit to the Pumpkin Patch.