Pumpkin Patch

Looking cute in the pumpkin patch.

Trying to find the perfect pumpkin

Riding the pony

Lauren and me on the hayride.

Roasting marshmallows

Cousins!!!

Getting her face painted!

We went to a pumpkin farm tonight. It is a great place to go with a ton of things to do. I have been taking Lauren to a pumpkin farm since she was two years old. The first couple of years we went to a farm a few hours away in the mountains. That was a great place to go but they closed a few years ago. So last year we started to go to a farm in town. I miss going to the old place but the new place is a lot of fun with some many things to do. They have rides, great food, music, a petting zoo, a few corn mazes, marshmallow roasting, pony rides, hay rides, fireworks, and of course a pumpkin patch.

We went with some friends and with my brother, his wife and Lauren's cousin, Sammie. It was pretty warm here this weekend so we decided to go in the evening. We spent about 4 hours there and we got to do most of the activities. Next year I think adding an extra hour would be a good idea. We were a bit rushed to get to everything. But the kids seemed to have a great time and they all fell asleep on the way home.

(The matching shirts was not planned. When we showed up at Sammie's house there she was in the same shirt Lauren was in. )

Big Girl

Lauren is growing up so quickly. The weekend we went shopping for fall shoes and Lauren let me know that she does not want to wear bobby socks with dresses anymore. She now wants to wear knee high socks.

Lauren told me that bobby socks are for babies and she is not a baby. So while we were buying fall shoes we also got some knee high socks. My little girl is turning into a big girl so fast.

It was cool here this weekend but it going to get warm again this week. However, I just can't have Lauren wearing white summer sandals when it is the middle of October. This is the time of the year when I really miss Chicago. I love seeing the leaves change colors and those cool, crisp, Autumn days. It is still in the 90s here and it feels like the warm weather will never end.

I love to buy shoes for Lauren. She has a ton of shoes but most of them are a bit too big. I am so frustrated with her shoe size. Lauren wore a size 10 last year. I got her foot measured today and she is still wearing a size 10. The guy did tell me to go up to 10 1/2 so she can wear them longer. I felt like telling him that it does not matter her feet do not grow!! I felt like buying a size 11 because it just seems weird that her feet did not grow in a year and my luck they will grown a ton in a month or so.

We took these pictures before going to church. She got toothpaste on the front of the dress so we had to wash that off. That is the wet spot on the dress. She looked so cute in this dress I didn't want to wait until after church because it could be a lot worse.

Cheerleading

Lauren and Blaire, our cheerleaders!!

Getting ready to perform.

One of the activities that Lauren is doing this year is competitive cheerleading. Her cousin, Blaire, has been cheerleading for a few years and Lauren wants to be like Blaire in everything. So this year they are both doing competitive cheerleading at the same place. Lauren is in the smallest, youngest group. They will do 4 or 5 competitions and a few exhibitions this year. Tonight was the first exhibition. It was at the Phoenix Coyotes Hockey game. It was fun to watch both Lauren and Blaire. Lauren's team did ok but there was a few of the little girls that were a bit scared to be on stage. I am sure they will get better throughout the season. Blaire is on one of the more advanced teams. Her team did great. They don't have their uniforms yet so they just wore their practice outfits.

Lauren got Booed

There is an activity that goes on around here during the Halloween season. Neighborhoods do it, friends do it and in Lauren's case her class is doing it. It is booing someone. The idea is to fill up a basket with Halloween treats and goodies and then leave it on their front door step. You then ring the door bell and then run. When the person opens the door there is a Halloween basket on the doorstep with a note that says "you have been booed".

When we got home from Elaine's party there was a message on the answering machine saying that there was something at our front door. Lauren was so surprised and she had to look at everything in the basket. The directions are now for Lauren to boo two other people in her class. I promised her that tomorrow after work we would go to the store and get a bunch of stuff to make up the baskets. What a fun way to start to celebrate Halloween.

Happy Birthday Elaine!!

Tonight we celebrated Elaine's 14th Birthday. We all went out to dinner then had a cookie "cake" at her house. I can't believe that Elaine is 14 years old and a freshman in high school.

