It's the day all teachers love... Halloween - when all the kids are already reacting to the sugar high they know they're going to get tonight! Yesterday Kaitlyn's teacher asked me if I could bring 24 undecorated cupcakes for their Halloween party today. Being the Super-Mom that I am, I said No Problem. So Kaitlyn and I made cupcakes that afternoon before we went to get Rachael from school.
Then - wouldn't you know it - afer school Rachael said her class was having a party today too, and she needed to bring cupcakes. So we went and made more cupcakes! But these ones needed to be decorated. After all that (not to mention the field trip I went on with Rachael before lunch and the trip to Superstore to get more icing) I was exhausted. I know it doesn't really sound like a whole lot (don't forget about driving to school and back 3 times and making lunch and supper!), but the baby-making thing really wears me out these days. So Daddy made orange icing for Rachael's cupcakes. Then after supper I found the last few remnants of energy and iced the cupcakes to look like pumpkins. Being so pregnant-brained these days I didn't notice it was gel icing I'd got for the faces, but it still worked out ok. I almost didn't take a picture, after seeing all those beautiful cakes on other blogs (you know who you are!) but whatever. The kids don't care and this icing actually tastes good!
I was with Kaitlyn's class all morning today along with several other Moms. Between the French and English kindergarten classes we had about 15 centres set up for all the kids to go to - from face painting (where I was stationed) to cupcake decorating; jellybean pattern-making (and getting to eat them after) to oreo cookie spider-making; mask and hat crafts to pumpkin seed math and playdough. Plus a few others. It was go go go all morning, and the kids loved it! Then after lunch we carved the pumpkin Kaitlyn got from the pumpkin patch on her field trip a few weeks ago. She wanted it to just be a face this year. I don't remember the last time I made just a face, but it was so easy!
And now Daddy's off with the girls trick-or-treating and I'm home handing out candy. Kaitlyn finally decided to be a lion. I think it's because I painted the nose and whiskers on at school this morning. And Rachael dressed up like a bat. I've only had about 5 groups of kids so far, but it's still early. Though I think we'll have a lot of left overs. Candy anyone?
And look how many are still left on the trees!
'Tis the season, I guess.
After we got off the bus the first thing we did was take a hay ride to the pumpkin field. The kids got to pick out their own pumpkin (as long as they could carry it!) and bring it back to school where they're going to be doing some things with it next week.
After that we went in the store and saw some bees and how they make the apples; then we saw how they take those apples and make them into juice. We even got samples of apples and apple juice. Yummy!
We also learned about pumpkins and how they grow,
and then we got to go to the petting zoo. They had the cutest little baby goats there Rachael would have fallen in love with, but I couldn't for the life of me get Kaitlyn to stand beside an animal for a picture! Oh well. We still had lots of fun on our first field trip. 
Mommy's been Super School Mom this week - on Tuesday she went to help out in Rachael's class; Thursday she helped in Kaitlyn's class; Friday was Apple Turkey day and all the parents got invited to come, so I was there again; Monday is no school; and Tuesday Kaitlyn's class is going on a field trip to the Apple Barn, so Mommy will be going to school with Kaitlyn then, too!
So everything was looking good during the exam, but the baby was lying face up and the tech couldn't see the baby's spine. So I had to go back out to the waiting room to wait for 5 more minutes, then the four of us got to come back to the room to see the baby. (These are the legs that have been kicking me!)
Fortunately in those 5 minutes the baby had moved enough for the tech to find the spine and take her measurements. (This is a profile shot of the baby's head. You can see the ear and nose and a bit of the spine at the bottom.)
And everything looks good! The baby waved to us and we saw him/her (no, we didn't find out which) suck a thumb and wiggle around. (Profile of the head with an arm and hand waving at us!)
We're half way done! I guess we'd better figure out some names one of these days. 
Kaitlyn was super excited to go to her first day of kindergarten. She loved it, especially since Mommy got to come with her. In her class there are lots of similar sounding names. Along with Kaitlyn there is Caitlin and Kailin (with no "t") as well as lots of other names that sound alike. Could be an interesting first few days and weeks for Teacher! Kaitlyn's teacher seemed very nice and I think Kaitlyn will really enjoy being in her class.
Rachael's class was a bit mixed up as all first days are. The whole school (except kindergarten kids) met in the gym, then got sent off by grade (french and english mixed) to various classrooms that are probably not going to be their real classrooms or teachers. Rachael found her best friend, and the were together with an english teacher for today, but by the end of tomorrow things should be sorted out and kids should be in their right classrooms. 
Rachael is used to swinging by herself from playing at school,
but Kaitlyn will catch on pretty soon.
It's a little on the noisy side, what with metal rubbing against metal, but it's a small price to pay for hours of entertainment. 
Near the lumberjacks, on the Playland side of the fair, there's this Go Active BC exhibit. And all they had to do was say three things they could do to be more healthy (eat fruits/veggies, run and swim is what they said) and then they each got a skipping rope. After that we went in the booth where they had to do five activities, stamp the "passport" they got, and then they got a free gift! Rachael chose a frizbee and Kaitlyn chose a lunch kit. (These were the only choices, since they already had the skipping rope.) Kaitlyn is super excited to take her lunch kit to school. And they've both been outside all morning skipping and playing frizbee. 
