4th Grade Party

I loved helping out in Tess's 4th Grade Thanksgiving Party on Tuesday.  Here are just a few pics from that day:

First they did the donuts-on-a-string eating contest.  Tess didn't win, but she still did really well and tried hard!  And, who cares who wins when you get to eat a donut, amiright?

 I had Bree with me, and she's such a little charmer that lots of kids in Tess's class just loved talking to her and playing with her.  They made little turkeys out of Oreos and candy, and Bree thought that was pretty fun.  Here is a cute pic with some of Tess's classmates.

I am thankful for so many things in my life.  First and foremost, of course, is my family.  Our little bamatamb fam is precious to me and I thank God every day for them.  I am also so grateful for the families that Bryan and I grew up in.  I'm thankful for our home and our wonderful neighborhood.  I so thankful that Bryan and I were able to get an education and I'm very thankful for Bryan's good job.  I'm thankful to live close enough to family to spend holidays together and I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving together tomorrow!

Project for a Lazy Day...

Miles and I were both a little bit sick last weekend and so we just kind of laid around all day Saturday and skipped Stake Conference on Sunday.  But you can only watch so much TV before going crazy so I decided to get out this puzzle, which I bought a couple years ago on a whim but which we had not even opened yet.  It was 1000 pieces and it actually took many, many hours to do!  We worked Sunday for a long long time--it's kind of addicting!  Miles and Tess also enjoyed helping a bit here and there.  Then I did quite a bit on Monday while Bryan was at work, and then we finished it together tonight.  It is so satisfying to put that last piece in!  We decided that we need to do tricky puzzles more often!  

Halloween 2014

Our school did a Halloween parade this year!  I was really excited; in the past the kids could not even wear costumes to school at all, but we have a new principal this year and she wanted to do it.  (As a teacher I can understand how "no costumes" would be much easier & less stressful for the craziness of the holiday, but as a mom I was thrilled to see all the kids in their costumes.  And I remember doing a parade each year when I was in elementary school and I loved it!)  The parade was really fun and I loved seeing the whole school in their costumes.  Here is Tess waving to us:

 ...And Miles...

Here are a few of my other favorites from the parade: 

This was a "purple minion" from Despicable Me 2.  I wish I caught the face in the pic too, but she turned her head just as a I took it.  She looked so great!

 This one was probably my favorite.  "Bad Cop" from The Lego Movie.  It looked perfect.  The poor kid could barely walk though.

 And cute Senora Huerta... she was Dr. Suess's "Thing 1." ("Cosa 1" en espanol!--She will be Miles's teacher next year for Spanish Immersion.)

It's a little hard to see the costumes in those pictures, so here are some better close-ups.  Tess was Ginny Weasley from Harry Potter (her best friend was Hermione Granger so they had a fun time dressing alike).  Miles was a "black ninja" and he was doing his fierce eyes in this picture.  Bree was Princess Anna from the movie Frozen (there were billions of Elsas, so I'm glad that Bree wanted something just a little bit different.)

They all looked so great!  I was pooped out that night so I decided to nominate Bryan to take them Trick-or-Treating.  We thought back and realized that I was the one who had taken them every year.  Every year!  (Bryan did usually come along for the first little bit, but then he'd head home to hand out candy.)  So I said I wanted to be on candy duty.  The night was so warm and beautiful (this whole October has been glorious!) and I just sat out on my porch, rocking in the rocking chair, reading my Kindle between trick-or-treaters.  It was awesome!  I think I want that gig every year.