I remember so clearly 8 years ago. I had come out to Arizona to interview and we went and picked Elaine up from school. She was in kindergarten at that time and looked some tiny with her backpack on walking to the car. I still remember she was wearing this shirt that had a kitty on it. (The grade numbers do not work out because a few weeks after I was in Arizona she was moved up to the first grade.)

Time has gone by so quickly. It is so strange to hear her talking about going to Friday night football games, what college she would like to go to and etc. She has grown into such a nice young lady. I am so proud to be her aunt. Most of all I am so happy that Lauren has such a positive role model in her life!

Cammie the Camel

Lauren and Cammie the camel.

Cammie meeting new friends.

Dance class with Cammie.

Lauren sharing her snowcone with Cammie.

Farris wheel with Sammie and Cammie. Sammie loved the ride and Lauren could not wait for it to be over. I am not sure how Cammie felt.

Sharing a cupcake with Cammie at a swim party.

Lauren's class has a stuffed animal, Cammie the camel. Every weekend one student takes Cammie home. The student then writes a report in the journal on the weekend with the Cammie the camel.

Lauren was picked to take her (him?) home last weekend. We took Cammie everywhere we went last weekend and took a lot of pictures.

We started the weekend with Cammie meeting some Lauren's stuffed animals. It was Friday night and it was nice to just relax with Lauren (and Cammie) after a very stressful week at work. I just was not up to doing anything else but relaxing at home.

Saturday morning we went to dance class and Cammie came along. I put a Ponytail holder around Cammie so that she could have a tutu. Lauren thought that Cammie looked great in the "tutu" that we made for her.

Later that evening we went with my brother, his wife and Sammie to a carnival that was in their town. It was a "Farewell to Summer Carnival". Lauren and Sammie loved it. They had good carnival food and rode some rides, played some games and just ran around. It was a nice evening and I am sure that Cammie had a great time.

On Sunday we had a swim party and Cammie came along. It is late in the year for a swim party. Although it is still warm during the day the pools have gotten much cooler due to the lower temps at night. The kids swam a bit but for the most part just hung out and played around.

That was our weekend with Cammie. I spent Sunday evening making scrapbook pages to put in the journal. I had Lauren write a few sentences about what we did each day. She does a pretty good job but gets in a hurry to get done and then it gets very sloppy. I then get frustrated and make her redo it. I realize in doing these kinds of projects that I could never homeschool her.

She has to take the finished project to school tomorrow and tell her class all about it. She is looking forward to that!

Morning Time

Lauren is pretty good in the morning and so far has had no problems getting up and ready for school. Most mornings she comes running in my room without me having to wake her up. I get up and ready and then I get her ready for school.

Before she started kindergarten we could run late and it was no big deal. Since her preschool did not start until 9:00 if she got to her aunt's house by 8:00 she was fine. However, now that she has started kindergarten she has to be at school before 7:45 and since I drop her off we have to get out of the house on time. I am proud to say that Lauren has not been late once in the 4 weeks since school started.

The only concern I have in the morning is breakfast. When Lauren was going to preschool she would eat breakfast at her aunt's house and just have some orange juice when she woke up at my house. She now has to eat breakfast at home and that is a struggle. We have tried so many things and I am lucky to get her to eat a few bites. I know that it is important to have a good breakfast but I just don't think she likes to eat that early. The only thing that makes me not worry so much is that she has lunch at 10:15. (I think that is a bit crazy but that is schedule!) I figure if she is really hungry she will eat her whole lunch.

These pictures were taken one morning this week. I just love seeing her dressed and ready for school. She always looks so grown up and yet when I look at these pictures I still see that baby I remember.

I was reminded of how much she is growing up when I was dropping her off at school one day this week. In the morning when she has her juice I still put it in a sippy cup so she can lay on the bed or on the couch and drink without worrying about spilling it. Sometimes she takes it in the car with her. One day this week she had taken the sippy cup in the car and was drinking it but once we got by school she handed it to me and told me to hide it. She explained that she didn't want anyone to see her because she is way too big to be drinking from a sippy cup. I just hope she doesn't tell me she wants me to drop her off a block away from school because she doesn't want anyone to see her hug and kiss me goodbye.